After the singing of the National Anthem (yes, it's weird here in the state of Washington, but to make things weirder, at the State and County fairs here, they have someone come out on stage before the first act to do this!?!), the now familiar Matrix music starts playing, and out comes the band. Allen with a Fender Precision? (not sure) strapped on, and surprisingly, Richie was using Buck's Cheeseberger! A little volume check while the intro music played, and Jack Secret comes out an introduces the Band. Right into the opening chords of:

The Red And The Black
Well, since there is only one lead guitar player, there isn't any taking turns of solo spots and Richie steps up to the plate and does it all!!! This guy can really shred! He kept the essence of Buck in the air (Maybe playing on Bucks equipment helped. or not), while playing things his own way. Allen missed the beginning of the Bass break, but quickly caught it with a few notes thrown in. Next was:

O.D.'d On Life Itself
They just kept on playing, and it sounded pretty good, although I was kinda missing Allens guitar harmonies. After the song Eric introduced the Band members, and explained about Bucks absence, and how, since the rest of the band were already in town, they decided the Show Must Go On!! Then they went into:

Burnin' For You
Well, I'm missing the guitar harmonies again, but Richie was doing a really good job, better than can be expected on such short notice. So who was gonna take the lead vocals? Go Richie go!! This guy has a huge weight on his shoulders, and he handled it just fine. Then Eric takes off his guitar, and this can mean only one thing:

ETI (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)
I don't think I've ever seen this played with one guitar before, but Richie pulls it off! Eric goes back to the Keyboards at the end (as usual), and I think that was the only song they were used on.

Harvester Of Eyes
This song came off pretty good.

Hot Rails To Hell
It was fun watching Richie play this one as it's kinda become his place in the show. It rocked!!

Cities On Flame with Rock And Roll
Richie ROOLS!!! He's a great guitar player, and I really don't think anyone else could've done this on such short notice!!! When it came to the break, he did the whammy bar thang, and where Buck usually pauses and cracks his knuckles, Richie just hung his fingers and shook them for about one second and went right into the solo. I got a big kick outa that. Next, Allen puts on a Guitar and Richie dons "The Foof" and Eric goes into his "Something Big is coming this way" spiel, and of course they start:

Godzilla
Allen and Eric playing guitars. Sounds great, although a little subdued. No slide offa the mic stand during "he pulls the spitting high tension wires down" part, but it's rockin', and Richie (I sure am sayin' his name alot) starts dancin' all around the stage like he normally does. He does an extended solo, and he and Jules even do a bit of Rush's "Tom Sawyer" in the middle. Jules did an excellent solo, (Man, can he ever rip it up!!!), and at the end, the band even did that Heartbreaker riff! Allen and Richie went back to thier original instruments, and the next song was (of course!)

(Don't Fear) The Reaper
This was probably the hardest song they had to do all night. Eric started out by talking about the SNL "More Cowbell" skit, and they brought out someone (I'm not sure if this was someone from the crew, or a radio station promo winner or what) and he sat behind the keyboards and played Cowbell with the band. Eric tackled the lead vocals on this one, and Richie handled the harmonies. They kinda had a tough time with it, trying to find the right notes what with Eric usually handling the harmony part, but after the first verse, it sounded OK. Eric was reading the lyrics off of a sheet taped to his monitor, and I think he got lost a coupla times. It ended with a nice short sweet solo, and the band was gone. The crowd tried to get an encore going, but the Fair started shooting off a buncha fireworks for a few minutes, and it was over.

I think the band did an awesome job, going where no man has gone before!! They only had a little bit of time to figure out what they were gonna do, rehearse, etc before the show, and were very professional about the whole thing. There was a few little struggles, but watcha gonna do? I missed Buck alot, and hope he recovers soon, but kudos to the Band and especially Richie for stepping up to the plate and knocking one outa the park!!!!

BÖC ROOLS!!!!