Poor Billy Squier. I understand wanting to play your new stuff, but he needs to know his fans a little better.
Greg, a good friend of mine and long time site regular from the USA sent in this e-mail regarding Loopfest 2005, with Def Leppard, Billy Squier and Silvertide. I thought that some parts of it would be of interest to all. Greg writes: "Great venue and good show but I was reminded again of what it is like to be a great performer and loyal to your fans and what it is like to not do those things.
First things first, Silvertide is a great up and coming band and I was really impressed with them. Def Leppard was great as always. Billy Squier was horrible however. He came out without a band and proceeded to play nothing that anyone knew and was a huge disappointment. The fans grew very restless and even started to heckle him and he continued.... Normally you feel sorry for the artist when this happens but I think this time it was well deserved. It was horrible to watch. I understand an artists right to change things up but an artist also has an obligation to his fans as well. To add insult to injury this was his home crowd and you could tell everyone was really looking forward to his set and were very angry with his lack of respect to them. At one point after playing 6-8 new songs that no one knew (not even me and I am a pretty big fan and have many of his albums) he started the intro to Lonely is the Night and then stopped and said "just seeing if you were paying attention" and then played another new song that no one knew.
Thank God Def Leppard came out and played a great show. I have said it before and I'll say it again, a great band knows and appreciates his fans and their hard earned money."