Concert Review
Extreme
Canalside
Buffalo, NY
Thursday July 24, 2014
Photos/Review: Joseph Suto
Once in a while you go to cover a band and you really don’t expect too much. Such was the case at Canalside on Thursday with the appearance of Extreme. Despite having two top-five hits to their credit including the chart topper “More Than Words”, they never took off like some of the other bands from their era. They didn’t get the chance to headline the big arenas that some of their contemporaries like Cinderella, Ratt and Motley Crue did. Singer Gary Cherone actually played to bigger crowds during his one tour as Van Halen’s lead singer.
Extreme hit the stage like a ball of thunder as guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, bassist Pat Badger and drummer Kevin Figueiredo provided the power and Cherone supplied the energy as he was all over the stage during opening number “Decadence Dance” as well as throughout the show. The band performed their biggest album Pornograffitti in full as they tore through songs like “Get The Funk Out” which received heavy airplay on Buffalo’s defunct radio station 103.3 WUFX in the early nineties.
When introducing “Song For Love” Bettencourt acknowledged his brother who drove eleven hours to watch the show. As the band ended the Pornograffitti portion of the set with mega hit “Hole Hearted” they followed it with a quick verse of Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” to close out the main set.
Back for a five song encore the band also touched on their III Sides To Every Story release with a fantastic rendition of “Rest In Peace” and “Cupid’s Dead”.
If you never experienced watching Bettencourt in action add it to your bucket list. He truly is a gifted and talented player. Cherone is one lucky guy having played with two of the greatest guitarists ever including that Van Halen character. It’s no wonder why Rihanna tapped Bettencourt to be her lead guitarist on her most recent tours.
While Extreme did not draw as many down to Canalside as some of the other acts to date this season, perhaps it was due to the band’s lack of playing Buffalo over the years (last show we could find saw them opening for Bon Jovi at Darien Lake in 1993). It did make it more comfortable to enjoy the show which is exactly what most of the crowd did on a fine Thursday night in Buffalo.
Set List
Decadence Dance
Li’l Jack Horny
When I’m President
Get the Funk Out
More Than Words
Money (In God We Trust)
It (‘s a Monster)
Pornograffitti
When I First Kissed You
Suzi (Wants Her All Day What?)
He-Man Woman Hater
Song for Love
Hole Hearted (inc one verse Crazy Little Thing Called Love)
Encore
Play with Me
Rest in Peace
Am I Ever Gonna Change
Midnight Express
Cupid’s Dead
Special thanks to Sara Serafin from Canalside Buffalo for the credentials to review the show
