Jim Peterik's son, Colin's band, Lobster Newberg opened up with a brief set. They played new songs of their upcoming album. No Set Your Sails though. Now for the main show. The first question that comes to one's mind when seeing a Peterik show is what outrageous outfit will he be wearing this time....Oh my god! What the fuck is on his head. Nice hair.
They open up with Night of World Stage.
The first guest is Jimi Jamison. Folks, this dude is back. His voice was on and powerful. Grant it, not exactly where it was 20+ years ago but damn close and that ain't no bullshit either. They played High On You, Can't Hold Back, Search is Over, and a new song of Crossroad Moment - Friends We Never Met (?). It sounded pretty good. My only disappointment was they didn't have any for sale at the merchandise table. I was looking forward to picking one up. They played the CD over the speaker during the intermission and at the conclusion of the show. I only heard bits and pieces and it didn't sound bad.
After that, the lovely Lisa McClowery came in front from her background vocal position. They played Unconditional Surrender (along with Nick Colliene). This is a great jazz song. They then played a new song from her upcoming CD. Another stellar vocal performance. If she was on the radio, she would easily have one of the best voices on it.
Next was, making his World Stage debut, David Pack of Ambrosia. This guy sounds EXACTLY like he did 30 years ago. It was like listening to the radio. I see why Perry is singing background on Pack's CD and Pack isn't singing background on Perry's shit. That is the correct order as Pack proved he is by far the better vocalist today. They played That's How Much I Feel, Only Woman, and Biggest Part of Me. Before BPOM, Pack told a funny story about him playing the song before Clinton's first inagural.
I may be getting mixed up but I believe Nick Colliene was next (if not he came after Ides). He stayed within his time this year. He played a very good instrumental jazz song first. It was the same one as last year and it's actually pretty good. I could listen to it. The second number had vocals and wasn't bad either. I thought it was going to drag but it didn't. So, I had no problem with Colliene this year. He wears excellent clothes too. I wish I could pull that off. Also, he had some funny one liners.
Closing out the first set was Kelly Keagy. They played Goodbye (a WS first), Sister Christian, and Don't Tell Me You Love Me (which brought down the house as usual). It was almost a mini-Night Ranger as Joel Hoekstra and Christian Cullen are in the WS band.
The second set began with Ides Of March. They played Come Dancin' and their staple hit Vehicle. Not bad for a band 45 years old.
Next was Don Barnes. They played Caught Up In You, Hold on Loosely, Fantasy Girl, and Rockin Into The Night - all Peterik co-written songs. Before RITN, Keagy came back out and did a double drum solo intro with Ed Breckenfield, the WS drummer. Barnes sounded pretty good. Also, before one of the songs Barnes was finally the one to make fun of Peterik's hair. The crowd laughed along at this ribbing.
The final guest was Rik Emmett. This set got me stoked for the Triumph reunion because he sounds the best in years. They played Fight The Good Fight, Lay It on The Line, and Magic Power. The only unfortunate thing was we didn't get a guitar solo from Emmett this year. But he ripped it during the songs. This guy is good - which is the understatement of the year so far.
Everyone came back on stage for the encore, Eye Of The Tiger. Jamison sang lead vocals. It was the extended jam version with Peterik running through the crowd playing his guitar.
Bottom line, this was well worth the money and in some respects this may have been the best one yet because of the high percentage of stars and hit songs. Even though most of the artists I have seen more than once, it was still a very good time. I'm not sure why they don't advertise this a little more and play a bigger venue. Because this show although a sellout, would sell a larger venue. All I can say is I can't wait til next year for World Stage X.
P.S. After the show, we were able to have a quick word with Peterik and Saint John told him Andrew said hi. Peterik said Andrew is great and like his dad.
Jim is a great guy and if Andrew does another show I'm sure Jim could help him put together a wonderful lineup. Man, I hope this happens. 
