Tedeschi Trucks Band Rock Syracuse Empower FCU Amphitheater
8/28/2025 - Syracuse, New York - In a last minute decision, I picked up a cheap ticket on Ticketmonster at the Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview in Syracuse, New York to see one of my favorite bands perform the Tedeschi Trucks Band. I headed East down NYS Thruway on this overcast August day and managed to get into the venue pretty early despite the fact the New York State Fair was also in full swing. The show was close to a sellout and my ticket was excellent seven rows back right stage. I grabbed a very good wood fired pizza from the vendor Toss & Fire Wood-Fired Pizza prior to the show start. The opening act this evening was a rock and roll band from Palestine, Texas called Whiskey Myers. They hit the stage promptly at 7:30 and played a good full set of rock. The band had three guitarists, Cody Cannon, John Jeffers and Cody Tate and sounded good and was well received by the near sellout crowd. They closed their almost hour and forty-five minute set with a jam filled version of Going Down. After the brief setup intermission Tedeschi Trucks Band hit the stage and played a good set of covers, new and old material that was surprisingly shorter than than the opening band. They opened the show with Crazy Cryin' and played new song I Got You with some tasty jams by Derek Trucks and great vocals by Susan Tedeschi. They did a nice jam on Beck's Bolero and the mandatory Derek & The Dominos cover of Keep On Growing with Trucks wailing on the slide and Tedeschi did a nice jam on Just Won't Burn They closed the some what short set with a soulful jam on the Beatle's With A Little Help From My Friends. They surprisingly did NOT come out for an encore and again their set was shorter than the opening act. It was still a good performance by the band but it definitely left the crowd feeling slighted on this night and wanting more.Slideshow[]
Daryl Hall & Todd Rundgren Entertain Downtown Syracuse Crowd
Free Concert Report Queensryche with Great White At Tags
11/19/2022 - Syracuse, New York - In what seems to be a common theme for me this year, at the last minute I decided to head East down the NYS Thruway to downtown Syracuse, New York to see two classic Philadelphia musicians, Daryl Hall and Todd Rundgren, perform at the nice Oncenter Crouse Hinds Theater. I picked up a ticket on Ticketmaster about fifteen rows dead center in the small but nice venue in downtown Syracuse. The show was not a sellout but a large crowd came to see the two stars play a lot of hits and some nice covers. The show opened promptly at 7:30 with Rundgren hitting the stage with the Daryl's House Band backing him. He played a great set of his classics and some nice surprising covers. He opened the just over an hour set with Real Man and played many hits including We Gotta Get You A Woman, It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference and Sometimes I Don't Know What To Feel to name a few. He broke out the electric guitar and did a nice jam on I Saw The Light with the help of Daryls House band member Shane Theriot adding some slide. Todd and band sounded pretty good and his vocals were good with help from backup singers. He crooned a couple cover tunes like Smokey Robinson & The Miracle's Ooo Baby, Baby and Marvin Gaye's I Want You. He closed his set with The Want Of A Nail. Again a good set by the seventy-four year old. Soon after Todd's set Daryl Hall joined his band played a good set of old, new and covers songs. He played some Hall & Oates classics like Everytime You Go Away, Sara Smile and I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) to name a few. He did a nice cover of the Eurythmic's Here Comes The Rain Again with acoustic guitar help from bandmate Shane Theriot. He came out for four song encore being joined by Rundgren for Wait For Me, Can We Still Be Friends and a decent cover of the The Soul Survivor's Expressway To Your Heart. Hall sounded good but is beginning to show his age at seventy-six. He closed the show with You Make My Dreams Come True. Again a good show, featuring two legendary artists at a nice venue. Definitely worth the trip.Slideshow[]
5/19/2018 - Big Flats, New York - Today I headed south down Route 390 and Route 86 to then head east on 352 thru Corning finally hitting my destination of Tag's Summer Stage in Big Flats, New York. I was here with a pair of free tickets, courtesy of Deb the contest queen, to see a tripleheader of Queensryche, Great White and Autograph perform. I sold the other ticket to cover a few drinks and headed into this venue for the first time. Autograph opened and played their hit Turn Up The Radio. They were followed by Great White. Queensryche billed as the headliner came out and played a good set highlighted by Silent Lucidity and Jet City Woman. A good free show at a decent outdoor venue that was worth the two drive.Slideshow[]
Road Trip To Hamilton For One On One With Paul McCartney
7/21/2016 - Hamilton, Ontario - We headed north of the border into Canada for a short road trip to Hamilton, Ontario. We were here to see Sir Paul McCartney perform during his One On One Tour at the FirstOntario Centre. We left early to insure we had no issue getting across the border and we encountered no waits. We arrived early afternoon into downtown Hamilton to check in at our nice hotel the Crowne Plaza Hamilton Hotel and Conference Center. We had a nice penthouse room with a decent view of Lake Ontario. We stopped for dinner at Deb's favorite Canadian staple restaurant Swiss Chalet. We walked the streets of downtown Hamilton to get down to FirstOntario Centre. We ran into our concert friends from Lewiston who were waiting in line for the show. The doors opened on time and we went to our seats which were on opposite sides of the arena in essentially the same location. McCartney and his band started the show a little late but played the usual three hour plus set of a little bit of everything. Paul opened with Eights Day A Week and went into his set that included tons of Beatles and Wings with a few covers thrown in. He played My Valentine a song his wrote for his wife Nancy who was in the crowd. He did a nice tribute to George Harrison playing the ukulele on Something. He finished the ridiculous set with Let It Be, an explosive Live And Let Die and crowd sing along end with Hey Jude. The usual encore of six songs including Yesterday and an additional bonus song Mull of Kintrye with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders pipe band joining in. The show closed with the grand finale of Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End. Another excellent performance by the seventy-four year old. It will never get old for me thanks Paul.Slideshow[]
Gilmour At Radio City Music Hall Closes Out NYC Weekend
4/10/2016 - New York, New York - Today was our last full day in New York City with the ultimate show tonight, David Gilmour performing at Radio City Music Hall. We started the day sleeping in a little bit because we needed to. We grabbed something quick for lunch since we missed breakfast and headed back to the Times Square area. We walked over to Rockefeller Center and decided to go to the Top of the Rock. Although a little cool it was clear skies and we took in some beautiful panoramic views of New York City. After Top of The Rock, we headed back to Times Square for a decent steak dinner with Michael at the Hard Rock Café. We stopped and checked out Mike's office and then headed back to the hotel to watch Justin Spieth's collapse at the end of the Masters. Concert time had come and we headed down Avenues of America to Radio City Music Hall. We arrived a little early for the show and large lines had already formed to get into the venue. We finally got in and managed to grab some concert shirts and headed to our seats about twenty rows back right center stage. They were pretty good seats for the pretty penny they cost. Radio City is a gorgeous venue and holds about 6000 and this show was sold out. Gilmour came out a little late and played a fantastic set. He opened with 5 A.M. and then went into Rattle That Lock. He played plenty of Pink Floyd in his first set including Wish You Were Here, Money and one of my favorites What Do You Want From Me. He finished the first set with High Hopes. The sound was excellent and his band was very tight. After the fifteen minute intermission he came out for the second set that was even better than the first with tunes like Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Fat Old Sun and closing with Run Like Hell. He came out and performed three encores including Time and the laser light filled Comfortably Numb. This was an absolutely fantastic show and a great finish to the NYC weekend. After the show, we headed back to Times Square for some late night photo ops. The next day we were up early for breakfast at the hotel, then back to Sam Ash for a quick jam, then finally on to Penn Station to catch the train back to Rochester. A most excellent weekend was had....Slideshow[]
Everybody Wants Some Van Halen On Trip North Of The Border
Long Weekend In Orlando Begins On The Boardwalk - Part I
8/7/2015 - Toronto, Canada - Today we headed north of the border to downtown Toronto, Canada to see the classic rock band Van Halen perform at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre along the shores of Lake Ontario. We scored a couple of decent tickets on Stubhub and headed out. We crossed the border and stopped at Red Lobster in the Falls for a preconcert seafood fix. We made decent time and hit some traffic just before entering Toronto arriving a few hours before the show. We walked along the harbor front then went into the city and took in some close up views of the CN Tower. We made a stop at Gretzkys Restaurant and took in some classic Gretzky hockey memorabilia. We finally stopped at Pizza Pizza for a quick snack with nice views of the CN Tower like we did four or five years ago. We headed into the arena early to check the place out and take in the opening band Kenny Wayne Shepherd. He came out to a sparse crowd and jammed an almost identical set as when we saw him three years ago. He played his standards like Blue On Black and Deju Voodoo. He finished with the cover of the Hendrix classic Voodoo Chile. A decent set not great but okay, a good opener for VH. It was deja vu for me as I saw this same lineup in 1998 at Darien Lake. After a long intermission Van Halen hit the stage and played a great set of hit after hit. They opened with Light Up The Sky and went right into Running With The Devil. The crowd was definitely into this one and everyone stood for the whole show. The band sounded good with David Lee Roth being the weakest link although he did improve as the performance continued. We thought they almost sounded too good in spots and could have been getting some help from backing tracks. They played many classics like Unchained, Somebody Get Me A Doctor and Beautiful Girls to name a few. The show included Eddie Van Halen performing a ten minute guitar solo leading up to You Really Got Me. They came out and played two encores, Panama and finishing with Jump. This was a good show that really should have been great.Slideshow[]
4/24/2015 - Orlando, Florida - Early today we headed to Rochester International Airport to drop Dom off for his trip to perform at Walt Disney World in Orlando with the Hilton Wind and Jazz Ensembles. We followed him down catching a separate flight from Jet Blue flying to JFK then direct to Orlando. The flights were excellent and we were both impressed with the comfort and service on these flights. We arrived late afternoon and upgraded the rental car to a brand new black Chevy Camaro. We hopped in the car and headed to Walt Disney World to our room at the Disney Boardwalk Villas which was very nice. The room was spacious and located close to the Boardwalk and the awesome main pool at the hotel. We walked the Boardwalk and grabbed a quick sandwich from the vendors there. We took in a nice sunset and then had some excellent pricy Disney deserts then walked over to Epcot and took in the fireworks. After we headed back to the Boardwalk and watched the entertainers that included a good juggler. A nice first evening spent enjoying the warm Florida weather.Slideshow[]
9th Annual Finger Lakes Raceday
Lovatics Invade CMAC For Demi Lovato Show
9/3/2012 - Farmington, New York - Today the Florio's went to Finger Lakes Racetrack for the ninth annual outing of a day at the races for some thoroughbred horse racing action. We squeezed it in on Labor Day just before the start of the school year and it was a nice early September day. We hit the track, where picking winners were hard to come by with Dom and Deb hitting a couple of small winners. The track was packed for a Labor Day kids promotion. Dad took a quick jaunt to the casino and won some nice coin on the Video Poker machines hitting quad queens twice within five hands of each other making a nice profit for the day. The day also included a trip to Eastview Mall for some back to school shopping and a nice dinner at TGI Fridays. A good day to finish off summer.Slideshow[]
7/1/2012 - Canandaigua, New York - Today at Constellation Brands - Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center or simply CMAC Nicole's favorite artist in the world Demi Lovato performed. Nicole was joined by her boyfriend Sam who was attending his first concert ever. It was a hot summer night and the band Hot Chelle Rae opened for Demi and her fans know as Lovatics. They were pretty good and their set was well received by the somewhat smaller crowd. Demi took the stage and sang her first song All Night Long then invited all her Lovatics to come to the pit in front of the stage. It was a mad rush of everyone in the place as they raced to the stage with Nicole running to the front row from our 4th row seats. Demi put on a good show for her Lovatics playing all her hits including songs like Skyscraper,Remember December, and Who's That Boy to name a few. She came out for two encore songs the first one being Unbroken. During the first encore Nicole actually jumped on stage only to be escorted right off by security and headed back to the front row for the final song Give Your Heart A Break. A good show that was very well received by Nicole, Sam and the Lovatics.Slideshow[]
Dom And Yanks Finish Season With Championship Loss
Dom Cheers Bills Scrubs In Preseason Loss To Lions
6/26/2009 - Greece, New York - The scene was set today at Grace and Truth Sports Park in Greece New York, where Dominic and his Yankees team lost a tough game to the Tigers in the Grace and Truth Baseball Minor League Championship. The final score was 5-4. The Yankees came out strong in the first three innings taking a 4-0 lead, but a bad call on a tag out of a runner, who also appeared to have run out of the baseline, led to a 5 run inning which included lots of hits and fielding errors. It was too much for them to overcome and they lost the game. The Yankees had a great year showing a tremendous improvement from their opening day loss. Dom was a major contributor to the teams success including solid fielding, strong hitting, and some excellent pitching. Dom was a fixture in the pitching rotation and a clutch hitter. In the semi final playoff game, Dom pitched the final two runnless innings and posted 3 rbi's to lead his team to the championship game. Congratulations to Dom and his Yankees team on an excellent season.Slideshow[]
8/28/2008 - Orchard Park, New York - Dom attended the final Buffalo Bills preseason game at Ralph Wilson Stadium today. The Bills lost to the Detroit Lions 14-6. The Thursday night preseason game caused a large traffic jam on all roads leading to the stadium prior to kickoff. The game featured a Bills team who sat their entire first string playing almost totally all scrub players. It was a cool overcast evening but the game was still enjoyed by Dom and Dad. Thanks go out to the Boy Scouts who provided the cheap tickets.Slideshow[]
Deb Wins All Expenses Paid Trip To Mexico Resort
8/28/1998 - Rochester, NY - The Rochester Red Wings game in downtown Rochester was the backdrop for a contest for all expenses paid trip for two to an all inclusive resort in Playacar, Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Deb qualified and had a one in fifteen chance to win. We went to our seats without registering for the contest first by mistake and by the time we got to register we were registered as number 11, a GOOD sign as I told Deb that is my lucky number. At the end of the game all the contestants went out on the field and the Red Wings mascot pulled the winning number in front of the crowd and what does he pull but, you guessed it 11, DEB WINS. All expenses paid for two we added Nicole and a few months later we were there on the beach. Mexico Trip Part 12Slideshow[]
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