Ted Nugent, the Motor City Madman himself, made a return visit to Columbus, OH last night. As usual, the smelly hippies and keyboard warriors that threatened to shut the show down, were nowhere to be seen. Not that they were really a threat anyway.
In an absolute shock, The Nuge opened the show with his greatest achievement. The self-proclaimed #1 guitar lick in the history of the world, a claim that I can’t argue, “Stranglehold” was a very odd choice to open the set. With that said, the song is so good that I suppose it doesn’t matter where it is in the set. Uncle Ted just threw us all for a surprise as the song has been the main set closer for years. Well played.
Nugent, in his 71st year on Earth, still plays with a fervor and intensity that bands in their 20’s and 30’s can’t match. He credits his ability to still perform at such a high level to clean and sober living; which includes no large women! Or something like that. There is something to be said though for his lifetime of living off the land and no dependency on substance. Many a rockstar have died in a cloud of drug and drink while Nugent has continued on a lifelong cycle of tour/hunt/tour/hunt/new record/hunt/tour/hunt with great success. Throw on top of that an absolute killer drummer in Jason Hartless and long time bad-ass bassist Greg Smith and you’ve got the recipe for a pretty successful unit.
Picking the Nugent set list is no small feat. The man has been releasing music since the 1960’s and over the course of that time has been out front on some of rock music’s biggest and essential hits. Consider that live staples like “Dog Eat Dog“; “Snakeskin Cowboys“; “Stormtroopin’“; and “Just What The Doctor Ordered” did not make the cut this year!
This, however, gave the crowd the chance to hear some lesser played classics. Of course he also brought out the big boys. Tongue-in-cheek love songs like “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang” as well as one of the most underrated live songs, “Free-For-All” were crowd favorites. Of course closing out the main set with the iconic hunting song “Fred Bear” and “Cat Scratch Fever” had the rowdy crowd begging for an encore.
Nugent didn’t disappoint. He encored with his usual choice of “The Great White Buffalo” and our national anthem.
“Along came the democrats, with their thick and empty heads…”
Using the “Great White Buffalo” as a metaphor for America, a metaphor for our current POTUS, and a metaphor for basically anyone in the asset column of life is always the appropriate way to close a Nugent show. The Great White Buffalo. A mythical beast that has to come and save the day and undo the failures of mankind. In a crowd that was full of military heroes, farmers, hunters and fishermen (real conservation advocates); the great white buffalo is still here, well and alive, making this country great again every single day.
Ted Nugent Set List “The Music Made Me Do It Again! 2019 U.S. Tour”
- Stranglehold
- Gonzo
- Motor City Madhouse
- Paralyzed
- Wang Dang Sweet Poontang
- A Thousand Knives
- Queen of the Forest
- Free-For-All
- Hey Baby
- Need You Bad
- Good Friends and a Bottle of Wine
- Fred Bear
- Cat Scratch Fever
- The Great White Buffalo
- The Star-Spangled Banner
Rock Lives Here 