TOM KEIFER ROCKS THE WESTGATE!

Tom Keifer is back in Vegas! Yay! Let’s go!

It has been awhile since I saw Tom in Concert. The last time was when he blew the crowd away at the Whisky in L.A. And the time before that was when I interviewed him when he played the metal fest at Irvine Meadows. At that festival there were so many great artists performing like Bret Michaels, Vince Neil, Stephen Pearcy, Lita Ford and I remember that no one could follow Tom. He got onstage and did such a powerful energetic set that everyone paled in comparison after his performance.        I first met Tom at Chuck Brennan’s Charity Event that took place here in Vegas. I interviewed Tom through his manager Tim Heyne (Union Entertainment Group) that night who was very kind and assisted in setting up the interview. With that interview I put Tom on the cover of my publication. So when Tom came to Vegas this month I thought it would be cool if I could give Tom a copy of the magazine and have Tom sign the magazine for me. So I contacted Tim again and he made sure I was set for tickets and an after show pass.  So in addition to going to a great show I was on a mission!My boys L.A. Guns opened the show with new material along with their list of hits “Rip and Tear”, “Ballad of Jayne”  “Kiss My Love Goodbye” and my favorite “Never Enough” . Tracii Guns and Phil Lewis and the guys never let the crowd down and this night was no exception.       Tom came on to the historic Elvis Showroom stage with thunderous applause and cheers which brought the crowd to it’s feet and things never slowed down for the next hour and a half! From where I was seated the show looked sold out.And Tom treated the capacity crowd to not only his powerful Blues Rock solo tracks but also played the best of Cinderella’s long list of hits.During the show I had forgotten just how many hits Tom’s former band had:  “Shake Me”. “Nobody’s Fool”, “Somebody Save Me”, “Coming Home”, “Heartbreak Station”. For the encore Tom took the stage playing the piano with the powerful “Don’t Know What You Got (Till it’s Gone) then sang The Beatle’s “With a little Help From My Friends” where Tom dropped to his knees with such passion and emotion that my friend Korie Koker (who I had been swaying to the song with) exclaimed: “He has the spirit of Elvis in him!” Which certainly looked like the case! Tom then  closed out the end of the night with my favorite “Gypsy Road”      After the show I went back downstairs ( I knew the backstage area well from so many concerts and my Vegas Rocks Awards shows in the past) towards Tom’s dressing room. Tom’s tour manager Craig Bradford had told me Tom has to protect his voice so there probably would not be a chance to meet up with Tom but I was hoping for the best.  I waited for Craig in front of Tom’s Dressing room in the hallway for quite some time. Tom was sitting in his dressing room talking to legendary promoter Danny Zelisko and was kind of glancing at me waiting in the hall. After awhile I just gave up waiting for Craig and went in to see Tom to give him the magazine

Tom recognized me right away from the interview I did with him at Chuck Brennan’s event and as always, Tom is so sweet, humble and down to earth. He told me I couldn’t reach Craig because he was packing up and taking care of his guitars upstairs onstage.  Tom signed my magazine and then said: “Oh let me see your ring!” So I showed him my big purple ring and he then showed me his big purple ring! Of course his ring was totally awesome. I took a photo with him holding the magazine with him on the cover. He was still sweaty from his powerful show and he joked: “How’s my hair?” “Beautiful” I replied. We took a quick photo together and the dressing room was starting to get more guests in to speak with Tom so I made a quick getaway. It was such a great feeling to be able to have a chat with Tom again. And – hey! I finally got my Vegas Rocks! Magazine signed for my office! Mission accomplished!

Thank you for playing Vegas Tom! Come back soon!

Thank you Tim Heyne for accommodating my request!

Sally Steele

Live Photos: Joe Schaffer Photography

To view the two video interviews I did with Tom click here!