Cinderella Concert Review - Pacific Amphitheatre - Costa Mesa, CA - 8/3/12

I never make apologies for the music I loved as a teenager. In fact, if you looked at my music collection you would still see most of the metal CD's that I've had since the introduction of the CD back in the 80's. On my recent trip home to St. Louis I came across a stack of my old Twisted Sister and Ratt vinyl. It was like finding a hidden treasure in a buried time capsule. It almost brought a tear to my eye when my brother lifted them out of the box that my dad had labeled "Jody's Junk." 

So now you understand my excitement about last night's Cinderella show at the Pacific Amphitheatre. I'll admit, it's part nostalgia but it's mostly about listening to some great rock n' roll and having fun. Fun is something that seems to be missing from music the past 20 years or so. There is a lot of great music being released but no one seems to be having any fun. Metal was always fun.

Tonight's show featured the "classic" Cinderella line up of Tom Keifer on vocals, Eric Brittingham on bass, Jeff LaBar on guitar and Fred Coury on drums. Cinderella is an interesting band since they have only released a total of four studio albums over the past 25 years and nothing since 1994's Still Climbing. Most of tonight's set list focused on their first three albums which was to the delight of the 5,000 or so fans in attendance.

Vocalist Tom Keifer and bassist Eric Brittigham

The band ripped through most of their classic early songs including "Night Songs," "Shake Me," Nobody's Fool," and "Somebody Save Me" all from their excellent debut album Night Songs. The album is considered by many to be one of the true classics of the early glam metal era.

After the release of the first album Cinderella moved away from the their glam metal roots to focus more on a blues-based rock style that really made their musicianship shine. Both the Long Cold Winter and Heartbreak Station albums are perfect examples of this stripped down sound which brought the band closer to the classic rock sounds of the Rolling Stones and Bad Company.

From Long Cold Winter they played "Gypsy Road" and "Second Wind." Their most well know song "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)," was a real crowd pleaser complete with vocalist Tom Keifer's unforgettable piano playing.  But the highlight of the entire evening was the song "Coming Home." The southern rock styled song had the entire crowd singing along with Keifer while the rest of the band's musicianship proved to be top notch.

The band came out for an encore and went into the blues heavy "Long Cold Winter" and finished the evening with "Shelter Me" with Keifer and the band channelling early 70's Aerosmith.

After several years of uncertainty about the band's future they seem to be back and ready to rock. They have a new found enthusiasm now that Keifer's vocal issues seem to be resolved. The band thanked the fans several times for their support through the years and promised they would see everyone again very soon. After this incredible night of music we can only hope that this is the case.

Cinderella saying goodnight to the fans