It was a beautiful Saturday near the end of August when the crowd to see Extreme started lining up just outside the doors of Mohegan Sun’s Sun Patio entrance around 4 pm. I knew it was going to be a packed show. The Sun Patio is a partially covered outdoor concert space that is general admission and mostly standing room but also has some patio tables off to the sides. There are several bars and food trucks serving, steak and cheese grinders, Mexican food, and cupcakes. The doors opened to the patio a little before 7 pm, with the band supposed to start around 8 pm. As the other photographers and I were waiting outside for our venue contact to escort us into the pit area, I heard rumors that there was an opening act. As we were being brought into the venue around 7:45 pm, I realized that it was the familiar voice of GabrieLa Rae that was belting out Iron Maiden‘s “Wasted Years”. She was not listed on the tickets, but if you follow her social media, you would have seen that she had announced there that she was opening the show.
GabrieLa is an amazing vocalist and New England native currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee. This 27-year-old is a lead touring vocalist with The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and a member of Nashville based 46 Story band. I’ve been lucky enough to see her perform several times on The Monsters of Rock Cruise. While opening for Extreme, she had David Liotta playing guitar and singing backup vocals with her. David is a guitarist, bassist, and music director who also lives in Tennessee. They performed an 8-song set of cover songs, which showcased GabrieLa’s amazing vocal abilities. From Beatles classics like “Come Together” to Iron Maiden’s “Wasted Years” to Shania Twain‘s “Man I Feel Like a Woman”, this talented young woman has one of the most amazing voices out there today. She had the crowd singing along and pumping their fists to almost every song. It was such a nice surprise for everyone to get them warmed up for Extreme.
Gabriela Rae – Vocals
David Liotta – Guitar, vocals
Setlist:
1. Wasted Years (Iron Maiden cover)/ Nothing Else Matters (Metallica cover)
2. Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi cover)
3. Come Together (Beatles cover)
4. Superstition (Stevie Wonder cover)
5. The House of The Rising Sun (The Animals cover)
6. Call Me (Blondie cover)
7. Man, I Feel Like a Woman (Shania Twain cover)
8. Rainbow in The Dark (Dio cover)
80s hair metal icons, Extreme, hit the stage around 8:45 pm with “It’s a Monster”. I remember photographing these guys at the iconic Toad’s Place in New Haven, Connecticut, back in the 1980s. Hailing from Boston and probably best known for their ballad “More Than Words”, these guys still put on a stellar show with uber-caffeinated frontman, Gary Cherone putting on a non-stop, crowd-interactive performance from start to finish. They played a set spanning their career, including 5 songs off of their most popular album, Extreme II: Pornografitti, and another 5 off of their well-received most recent album, Six. A staple song that is played at every show, which showcases Nuno’s talent, is “Flight of The Wounded Bumblebee”. Many songs were begun with snippets of classic rock songs, such as “Fat Bottomed Girls” or “We Will Rock You” or even a drum-laden intro that really got the crowd fired up. Extreme really became one with this packed venue of fans as they were participating in sing-alongs throughout the night. My favorite songs were “Get the Funk Out”, “Play with Me”, and “Decadence Dance”, although the encore medley tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath was stellar! Being at this concert made me feel like I was reliving my youth.
Extreme put on a smoking hot show at The Sun Patio at Mohegan Sun Casino, with the amazing GabrieLa as an opener. If you want to see Extreme live, you can catch them one more time this year at The River City Casino and Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, or you will have to wait till next summer to see them overseas. At least that’s what’s on their schedule as of now.
Extreme is:
Gary Cherone – Lead vocals
Nuno Bettencourt – Guitars, keyboards, piano, backing and lead vocals
Pat Badger – Bass Guitar, backing vocals
Kevin Figueiredo – Drums, percussion
Setlist:
1. It’s a Monster (partial)
2. Decadence Dance (partial)
3. #REBEL
4. Rest in Peace
5. Am I Ever Gonna Change
6. THICKER THAN BLOOD
7. Play With Me (with Queen’s, We Will Rock You intro)
8. OTHER SIDE OF THE RAINBOW
9. Hole Hearted
10. Midnight Express
11. More Than Words (with Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven intro)
12. Cupid’s Dead (with Sam Cook’s Cupid/ What’s The Buzz)
13. Banshee (with Queen’s Fat Bottom Girls intro)
14. Flight of The Wounded Bumblebee
15. Get The Funk Out
Encore:
16. RISE
17. I Don’t Know/ Bark at The Moon/ Crazy Train/ War Pigs/ Paranoid/ Iron Man (Ozzy Ozbourne/ Black Sabbath medley)
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Music photography is my passion! Live in the moment, Capture the moment.