I know it's been almost 2 weeks since the Vegas shows and I am overdue for a report (it's taken me that long to recuperate) - I can't let any more time slide by without thanking all the fans and the guys in my solo band for an incredible experience in Sin City.

I was incredibly lucky to assemble yet another awesome group of musicians for the Las Vegas shows: Sean Koos (Joan Jett, Sin City All-Stars) on bass & vocals, Sam McCaslin (Michael Schenker, XYZ) on keyboards & vocals, John 'JD' Degelia on drums (JD has backed up some major national country artists like Marty Stuart, Mark Chesnutt, he's played on the Grand Ol Opry countless times - but he is a relentlessly slamming rock drummer also), and Steve Purcell (a rare find who can shred the hard rock & metal but has toured with country artists Jeff Bates & Chad Brock). These guys worked their asses of to learn BOTH shows, the 'Ronnie Lee Keel' country show and the 'Ron Keel' rock show, working up over 50 songs.

We had 4 intense days of rehearsals, bouncing back and forth between the Country show and the Rock show. I brought Steve in from Nashville, and we stayed at Sam's Town Casino where the Country gigs took place. Coolest thing about this gig was seeing my name and photo on the huge digital mega-marquee in bright color, like Elvis or Seigfried & Roy or something....I got pictures of this, I'll post 'em soon.

The country gigs were like coming home, and getting to sing songs from my 'Country Years' was a good feeling - I hadn't performed many of these songs since the early IronHorse era five years ago.

The Rock gig at the Tailspin was the icing on the cake, and even though we were burning the candle at both ends by Saturday night there was still enough flame to burn through a hard-hitting set of KEEL/IronHorse etc...thanks to KEELAHOLIC71 and all the other good friends and fans who seemed to be thoroughly entertained. It was also good to see some old friends like Mike Varney & Peter Marrino, and make some new friends like all the guys in Kingscrossing, our stellar opening act.

I am now in Denver, of course sporting my Elway/Broncos gear, getting ready for the first of 3 shows tomorrow night. I will post reports over the next few days and let you know how it's going...and I'm sure BadSeed (number 1 Denver Keelaholic) will do the same. Later - RK

[Edited on 4-26-2006 by RK]

Wednesday Night - April 26

Beat up and tired from a VERY early flight to Denver, and a long day on the computer and phone doing business, I was ready for bed after a couple of ****tails in the hotel bar...when the promoter of these shows, Howard Hubbard from 66Crush Entertainment, called me. He said there was a great hard rock cover band playing down the road, and these guys were huge KEEL fans, and they would be working the next few nights and unable to come to my gigs here, and it would be really cool if Ron Keel popped into this bar to say hello...

Well of course I did more than say hello...

The band was called '513', and they were absolutely incredible - great players, great singer, really nice guys - doing classic and current metal and hard rock. One thing led to another, and I got on stage and sang 6 tunes with them, some Van Halen, ZZ Top, Skynyrd, you know. Awesome.

Thursday Night - April 27

Y&T arrived at the hotel in the afternoon, and I went down to the lobby to say hi when they were checking in...what super guys, always a smile and a handshake and a good story. Bassist Phil Kennemore is in the room next to mine - more on Phil later...

I walk into Hubba's Pub for soundcheck...and on the marquee it says 'The Legendary Ron Keel'...I asked them if 'The Legendary' were the headliners and was I the opening act?

This was a solo headline acoustic show, 2 1-hour shows by myself. The crowd was split down the middle, half of the folks there were fans who knew who I was and had come out to see the show, and the other half were locals, regulars, pool-shooters etc who had no clue who I was. I enjoyed the challenge of entertaining both factions of the crowd, and in addition to the KEEL/Steeler/IronHorse/Ron Keel stuff I threw in some Eagles, Bob Seger, all the songs I usually play when I'm drinking. It went really well, and I enjoyed the gig and I think most of those in attendance were entertained. Want to especially thank the guys from 'Drug Under', one of our opening acts this weekend, for coming out, and their singer Romero for coming up and helping out with 'Shooting Star'. I also got the promoter Howard Hubbard to come up and close the show with me on 'Rock & Roll Outlaw'.

And the aforemention Y&T bassist Phil Kennemore came out to the show, and afterward the promoter and his staff coaxed us into a neighboring karaoke bar...this place was slammin', and so were we by then...I of course was forced to get up and sing "Wanted Dead Or Alive", and then again forced to close the night with Phil & I singing 'Brick House'....oh my....

This party's just getting started, tonight's Y&T/Ron Keel show is close to a sellout and I'm looking forward to another wild time. On my way to soundcheck now, will check in here at the next available opportunity.

Special Thanks to 'BadSeed'

Before I log out, I gotta give a big high five to 'BadSeed' - aka Dave Stremel - who is a Denver Keelaholic and now a good friend. Dave was kind enough to help with transportation to the local music stores, helping with my gear, hanging with me and jokingly being my bitch for the day yesterday...

Dave is a guitarist & guitar collector, has a band called Bad Seed, and is also the proud owner of Marc Ferrari's classic camoflage guitar. I called Marc yesterday with the guitar in my hands, he got a kick out of that.

Thanks Dave for everything brother, you rock my friend.

Saturday Afternoon April 29

Last night's show was an incredible experience for me, whew...thanks to all the people who made it a night I'll never forget. The place was packed, the sound was awesome, everyone was so cool and receptive to my acoustic show, Y&T kicked ass, I sold a ton of 'Alone At Last' CD's, it was just all good.

I've said before that these solo acoustic shows are the scariest gigs ever, besides singing the National Anthem at a rodeo (which I've done...). The audience at a Y&T/Ron Keel show is there to get rocked, and it is tough duty attempting to get 'em going with just my voice, my acoustic guitar, and my songs, but it's working. Thanks again to all my new friends in the Denver area.

I'm off to soundcheck at tonight's venue in Loveland, it will be a late night and an early flight in the morning, so I most likely will not be able to report in again until I get home to Tennessee. Hope everyone's weekend is as good as mine is.

Monday Morning May 1

Should have posted yesterday when I got home, but wanted to wait for the haze to clear...what a weekend! So many people to thank, starting with the promoter Howard Hubbard from 66Crush Entertainment, his beautiful and talented assistant Crystal, my friend Dave 'BadSeed' Stremel, all of the cool guys in the opening acts who were so supportive and gracious, the Y&T road crew who were all super helpful, and especially Dave & Jill Meniketti and Leonard, Phil, & John from Y&T.

I've had a lot of wonderful experiences in my career, and I've also been through a lot of shit, and I must say these tour dates were a unique experience for me. As I've said before & elsewhere, I've become confident in my solo acoustic shows by performing at KISS Expos nationwide and with the occassional solo acoustic gigs at venues such as Big George's where I have a built-in comfort zone. But this was the first time I have done this in a real rock concert-type setting, in front of a national act that is known for tearing the roof off a joint; plus, except for the Keel & Wayne show in Denver last year (which was not promoted and not well attended) this was really the first time the Denver rock audience had seen me since KEEL played there in 1985.

All that being said, the response and reaction to my music and my performance was overwhelming to say the least. To strum the last chord of a song and hear the loud cheers and applause is a mighty drug...to hear the people singing along so loud with "Because The Night", "Heaven & Hell", "The Right To Rock"...cooler than I can describe.

Judging from the kind words fans have posted on the Y&T forum, I think we got the job done right:

http://www.meniketti.com/vforum/showthread.php?t=12093
http://www.meniketti.com/vforum/showthread.php?t=12116

I will not deny there were a couple of hecklers on Friday...one guy standing near the front of the stage made a continuous slashing motion at his throat for the first few songs until he figured out he was outnumbered.

I appreciate all the handshakes, smiles, hugs, shots, beers, and everything else the people of Colorado dished out in my direction. Let's do it again sometime.

Jeezus, where Do I start?

First off, Ron it was alot of fun hanging with you and being your "bitch",lol.

Ive been a fan since 1983 , if you told me then that I would have lunch with Ron and get to know him I wouldve said you were high. Chery said you were down to earth, and i would say that is the best description of you.I consider you a friend now . It was great to see you rocking the crowd saturday night with the 3 chords and the truth !!

The Thursday show was amazing, listening to the stories about the songs really added to the show and made me appreciate them more. Tornado indeed Ron. 2 -1 hour sets filled with some favorites, some country and Iron Horse songs and the covers that helped bring in the part of the crowd unfamiliar with Rons music.Great set and the end of a kick ass day for me!

I missed the friday night gig. my son Shayne aksed If he could spend the night at our new house (which I closed on that day).Even though it wasnt my scheduled time, the fact that we finally had a house to call our own instead of renting, was something that made him happy and proud and he really wanted to be a part of that the 1st night .
I had several friends that attended and was told the place was a sellout and rockin !! I also heard Ron called me out and thanked me from the stage.Sorry i missed that but i was stoked that the crowd kicked ass for Ron.

Saturday nights gig in Loveland was incredible. Me and Ron are starting a band and I accidently told the guy announcing.When he introducing Drug under, he said "Dave" Keel is playing after them, sorry Ron,lol. Ron walked in right as that guy said it to, which just made it funnier to me . The Spinal Frontier tour has lasted 20 years !

Ron had the crowd going from the 1st song to the last and it was great to see them digging the solo show as much as they did.Ron nearly sold out of cd's that night.I wasnt sure the right to rock would work acoustically but it kicked ass.My friends and I rented a van and 11 of us drove the 30 minute drive and got our asses kick for sure and I got to do that shot of jack with Ron

All in all it was a great weekend and one of best of my life. I even got to play my demo for Bad Seed for Ron,which was surreal.I had been listening to his for years, and now I had him jammin to mine.What a cool thing to say !

OK everyone in the Denver area:

Go to all the local McDonalds, find this heckler guy, and bother him while he works!

I've already made a few uh...phone calls...

Denver Rocks 1

Denver Rocks 2
(aka the GEEK can't upload more than 1 pic per post)

Denver Rocks 3

Crystal & Howard from 66Crush entertainment - http://66crush.com

Cool pics, i have a bunch i need to send you.They are from the Lovland gig.Im gonna have the one of us doing a shot of Jack framed.Ive got it on disc. Thanks for the great weekend Ron, lets do that again sometime soon !

Denver Show Review from http://www.metalexpressradio.com - written by JEREMY JULIANO

"Next up was the real surprise of the night. Formerly of the bands Steeler, Keel, Fair Game, and Iron Horse, to name a few, was a familiar face who hadn’t rocked this town in some time: Ron Keel. Supporting his latest release, Alone At Last, Ron has taken his solo artist act to the extreme, armed only with an acoustic guitar and his voice. As Ron noted, he was in an uncertain spot, being sandwiched between three hungry up-and-coming bands, and Y&T; naked, so to speak. Once he released that trademark bellow of his, the audience was his. Keel took the crowd on a journey through his entire career, going back to the Steeler days, and even covering the Country years. He peppered the night with cover songs, much as he has his entire career, playing Springsteen’s “Because the Night” and Bad Company’s “Shooting Star.” But the real show stealer was his medley ending of Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and Hell” and Keel’s “The Right to Rock.” The acoustic showcase of Ron Keel is not to be missed. Ron has always had a lyrical simplicity to his writing, which, when backed by thundering drums and a cacophony of guitars, may come across as somewhat campy. But, hearing the songs presented so raw, they sounded fresh, simple, and honest ... and performed with a lot of heart."

Full Review: http://www.metalexpressradio.com/menu.php?main=reviews&i...

Sounds just like the up close and personal, unplugged session we were treated to at Big George's one night..... Nothing less than astounding!

Sucks to hear about these great shows and live in upstate NY! You mentioned Peter Marrino....I was a huge Lemans fan back in the day. Just wondering if he's still doing the OZZY cover band thing or anything else music related?

Thanks,
Joe

I'll listen to RK "Til Hell Freezes Over"

Upstate NY is a very distinct possibility for my solo band later this summer. Yes, Peter Marrino - who is one of my all-time favorite singers and an absolute lunatic - is doing the Ozzy Tribute thing. I remember in 1991 when we were working on the Fair Game sessions (which Peter co-produced with me) Peter would take great delight in masquerading as Ozzy on the Sunset Strip (this is before the Tribute Band craze caught on). To me, he hasn't changed a bit except his hair is now dyed brown for the Ozzy thing. I'm sure he is very good at it, he always had a knack for imitating any voice you could throw at him.

And Tommy, we haven't had the last all-night acoustic Jam at Big George's...I see a gig there on my calendar July 28th...

[Edited on 5-15-2006 by RK]

Sounds like this experience was a total blast to say the least!! Im glad everyone had a great time!!!