Review Of Red Dragon Cartel At The Whiskey

[RobGLA Profile Website]

Went to the debut show by Jake's new band Red Dragon Cartel at the Whiskey on Sunset tonight.

Thought some of you would be interested in what happened at the gig as obviously there is a lot of love for Jake here, so with that said, there is good and bad news.

The good news is Jake played really well! He nailed parts and solos for Ozzy and Badlands tunes and sounded great. He was playing through an EVH amp and the tone wasn't as good as back in the Badlands days, but it was pretty good, better than on That Metal Show.

The setlist was also really varied with The Ultimate Sin, Rock 'n' Roll Rebel and Bark At The Moon from his Ozzy days and Highwire, Shine On, Rumblin' Train, In A Dream and Sun Red Sun from Badlands. The rest of the tunes were new ones.

Here's the bad part. The singer. He was drunk off his arse from the first song and made a complete fool of himself. He kept messing up lyrics, antagonized the audience, kept yelling during Jake's solos and completely derailed (no pun intended) Rumblin' Train- he forgot the second verse, told Jake to solo, then kept trying to come back in and sing over the solo. The drummer called the song 'a trainwreck.'

I felt bad for Jake and you could feel the tension in the audience throughout the gig as the singer got worse and worse, especially during In A Dream which was supposed to be a moving tribute to Ray. He even hit Jake's guitar during the outro solo to Bark At The Moon and messed him up.

The last time I saw Jake play was with Badlands at the London Astoria, 1992 and the whole band just killed it that night.

I would not be surprised if this band does not last very long, or at the very least they will need a different singer, but I just hope that Jake keeps playing because it was great to see him back in action

[aqharyder Profile]

Went to the debut show by Jake's new band Red Dragon Cartel at the Whiskey on Sunset tonight.

Thought some of you would be interested in what happened at the gig as obviously there is a lot of love for Jake here, so with that said, there is good and bad news.

The good news is Jake played really well! He nailed parts and solos for Ozzy and Badlands tunes and sounded great. He was playing through an EVH amp and the tone wasn't as good as back in the Badlands days, but it was pretty good, better than on That Metal Show.

The setlist was also really varied with The Ultimate Sin, Rock 'n' Roll Rebel and Bark At The Moon from his Ozzy days and Highwire, Shine On, Rumblin' Train, In A Dream and Sun Red Sun from Badlands. The rest of the tunes were new ones.

Here's the bad part. The singer. He was drunk off his arse from the first song and made a complete fool of himself. He kept messing up lyrics, antagonized the audience, kept yelling during Jake's solos and completely derailed (no pun intended) Rumblin' Train- he forgot the second verse, told Jake to solo, then kept trying to come back in and sing over the solo. The drummer called the song 'a trainwreck.'

I felt bad for Jake and you could feel the tension in the audience throughout the gig as the singer got worse and worse, especially during In A Dream which was supposed to be a moving tribute to Ray. He even hit Jake's guitar during the outro solo to Bark At The Moon and messed him up.

The last time I saw Jake play was with Badlands at the London Astoria, 1992 and the whole band just killed it that night.

I would not be surprised if this band does not last very long, or at the very least they will need a different singer, but I just hope that Jake keeps playing because it was great to see him back in action

Thank you so much for posting. I'm so glad that Jake did well, but I feel so bad for him with the singer being a mess. I'm driving down to San Diego on Saturday for the show on Sunday, and I hope they somehow get the singer in check. After all this time, what a jerk - I'm so angry and hurt for Jake. I will definitely post when I get back. Do you know if it sold out?

[Tonefiend Profile Website]

Yeah my friends and I had the same thoughts about the singer. He needed to shut the hell up and sing. He's a good singer. He just needs to get it together. Hopefully it will work itself out or Ronnie and the management will lay down the law and keep it under control.

Overall the show was freaking awesome. Jake is as good as he ever was. I've seen Badlands 3 times and he's still got it. I'm really looking forward to the SD show! I liked his Marshall tone better, he played a Fender EVH amp.

Heres a rappy camera phone vid of high wire. It's uploading and should be there in a while.
http://youtu.be/Vq0Yea1ZNyY




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[Tonefiend Profile Website]

This guys been posting vids up. Crappy sound too. I'm sure some good ones will be up shortly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lxHn_TOFL8

They started the show with Ultimate Sin. I thought it was a little slow. It teek them a few minutes to get warmed up but once they did....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rlsWt2jFP8

Killer show!

[AUSAR Profile]

Just watched the vids and jake rocks! So great to see him live again But that singer needs to get his shit together!! First gig and his acting like this. Have some respect not only for the LEGEND your getting the privilege to play with but also the opportunity you've been given! Jake you are still my guitar hero, then and now

[Smitty Profile]

Thanks for the review. Who was there? Any celebs/guitarists that you saw?

[3dayphunk Profile]

First, appreciate the review!

I watched the clips. Firstly Jake NAILED the Shine On solo! I wasn't expecting that to be honest. Jake sounded great in these couple youtube links so far. And I wasn't expecting some of those Badlands tunes to be in the list (Shine On, In A Dream & Sun Red Sun).

The singer, DJ/Darren Smith...I'm not impressed from the clips. He certainly can't nail Ray Gillan. But then, most cannot. Really disappointing to hear he was so drunk it affected his performance. That's piss poor. People paid to see the show, as a musician you owe them the best you can do. That just sucks. Oddly, George Lynch seems to have gone through similar situations with Lynch Mob singers over the past 2-3 years and having to use subs.

I am guessing Darren will sound alot better with their original tunes though.

But it's a concerning start from his point of view.

Seeing as they have originals and a new album just about to come out, I HIGHLY doubt anything happens regarding a singer change. He'll just need to sober up and get better quickly.

[3dayphunk Profile]

Oh, any glance of what pedals he was using if he had a pedalboard?

[aqharyder Profile]

This guys been posting vids up. Crappy sound too. I'm sure some good ones will be up shortly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lxHn_TOFL8

They started the show with Ultimate Sin. I thought it was a little slow. It teek them a few minutes to get warmed up but once they did....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rlsWt2jFP8

Killer show!

Wow!!! My heart is pounding! I don't know what it is, guess I don't need to, but whenever I hear him play it goes right to my core. I cannot wait to see him - leaving tomorrow for San Diego!!!!

Thank you for posting the videos - awesome!

[Nature of Threat Profile]

Jake is brilliant as always! So glad to see him playing live again. Not to be negative...but I have to call it as I see it.....Darren the singer, is out of his league. I wasn't at the show, so I cannot speak first hand....but what I have seen and heard from friends/fellow musicians who were at last nights gig....he was completely unprofessional and embarrassing. I sincerely hope this guy redeems himself as things progress....and I will be the first one to eat my words if I am wrong.....but honestly right now I want to beat his ass for behaving like an amateur when he has been given such a great opportunity. Anyway....sorry to rant...but I'm pissed. Huge love going out to Jake and so happy to see one of my all time biggest musical influences performing and in top form!!

[aqharyder Profile]

Jake is brilliant as always! So glad to see him playing live again. Not to be negative...but I have to call it as I see it.....Darren the singer, is out of his league. I wasn't at the show, so I cannot speak first hand....but what I have seen and heard from friends/fellow musicians who were at last nights gig....he was completely unprofessional and embarrassing. I sincerely hope this guy redeems himself as things progress....and I will be the first one to eat my words if I am wrong.....but honestly right now I want to beat his ass for behaving like an amateur when he has been given such a great opportunity. Anyway....sorry to rant...but I'm pissed. Huge love going out to Jake and so happy to see one of my all time biggest musical influences performing and in top form!!

Beautifully said and I couldn't agree more.

[RobGLA Profile Website]

Yeah my friends and I had the same thoughts about the singer. He needed to shut the hell up and sing. He's a good singer. He just needs to get it together. Hopefully it will work itself out or Ronnie and the management will lay down the law and keep it under control.

Overall the show was freaking awesome. Jake is as good as he ever was. I've seen Badlands 3 times and he's still got it. I'm really looking forward to the SD show! I liked his Marshall tone better, he played a Fender EVH amp.

Heres a rappy camera phone vid of high wire. It's uploading and should be there in a while.
http://youtu.be/Vq0Yea1ZNyY




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The annoying part is I could tell the singer has a good vocal range and if he focused and wasn't so wasted I think he could have done a pretty good job covering Ray and Ozzy's vocals, which is an incredibly difficult task for any singer, but what bothered me the most was that he wasn't trying. He kept glancing down at the lyrics which he had on auto-cue or something but was still getting them wrong, which was especially poor during 'In A Dream' as it was intended as a tribute to Ray.

[Tonefiend Profile Website]

I am confident with the management and $$$ invested in this they will pull it together. He is a great singer. These 3 shows are going to be good for dialing things in. I'm looking forward to some great things just look at Jake playing. As the show progressed he got more into it and kept getting better and btter. He was even smiling a few times.

I liked the interaction between him and Jonas where he tried to introduce himself and jake was tuning up with his volume on full blast. I couldn't tell if he was joking or telling him to STFU!

The singer really was humble and giving props to the band and especially Ronnie but he was cut off. If it werenot for Ronnie it wound;t have happened so that was cool . We all appreciate his comtri butions as the catalyst for the whole thing.

Lets see what they do in SD on Sunday!!!

[AZFF Profile]

Thanks for the review. Who was there? Any celebs/guitarists that you saw?

Warren DeMartini, Joe Holmes, and Oni Logan

[Tonefiend Profile Website]

Watched the Chargers and Broncos game in the bar next to the Whisky and David Spade was drinking a table or three away. Not sure if he was headed to the show I didn't see him in there.