Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF
It must be Classic Rock Week at Spinning Platters!
With all of the venues in San Francisco having been shuttered since March 2020, and without knowing just how much longer Covid-19 is going to keep them closed, Spinning Platters grew tired of the waiting and decided to look far and wide to other places in pursuit of a Real. Live. Show.
Not only were we lucky enough to photograph rock and roll legends Foreigner mere days ago, now we can add 50% of Van Halen, the direct lineage of Led Zeppelin’s drummer, and even 25% of Mötley Crüe (more on that later) to the list. Our rock/metal photographer, who has been riding out the latter part of this pandemic in Florida, got invited to photograph and review another show!
In between Orlando’s City Hall, a couple of office buildings and hotels, and Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, is a large plaza with brick walkways, palm trees, and lots of grass. This space seems like it would normally be where people go to bike, roller blade, walk their dog, read a book, and downtown workers might eat their lunch at. Dr. Phillips Center and the city of Orlando put a fence around the plaza, built a stage, video screens, sound, lights, bars, food stands, merch stand, along with safe socially distanced ‘pods’, and created something called Frontyard Festival. From December 2020 through May 2021, Foreigner, The Beach Boys, The Wailers, Indigo Girls, Smith & Myers (Shinedown), Blackberry Smoke, Jamey Johnson, Randy Houser, Keb’ Mo’, Kevin Smith, Wynton Marsalis, and many movie nights have all taken place here.
Another show that took place here, and the one we were invited to was none other than to see Red Rocker Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Vic Johnson, and Jason Bonham (otherwise known as The Circle) rock an outdoor stage for all of downtown Orlando to hear, and only ticket holders to see!
The Circle has only one studio album of their own songs, so they spent the majority of their 115 minute set performing Sammy’s solo hits and Van Hagar songs (circa 1985-1996).
Between songs, Sammy spoke about a few things other than his music, such as he enjoys performing multiple nights in the same city, and that he doesn’t like to drink before a show because he likes to drink during a show.
Multiple shows in the same city gives him time to actually enjoy a place, and drinking during a show led to many mentions of his tequila, along with a few giveaways to some folks in the front row of ‘pods’.
At the point in the set where they were about to perform a Led Zeppelin song, Sammy shocked everyone, including his own bandmates, by bringing out a surprise guest. Right on cue, out walks Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe! Sammy said that he happened to see Vince at the hotel bar and persuaded him to perform. Some members of Vince’s solo band live in or near Orlando, so he was here to rehearse for their upcoming headlining appearance at the Boone Iowa River Valley Festival. Sammy joked that was a good idea “because who wants to rehearse in Iowa?!”
The last two songs were technically the encore, although the band never left the stage. Sammy said that he does not like to leave the stage to go to the dressing room for a minute only to go right back to the stage. The songs chosen for the encore were unexpected. To keep busy during their own lockdowns, The Circle released an album of cover songs that they like. David Bowie’s Heroes is one and was chosen for the set as a tribute to all of the essential employees that went to work during the lockdowns. Instead of another rocking Sammy or Van Hagar classic, they finished the night with an original The Circle song that many may have been unfamiliar with. It was a perfect ending to a night of hits though, since this show was billed as The Circle after all!
Click on any photo below for a slideshow of full-size images.
See more photos of all of your favorite Rock musicians at Alan Ralph‘s photo portfolio.
