Back in the day, Dokken was the little band that could. While they never achieved huge commercial status as headliners in the US, the band had a diehard cult following. With songs like, “In My Dreams”, “Alone Again”, “Kiss of Death”, and “Heaven Sent”, Dokken set themselves up as a band that sonically and creatively could stand above the pack of their peers who were having so much more success. Looking back on it, they weren’t a great looking band and their stage presence left much to be desired as most of the time they came across as bored old dudes with a bassist who acted like he did 5 lines of coke before they hit the stage. When the band decided to call it quits in the late 80’s, they released their live album Beast from the East. This, in my opinion, was a great way for them to go out. The band had just put out their masterpiece, Back for the Attack, and the live album had the band playing on top of their game and sounding amazing.
Well, over the years, Dokken would reunite in many different incarnations. Sometimes the original members, sometimes just Wild Mick Brown on drums, and sometimes just Don with a bunch of hired guns. I even saw Dokken with a bunch of random dudes live a few years ago and I have to say it was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. Musically they sounded fantastic but Don’s voice sounded like it forgot about the show and never showed up. This year, Frontiers will release Return to the East which is a live album of a show from 2016 featuring all the original members. The first video was released from the album, “In My Dreams.”
I forced myself to watch the entire thing and I have to say, it was really fucking sad. First off, the band is tuned down so low that the music has lost that classic, bright, melodic tone which doesn’t do these great songs justice. Second, sorry Don but not only is the wig not working, neither is your lip syncing. I mean, it’s a bummer enough as it is that he sounds this bad to begin with but the fact that he still sounds this bad even after doctoring up the vocals is just sad. Even in this video, you can clearly see that the audio and his physical vocal performance don’t even synch up . Sad, sad, and sadder. Mick Brown looks more and more like Rodney Dangerfield every day but I’ll hand it to him, he’s a bad motherfucker on the drums and always has been. George Lynch looks straight up bored and embarassed but sounds amazing and Jeff Pilson, well, that dude puts his all into everything so he’s just having fun regardless.
It totally bums me out to see this kind of thing. I see it with Paul Stanley, I see it with Ozzy, and I see it plain as day with Dokken. If you are no longer able to deliver a performance of any kind of quality, why are you still doing this? It may be fun for you but it’s torture for us fans who are not willing to just shell out the money for the sake of nostalgia. Just pack it in and be happy with the great legacy you have left behind. Dokken is like that carton of milk you keep forgetting to throw out but in your mind you think that there’s a slight chance that it might be good only do discover that it’s now cottage cheese. Dokken is long past their expiration date and it’s time to just take it out back and do away with it.
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