It’s not altogether surprising that all of the reserved seats for Friday’s “Live to Rock” tour show at the AVA at Casino del Sol are sold out.
Smart money has it that those seats will be filled with folks inching toward their sixth decade or straddling their 50s who remember the thrill of seeing Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach flip his blond hair back pleading “I Remember You” in MTV’s infancy. (Swedish vocalist Erik Grönwall replaced Bach in 2009.) Those reserved seat audience members will be the ones who were in college or fresh out of high school when Quiet Riot’s frontman Kevin DuBrow (RIP; 2007, fatal drug overdose) extolled us to get wild, wild, wild.
As of last week, there was plenty of room on the lawn ($35 through casinodelsol.com), where you can get your big hair, glam rock freak on and pretend it is Jani Lane (RIP; 2011, acute alcohol poisoning) up on the AVA stage screaming out that opening yell for “Cherry Pie” instead of the very capable Mason Dixon, who replaced Lane in 2008 when the founding vocalist left the band.
Winger, with founding frontman Kip Winger, pretty much has the same lineup it had when they scored monster hits of “Seventeen,” “Headed for A Heartache” and “Miles Away.” Fun fact: Kip Winger dabbles in classical music, slipping string arrangements in some of Winger’s earlier pop songs. In 2009, Tucson Symphony Orchestra performed the world premiere of Winger’s 20-minute piece “Ghost.”
“Live to Rock” pulls into the AVA, 5655 W. Valencia Road, for an 8 p.m. show on Friday, July 22.
