Jefferson Starship/Steppenwolf Concert Review

Jefferson Starship and John Kay & Steppenwolf rocked Grand Casino Mille Lacs last night!

I was fortunate enough to be asked to emcee the Jefferson Starship/John Kay & Steppenwolf show last night at Grand Casino Mille Lacs and it was a real treat!

I had never ever been to Grand Casino Mille Lacs before and it was smaller than I thought it would be, but it’s beautiful inside. The staff is very friendly and extremely helpful. We first found where we were supposed to be, spoke with the promoter and then we hit the buffet. Oh. My. Gosh. It was International night at the buffet. There was Italian food, Carribean food, Chinese food and American food. I’m glad I wore a dress and not pants. Denim has no give.

I was really nervous about being on stage in front of that many people, but the crowd was fantastic.

Jefferson Starship hit the stage first and Paul Kantner (one of the original Jefferson Airplane members) is with the band, as was David Freiberg (of Quicksilver Messenger Service) and he can still rock the vocals. He’s 75 years old and he’s still got the chops. Their lead singer is Cathy Richardson as she was singing, if you closed your eyes, you couldn’t really tell that it wasn’t Grace Slick. She absolutely nailed it.

Their set list included, Ride the Tiger, Miracles, Fresh Air, White Rabbit, Somebody to Love, Jane, Volunteers, and Count on Me. They played a very energetic 45 minute set and it was a lot of fun to see them. They played the Liberty Bank Block Party a few years ago and I missed the show, so it was wonderful to get to see them. They’re really fun.

John Kay & Steppenwolf was a live history lesson about their music, the times and what a performer’s audience and fans means to them. John spoke a lot about his appreciation for a loyal audience. Between each song, John was very talkative and did an excellent job narrating the show with fascinating comments, why each song was written, comments about the history of the band and the history of their era.

There was a song from 1972 that John did solo called Movin’ On and as he sang, it was synced up with the original video from him performing it on a late night variety show. That was pretty cool.

They of course closed the show with Magic Carpet Ride and Born to Be Wild and I don’t think anyone besides the drummer was sitting down.

Thanks to the wonderful staff at Grand Casino Mille Lacs, the Loonatics who came out to the show, as well as the bands and the road crew. It was an incredible night!