Review by Val Tapia
Photos by Fred Kuhlman
Promoter: Danny Zelisko Presents (https://dzplive.com/ )
Venue: Mesa Arts Center (https://boxoffice.mesaartscenter.com/Online/default.asp )
Date: Monday June 17th, 2024
Tour: “Keepin’ It Real” 2024 Tour
Let me think back to some of the music released in 1986 for a minute. There was Ozzy Osbourne’s The Ultimate Sin, Metallica’s Master of Puppets, Van Halen’s 5150, Steve Winwood’s Back In The High Life, and Queensryche’s seminal album Rage For Order.
There was also Madonna’s True Blue, Run-DMC’s Raising Hell, Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet, Beastie Boys License To Ill, Cinderella’s Night Songs, and Poison’s Look What the Cat Dragged In.
Oh yeah, I have two more for you: R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Pageant and The Smithereens Especially For You, which were both all over college radio (the precursor to what would become “alternative” in the 90s) that year.
As you can see, there was something for every young music fan out there. More importantly, there was plenty of room for it as well.
OK, OK… I’ll add another hard rock album that arrived in record stores late that same year. However, it would be a slow climber, if you will, on the Billboard charts that would go well into 1987.
I’m talking about Sacremento-based quintet Tesla and its debut album Mechanical Resonance. In short order, it’s an album of straight-ahead, no-nonsense, rock and roll. If you were a teenager in the mid-80s and liked bands like AC/DC and Aerosmith, then perhaps you gravitated toward Tesla as well.
Those of you reading this might be asking (reasonably so I might add): what does all this have to do with the Tesla concert at the Mesa Arts Center last Monday night (6/17)?
The answer? All of those albums rushed through my head when the current incarnation of the band (vocalist Jeff Keith, guitarists Frank Hannon and Dave Rude, bassist Brian Wheat, and drummer Steve Brown) hit the MAC stage with Rock Me To The Top and Modern Day Cowboy (both from Mechanical Resonance) for a meager 75-minute, 14 song set. More on the show’s length coming up.
To its credit, Tesla also wants to look forward. With that in mind, they debuted a new song for the near-sellout crowd called All About Love that was received fairly well.
Throughout their nearly 40-year recording career, the band has been known for its fair share of cover songs– on record and onstage. The fourth song of the night was one of those, a faithful rendition of the James Gang classic Walk Away.
The title track from 2008’s Forever More was next, and to my ears, it’s a cool left turn for the band. It was a song I probably only heard once, and completely forgot about it. Glad they played it, as it fit in well with the classics.
Speaking of classics, it was now time for Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out) from 1989’s The Great Radio Controversy. It’s pretty obvious that one is mandatory to play— to the delight of the fans no doubt.
Fun fact: the first time I saw Tesla live was in April 1989 as part of KUPD’s Spring Fest at Big Surf in Tempe. The opening acts were House of Lords and another “up-and-coming” new band called Warrant. Good times indeed— Tesla was on fire that night.
Those of you who saw this show probably remember Keith berating the crowd (with a few expletives thrown in for good measure) that night because quite a few people headed for the exit before the encore.
He then announced a surprise “for all of you… Steve Clark and Rick Savage from Def Leppard“. With that, they tore into a blistering version of Rock of Ages. Needless to say, the crowd went into a frenzy.
Back onstage, in 2024 Tesla still sounds remarkably good live. To this day, they still pride themselves as a band that has “No Machines” in their music. True, Keith’s voice has seen better days, as he openly admits. But he’s still able to pull off most of the set pretty well. Not to mention he (and the band) still love to perform live— that was clear to me most of all.
That being said, my biggest gripe with this show (and many bands from the 80s in general) is not so much the performance, but the length of the show that I find infuriating. In this writer’s opinion, any artist with a sizable catalog (i.e. six studio albums or more) should be playing a minimum of two hours (or twenty songs), take your pick.
Frankly, anything less than that (especially with rising ticket prices) is absolutely unacceptable from every conceivable angle. That is something that I will continue to call out— and justifiably so if I do say so myself. But I digress.
Unfortunately, there was only one encore, that being their cover of Five Man Electrical Band’s Signs. Which, by the way, happens to be Tesla’s biggest hit single of their career.
This time, they played it electric, not acoustic. Still, the crowd went home pretty satisfied.
The final verdict? 3.5 out of five stars— a good night out overall.
Tesla
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2024, All Rights Reserved
Tesla set list:
Rock Me To The Top
Modern Day Cowboy
All About Love *
Walk Away
Forever More
Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)
Miles Away
Changes
Love Me
What You Give
Ramblin’ Man
Love Song
Little Suzi
Encore:
Signs
* new song
