TESLA – TIME TO ROCK! TOUR – LIVE AT FOXWOODS CASINO

By Kat Gullage

Tesla brought their Time To Rock! tour to a sold out crowd at the 1400 seat Great Cedar Showroom located in Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket CT.

Back in the day, I devoured Tesla‘s first four albums. I always thought they were a great live band based on the handful of times I’d seen them. The last Tesla gig I attended was in 2009 at Toad’s Place. During a meet and greet at that show, a shameless bass player friend asked the band “You’re not gonna play that song “Signs” are you?”. They all laughed except the bass player. “Bass players have no sense of humor.” my buddy professed.

Tesla emerged during the glam metal years (releasing their debut album, Mechanical Resonance in 1986) but their bluesy rock sound was not wrapped in embellishments like their peers. Named after inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla, the band went gold and platinum and sold more than fourteen million albums. The close knit quintet retained original members for decades preserving and perfecting their sound.

On this night, Jeff Keith (Vocals), Frank Hannon (Guitar), Brian Wheat (Bass), Steve Brown (Drums) and Dave Rude (Guitar) treated us to seventeen songs from five of their eight studio albums. Brown replaced original member Troy Luccketta in 2021 and Rude replaced original guitarist Tommy Skeoch in 2006.

With no opening act, a quick pre-recorded Tesla menagerie of hits kicked off the night. Singer Jeff Keith shouted “Are you ready? Let’s do this!” before taking us back to 1989 with “Lady Luck” from the LP The Great Radio Controversy. I was transported from my phenomenal seat back to my youth. Tesla sounded exactly like they did in their heyday.

“Modern Day Cowboy” followed, one screechy part kept it from being flawless. Hungry for more, I scooped a vacant seat in the second row and went off during “Hang Tough”. Toward the end of the song Jeff Keith tripped over a stage monitor. I yelled “Oh shit!” and went running over ready to provide first aid, but he jumped right up like nothing ever happened. He was literally hanging tough.

Unscathed, he said “I forgot that was there!” and the show went on with “Time To Rock!”, a single they released in 2022 that sounds better live, “Heaven’s Trail”, “Miles Away” (from the LP Into The Now) which is not one of my faves but seeing the musician’s emotions when they played it live made it better. A few fans knew the words but most of the crowd just nodded along. I personally would’ve rather heard “Mama’s Fool” from the LP Bust A Nut, but none of those tracks made the cut.

I had been shuffled back to my assigned seat, but during “Changes” I merged in with people dancing up front. Bassist Brian Wheat threw a pick at me during “We’re No Good Together”, but the guy next to me caught it. I pointed to my boobs and said “These are the reason he threw that pick!” and the guy gave it to me! “Pvt. Ledbetter” was fucking great live. Frank Hannon threw a pick our way and the same guy ended up with it, this time deservedly so.

The welcome assault of our senses continued with “Lazy Days, Crazy Nights”, “Love Me”, and “Call It What You Want”, where Frank played a Barbie pink axe and fist bumped multiple fans. Three quarters of the audience were on their feet at this point. “What You Give” was followed by “Edison’s Medicine”, where Frank played foot pedal tag with the crowd.

Jeff, who didn’t address the crowd often, proclaimed “What a great show so far!” “Oooooohhh, what’s that?” “”Oh! Love!” “I LOVE IT!”. This was the prelude to fan favorite “Love Song”. Then their cover of Ph.D.’s “Little Suzi’,” ended the main set. My notes read “So fucking good live, sound is great.” Predictably, the encore was their infamous cover of the Five Man Electrical Band’s song “Signs”. Steve tossed out a drumstick and somehow my unathletic self caught it!

Tesla has an extensive catalog including eight studio albums, live albums and an acoustic LP. They continue to release new singles, refusing to sacrifice quality for quantity, and tour relentlessly. If you loved them back in the day, I guarantee you would love them live. If you’ve never heard of them, what the hell are you waiting for?

Author’s Note: Now that we have Tesla cars, we have to specify Tesla “The Band” when we’re searching for them. How annoying! Wish Elon had named his cars TeXla instead.

Thank you faithful readers, keep on rockin and supporting music!

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