Ted Nugent
Hartman Arena
Park City, Kansas
August 8, 2010
By Jeb Wright
Setlist:
Star Spangled Banner | Stormtroopin’| Wango Tango/You Really Got
Me| Free For All | Wang Dang Sweet Poontang/Blues Jam | Raw Dogs
War Hogs | Need You Bad | Love Grenade | KLSTRPHNKY | Trample
the Weak, Hurdle the Dead | Soul Man | Hey Baby | Just What the
Doctor Ordered | Fred Bear | Cat Scratch Fever | Stranglehold
Encore:
Great White Buffalo
A sparse crowd gathered just north of
Wichita, Kansas to celebrate the music of The Motor City
Madman, Ted Nugent on Friday, August 8, 2010. The arena,
which holds 6,000 people, was less than half full. The dismal
attendance, however, didn’t stop Uncle Ted from delivering a
full set of his biggest hits, complete with a few odes to Motown
and a handful of bashings aimed at our President.
Before going into detail, I must admit that
the world is a small place. Before the show, I ran into DJ
Bushman, a classmate of mine from high school. Bushman makes
Ted Nugent’s ammunition. Who would have thought the small high
school of Arkansas City, Kansas would churn out two guys who
would end up knowing The Nuge? There must have been something
good in that water!
After catching up with DJ, I headed to the
floor and took my seat just as the lights went down. Nugent took
the stage with a red, white and blue Gibson Les Paul strapped
over his shoulder and performed “The Star Spangled Banner.” The
crowd of patriotic Midwesterners stood up and cheered with glee
as they scanned the stage, which was littered with cow skulls
with red lights in their eyes, machine guns and various other
weapons of destruction.
The show went five songs strong without
stopping. In addition to the “National Anthem,” Teddy kicked
out “Stormtroopin’,” “Wango Tango,” with the Kinks “You Really
Got Me” squeezed in the middle, “Free For All” and “Wang Dang
Sweet Poontang,” which ended in a huge Nuge blues jam. There
was no sign of Uncle Ted’s right wing politics during this
stretch. The next tune, “Raw Dogs & War Hogs,” changed that,
though.
Ted saluted the armed forces and went on to
lecture the crowd that in “2010 a storm was coming” and that now
is the time “to take our country back.” Nugent went on to
deliver a message to President Obama. “Obama, you can kiss my
ass and your staff can suck my dick.” Nuge lectured a few more
moments and then went into “Need You Bad” from Weekend
Warriors, which ended up being one of the highlights of the
show. Next up, however, Nuge took the show in a new direction
with “Love Grenade” and the raucous “KLSTRPHNKY.” The band even
played a new tune, “Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead.”
Switching from politics to his Detroit
upbringing, Nugent addressed the youth in attendance, “Listen up
young people; my name is Ted fucking Nugent and I am 62 years
old. I am 62 years clean and sober – no alcohol, no drugs, no
tobacco and no fat pussy. I stay away from fat pussy. That
shit will lead you to listen to Country & Western Music.” He
went on to pay homage to Motown greats such as The Funk
Brothers, Wilson Pickett and Sam & Dave, before playing the Sam
& Dave classic “Soul Man.” Once in Detroit Music Mode,
Nugent ended the main set with an onslaught of classic songs.
In order, the rest of set consisted of “Hey Baby,” “Just What
the Doctor Ordered,” “Fred Bear,” “Cat Scratch Fever” and
“Stranglehold.”
When Nugent introduced “Cat Scratch Fever”
he bragged that the song’s signature riff was the number one
guitar lick of all time. Once the song was over, he said, “I
lied; that was the number two lick of all time. This is the
greatest guitar lick ever played…” With that he went into
“Stranglehold.” After ten minutes of bashing out incredible
solo after solo, Nugent simply leaned his guitar against his
amp, still plugged in and feeding back, and left the stage.
With only the reds of the skulls glowing
from the amplifiers the crowd cheered to bring Ted back for an
encore. He obliged and came out with a white Gibson Byrdland
guitar strapped across his back and a headdress on his head. It
was time for a walk down that “new and magic land.” The crowd
went wild as Nugent hit the opening notes of “Great White
Buffalo.” At the end of the tune, Nugent strung up his guitar,
lit an arrow and shot it into the axe for the grand finale.
Naysayers accuse Ted Nugent of using his
music simply as a means to fund his political agenda. They claim
he just goes through the motions, squeezing money from his fans.
I can refute that claim only by what I witnessed in Kansas on
August 8th. I can fully assert that no matter what
Ted is doing with his money, he is still an amazing force on
electric guitar and he still plays with a blood and guts
attitude that would make most performers shudder in fear.
Nugent is an intense man, both on and off
stage. Tonight, many performers would have run through the set,
gone through the motions and left early to get to the next
town. Nugent, however is not most performers. Nugent saddled
up the troops and gave the same set he will give the next time
he finds himself in front of a full house.
Nugent craves his music, just as he craves
the hunt, and he allows no one to stand in his way. In these
times of throwaway music and digital downloads, it is refreshing
to see an artist who consistently pushes himself to be the best
he can be.
Long live The Nuge!
