Search - Starz :: STARZ: Extended Versions Live

I was THERE!!!!

L. Newton | East Coast, USA | 12/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cleveland, September 23, 2004, Beachland Ballroom . . . . . STAAAARRRRRRRZ!!!



And I was there!!! And if you are a Starz fan and you never saw them Live! then this is the CD for you! The Beachland is a cool little place, used to be a Croatian social club. NICE stage. The band unloaded that afternoon, with a few Starz fans who showed up to help. Dube played bartender for a bit. George and Michael Lee kicked around a beach ball. They did a soundcheck and cranked up the volume as high as they could. It was like a poker game with everyone upping their 'ante'.. Richie would turn his guitar amp up. MLS would turn up his mic speaker (I forget what that's called). George would tun his bass up and Dube just kept pulling bigger sticks out of his bag (I'm kidding . . ) Guess you kind of expect that from Starz . . . . there was an opening band, that I missed, and then the crowd started to get restless. I remember it was very dark. Even with the lights on, it's pretty dark in the Beachland. But a couple people lit matches and held them up to the darkened stage . . there's some hollering when the crowd heard/sensed some rustling on stage as the band got set up. The taped intro comes on . . . . the lights (such as they are) went up and the music just started POUNDING!



They played, I swear, for almost two hours straight. There were like five encores! Brendan Harkin was sadly unable to make the gig, but that gave Richie Ranno the freedom to play any song the any way HE wanted, and he did! That's one of the things that makes this particular recording unique. They fed off the crowd and the crowd fed off of them. It was one of those nights when the band and the audience are really just one thing. It was an event that could not have happened without that particular blend of fans and band!



The set list on this CD is Live Wire, Fallen Angel, Rock Six Times, Subway Terror, Pull the Plug, Cherry Baby, Take Me, So Young So Bad, It's a Riot, and X-Ray Spex. You can hear the crowd sing a long here and there and Dube's tribute to Cleveland on "It's A Riot". Turn down the lights and turn up the volume on this CD and you'll BE there!



And I've heard rumors they'll be back at the Beachland in 2007! Fingers crossed! In the meantime, this CD is pretty awesome . . . Starz songs are so good that they STILL kick butt all these years later.



P.S. You can catch a couple of the songs on YouTube. Enter "Starz Beachland" in the search box!"

STARZ! Still rockin' 25 years later!

H. Prentiss | Maryland | 10/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Recorded in Cleveland, this album captures the band showing they can still rock with the best of them! Featuring ten scorching tracks, pristine sound and a nice heavy mix, it has all the familiar songs you remember from the late 70's! Tracks like "Rock Six Times," "Pull The Plug" and "Subway Terror" have never sounded better! This is a must-have for any STARZ fan! There is even more STARZ merchandise (t-shirts, guitar pics, all of their studio albums, live CD's, live DVD's and more) available directly from the band's website, www.starzcentral.com."