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Okay everyone I have to admit something, I was wrong about Don Dokken. Yeah, you know all those times where I criticized Don for trying too hard to be a funny guy? Well after listenning to From Conception Live 1981 I found out that Don is a very funny guy after all.

I mean just listen to the words of In The Middle and Night Rider and his interaction with the crowd, thats some funny @#%$ right there.

I wonder by using Don Dokken's logic from the song Night Rider that if we drive eighty MPH in a seventy MPH zone during the daytime that we are Night Riders?

Musically the band played great and it is a damn good sounding live recording.

But did George and Mick write the lyrics? I seriously doubt George would having any say so of the words Don said during that show. Yes I do prefer George over Don anyday, that is no secret, but I am not afraid critisizing him either. People here may remember the thread where George's singer and I traded jabs. I slammed the guy because he couldn't sing and Don on his worst day could not sound that bad.

If George did the same damn thing as Don did I would criticize him as well, but George doesn't. After seeing Don perform live and reading his interviews, listenning to the music he's put out I know where the talent was in Dokken, and it sure didn't come from Don. Don is a great singer (when he wants to be) and I loved his art especially that was shown on Live From The Sun dvd.

I am definitely not afraid to give Don credit where it is due. Other folks here know that I have given that credit to him as well. I just happen to give George and Jeff more credit because as performers, they are straight to the point and less bullshit. They are there to kick ass and give a great rock n roll show.

Don wastes a lot of concert time trying to be a comedian and try to interact with the audience with the same line of @#%$ he has been using for years and for that matter where other artists before him were using the same lines he uses. The guy never comes up with anything new. He bored me to tears. Thank GOD Jeff Reb kicking for kicking ass and making the shows exciting. As far as the new live cd (ok maybe not totally new, but new to us as it is a new release) as concerned, it's a great cd but I wished a lot of that crowd interaction was edited out. But than again it would edit out alot of the music since Don was carrying on while the music was playing. But thats been one of my gripes about Don for many years and many here have read them, many times.

If Don had just concentrated on singing and putting on a great show than I would be less critical of him. Oh yeah, if he would put out some listennable music and quit making himself out to be the one who is responsible for all the good Dokken has done in his interviews that would help some too.

Also I give additional preference to George because when I saw him last (with that one guy singing), he was the one who came up to me and started talking to me. If that had been Don or Mick they would have walked by me without even acknowledging that I am a fan. I know that from expierence.

ETS is my favorite of all Dokken albums and George aint even on it, but Reb played great as did the rest of the guys including Don. It was a good modern melodic rock album that's solid all the way through. LWH and HTP both are dated sounding and very fourth rate bland @#%$. If its going to be @#%$ at leats put out a first rate @#%$ album, but Don could not even do that.

I am glad to see that you know where I am coming from about Don's repetitiveness. I can pull up interviews that he has done in the past where he has stated that its important for bands to change the setlists but how come he don't? When I saw Dokken in 1998 and 1999 the only difference was two songs. In 1998 they played Just Got Lucky (with Jeff singing) and The Maze and in 1999 those songs were replaced with Erase The Slate and Maddest Hatter. Other than that it was deja vu from the prior year.

I read recently that Don was saying that he may not put out anymore studio albums and just tour the hits instead. Okay minus the new album what would be the difference anyway? Besides Too High To Fly (which came out here in the states in 1995) how many songs has Dokken played live in the last five years that was recorded after 1995? From what I understand after HTP was released Don's band only played one track off that album briefly before they reverted back to the setlist of 1988 with the exception of Too High.


This is the crap that gets me is that Don does not progress as a songwriter or performer. After picking up the new Live From Conception just makes me think wow, Don has been the same type of performer for over twenty five years, no changes. @#%$ Ozzy Osbourne changes up his setlists and the way he performs on stage and even plays longer with more songs than Don. At this point, Ozzy's voice aint no worse than Don's either and Ozzy is older and has put himself through mega-amounts of self abuse.

People on this forum bag on George Lynch because he was responsible for Shadowlife and his own 'Smoke This' because of the style change. You know what I have to say to that, good for George at least he challenges himself and the same with Jeff Pilson. At least they progress and move forward.

Actually on the Ozzy subject I wasn't even thinking of Sabbath, but you are right. I saw Sabbath twice and it was the same setlist and the set was not long, less than an hour. But his solo concerts are different.

It would be nice to get Don to play more songs but that is unlikely. Your hope of a setlist is very ideal. I wont disagree there. Perhaps if Don feels his voice can't hold up for more than twelve songs, let Mick sing on a few or even Barry. As much as I dislike Mick the guy is a great singer and could pull off quite a few of those songs with Don singing harmony. That would be a great time for Don to pull out his guitar. After all one of the main gripes Don had about George during the 80's is that George threw fits everytime when Don picked up his guitar. Well what is stopping Don from playing guitar now? When I saw them Don NEVER played guitar once with an exception of bass when Jeff Pilson was singing Just Got Lucky. But it didn't look like Don was really playing it.

Shadowlife musically and lyrically is a damn good album but not a good Dokken album. Don's voice did not fit that album. I dont blame Don for that at all. He couldn't help that. Smoke This guitar wise is very much a true George Lynch album, it's just everything else was different. But the guitar style is very much George Lynch and the song Relaxing In The Land Of Az in my opinion is the best damn song written in the 1990's. I remember when George put out Sacred Groove he was saying that he wanted move towards a more of a rhythm style. That was a few years before that style got popular. Smoke This was very much a great rhythm album. But overall there only are a few songs that I like on that album, but that doesn't stop it from being a great album musically because I dont like most of it.