Author Topic: Billy Squier and GE Smith  (Read 1417 times)

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Offline Stadler

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Billy Squier and GE Smith
« on: January 19, 2018, 08:22:16 AM »
So I had a chance to see Billy Squier and GE Smith play last night at the Ridgefield Playhouse.   I had front row center, and the set up was GE Smith came out, solo, and played three songs (one was a Bob Dylan song, one was a song from the Civil War, that kind of thing) and then Billy came out and the two bantered and played various songs together.  Two guys, amplified (no acoustics were used in the entire performance) but with no other support whatsoever, taped or live. 

First, let me say that GE Smith is a fucking MONSTER.  I've seen almost all the greats - Van Halen, Blackmore, Petrucci, Page, Clapton, Howe, Malmsteen, Vai, Lifeson, Gilmour - and I don't know that I have seen someone command their instrument like GE Smith (Stevie Ray Vaughan is the only one that comes to mind that might rival him).  There literally was not one half-assed note, or seat-of-the-pants riffing.  His job was - for the most part - to support Billy and make him sound good, but it was interesting (as a guitar player) to see him play every figure like it was the hinge-pin riff of the song.   Really amazing.  I was with a good friend of mine who plays guitar as well (better than I do) and there were easily four or five moments where we turned to each other and said "Wha???", and we're not talking about Malmsteen level shredding, we're talking just solid, pulsing rhythm guitar.

Billy came out.  He looks... old.  Frail even.   The dialogue - he played I think 12 songs, and each one had an extended intro - was illuminating; he was humble, but he doesn't come off as a very warm guy.  He had some harsh words for the "download culture" while talking about  "Everybody Wants You" and the "skill" of sequencing a record back in the vinyl days.   Having said that, when he played (he's a far better guitar player than I ever imagined) and sang (I saw him back in 1983, and his voice sounded as good or better now) all that went away, and he REALLY connected with the audience.  Really powerful stuff.  He did three (!!) songs from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - which I thought was kind of random - including two from the Clapton record and one from the Peter Green record.   He introduced The Stroke as a "blues song" and played it as such, and it was EXCELLENT.   I found myself sitting there with a huge smile on my face almost the whole show.   He played a couple hits - the aforementioned "Stroke", "In The Dark", "Everybody Wants You", but also some deeper cuts like "Too Daze Gone" (one of my favorites), "Facts of Life" (from Creatures of Habit) and "The Pursuit of Happiness" from his acoustic record "Happy Blue".  He came back and played one song for an encore, a rousing version of "All Right Now" by Free.   After that song, someone came up and asked him to sign an album and he pointed to the front of the house and said "I'll meet you there". 

We thought he was kidding.

I went out to the lobby (it's very small if you've ever been there; I saw The Winery Dogs and Neal Morse Band there) and since we were parked very close to the building we had a little wait to get out of the parking lot (the parking lot is essentially what you'd find at a town hall somewhere).  Next thing you know, a guy comes out and says "If you form a line that way, Billy will come out in a little bit", so I waited with my friend.   Fifteen minutes or so later, he walks out and says hi, and starts to sign shit.   It took about 20 minutes or so and I got to him and said "Hey, thanks for a really enjoyable show.  I saw you in '83 in a big coliseum and this was so much more special!" I can talk the ears off a jackass, and my friend made a joke about "there's a line!", but Billy was nice and said something like "It's really fun for me, and I'm glad you liked it", so I said "would you release the music as a live disk or something?" and he looks at me - again, he doesn't have a very warm demeanor, so I was scared I said the wrong thing - and says "Sure, why not?  Why wouldn't I?" and then says "I just don't think of those things anymore.  I don't think about the business side of things any more, though I know there are people that would release this in a heartbeat." At that point, he launched into what was easily a 10 minute conversation with me about the music business, song writing, why he doesn't release records anymore, etc., and it was so fun and pleasureable.  None of it was bitter, it was very matter of fact, and he included some of the people behind me in line, but it was very candid and open and personable.   

This is a guy that just seems very happy and secure with his place in life, and his contribution to music history.  He's clearly comfortable - both psychologically and financially - and just does what moves him.  I was really impressed.  Some of you mocked me for the "lucky concert shirt", but it delivered once again.   Easily one of my top three celebrity encounters in my life (and I've been very lucky that way).   




Offline TAC

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2018, 08:43:17 AM »
Holy shit, does that guy look terrible!




















...and so does Billy Squire! ;D
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Stadler

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2018, 08:55:59 AM »
Badum PAH!

Offline frogprog

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2018, 03:28:28 PM »
Man, I used to love Billy! I remember when my older brother brought home Dont Say No. That and Emotions In Motion were a big part of my early eighties. Good to know he's a cool dude and still doing it. He's got to be getting up there, his band Piper was out in the early 70's, no?

Offline TAC

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2018, 03:41:21 PM »
Apparently he's 67. And only 5'6"?
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline ytserush

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2018, 07:51:54 PM »
As I understand it, GE Smith knows his way around the guitar.

Do you know if Squire released another album after Happy Blue? That's the last one I got and that was back in the '90s. I know he's never been happy with the music industry based on a few things I've read.

Never saw either of those guys live though.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2018, 08:02:37 PM »
Did Squier bust out the pink shirt and sing Rock Me Tonite?

Offline DragonAttack

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2018, 09:58:46 PM »
I have his 'Tale of The Tape' through 'Enough Is Enough' vinyls, and 'Don't Say No' up through 'Tell The Truth' CDs.  Of course I saw him open for Queen in '82 at Joe Louis Arena (best double bill I've witnessed).  Have his '83 headlining show from Joe Louis on DVD and CD. I would have bored him with questions about touring with Queen and collaborations with Freddie, Brian and Roger.

Great photo.  He looks really good for his age (as do you ;)).  Thanks for sharing this.
...going along with Dragon Attack's Queen thread has been like taking a free class in Queen knowledge. Where else are you gonna find info like that?!

Online lonestar

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #8 on: January 19, 2018, 10:04:16 PM »
GE Smith is fucking tremendous. I got to see him on Water's The Wall tour, and he kicked ass, I'd be very interested to see him in a setting where the music was more his own.

I can take or leave Squier, wasn't a massive fan of his in the day, and just like his looks, my passion for him hasn't aged well either.

Offline Stadler

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #9 on: January 22, 2018, 08:05:28 AM »
Apparently he's 67. And only 5'6"?

5'6" sounds about right, and I'd be surprised if he was over 140.   He said he runs 4 miles on beach (in the sand) every other day, year round, so he's in decent enough shape, I would imagine.

I wasn't kidding; between the guy in front of me and me, we had EASILY a 15 minute conversation, and between that and some comments during the show ("I used to do ALBUMS.  Downloading one song here, one song there?  FUCK THAT!", or something very very close) his opinion of the business is very low.   He and GE even talked about it during the intro to 'The Stroke', which was written about the music business, not sex, and even GE - who has been treated very well by the business - said it's a dirty, dirty game.   

He has not released anything after Happy Blue, and even said that he doesn't write at all anymore.   For him, "writing" is an exercise and something that he has to do regularly to get anything good out of it, and he just doesn't have the desire to do that, and the allusion was that to do so would be only to feed the machine, and he's past that.   He likes playing with his friends - like GE - and doing shows like this (informal, small gigs that are about the music not the commerce).   By the way, none of this is speculation on my part; he said - in so many words - all of this at one time or another throughout the evening.

Maybe it's me, but I love this kind of transparency, seeing what makes an artist tick.  There are a lot of things I could say about Billy that may or may not be flattering, but my respect for him - already high after the two-part interview he did with Eddie Trunk a couple years ago - is through the roof.   A lot of artists say "Oh, I'm just being honest", as you see all their demons and bitterness spill out on the table, but Billy was remarkably even in his assessment.  I think - now I am speculating - he probably did get fucked by the business but sees it as the way things sometimes go, and rather than carry a grudge, he just does what he does. 

Offline Orbert

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #10 on: January 22, 2018, 09:38:24 AM »
Sound like a pretty cool encounter.  I always thought Billy Squier was a pretty cool, pretty rockin' guy, and that the whole "Rock Me Tonight" was just an example of the kind of shit that can go wrong sometimes, and the consequences of it, fair or not.  The world is not a fair place.

Useless side note: We just added a Billy Squier tune to our set list.  "Lonely is the Night".  Fun song.

Offline Cool Chris

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #11 on: January 22, 2018, 01:34:24 PM »
Probably my favorite Squire song.

Saw him around 2000 open for Styx and Bad Company. Thought he was great.
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Offline CrimsonE

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #12 on: January 22, 2018, 04:41:25 PM »
I've only seen Squier on a couple of tours--the Don't Say No tour in 1989 (on my birthday), and opening for Styx/Bad Company in 2001.  He played his heart out on both gigs, and it's a shame that he pretty much epitomized the shooting star mentality of the 80's as "one hit wonders."  Yes, he had more than just one "hit" but he rose and fell like many stars of that era and is pretty much living for the live show, rather than putting out new material. 
In the heart of your most solemn barren night
When your souls turn inside out
Have you questioned all the madness you invite?
What your life is all about

Offline TAC

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2018, 06:40:10 PM »
Stadler, you don't have any relatives in Massachusetts do you? You look like the twin of a guy I worked with.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Stadler

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #14 on: January 23, 2018, 09:23:43 AM »
Stadler, you don't have any relatives in Massachusetts do you? You look like the twin of a guy I worked with.

I have relatives all over the place (not actually kidding; I was working in Erie and met a guy that had the same last name as my grandmother - we're related - and I got a call from a friend in Philly that met a woman with my last name (not at ALL common) and turns out our dads' grandparents were brothers).  I've had family in the Holyoke area for a long time, Albany area... I think I have some cousins that live in burbs west of Boston.   

Offline ytserush

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #15 on: January 26, 2018, 06:02:49 PM »
Apparently he's 67. And only 5'6"?

5'6" sounds about right, and I'd be surprised if he was over 140.   He said he runs 4 miles on beach (in the sand) every other day, year round, so he's in decent enough shape, I would imagine.

I wasn't kidding; between the guy in front of me and me, we had EASILY a 15 minute conversation, and between that and some comments during the show ("I used to do ALBUMS.  Downloading one song here, one song there?  FUCK THAT!", or something very very close) his opinion of the business is very low.   He and GE even talked about it during the intro to 'The Stroke', which was written about the music business, not sex, and even GE - who has been treated very well by the business - said it's a dirty, dirty game.   

He has not released anything after Happy Blue, and even said that he doesn't write at all anymore.   For him, "writing" is an exercise and something that he has to do regularly to get anything good out of it, and he just doesn't have the desire to do that, and the allusion was that to do so would be only to feed the machine, and he's past that.   He likes playing with his friends - like GE - and doing shows like this (informal, small gigs that are about the music not the commerce).   By the way, none of this is speculation on my part; he said - in so many words - all of this at one time or another throughout the evening.

Maybe it's me, but I love this kind of transparency, seeing what makes an artist tick.  There are a lot of things I could say about Billy that may or may not be flattering, but my respect for him - already high after the two-part interview he did with Eddie Trunk a couple years ago - is through the roof.   A lot of artists say "Oh, I'm just being honest", as you see all their demons and bitterness spill out on the table, but Billy was remarkably even in his assessment.  I think - now I am speculating - he probably did get fucked by the business but sees it as the way things sometimes go, and rather than carry a grudge, he just does what he does.

Apparently the tour was three gigs. You were one of the lucky few.

I didn't think he released anything after Happy Blue, but I wasn't totally sure.

I've always admired the guy. I thought he was well grounded and very well-spoken.



Offline Stadler

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #16 on: January 29, 2018, 09:36:43 AM »
Well, I can only speak for myself, but in my experience your last sentence is spot on.   No "Hasselhoff" posing, no "Rick Springfield" delusions of grandeur.   Really impressed (though I have to say, I'm mildly surprised that easily 90% of the people that I show the picture to have no idea who he is until they are told.)

Offline ytserush

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Re: Billy Squier and GE Smith
« Reply #17 on: January 29, 2018, 07:26:37 PM »
Well, I can only speak for myself, but in my experience your last sentence is spot on.   No "Hasselhoff" posing, no "Rick Springfield" delusions of grandeur.   Really impressed (though I have to say, I'm mildly surprised that easily 90% of the people that I show the picture to have no idea who he is until they are told.)

Still looks like Billy Squier to me.

Never met him.  I'm only going by what I've read, listened and watched in interviews over the years.