Ted Nugent salutes our fallen heroes.Story and Photo by Rob Grabowski
With two huge American flags draped across the back of the stage, the Motor City Madman Ted Nugent emerged triumphantly wearing a patriotic shirt, just so we wouldn't be mistaken on what country he supports. Wasting no time, he tore into an electrifying version of "The Star Spangled Banner" gripping the capacity crowd and recruiting his own army of Nugent warriors along the way. Ted went on to play his treble crazy classics "Free For All" and "Hey Baby" which he was still able to breath new life into after all these years.The songs were loud and proud with Terrible Ted preaching his political views during his blunt and to the point rendition of "Kiss My Ass." The crowd roared as he voiced his opinions regarding political policies, animal rights groups and the beasts involved in the terrorism acts that have recently occurred in New York City and Washington D.C. Ted Nugent knows no middle ground or compromise. You're either with him or against him. Like it or not this is part of his appeal. Ted will stand his ground in support of his political ideals.
Returning to good old fashioned rock 'n roll, he dedicated "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" to all of the virgins in the audience. By judging from the women in the crowd it fell completely on deaf ears. Ted never failed to impress with his raucous, in your face guitar style in which he professes, "It's all about the attitude." With his bold and cocky swagger in place, he asked if the crowd was ready for the world's greatest rock 'n roll riff of all time before ripping into "Cat Scratch Fever." Then on a turn-of-a-dime he acknowledged that he was a liar, that "Stranglehold" is really the greatest riff of all time and proceeded to let his guitar sing the anguished cries of the signature Ted Nugent song.
With glistening sweat streaming down his face and his trademark long hair going everywhere but down, he returned to the stage for an encore. On "Great White Buffalo" Nugent's fingers ran up and down the neck of his guitar like a bunch of Mexican jumping beans without a road map. Not to let us forget his patriotism he lit into yet another version of "The Star Spangled Banner." Jimi Hendrix would've been proud.
With "Terrible" as a nickname, Ted Nugent is anything but. Not only is he a great guitarist, he is also a very generous humanitarian donating proceeds from his merchandise to the families of the firefighters who lost their lives in the terrorist acts in New York.
