Neil Young on Tour

Neil is promoting his new album, Le Noise. He also promising to play all his old hits as well.

And he's coming to Philly!

Here are the dates and venues released so far...

04/15 Durham, NC Durham PAC
04/17 Richmond, VA Landmark Theater
04/19 Boston, MA Wang Theatre
04/20 Boston, MA Wang Theatre
04/22 Providence, RI Providence PAC
04/24 New York, NY Avery Fisher Hall
04/25 New York, NY Avery Fisher Hall
04/27 Baltimore, MD Hippodrome
04/28 Baltimore, MD Hippodrome
04/30 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre
05/01 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre
05/03 Cincinnati, OH Aronoff Center
05/04 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre
05/06 Chicago, IL Chicago Theatre
05/07 Chicago, IL Chicago Theatre

Ronnie James Dio: Spectrum Live 1984

In honor of The Spectrum and the Great Ronnie James Dio we are posting all of his YouTube Spectrum footage today.

This is the GREATEST ROCK ANTHEM OF ALL TIME.

Two things to note here:
1) The Title of his special is on this video:
"DIO, A Special from The Spectrum" and
2) At the end, he gives a little speech to Philly about how he loved us and always opened and closed his tours here.

WE LOVE YOU RONNIE! R.I.P. RJD
\m/
MAY YOU REST IN PEACE and MAY GOD BE AS GREAT TO YOU AS YOU WERE TO US!

Our thoughts are with your beloved widow, Wendy and your late cat Jack with whom you were reunited with on the other side...You fucking rock and are the BEST OF ALL TIME!

TURN IT UP AND ENJOY!

Here's "STAND UP AND SHOUT"

You've got desire -So let it out
You've got the fire -Stand up and shout!
You are the strongest chain
And not just some reflection
So never hide again
You are the driver- You own the road
You are the fire go on explode!




Note: We personally met Dio at the Tower Theater back in 1991. He was the most gracious celebrity we have ever met. He signed things for us and thanked us for being fans. I told him he was a master lyricist and the best ever and repeatedly tried to thank him. He just hugged me and said "thank you, thank you. It's you I have to thank". We left walking on air and bragged about it for MONTHS. We're so very thankful for that experience and will never forget. To think that that was 20 years ago just completely blows my mind.

Our hero worship for DIO is on the next level. We will forever do a DIO tribute twice a year - on his birthday (7/10) and anniversary of passing (5/16).

Ronnie James Dio: Spectrum Live 1984

In honor of The Spectrum and the Great Ronnie James Dio we are posting all of his YouTube Spectrum footage today.

TURN IT UP AND ENJOY!

Here's "Egypt: The Chains Are On"

Regarding the fact the Egypt has been in the news every night for the last 2 weeks, this song is super-appropriate. No one does anything better than DIO!

Ronnie James Dio: Spectrum Live 1984

In honor of The Spectrum and the Great Ronnie James Dio we are posting all of his YouTube Spectrum footage today.

TURN IT UP AND ENJOY!

Here's is the one and only, the great "Last in Line"

This is our favorite Dio song of all time. We dare you to not rock out!

Ronnie James Dio: Spectrum Live 1984

In honor of The Spectrum and the Great Ronnie James Dio we are posting all of his YouTube Spectrum footage today.

TURN IT UP AND ENJOY!

Here's "Heaven and Hell" This is from his Black Sabbath years and one of Sabbath's greatest songs. Ronnie replaced Ozzy Osbourne when Sabbath kicked Ozzy out of the band.

Ronnie's guitar player is the great Vivian Campbell. One of the best!

Ronnie James Dio: The Spectrum 1984

In honor of The Spectrum and the Great Ronnie James Dio we are posting all of his YouTube Spectrum footage today.

TURN IT UP AND ENJOY!

Here's "Don't Talk to Strangers".

HANDS DOWN ONE OF OUR FAVORITE DIO SONGS EVER!
He really rocks it out in this one...
Look for the slow start and then BAM! HEAVY METAL BITE AND CRUNCH!

"Don't write in starlight for the words may come out real"

Ronnie James Dio: The Spectrum 1984

In honor of The Spectrum and the Great Ronnie James Dio we are posting all of his YouTube Spectrum footage today.

TURN IT UP AND ENJOY!

This song was Ronnie's most successful commercial effort so even the non metal-heads amongst you might recognize it.

Here's "Rainbow in the Dark"

Ronnie James Dio: The Spectrum 1984

In honor of The Spectrum and the Great Ronnie James Dio we are posting all of his YouTube Spectrum footage today.

TURN IT UP AND ENJOY!

Here's "WE ROCK" - One of the best anthems ever!

Ronnie James Dio: The Spectrum 1984

In honor of The Spectrum and Ronnie James Dio we are posting all of his YouTube Spectrum footage today.

TURN IT UP AND ENJOY!

Here's "The Mob Rules"

Ronnie James Dio: Spectrum Live 1984

No one...NO ONE...was as talented, awesome and respected as the Great Ronnie James Dio. His voice stands alone as the best in the business. Deep, resonant and sincere, Ronnie's voice has the ability to lift your spirit. In fact, his voice is universally accepted as the MOST powerful in all of heavy metal. His music, his incomparable music, is as inspiring and just as great today as it was back when he composed it. He was talented in every way. No one loved their fans more than Ronnie and he showed it and proved it time and again. He was the consummate showman.

He will forever be missed more than he could ever imagine or more than we could even imagine, for when we listen to his music we are again transported into his world - a world of magic and mystery - and we want to stay there and relive it over and over again.

R.I.P Ronnie James Dio - you will LIVE FOREVER!

In honor of The Spectrum and Ronnie we are posting all of his YouTube Spectrum footage today.

TURN IT UP AND ENJOY!

Here's "MYSTERY"

The Philadelphia Spectrum

All Hail The Spectrum! Currently undergoing a not-so-successful demolition because that bad ass building is as tough as the Broad Street Bullies, the Philadelphia Spectrum will forever live on for fans of sport and music.

We went to so many events at the Spectrum we could never count them. Season ticket holders for both the Flyers and the Phantoms hockey teams saw us there sometimes 5 times a month.

We were too young to attend the games where the Flyers won the Stanley Cup and the never-to-forget games where the Flyers beat the hell out of the then indomitable Red Army. In fact, at that game, the Flyers slammed the Russians so hard, the entire Red Army walked off the ice saying "they don't want to even play hockey, they just want to fight." This was years before the Miracle on Ice game at the Olympics and in the hey day of the Broad Street Bullies.

Kate Smith made the song "God Bless America" cool again there and there was and still is a movement to make that song our National Anthem. God Bless Kate Smith.

The Philadelphia Wings won most of their Championship Tournaments there.

We did however, see the Phantoms win the Calder Cup there, TWICE!, and that was AMAZING! Have you ever hugged and partied with 23,000 strangers that became instant friends?

We also saw so many AWESOME concerts there including the great Iron Maiden concert with the giant sailing ship constructed just for "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" and we swear that thing was 100 feet long if it was one.

Not to mention the great censorship concert by Rage Against the Machine in which the band stripped down naked, putting duck tape over their mouths and just stood there for half an hour. Classic!

But there were so many more concerts: The Who, Cream (playing their last show ever), The Doors (It was recorded and released as Doors Live in Philadelphia 1970), Yes played 32 times there!, Aerosmith 23 times!, Bruce Springsteen practically made it his home and the night after John Lennon was killed he played a marathon 3 1/2 hour concert dedicating it to John and ending the show with a one time performance of "Twist and Shout", Genesis with Phil Collins played there frequently in the 1980's, Kiss, Billy Joel (he played there so often he had a banner hung from the rafters), AC/DC, Adam Ant, Skid Row, Alice in Chains with Van Halen, Anthrax, The Beach Boys, The Beastie Boys, Chuck Berry, Black Sabbath, Tina Turner, Boston, Quiet Riot, David Bowie, Johnny Cash (played twice in the '70s), Ray Charles (6 times!), Snoop Dog with Eminem, The Scorpions with Bon Jovi, Pink Floyd, THE GRATEFUL DEAD, and of course, the great Ronnie James Dio. EVERYONE PLAYED THERE!

Here is the full list and dates of the ALL the Spectrum concerts

We were fortunate enough to see Dio there in '87. The concert with the giant fighting robots. You just don't get that kind of show anymore.

In tribute to The Spectrum and the Great Ronnie James Dio we will be posting his 1984 Spectrum concert footage - ALL DAY.

God Bless America and Long Live The Spectrum!


REMEMBER THE SPECTRUM

The End of an Era - GOODBYE SPECTRUM!

The memories! The games! The concerts!

Oh, Spectrum - we will miss you!

We wrote you a poem

The Spectrum

Broad Street Bullies
Beaming toothless with pride
Every punch, every penalty
Every hit on our side
The concourse was jammed
Packed tight with the crowd
Everyone crammed, scrammed
And always so loud
Orange and black
Purple and white
At the Spectrum hockey
Kicked ass every night
76ers – Champions of ‘83
The players taller than the trees
Concerts – loud music and smoke
People rallying and sneaking a toke
The Spectrum we’ll miss you
We bid you adieu
The Spectrum we’ll never forget
For the lifetime of memories
We owe you a debt
They are tearing you down
But they can’t take you forever
You’re part of our hometown
Now and always and ever

The Doc Wins Cy Young!

Congrats to Phillies pitcher Roy "Doc" Halladay for kicking ass this season.

He was awarded the Cy Young award, unanimously, for best NL pitcher.

"He thew a perfect game on May 29th, and led the league in wins (21), complete games (9), shutouts (4), innings (250.2) while issuing the fewest walks per nine innings (1.1) and leading the NL in strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.30). He was among the leaders in ERA (2.44, third) and strikeouts (219, second) as well. And of course, the threw a no-hitter in Game One of the NLDS."

He rocks!

ROY!!

Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Roy Halladay, left, celebrates
with catcher Carlos Ruiz after throwing a no-hitter to
defeat the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 in Game 1 of the NLDS on Wednesday.

WHAT A GAME! There's not a Phillies fan in the entire Delaware Valley that will EVER forget what a magical game Roy Halladay threw last night!

It should have been "Doc" Halladay's SECOND PERFECT GAME IN ONE SEASON, if not for a walk in the 5th inning. As far was we are concerned, it was a perfect game.

The Phillies pitcher makes history as only the second guy in baseball recorded history to throw a no-hitter during the playoffs. It was history making as well for the Phillies Team to have a second no-hitter in a single season. And it makes Halladay the 5th pitcher in MLB to do it twice in one season.

Oh, and let's not forget, Halladay hit a single, RBI AND scored a run! If not for that damned walk it would have been the most perfect game in history. (It still is!)

"The excitement spread beyond Citizens Bank Park — the last two outs were shown on the video board at Target Field, where the Twins were preparing to play the Yankees, and Minnesota fans cheered." Right on!



GO PHILS!!

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST CHAMPS...AGAIN!

The Philadelphia Phillies have had another spectacular September culminating in their
FOURTH CONSECUTIVE NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST
TITLE AS DIVISION CHAMPS.

WAY TO GO!

Philadelphia UNION Open PPL with a Win!

The Philadelphia Union won their stadium opener with a huge win today! PPL Park in West Chester was sold out for months and eager fans got their money's worth as the team had an awesome game!

The Sons of Ben must be very happy!