Top photo: The Ventures’ Nokie Edwards, Bob Spalding and Don Wilson rock out to their 1960 hit “Walk, Don’t Run.” Later, drummer Leon Taylor would steal the show with an epic solo on “Caravan.” Second photo: The Fabulous Wailers’ Kent Morrill still has that Little Richard-style howl; guitarist John Hanford in the background.
ERNEST JASMIN

The Ventures and Fabulous Wailers celebrated 50 years of rock and the release of their new CD “Two Car Garage” Friday night at Seattle’s Moore Theatre, a triumphant night for two titans of Tacoma rock.

Dressed in dapper, black suits, the Wailers ripped through an opening set that included fan favorites “Dirty Robber,” “Wailin’” and “Out of Our Tree,” plus a touching photo tribute to fallen Wailers Rockin’ Robin Roberts, Ron Gardner, Rich Dangel, John Greek and Mark Marush.

The Ventures’ and Wailers’ Blue Horizon Records has been working on a documentary about the influential Tacoma bands. And several celebrities involved in the project congratulating the two bands preceded the Ventures set, with Alec Baldwin, Billy Bob Thornton, Joe Perry and Times Square’s Naked Cowboy among those extolling the two groups.

Liberty DeVito gave congratulations, with a passing joke about the Ventures ridiculously prolific output (more than 250 albums and counting.) “I think since I said that, three albums just came out,” he said.

Many of those album covers provided fun backdrops during the Ventures’ 21-song set, with kitschy ‘60s imagery featuring bikini-clad girls, go-go dancers and astronauts.

The quartet onstage Friday -- founding member Don Wilson, Nokie Edwards, Bob Spalding and Leon Taylor on drums – got things started with “Walk, Don’t Run,” the hit that propelled the Ventures to stardom in 1960. The Ventures were joined by Lt. Governor Brad Owen for “Surf Rider,” a track that experienced a resurgence in popularity in the ‘90s, thanks to its use in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.” And Alan White of Yes made an appearance later, providing the booming snare drum to “Hawaii Five-O.”

But the night’s high point occurred during the Ventures’ last pre-encore number “Caravan.” Leon Taylor delivered a truly epic drum solo during that hit, meandering from behind his kit midway through to band on Bob Spalding’s bass strings as video of his dad, the late Mel Taylor, played behind the band.

For the encore, both bands teamed up for “Needles & Pins” and “Black is Black,” both featured on the new “Two Car Garage” CD. And, yes, Don Wilson sings. His band is known for instrumental rock, but I’m pretty sure he sang more than Britney Spears did Thursday night at the Tacoma Dome.

And three guesses regarding what the two bands finished up with. There are three things you can count on in life, death, taxes and the Wailers playing “Louie Louie” some time during their set.

The Ventures set list
Ventures, Wailers 50th anniversary show
The Moore Theatre
April 10, 2009

Walk, Don’t Run
Blue Dawn
Driving Guitars
Telstar
El Cumbanchero
Slaughter on 10th Ave.
Apache
Penetration
Out of Limits
Surf Rider (with Lt. Governor Brad Owen)
Secret Agent Man
Sleepwalk
I Got a Woman
Walk, Don’t Run ‘64
House of the Rising Sun
Diamond Head
Hawaii Five-O (with Alan White of Yes)
Wipe-Out
Pipeline
Caravan

Encore: The Ventures with the Wailers

Needles & Pins
Black is Black
Louie Louie (And you were expecting what else for the finale?)

Sorry, Wailers fans. My first notebook fell out of my pocket somewhere between the parking garage and my seat, so I didn't have anything to jot their set down on. Off the top of my head, it included "Dirty Robber," "Wailin'," "Out of Our Tree," "Tall Cool One."

You can count on Nine Inch Nails to do at least two things in concert – to rock intensely and to dazzle with lots of unconventional special effects. And Nails did not disappoint on either front Saturday night during the U.S. tour launch at Seattle’s KeyArena. Trent Reznor’s outfit served up two hours of powerful cyber-rock, enhanced by some of the slickest and most innovative L.E.D. effects I’ve ever seen in concert.

The daring set list (photo here) will have fans talking, too, though some will surely grumble that some of their favorite staples didn’t make the cut. After two decades as America’s favorite industrial rocker, Reznor could have easily sleepwalked through a parade of hit and "best of" material. But instead he spent a surprising amount of time with the newer albums. Six of 10 tracks showed up from “The Slip,” the free album Reznor gave to fans free this year as a token of appreciation for their support. And during the part of the show where many rockers would put the acoustic set, Nails focused on instrumentals from “Ghosts I-IV,” the other album Nails released this year.

That massive, 36-track set is full of hit and miss musical sketches that appeal to diehard fans a lot more than the casually curious. But in the live setting those songs really came to life with flamethrower riffs, overpowering, depth charge bass and Reznor adding a few possibly improvised lyrics here and there. “Breathe us in – slowly,” he whispered menacingly, as his spectral face appeared on a semi-transparent partition that had dropped between audience and band. Speaking of which, that was also the part of the show where the spectacle really kicked into high gear – but not without glitches.

“Someobody’s supposed to push a button and the lights are supposed to come on,” Reznor barked during an awkward pause. “As soon as we find that guy and put his finger on the button, we’ll continue the show.” Yikes! Somebody’s looking through the want ads today.

But the screw-up was soon forgotten as the band was obscured by dazzling, impressionistic imagery – blood red hues, crackly static, torrential downpours. If you’ve seen the past few Nails’ tours, you’ll know that aesthetic is not entirely new; but it was more refined this time around, thanks to some great new toys. When Reznor neared or touched the screen, a smudge would open in the imagery and reveal him more clearly. And at one point, a roadie wandered onstage and appeared to be checking the screen for glitches with his flashlight. The "ooh ah" moment came when he "erased" the static from the partition wherever he swept his beam.

The band was backed by a set of surveillance screens during “Survivalism,” recalling the song’s Big Brother police state-themed video. Grainy, split-screen footage showed the band performing alongside seemingly live footage that may or may not have been shot at KeyArena. Fans bobbed their heads in the front row and wandered arena hallways. A tattooed female fan sat on a commode talking on her cell phone, unaware her privacy had been invaded. But I’m guessing the footage was actually shot with willing participants since timing of captured private moments seemed convenient. Plus, none of the fans in "the front row" got excited upon seeing themselves on the screen. Nice illusion that drove 2007 album "Year Zero's" dystopian themes home.

“Hurt” was a sing along favorite during the encore. But “In This Twilight,” my favorite track from “Year Zero,” took over as set closer, with a shimmery city burning in the background before being washed away by white light.

And in a totally unrelated matter, guess who showed up behind the scenes. Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan, a Seattle boy, was on Nails' guest list and snuck in through the band entrance to check things out. But you’ll be able to catch that guy with his other band, Loaded, on Aug.22 at Hell’s Kitchen.

Trent Reznor (top of page): Still angsty after all these years. This time around, the touring band includes Robin Finck (with dreads, above), Josh Freese (last pic) Alessandro Cortini and Justin Meldal-Johnson
ERNEST A. JASMIN

Day two of the Capitol Hill Block Party featured two of Western Washington’s hottest acts, Olympia folkie Kimya Dawson (top) – featured on the “Juno” soundtrack, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 earlier this year – and Seattle’s Fleet Foxes (singer-guitarist Robin Pecknold, bottom), a band making a big splash with its blissful, reverb-drenched vocal harmonies. "I haven't felt nerves in a while, but I feel really nervous today," Dawson declared as she got started. Her butterflies added an endearing quality to her demeanor, and she was funny and witty throughout her set, drawing the most laughs as she told a story about being asked to play Block Party two years ago when she was pregnant. "I had this huge plan that I was going to go into labor during the show," she said. I won't describe the punchline, something about quenching festivalgoers' thirst; but let's just say it was as gross as it was hilarious. Several songs, including one about "Bobby-O, skinny younger brother of Fabio," came from a children's album called "Alphabutt" to be released by Olympia's K Records on Sept. 19. Many kid-pleasing lyrics about farting are involved, adding welcome levity to a sometimes poignant set. ("You said bottoms up as I bottomed out," she sang in a song about her time living on Capitol Hill.) And Dawson brought out her brother (middle photo) to perform one song. "I've been trying to convince him to make an album for 10 years, but he's like ehhh.
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... I might post a couple of shots of the Miss Summer Jam finalists. But let's just say a "wardrobe malfunction" occurred. And I've got to say it was a little shocking to see a woman taking off her top off to win a hot body competition and getting booed. Soundly. By the guys. Weird! Score one for wanting to see Lil Wayne, zero for predictable responses and objectification of women. But I digress. Here's my last batch of photos from Sunday's Summer Jam show.

Lil Wayne shows up fashionably late, but Weezy still rocks the heezy. The guy's got a lot of personality, but I'm still scratching my head over why his latest album “Tha Carter III” was able to go platinum in one week, and that whole “greatest rapper alive” tag that’s somehow stuck to the guy. Brilliant marketing, or is there something I'm missing? Discuss.
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Talent trumps hot pants: Before Wayne took the stage, a dance team got a much better response than the Miss Summer Jam contestants.
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The Game’s set included all the expected hits: A little “How We Do”; some “Love it or Hate It,” with 50 Cent’s vocals still dubbed in, despite The Game's ongoing beef with his former mentor and G-Unit. A few songs in, The Game's "weed man" paid him a visit with some herbal party favors.
ERNEST A. JASMIN

“I gotta pay homage to everybody,” he declared at one point. The Game played to the Auburn crowd with a snippet of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” inviting a few female fans onstage to show just how much “back” they had. He also honored fallen rappers Tupac Shakur, Eazy E and Big Pun with bits of their hits. And in case you were dying to know who he was endorsing in the 2008 presidential race, he had everyone hold up their cell phones in honor of Barack Obama and pursuing their dreams. "I ain't even into politics. I don't know s--- about it." We'll see how quickly Obama embraces the endorsement of "gangsta dude who just smoked a fat blunt on stage." But seriously, The Game had a lot of positive messages about believing in yourself and that kind of thing. But lest you think he's gone soft, he tossed in a "f--- G-Unit" for good measure. My biggest regret of the night, by the way, was leaving the photo pit moments before The Game "made it rain" by showering the front row with a fistful of bills. “I’m still rich,” he said. Well, I'm not. And I could use the gas money.
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Run! It's a Juggalo! No, wait. That's just one of T-Pain's backup dancers, and they seemed more into collecting phone numbers between sets than drinking Faygo and beating people up at the park. Hype man Tay Dizm (bottom) also displayed some fancy footwork.
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More scenes from Sunday’s Summer Jam show.

Nope, that wasn't the “Lil” Bow Wow you grew up with. You know, the kuddly Kris Kross klone that starred in “Like Mike." This was raunchy, 21-year-old sex symbol Bow Wow -- the guy looking for “dirty girls” to go backstage and causing 15-year-old girls to scream uncontrollably at the sight of his naked torso. Eeeeeeeeee! Good job on the makeover, but you didn't need to drop the drop the “lil” from your name, dude. Just ask Wayne, Jon and Flip.
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Bow Wow’s set included hits as “I Think They Like Me” and “Fresh Azimiz” and other hits, plus a tribute to plus-sized women from his forthcoming album. He invited a big girl on stage with him for that last number, a common theme of the evening as you’ll see when I post my shots from The Game’s set.
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T-Pain (center) showed up towards the end of Bow Wow's set for "I'm a Flirt" and, strangely enough, "Good Life," a song he recorded with Kanye West. That hit actually turned up later during T-Pain's vocoder-enhanced set. "Now put a damn shirt on!" T-Pain joked as Bow Wow left the stage. “I’m gonna get skinny one day and I’m gonna take my shirt off.” By the way, did anyone catch the after-party at the Loft? Tell us about your Bow Wow sightings in the comments section.
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Ribcage rattling bass and kinetic krumpers. Jiggly chicks in hot pants and, in one case, pasties; and raunchy references to consensual acts that are still technically illegal in parts of the Bible Belt. I'm also recalling some kind of a gangsta rap presidential endorsement. Weird! Now where did I witness all of that on Sunday?

Oh yeah! At KUBE 93’s yearly raptacular, Summer Jam, which brought Lil Wayne, The Game, T-Pain, Bow Wow and Ray J to White River Amphitheatre. You’ll have to forgive the foggy memory as I may have gotten a contact high during the Game’s performance. From where I was I was standing (and inhaling) that was definitely wacky tobaccy in that blunt he smoked a few songs into his set.

Still, I managed to capture many of the most memorable and bizarre moments from Sunday, just in case you weren't among the 20,000 in attendance. I’ll post some pics in installments, so check back later this morning for more.

Better late than never. And so much for that Summer Jam schedule I posted Sunday afternoon. KUBE 93 DJ Karen Wild announced that Lil Wayne, aka Weezy, aka the hottest rapper on the planet had just touched down at Seatac right around the time people expected to see him walk onstage. But he had a police escort, she said, and wound up starting a mere 2 1/2 hours after he was originally scheduled to go start. "My flight was a little f----- up. But I'm here," the diminutive rapper said, flashing a sparkly, devilish grin. No big whoop. The other acts had run a bit late, too, mostly, it seemed, due to technical issues. And fans loved Weezy's set, which included the best of "Tha Carter" parts one, two and three.
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I was only about 80 percent it was Sanjaya during the early part of Stevie Wonder’s set last night at Auburn’s White River Amphitheatre. The wavy Farrah Fawcett ‘do was hard to miss down there in the good seats. The gal dancing next to him during “Did I Hear You Say You Loved Me?” certainly looked like his sis, as seen on “American Idol” last year. But it wasn't until Wonder got around to “Superstition” two hours later that I had confirmation.

“Did I hear there was someone from ‘American Idol?’ Where’s he at? Get him up here,” Wonder blurted out midway through a fiery “Superstition” jam.

A handler whispered the name in his ear. “Sanjaya!” he called. Then – bam! – Federal Way’s most famous reality show contestant was with him on stage. And you know what? As much as the kid made his reputation with sub par singing (and the hair), he didn't sound half bad; especially if his appearance was, indeed, spontaneous and not planned in advance. Perhaps he will parlay his “Idol” experience into a few more minutes on that fame clock. But is America ready for another round of Sanjayamania?

Sanjaya’s wasn’t the only guest vocalist to make a splash, by the way. Brynn Berger, a Lynnwood woman who won a chance to sing with Wonder from a KBSG-FM radio competition, looked stunning (if a bit stiff) as she knocked it out of the park on “All in Love Is Fair.” And Wonder’s daughter, Aisha Morris, sat next to her father for a smoky torch song, Nat King Cole’s “I’m Gonna Laugh You Out of My Life.” Morris appeared on “How Will I Know,” from Wonder’s Grammy-winning 2005 album, “A Time to Love.” And can a solo career be far behind?

“Who you in love with?” Wonder huffed playfully as his daughter started to walk back to her spot with the other backup singers.

“Nobody,” she replied, innocently. “I love my daddy.”

“OK. He betta do you right,” Wonder said. Then playing just a couple of notes, he promted the audience to help him serenade his daughter with “Isn’t She Lovely,” the song she made her vocal debut on back in 1976. (She’s the baby you hear on that track.) And unlike last year’s show at Chateau Ste Michelle, daddy's little girl smiled nervously, looking endearingly embarrassed by the attention.

Otherwise, it was a great if not perfect show. I liked the flow and content of the last year's set list better, with a couple more songs from the classic “Songs in the Key of Life” and funkier numbers grouped more effectively. But it was a treat for me personally this time around when Wonder kicked his set off with several in a row from his 1980 album “Hotter Than July," with "As If You Read My Mind," the reggae-inflected “Master Blaster (Jammin’),” “Did I Hear You Say You Love Me?” and “All I Do” starting things off. I remember digging through my big sisters’ record collection in elementary school, and that being the first record I ever became obsessed with. You know, back when you had to play it on these things called “turntables.”

Other highlights included “Visions,” during which Wonder went on a rant about racial equality, mentioning something about a friend being denied a table at a Seattle area restaurant, presumably for racial reasons. The R&B legend sang a decent new song called “Keep on Foolin’ Yourself, Baby Girl,” from his forthcoming project “Through the Eyes of Wonder.” And among the lesser known selections that Wonder snuck into the set was “Creepin’,” from his “Fulfillingness’ First Finale" album.

“Expect the unexpected,” Wonder declared by way of introducing the jazzy number, perhaps even catching a couple of his band members off guard.

“We didn’t come here to put on some b------- hour and a half show,” Dave Grohl declared a few songs into a fun Foo Fighters set at KeyArena. And the guy wasn’t kiddin’. The Foos served up more than 2 ½ hours of steamin' arena rockin’ goodness last night. The band was bigger this time around, with bleached blonde guitarist Pat Smear notably back in the fold. And they got the party properly started with “Let It Die,” “The Pretender” and “Times Like These,” with Grohl wandering back and forth along a catwalk that ran nearly the length of the arena floor. The concert's most memorable moments took place on a second smaller stage lowered onto the far end of the catwalk for the semi-acoustic part of the show. That included a life-affirming sing-along to “My Hero,” Grohl’s ode to fallen Nirvana band mate Kurt Cobain. And as the rest of the Foo Fighters headed back to the main stage, Grohl stayed back for subdued solo start on "Everlong" before rejoining his band mates in bringing the hit to a rockin' close.
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Granted, the set was bogged down by a few self-indulgent stretches. “This is a Call” and “Stacked Actors” were stretched thin during epic but unfocused jams. And Grohl acknowledged that he'd done a lot of yapping (albeit, funny yapping) during parts of the show. He feigned being hurt when fans chose a five-song encore over four songs and a funny story. “F--- you, guys!” But of course, he told the story anyway. It was about a night in the '90s when he and a buddy named Ernie got drunk and spray painted “Foo Fighters” onto a Michael Jackson mural at the Seattle Center Tower Records, which used to be at Fifth and Mercer. Grohl got busted after Ernie slipped a Polaroid of the rocker posing in front of his handiwork under the record store door, leading to a call from his old boss from Tower Records and the photo running in defunct alt-weekly, the Rocket, which Grohl rated as one of the coolest things that had ever happened to him. Earlier, he acknowledged his South Sound roots. “First I lived in Tacoma, which was beautiful,” he said, referring to when he moved from Virginia in 1990. “Then I lived in Olympia where the nightlife was f------ amazing. For me, it’s either Paris or Olympia, Washington.” Hmm. Snotty hipsters make nice stand-ins for rude Parisians, I guess. Oh, wait. He was being sarcastic, right? Anyway, Minus the Bear and Supergrass opened the show. But those weren't the only rock stars on hand. I spotted Wade and Jesse from Tacoma's own Seaweed, who will soon to play Sub Pop's SP20 festival, as I headed into the arena.
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Tim McGraw returned to Puget Sound for his third show in less than two years Tuesday night at Auburn’s White River Amphitheatre. But this time he left wife Faith Hill at home (or at least she didn’t show up on stage, and reportedly wasn’t seen backstage either.) And McGraw’s set was enhanced by comparatively modest special effects, sans the Soul II Soul tour’s brilliant, LED-enhanced stage. A series of video screens provided more conventional visuals, including shots of McGraw hilariously superimposed into iconic photos of “Sanford & Son,” John Wayne, the Village People and others during a rowdy delivery of “Indian Outlaw.”
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How rowdy was the “Indian Outlaw” performance, you ask? Well, one of the night’s weirdest moments occurred during that song, as McGraw dropped to his haunches for an animated exchange with some portly slob down front. It wasn’t immediately clear from where I was sitting that the encounter was hostile as McGraw struggled to pull this big boy onstage, nearly ripping the fan's “wifebeater” t-shirt in the process before he and a couple of roadies successfully dragged the guy up and sent him reeling. The disoriented heckler got to his feet and took a couple of menacing steps toward McGraw with hand raised, prompting the country singer (not a small guy, for the record) to cock his own fist before crew members grabbed the would be attacker and escorted him forcibly offstage. (Am I safe in saying this schmuck never heard about what happened to that guy who jumped onstage with Snoop Dogg a few years back? He should consider himself lucky to just get arrested.) McGraw's band kept playing as the incident unfolded. And to the country star's credit, he jumped right back into the groove without missing a beat, as smoothly as if the scuffle was a planned part of the show. (It wasn't, of course. See the update at the end of this post.) And there seemed to be an extra angry edge to the next number, McGraw's murderous revenge tale “Between the River in Me.”
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McGraw’s set was packed with crowd pleasing hits, with party anthem “I Like It, I Love It” predictably generating the biggest sing-along response. McGraw also threw some new material into the mix, kicking things off with nostalgic power ballad “Still,” from his forthcoming new album. “There’s a place I like I go/ where I can hear the cotton grow/ and the train whistles blow, a dozen miles down the road/ and all I really have to do is just be still,” McGraw sang. “Southern Voice” was an upbeat mid-tempo number with shout outs to Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin and Michael Jordan, among other Southern heroes. And he described “You Had to Be There” as one of his favorite songs he’d ever written. The sweeping ballad told the tale of a boy bitterly confronting his absent dad. “I should have been learning how to fish instead of learnin’ how to smoke,” McGraw sang. I couldn’t follow all the lyrics last night, but I found a decent You Tube clip here. And on a non-musical note, McGraw must have signed a hundred or more autographs as the pre-encore part of the show wound down with "Live Like You Were Dying." He signed hats, t-shirts, ticket stubs and whatever the fans down front shoved in his face -- an endearing sight when so many stars of McGraw's caliber are insulated from their fans or take them for granted.
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Halfway to Hazard and Jason Aldean (in red t-shirt above) opened for McGraw. I was stuck in traffic for Hazard, as surprising as that may be for a White River show. But I caught the up-and-coming Aldean’s set, which included radio hit “Hicktown.” At one point the lady standing to my left caught the country star’s attention, as busy as he was trying to introduce the next song, and asked if she could snap a picture of his booty. Kinda forward, but the singer was accommodating. “But you gotta be quick,” he said. Hmm. I’ll have to remember to try that next time Nelly Furtado is in town.
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[Update: Here's a statement McGraw's publicist sent regarding the near fight during "Indian Outlaw": “While Tim was performing at the White River Amphitheater in Auburn, Washington last night, he watched a man rush to the front of the stage. This overly aggressive fan attacked a female fan and Tim witnessed this incident. Tim called for security, but when they could not respond quick enough Tim and several crew members removed the fan from the audience where he was then turned over to the local authorities.”

JESSIE SCHMIDT, MCGRAW PUBLICIST WITH SCHMIDT RELATIONS PUBLICITY FIRM IN NASHVILLE

So what is it about Iron Maiden that inspires such fanatical devotion among legions of metalheads? For the record, I caught the metal bug some time after “Master of Puppets.” And while I like Quiet Riot in small doses just as much as the next guy, I’m not exactly brimming with nostalgic for that cheesy chapter of metal that unfolded between Ozzy’s departure from Sabbath and thrash metal's golden age.

But there I was back in 1984 with a full house at White River Amphitheatre Monday night, during a Maiden set that drew heavily from the band’s album “Powerslave.” And as a guy who was more into Run DMC back in the Reagan era, I forgot to bring my denim vest. I wasn’t pumping my devil horns furious and shredding imaginary air guitar solos during “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” (That was my neighbor, who nearly bonked me in the head several times during moments of herbally-enhanced abandon.) I sported neither mullet nor mullet wig, fashion statements I observed several times (though most of the mullet wearers seemed to be kidding.)

And, sure, I appreciated the veteran metal outfit’s crowd pleasing gusto; 49-year-old singer Bruce Dickinson looked lean and mean, wearing weird trousers best described as chain mail Hammer pants as he pounced, punched and shrieked his way around the stage, occasionally ducking behind an Egyptian-themed wall to change costumes or retrieve a pair of tattered Union Jacks he waved during “The Trooper.”

But I mostly stood there blinking, wondering how much of this musical melodrama fans took seriously, and how of the Maiden’s appeal in 2008 comes from the band's over the top, Spinal Tap-style kitsch. I mean, middle aged guys in tight jeans and muscle shirts reeling of squealing guitar solos while their leader sings wails cartoonish lyrics about the Beelzebub and being scared of the dark? Really? OK, I'll go with that. But add a bit of makeup and more party hearty lyrics and we’d be watching Kiss. I'm just sayin'. Or maybe it is all about the nostalgia, since I saw plenty of aging gen-xers bobbing their heads with big grins on their faces -- guys in their late 30s and early 40s who must have been taken back to some happy memories of middle school and parachute pants. Yeah, we’ll go with that. But me, I couldn’t connect.

But to give more credit where credit is due, the fist pumping, sing-along chorus to “Run to the Hills” was a lot of fun, as were cameos by Maiden’s ghoulish mascot Eddie. He showed up as a 30-foot-tall mummy puppet, emerged from behind a huge, Eddie-sphinx face plate during “Iron Maiden.” And then he came back as a skinless, 12-foot-tall cyborg who wave his laser and got his groove on during “The Clairvoyant.” Hilarious! If that doesn’t put a smile on your face, try Paxil. And I'm amazed at how one guy could operate that thing.

Otherwise, the set was pretty similar to what Maiden delivered at Ozzfest in 2005, the year Ozzy melted down and ran off stage, down to the Eddie-emblazoned banners and a red-eyed devil that showed up during “The Number of the Beast.” There was even a reminder of the feud between singer Dickinson and Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne that started during that tour, with Maiden's leader boasting that his band had drawn more than 13,000 faithful and was in the midst of its biggest U.S. tour ever witout the benefit of a realityTV show. Take that, Ozzy! Sharon was not there to respond by throwing eggs or pulling the plug on the P.A.

Speaking of Ozzfest, this concert became a contender for metal event of the year with Ozzy’s festival dropping anchor in Dallas this year. Up next for local metal fans at White River are Mayhem Festival, featuring Slipknot, Disturbed and Mastodon on July 9, and Motley Crue’s Crue Fest on Aug. 8.

And fans can also, apparently, look forward to another Maiden visit before too long. Dickinson promised his band would be back playing “somewhere else” after its forthcoming album was finished.

Iron Maiden set list
White River Amphitheatre
June 2, 2008

Winston Churchill intro
Aces High
Two Minutes to Midnight
Revelations
The Trooper
Wasted Years
The Number of the Beast
Can I Play With Madness?
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Powerslave
Heaven Can Wait
Run to the Hills
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden

Encore:
Moonchild
The Clairvoyant
Hallowed be Thy Name

I’m back in Tacoma, I’ve scrubbed off the layers of camping grime and sun screen, and I finally have a quiet place to write and reliable wifi. So I thought I’d give you my take on the five best bands from Memorial Day weekend's Sasquatch festival.

Crudo: I’m a huge fan of Mike Patton’s hip-hop oriented projects. And during his new band’s second performance, it came across as an amped up version of Peeping Tom and Lovage.

Dengue Fever: This L.A. band delivered nice blend of psych-pop, jazz and other styles, with lyrics sung in Cambodian and English. Afterward, singer-guitarist Zac Holtzman confessed that he’s been the drunk dialer depicted in my favorite Dengue cut, “Sober Driver.”

The Cops: I’ve slept on this Seattle band for the past couple of years. But now that I’ve seen it, I’m a believer. These guys rock! “Modern Black Flats” was my favorite cut from their new album “Free Electricity.” But I’ll have revisit the rest after an explosive, crowd pleasing performance.

Death Cab for Cutie: The new songs sounded great, and the quartet delivered one of the most energized performances I’ve seen from them. “Pity and Fear” and a couple of set staples they left out would have put this set over the top.

The Mars Volta: One of the most mercurial and unpredictable bands in rock added to its reputation, as singer Cedric Bixler tossed a cymbal stand into the audience at the beginning of the set, and tried to wrestle gear away from the photographers shooting them to do the same thing. Are these guys a-holes? Sure. But pompous, antisocial behavior and rock go together like chocolate and peanut butter, right? And though it wasn’t the best performance I’ve seen these guys deliver, I loved this rowdy, jazz fusion-inflected set.

But enough of what I think. With dozens of bands and comedians on site, I couldn't catch everything. And maybe you thought Death Cab and the Mars Volta sucked. If you went, leave your best band picks in the comments section. Back in a bit with some more photos.