TESLA Concert Review | Tesla Tour 2017 Setlist

“Heavy metal, hardcore, pop, punk, or thrash
You can call it anything, it don’t matter to me
Call it what you want
It’s all music to me” – Lyrics, “Call It What You Want”

Tesla Concert Review | Tesla Tour 2017 Setlist

Tesla has been gainfully employed over the last few years by Def Lep LLC. Whether the Leppard is touring with Styx, Poison etc. they are always on the bill. They are the only reason I considered going to one of these packages …. but not for just a 6 song opening set. And I’m glad I waited.

I’ve only seen Tesla once before as part of a fest during their Into the Now tour, never as a headliner. When I saw they were coming to the historic Paramount Theatre as the main event in Denver I immediately reached out for press passes.

Tesla played a 90-minute show with precision, energy and an excellent “Five Man” set of 4-5 songs in the middle.  The band is tight and Jeff Keith‘s vocals are exceptional. I was also impressed with their stage; simple but effective with video screens and risers. The Paramount Theatre holds about 1800 and I would say it was about 3/4 full… on a Tuesday. Pretty damn impressive.

The first Tesla album I owned was Five Man Acoustical Jam. Much credit has been given to Tesla for kick-starting the Unplugged craze over the next few years as well as inventing the radio, the electric car and releasing 57 live albums.

While I’ve always liked Tesla, I’ve never loved any of their studio albums as a whole. I’m talking studio; I love Five Man. There are a handful of excellent songs on each of their releases but when they go balls out it just doesn’t work for me like their well crafted mid-tempo rockers. That’s not a shot, I just don’t go to them for that. Part of that is probably my personal framework; the first time I heard “Comin’ Atcha Live” and “Modern Day Cowboy” was on Five Man.

Their setlist was pretty much their compilation album Time’s Makin’ Changes along with a few solid new-ish tracks like “Into the Now” and “MP3.” Nothing to complain about there. I also heard “Save That Goodness” for the first time which is a bonus track on the Mechanical Resonance Live album. I like this song better than anything on their latest album Simplicity. Download it.

In short, Tesla put on a great show. See them when they hit your town on this tour. Setlist after the break.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuODPZAnJ2k[/embedyt]

Note:  Unfortunately I don’t have any professional pics as the Paramount Theatre has the odd restriction of having photographers shoot right of the stage 15 rows back…behind a trash can. No, I am not kidding you. These were my enforced instructions from the venue. If a venue does not have a proper photo pit in front of the stage they at least allow you stage right or left right up front for the first few songs. As I was going to a concert, not an African Safari, I didn’t bring a massive zoom lens which still would’ve been extremely challenging to get any decent shots from that angle. Therefore you must deal with some crappy iPhone pics I took from my seats.

Thanks to Tesla‘s management for the passes.

Official Website / Facebook

Note: The second listing of “Way It Is” should be “What You Give”