The Classic Rock Show delivers a blast from the past at The Pabst

By Lily Wellen, OnMilwaukee Intern Published Feb 27, 2017 at 4:01 PM

The genre of classic rock sparks love in people's lives, either from growing up in its prime or having the musical influences bestowed upon you by others. The songs represent wonderful memories for people, whether it's one you jammed out to on a road trip or one that was your class song. You could tell all types were represented in the diverse crowd that gathered together at The Pabst Theater last night for The Classic Rock Show.

For the first time ever, the group traveled to Milwaukee to treat its audience to legendary rock songs. Understandably, it's an uneasy feeling hearing musicians who aren't the songs' originators play right in front of your eyes. But the group was just there to play and jam out to the songs they personally love, while also letting us enjoy the throwback hits.

Nothing compares to the real deal, but this eight-piece band did an amazing job resembling all of the classic rock musicians. The large band allowed them to match the musician to the right position for the songs to ensure they were played and represented correctly. It was fun for the audience to watch the band mix things up every song, but it also showed how talented every musician was, filling in multiple band roles, including playing double guitars, acoustic guitars, keyboards, mandolins and more.

It was impressive how much each member could match their voice or instrument to the legend they were representing. They could hit the high notes, nail the solos and make anything look effortless. They were just a group of people jamming out and having fun singing their favorite tunes with bright lights and a rock show atmosphere. The band members mentioned these songs came from some of their favorite albums at kids, which helped make their performance more passionate and sincere. The group sang everything from Boston's "More than a Feeling" to the Eagle's "Hotel California" to even ZZ Top's "La Grange."

To help make you fall more in love with this show as they sang, old music video clips and old band footage played on a big screen behind them. It was particularly special when the screen showed footage from the Beatles' glory days, as well as Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" video.

The crowd showed up wearing band t-shirts varying from Rush to The Who to AC/DC, showing their excitement from the start. Heads banged, people clapped and jammed out to every song that was played. Specifically, one lady in the middle of the theater had her fingers permanently in the rock-on symbol, yelling until her voice gave up and making googly eyes at the band, adding to the effect of a rock show.

The band really got the place energized with the highlight of the show, "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC. They got everyone on their feet for the first time and had almost the whole crowd singing the words. Then they kept the fans' adrenaline going by closing the set with Van Halen's "Jump." People were sad to see them go. They clapped and yelled as loud as they could to get the band back out there.

Luckily for everyone, they emerged again to give everyone an epic encore. The band started the encore off with "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, then closed the entire show with "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who. People loved their closing song choice, but the show coming to an end broke the audience's hearts. They clapped and clapped, hoping that a double encore could happen. But unfortunately, fans watched the band sweetly bow and graciously thank the audience. Although the show came to a close, the audience was ready to have them come back as soon as possible, as people yelled out "Come to Summerfest!"