Since the release of Tesla’s first album in 1986, I’ve been a fan. The band brought this unique rock sound and vocals that other bands couldn’t match. And to see them continuing to do it 33 years later is legendary. After touring with Styx and Joan Jett over the summer, Tesla is out on a headlining tour in support of their 8th studio album, Shock, that will be released on March 8th. Tesla scheduled a stop at the House of Blues Orlando originally on Saturday, February 23rd. The show sold out so fast they added an additional show on Friday, February 22nd. After getting a chance to interview with Tesla’s guitarist Frank Hannon (listen and read it here) I was excited to see these shows.
Friday night was a packed crowd at House of Blues Orlando. Though it was not listed as sold out, it certainly felt that way that evening. It was the crowd where you’re walking sideways to get past people standing at the bar or at tables hoping someone doesn’t spill a drink on you as you’re walking by. And it was energetic as the chattering from the crowd talking about Tesla, their music, the new t-shirt someone bought at the show, and just their overall excitement. It’s the crowd that a rock show should be like every single time.
The curtain was already pulled back with instruments set up on stage as the crowd waited for the show to begin. The opener that night was Voices of Extreme from New York. The band’s history dates back to 2004 and they have released 3 albums titled Hypocrite, Breaking Silence, and Mach III. They have opened for the bands Kix, Metal Church, and multiple times for Tesla. Consisting of Don Chaffin (vocals, guitars), Bobby Brennan (bass), and Jordan Cannata (drums), they came on stage excited, all smiles, and absolutely ready to rock.
I’ve never had the opportunity to hear them until that evening and I was beyond impressed with this band. They kicked off their set with “Martyr” which has a smooth grooving guitar and bass line. Don absolutely kills the vocals on it and right away they had the crowd hooked. “Call My Name” has a solid heavy rock feel with the vocals to match. I enjoyed seeing Jordan beating away on the drums heavily into the song. “Tell Me What It Takes” was a great ballad from the band keeping their hard rock in tune with a slower song. The more I listen to Voices of Extreme, the more I loved this band and their sound. Voices of Extreme is a little bit Tesla and a little bit Led Zeppelin. And right after I had said that to myself, they were wrapping up their short set with a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll”. And they nailed it. The crowd was screaming, applauding, and cheering loudly for Voices of Extreme. Honestly, I wanted to hear more of their music on stage that night. Phenomenal performance.
You can check them out at voicesofextreme.com. Their setlist that night:
- Martyr
- Call My Name
- Landslide
- Tell Me What It Takes
- Lovers and Losers
- Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin cover)
Next up was Year of the Locust (YOTL). The band lists themselves as a “motley collection of personalities from the American Northeast”. YOTL has released 1 studio album titled Devolver and released a self-titled EP. The hard rock band consisting of Scott McGiveron (vocals), Fred Sorrell (bass), Tyler Hensley (guitars), and Dusty Winterrowd (drums) were ready to rock the House of Blues. Billy Grey, the guitarist from Fozzy, was filling for YOTL guitarist Cody Hyde. The band stepped out on stage opening up with “Sunrise” their latest single. It was a mix of rock to hardcore heavy metal especially right in the middle of the song and YOTL was throwing down the gauntlet encouraging the crowd to sing back to them and get moving. The next song “Broken Now” from Devolver had some nice heavy guitar and bass riffs through it. Their music was great rock, but the crowd didn’t seem as engaged during the middle of their set. The band finished strong though with the crowd cheering in appreciation.
You can check out the band at yearofthelocust.com. Their setlist that night:
- Sunrise
- Broken Now
- Sorry
- Movin On
- Stay Alive
- Whispers
- Line Em Up
Finally, our headliners, Tesla, were ready to take the stage. The band from Sacramento, CA founded their roots back in 1981 but it wasn’t until 1986 when they adopted the name of Tesla and released their first album Mechanical Resonance. That album immediately put them in the spotlight with the well-known singles of “Modern Dary Cowboy”, “Little Suzi”, and “Changes”. Their follow-up album The Great Radio Controversy did very well for them with memorable songs such as “Love Song”, “Paradise”, and “Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)”. They followed up a year later with the live album Five Man Acoustical Jam which was a recording of an acoustic tour the band did in 1990. That album produced their cover of “Signs” originally released by the Five Man Electrical Band. After two more albums, the band decided to take a hiatus in 1996 and then came back together in 2000. After releasing 3 additional albums, Tesla is now ready to release their eighth studio album Shock to be released on March 8th. Jeff Keith (vocals), Frank Hannon (guitar), Brian Wheat (bass), Troy Luccketta (drums), and Dave Rude (guitar) made their way to the stage and the crowd was joyfully screaming and cheering.
Tesla opened with “You Won’t Take Me Alive” from Shock. Hitting the crowd with some new music right away had the crowd grooving. It was a great start to get the crowd riled up. They followed up with “Solution” from Bust a Nut and then surprised the crowd with “Modern Day Cowboy”, which I thought would be performed closer to the end of the show. The crowd was absolutely loving everything Tesla was throwing at them. Jeff’s vocals sounded absolutely amazing and he was smiling most of the night with this huge crowd at House of Blues. Frank and Dave were absolute masters at the guitar that night. Performing solo or together both of them were superb. Brian rocked out with Dave and Frank at one point but mostly kept a stoic face all night strumming away on the bass. Troy was hidden behind the high riser but there was no doubt he lit up the drumset with every clash, thump, and bang that was whipped out. After 33 years Tesla sounded better than ever.
While the band decided to only play one other song from the new album, the title track “Shock”, Frank did stick to his word in our interview saying they would pull out some nice mix of songs from their catalog. Outside of the well-known “Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)”, “Changes”, and “Love Song”, they performed “Breakin’ Free” and “Miles Away”. The band put some great use to the monitors sitting behind them that evening as well. While performing “Edison’s Medicine (Man Out of Time)” they displayed a number of images relating to the Nikolai Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi over the invention of the radio. But, the true gem of the evening is when they performed “What You Give” from Psychotic Supper. As they performed the song, the monitors displayed all black and white photos of the band from various on-stage photos to candid photos. It was such a great photo memory the band put together for the song. My favorite was a close up of Troy playing on his drumset the photographer looking up at him.
The band wrapped up the evening starting with “Little Suzi”, which is a cover by the British band Ph. D. They then surprised the Orlando crowd with a very special guest. Pat Travers came out on stage to play with the band. For those who don’t know, Pat is a guitarist originally from Toronto, Canada who started releasing albums back in the late 70s and continued releasing new work all the way through 2015. He lives in the Central Florida area and Tesla asked him to be there to perform “Cumin’ Atcha Live” with them. And it was a masterful sight. Jeff then said to the crowd they don’t do encores, they just continue playing and rocking. Tesla’s final song that night was “Signs” with Jeff coming out with his hair tucked under his hat as he sang “And then sign says long hair freaky people need not apply. So I put my hair under my hat and I went in to ask him why.” When Tesla finished the crowd hollered, hooted, cheered, applauded and made as much noise as long as they could while they thanked the crowd and walked off stage.
You can pre-order their new album Shock at their website teslatheband.com. Their setlist that night:
- You Won’t Take Me Alive
- Solution
- Modern Day Cowboy
- Be a Man
- Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)
- Breakin’ Free
- Miles Away
- Changes
- Stir It Up
- Call It What You Want
- What You Give
- Shock
- Edison’s Medicine
- Love Song
- Little Suzi (Ph. D. cover)
- Cumin’ Atcha Live
- Signs (Five Man Electrical Band cover)
It was a very fun filled evening with some great rock, awesome tunes, and overall great experience. After that night, I was definitely looking forward to night #2 on Saturday, March 23rd.