Music: Jefferson Starship W/ Firefall, Atlanta Rhythm Section, And Pure Prairie League At The Astro Theater In La Vista, NE

Last Thursday the Wife and I went to another concert.  The theme of my last three concerts, including this latest, has been hard-core nostalgia.  I mean since 13 August I have seen John Fogerty, Three Dog Night, Ambrosia, John Ford Coley, Jefferson Starship, Firefall, Atlanta Rhythm Section, and Pure Prairie League.  Welcome back to the 1970-1980s everyone.

Firefall.

The first act on Thursday was Firefall.  I really only wanted to hear "Strange Way" but I liked their whole set which included three of their hits that I liked.  It was a good way to start the night.

Atlanta Rhythm Section,

The second act was Atlanta Rhythm Section.  To be honest, I couldn't name a single song by them but, as they played, I recognized four of their songs which I liked.  I pleasant surprise.

Pure Prairie League.

The third act was Pure Prairie League.  When they started playing I was worried.  I didn't recognize their first two songs.  Turns out they'd just released a new album.  I was concerned this would be another Steve Miller Band situation where the band only wanted to play the new stuff and not the older, more crowd pleasing songs.  Fortunately they did play some older stuff that I'd hoped I would here so I was happy.

The headliner was Jefferson Starship.  I liked them in the 1970s and 1980s and I still like them.  They play their whole range from their Jefferson Airplane phase through Jefferson Starship, Starship, and back to Jefferson Starship.  One of the lead singers and guitarist, an original member of Jefferson Airplane starting in 1974, belted out the lyrics at age 88 years old.

All in all, it was a fun night out with he Wife and a ton of nostalgia.

Music: Three Dog Night W/ Ambrosia Featuring John Ford Coley At The Astro In La Vista, NE

On Saturday night I went to a concert at the Astro Theatre.  The concert, originally in the Asro's outside amphitheater, was moved into the theatre and where they moved me was awesome – Row G, just 7 rows from the stage.

The warm up band was Ambrosia.  They were pretty good considering the age of the drummer and lead singer, both founding members from the 1970s.  They did a mix of their hits and a few odd covers which I haven't totally wrapped my head around.

Ambrosia featuring John Ford Coley.

They were joined by John Ford Coley who did some of his hits as well as backed up Ambrosia on some of their sets.

Overall, they were a solid warm up for the headliner, Three Dog Night.

Three Dog Night came on and had a solid performance.  They covered all their major songs plus a few more obscure tracks.  Danny Hutton, a founding member, sounded great for being 84 years old and never left the stage the whole time even though he walked like his age, a bit rickety.  I think the secret may be you have to sing like an old man when you are young so people don't notice your voice change with age.  They ended with "Joy to the World."

Three Dog Night.

I had a great time of nostalgia though, I have to admit, seeing how old these artists are is kind of depressing.

Photos and some short videos can be found in my 2026-09-12 Three Dog Night w/ Ambrosia Featuring John Ford Coley, The Astro, La Vista, NE Google Photos album.

2026 Denver - A Day Around Red Rocks.

We drove up a week ago for the John Fogerty concert at Red Rocks and had some time to explore the area.

We arrived late afternoon on Sunday and had dinner at one of our favorite fast food places, In-n-Out Burgers.  Sadly, the closest one to Omaha is in Colorado.

On Monday we were going to have a walking tour of historic Denver but, due to a misunderstanding and crappy communications from the tour conductor, we thought it was canceled.  (The Wife tried to get a refund but the asshole threatened to block her number so "she could scream into the void.")  We pivoted and went to a few places surrounding Red Rocks instead.

Buffalo Bill Cody's grave, Lookout Mountain, CO.

Our first stop was The Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave.  This was an interesting museum located on Lookout Mountain.  The views from there were incredible - the mountains in the west and the great plains in the east.

Our next stop was the Mother Cabrini Shrine.  The views from here were nearly as magnificent as those from the museum.  We stopped here because the church the Wife attends is the St. Francis Cabrini Church.

Dinosaur tracks.

Next we went to Dinosaur Ridge and took a guided bus tour of the fossil beds along the ridge.  It was an interesting forty-five minutes paleontologist led tour - though his jokes were a bit lame at times, he kept it interesting.  We had maybe a dozen in the bus and all of us were going to the John Fogerty concert later in the evening.

We ended our pre-concert events with dinner in Morrison, CO at The Cow, An eatery.  The food was good and hit the spot.  We did some shopping at some eclectic boutiques across from the restaurant before heading back to our hotel for a pre-concert nap.

Our Monday was awesome.  We had fun and the weather was terrific (during the day ... not necessarily at the concert).  We're battling humidity here in Omaha and, while it was warm in the Denver area, there was no humidity and it felt awesome.

A few more pictures can be found in my 2026-08 Denver Area Google Photos album.

Music: John Fogerty W/ Hearty Har at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO

On Monday, we went to a concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheater near Morrison, CO.  We'd wanted to go to this venue for awhile so we looked for an act we knew and John Fogerty was the one we selected.  His selection was a bit serendipitous as we were just looking for someone we knew about in the right time frame.  It turned out to be a lucky pick as his performance was incredible.

We drove up early to get good parking.  We went in when the doors opened a couple hours later.  We had great seats on row nine.  As we waited for the show to start we watched the rain approach.  Then the thunder came.  Then the show postponement was announced.  We went back to our car to wait as the rain started coming down.  About thirty to forty minutes later they texted out the all clear and we went back to our seats.  It continued to rain for about half of the concert and the temperature dropped quite a bit but, despite all this, the show went on.

The warm up was Hearty Har, a band led by Shane and Tyler Fogerty, John's sons.  They were pretty good even though I'd never heard any of their music before.

Then John Fogerty came on.  His sons were also part of his backup band.  For the next almost two hours John Fogerty played nearly all of his old Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) hits which he won back the rights to in 2023 after a nearly fifty year battle in the courts.  He even played a song that predated CCR.  Sadly, one of my favorite songs, "Someday Never Comes", was not played.

Have you ever seen the rain ... in the spotlight?

I have to say, this was one of the best concerts I've been to in a long while.  He played non-stop despite being eighty-one years old.  He kinda sounded like what your grandpa would sound like if your grandpa had good pipes.  You could tell he was having the time of his life and he was really grateful to his fans.  It was also obvious that he enjoyed playing with his sons (and his youngest daughter, Kelsey).  His guitar riff with his son Shane was spectacular.  The rain was at worst, a minor inconvenience.

Kelsey, Shane, John, and Tyler Fogerty on guitars.

Photos can be seen in my 2026-08 John Fogerty w/ Hearty Har, Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO Google Photos album.