{"id":20569,"date":"2023-06-13T13:56:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T17:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=20569"},"modified":"2023-06-13T13:56:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T17:56:00","slug":"ugly-kid-joe-proves-to-be-atlantas-most-wanted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=20569","title":{"rendered":"Ugly Kid Joe Proves To Be Atlanta’s Most Wanted"},"content":{"rendered":"

2023 seems to be the comeback kid.\u00a0 After a few years of Covid and uncertainty, 2023 appeared to be the year that things truly started to get back to normal (somewhat).\u00a0 I don’t know if it’s because people have learned not to take things for granted, but in 2023, the live music world returned with a bang.\u00a0 Bands started hitting the road for extensive tours, putting on some fantastic shows, but one band made a return that I had been waiting for nearly 30 years.\u00a0 That band is Ugly Kid Joe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In the early ’90s, Ugly Kid Joe was the ultimate “love ’em or hate ’em” band.\u00a0 People either ragged on them and thought they were a joke, but then there were people like me who saw beyond the top layer of Ugly Kid Joe.\u00a0 Beneath the tongue-in-cheek humor and silliness was a band whose talent and musical ability were as good if not better than most of their peers.\u00a0 Their live shows were some of my concert-going life’s best and most memorable moments.<\/p>\n

I last saw Ugly Kid Joe in 1993, opening for Def Leppard at Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta, GA.\u00a0 It was the first time in my life that I had purchased a concert ticket just to see the opening act.\u00a0 I actually couldn’t stand Def Leppard, so that should tell you what kind of fan I was of this band.\u00a0 I had no idea at the time that it would be another 30 years before I would see them again.\u00a0 In support of their 2022 album Rad Wings of Destiny, Ugly Kid Joe announced that they would be hitting the road for an extensive North American tour, and I couldn’t have been more fucking ecstatic.<\/p>\n

Center Stage Theater was a buzz with energy and anticipation to see Ugly Kid Joe.\u00a0 Before the show even started, I was blown away by the diversity of the Ugly Kid Joe fan demographic.\u00a0 From an older Gen X crowd to high school kids, Ugly Kid Joe seemed to pull many rad people out of the woodwork.\u00a0 People that had seen them many times back in the day, casual fans who never saw them live, and a whole new generation of\u00a0 fans were present, adding to the excitement and overall amazing vibe.\u00a0 I knew this was going to be a fantastic night.<\/p>\n

Ugly Kid Joe took the stage to a loud, appreciative room as they opened with “That Ain’t Livin'” from Rad Wings of Destiny, and we were off.\u00a0 The band sounded absolutely amazing.\u00a0 Even with founding members Klaus Eichastadt (guitar) and Whitfield Crane (vocals) being the only original members present for this show, nothing was missing musically.\u00a0 Ugly Kid Joe’s setlist was perfectly executed and sequenced with the fans in mind.\u00a0 Getting to hear songs like “VIP,” “CUST,” and “Jesus Rode a Harley” for the first time was amazing, and to hear the classics like “Panhandelin’ Prince,” “Goddamn Devil,” and “So Damn Cool” took me right back to the early days.<\/p>\n

Whitfield Crane’s voice sounds like it has been completely untouched by time, and he sounds stronger than ever.\u00a0 Pulling from the Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Dickinson, and Rob Halford playbooks, Whit had us all eating from his hand as he worked the crowd up and encouraged some of the best audience participation I’ve seen at a concert in a while.\u00a0 At one point, Crane split the audience into three sections for a cheering contest, he had every one of us clapping in unison and singing, and he conversed with the fans up front like they were old friends.\u00a0 Feeling more a part of the show than just a spectator is a cool thing to experience, and not every band can pull it off this well.<\/p>\n

The camaraderie between Crane and Eichstadt has always been a staple of Ugly Kid Joe live shows, and it was so much fun to see them doing this after so many years.\u00a0 At one point in the show, Whit announced, “This next song is about Klaus’ sex life,” Klaus responded, “Yes, this song is about my sex life.\u00a0 It’s called “Failure.”\u00a0 Another song I was so excited to hear live, and like the rest of their set, they didn’t disappoint.<\/p>\n

The interaction between the audience and the band is something to be seen, and it’s apparent that these guys learned from the old-schoolers.\u00a0 Klaus poked and prodded the crowd like we were all at a giant lunch table with him, guitarist Chris Catalyst at one point even took a seat in a chair while having his bald head toweled off by a crew member, and<\/p>\n

Whit pointed out several young people up front asking them who brought them to the show, only to call out their parents and thank them for turning them on to Ugly Kid Joe.\u00a0 The sincerity of his appreciation for the support of all the fans moved me, and it was one of many things that reminded me why Ugly Kid Joe has always been one of my favorite bands.<\/p>\n

After a face-ripping “Goddamn Devil,” Whit asked the crowd, “How many more songs do you want to hear?\u00a0 One or two?”\u00a0 The crowd went nuts, and he laughed and said, “Atlanta, how about three?” and closed the show out with “Come Tomorrow” from America’s Least Wanted, a nut-crushing version of the Motorhead classic “Ace of Spades” and non-encore (we don’t do that, said Whit) “Everything About You” complete with arm swaying and singing along that brought a huge smile to my face.\u00a0 The only that sucked about hearing this song was that I knew it meant the night was over.\u00a0\u00a0Ugly Kid Joe bid farewell to us all with huge smiles, guitar picks, and memories of a night of incredible music.<\/p>\n

After the show, I went down to the floor and spotted the three teenage ladies ecstatic throughout the whole show.\u00a0 I asked them how they liked the show, and they let me know that their parents had turned them onto the band and that they were huge fans.\u00a0 They were the same age as I was when I saw my first Ugly Kid Joe show.\u00a0 Like an old man, I recounted my first time seeing them in 1992 at the Masquerade, and they were all smiles.\u00a0 It made me so happy to see a younger generation embracing the music of my youth, which, all these years later, is still very much relevant.<\/p>\n

If Ugly Kid Joe ever had doubts about their importance or relevance in this world, I hope they read this because their music (even the new stuff) is timeless, good hard rock music that transcends generation barriers.\u00a0 Those young ladies are proof that great music can live forever and that the future may hold many generations of Ugly Kid Joe fans.<\/p>\n

SETLIST:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That Aint Livin\u2019
\nVIP
\nNeighbor
\nC.U.S.T
\nJesus Rode a Harley
\nPanhandlin\u2019 Prince
\nDead Friends Play
\nNo One Survives
\nDevil\u2019s Paradise
\nSo Damn Cool
\nCat\u2019s In the Cradle
\nI\u2019m Alright
\nFailure
\nMilkman\u2019s Son
\nGoddamn Devil
\nCome Tomorrow
\nAce of Spades
\nEverything About You<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2023 seems to be the comeback kid.\u00a0 After a few years of Covid and uncertainty, 2023 appeared to be the year that things truly started to get back to normal (somewhat).\u00a0 I don’t know if it’s because people have learned not to take things for granted, but in 2023, the live music world returned with a bang.\u00a0 Bands started hitting the road for extensive tours, putting on some fantastic shows, but one band made a return that I had been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":20577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[277],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2532.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20569"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20586,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20569\/revisions\/20586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}