Kid Rock Saga Continues

Woo hoo!!...Look at those smiles as we exit the over the top, never stop, slash and burn, rednecktastic and ghetto fabulous show. 

Kid Rock tuned up the appreciative crowd with a mix of the smoking new tunes from Rock N Roll Jesus and a healthy helping of the Kid classics from the past ten years.  It seemed that a certain symmetry was achieved by finally seeing the tour after beginning our Kid Rock odyssey in Atlanta.  The quest was now over and another chapter in Leftcoastlove history is written.  Let's get to it then, ok?

Kid Rock preaches to the party faithful

By Jim Harrington
STAFF WRITER

Forget Bruce Springsteen and the Bridge School Benefit  the weekend's hottest ticket was Kid Rock at the Fillmore in San Francisco on Sunday night.

That, of course, begs one significant question: How the heck did that happen?

The man born Robert James Ritchie, but known to the world as Kid Rock, is in the midst of one of the most unlikely and convincing comeback stories in recent pop history. Just a few months ago, the rap-rock star seemed pretty much washed up. It had been four years since his last offering, 2003's mostly mediocre eponymous affair that will remembered for an awful cover of Bad Company's ``Feel Like Makin' Love.''

In the interim, Rock had become the worst kind of celebrity one that is famous for being famous. He remained in the public eye by marrying, and then quickly splitting up with, top-heavy rock groupie Pamela Anderson. More recently, he's made news by getting into fights with Pamela's other ex-husband, Tommy Lee, and some customer at how white trash is this? a Waffle House in Atlanta.

Yet, a funny thing happened on the way to the land of has-been town. Kid Rock releases a new album, ``Rock N Roll Jesus,'' and it debuts at the top of the charts, marking the vocalist's first-ever No. 1 record. All of sudden, the Kid is everywhere, including on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine's ``2007 Hot Issue.'' That's an appropriate place for him because, right now, the Kid is scorching. More to the point, he showed no signs of cooling off during his sold-out show at the Fillmore.

Who were all these people? The crowd bared absolutely no resemblance to the regular Fillmore brigade of hipster San Franciscans. I didn't see a single soul dressed in all black, nor one pair of fake eyeglasses, and I'd bet that these people don't even own any Guided By Voices CDs. Instead, it was a hard-drinking, hard-partying group, complete with several Hell's Angels in attendance. Many of these people acted like the last concert they saw was Van Halen in 1984.

Rock provided the perfect soundtrack for this edition of ``Fans Gone Wild'' as he appeared onstage, in front of his nine-piece Twisted Brown Trucker band, and started belting out the party anthems. Beginning with the new album's rowdy title track, the 36-year-old Michigan native carried out his mission which apparently is to create a new breed of classic rock in big pimpin' fashion.

Say what you want about Rock, but the guy is an entertainer and he'll do whatever it takes to make sure the crowd has a good time. Of course, the busy Fillmore bartenders were greatly aiding his cause.

The best-received numbers all hailed from ``Devil Without a Cause,'' the 1998 offering that made Rock a star. An early double-shot of ``Welcome 2 the Party'' and that album's title track had the devil-fist-waving crowd members eating out of the singer's palm.

From there, Rock tightened his grip on his fans as he jammed through ``You Never Met a Mother----- Quite Like Me'' and ``American Bad Ass.'' He slowed it down a bit for the new album's ``Amen,'' which, despite what he told Rolling Stone, is not the best song Rock has ever written. Indeed, that song came across as such a John Cougar Mellencamp rip-off that one almost expected to hear him sing about ``Pink Houses.''

One of the evening's best moments came when Rock put on a 10-gallon hat and launched into the ``Devil'' track ``Cowboy.'' In the middle of the tune, he even included a bit of country star David Allen Coe's ``You Never Even Called Me By My Name,'' which, as those familiar with the song will tell you, is ``the perfect country and western song.''

He also performed his own new honky-tonker ``Half Your Age,'' a hilarious rebuttal to his ex-wife's less-than-flattering comments about him to the media, and then took a turn on the turntables for some impressive slicing and dicing. Before closing the show with the great ``Devil'' anthem ``Bawitdaba,'' Rock had touched upon Bob Seger-style classic rock, b-boy hip-hop, authentic country and adrenaline-fueled metal.

That truly impressive range is one of the reasons why Rock's show was the weekend's most sought-after ticket. He shouldn't get too cocky, however, since even this Kid can't move tickets like the other kid Hannah Montana.