Down the Line: Legends From Locals

This concert was wonderful. Great local bands covering some legendary artist. Special shout out to the bands that covered Stevie Wonder and The Police. Amazing performances.

Down The Line 12 was a great show. All in all a great night of music from several local performers. I might be a bit biased, but I thought Unlikely Alibi's Police set was the best part of the night.

I love this event and the Embassy is such an extraordinary venue. Let s talk about the various acts that performed. Todd Harrold And Nick Bobay Duo was interesting but fell very flat. I heard several people say that he played the same song four times. Ultimately, the duo tried to make a Stevie Wonder song even better, but failed miserably. This was the same fate Todd Harrold suffered while doing Steely Dan several years ago. Don t try to improve in perfection. Just okay the songs. The Be Colony was a different issue. We looked forward to seeing a band play Radiohead but they didn t play any of their major hits: High and dry, Karma Police and Creep. They were a great band with great sound but we were really disappointed by their song choice. March on, Conrads was a good band with a terrible singer. They chose Phil Collins but the lead singer s voice was poor and very slight. Disappointing. Unlikely Alibi was tight and strong but struggled with Roxanne and no other major hits. Pink Droid, a local favorite, did Styx and did a great job. The audience was yelling out song requests like too much time on my hands and Renegade but they didn t play them. Good set though I have said this many times before that the bands need to be cognizant of their song choices and they are playing to the largest, assumes, audience of 2,500. This happens before with The Riverbottom Nightmare Band several years ago. Along with being an awful screamo band they took on playing AC/DC but played nothing from the greatest rock album ever, Back in Black. The bands need to know what the audience is looking for and this is a find raiser.

The Embassy is an excellent venue. All of the bands were very talented and put on a good show. However, the balance of vocals to musical instruments was distorted. For some bands the instruments were so loud we couldn't hear the vocals and what we heard was distorted. I would hope that during sound checks the bands would play and sing, checking all the levels but it appears that only vocals or the instruments were tested. It's too bad since we have seen professional national bands perform at the Embassy and their sounds were always in balance. The acoustics at the Embassy are awesome if you know how to balance.

Overall the performers were NOT very good this year, we were very disappointed. We were so excited to see the Prince, & INXS performances. The "rapper" who covered INXS was REALLY bad! At first we actually thought it was a joke. I hope next year you are able to get better talent!

I enjoyed the whole Saturday night show, but David Todoran's closing set was the high point of the evening. Not only were the Neil Young selections terrific, but I really appreciated his remarks about the importance of the arts in developing our humanity, and the importance of the Embassy in the Fort Wayne community. Incidentally, my son said that he was impressed by the fact that the Neil Young set included songs about protecting the environment (Look at mother nature on the run in the 1970s), a song about the danger of hard drugs, (the needle and the damage done), and a song about racism (Southern Man). Great energy, great music... a thoroughly enjoyable show.

Had an amazing time on Saturday night at Down the Line 10. Not only was this a fundraiser for the historic Embassy Theater, but a spotlight on excellent area musicians and bands. Great night of music.

great time, good show.. the bands were amazing. so great to see local bands on the stage..

This was my first Down the Line Show and I cant wait to come again next year! The bands sounded amazing and the Embassy is beautiful! Everyone in the staff was kind and helpful.

all and all it was a decent show held for a great cause.. I was really looking forward to FWFO was a bit disappointed in the lead singer seemed like he would fit better on cruise ship with senior crowd the other member s were spot on... Kat Bowser who did Queen was on fire loved her would love to see entire show of just her honestly. Michael Jackson covers were pretty decent lead singer was fun to watch so was sum mores lead singer she had great stage presence very impressive

DEFINITLY WORTH IT!! 2 DAY GIG MADE IT ALL WORTH WHILE . PLEASE REPEAT !!! ALL BANDS WERE GREAT , GREAT MIX OF GENRES , ALL PERFORMED WERE AWESOME. MC'S WERE GREAT TOO. ALL IN ALL GREAT TIME. BUT DISAPPOINTED OF ALL THE INCONSIDERATE PEOPLE WHO WERE ON THEIR PHONES OR TRYING TO RECORD AND ALOT OF PEOPLE JUST MINGELING INSTEAD OF ENJOYING SHOW.

Two out of five bands were good. The other three were not. I've attended three of the Legends from Locals and this one was a dissapointment. Phil's Family Lizard was OK and the band that covered Van Halen kicked ass. Wish those two bands had played the entire time.

The opening band rocked with Allman Brothers, the last band rocked with AC/DC, but Little Green Men brought the house down with Van Hallen. The other two bands didn't real do anything for me. Wish Little Green Men where back together.

We have attended for several years. I was a little bummed this year, because I was expecting the artist to covering the more well known "bigger" hits from the original artist.

This was our first time at this concert. Band ratings: Talking Heads B+ Paul Simon A- Stevie Wonder D Journey C+ Billy Joel C The thumping bass was a real annoyance. we were sitting in the bottom venue, near the back. Had a headache after about 30 minutes. Had to leave mid/Journey to avoid ear damage. This was the worst concert we have ever been to where people constantly talked during the performances. Please, Ft. Wayne. Get some manners. Talking Heads band was a class act, Paul Simon band were not great musicians but did a good job interpreting Paul's music.

Excellent concert. It was a truly wonderful evening.

ALL COVER BANDS WERE GREAT!!!! WOULD GO AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT

I loved every moment of this concert. I feel my only real disappointment was when Brother had their guests and they veered from the Journey covers. I am a big Journey fan and while I enjoyed the songs they did I would have loved to hear more Journey. It isn't like there aren't enough Journey songs for the guests to cover as well. I would have loved to see Sunny Taylor cover Journey!

Fantastic show.. Great way to highlight amazing local talent

Was awsome hearing good bands doing cover music from some great artist. Last band was a downer though, was to do Kiss and played three of there own songs and only three Kiss songs. I was there to hear the covers not to listen to bands originals. Rest of bands did a great job.

This was my first "down the line" concert, and I have to say it was a good concert. I'll definitely plan to go to next year's down the line 7.

Outstanding show. Well worth the admission price and a good cause as well. The local talent showcased speaks greatly about the quality of local musicians. The Embassy Theater is a magnificent venue for the show. Very enjoyable. Will look for it next year.

The show was great!! 3 out of the 4 bands sounded amazing, first and last being(by far) my favorites. The lighting and backgrounds were a great touch, loved the student artwork! Could have done without Jack Hammer as the host, not a very classy guy for such a classy place.

To be honest, I didn't make it to the show. I ended up in Michigan waiting for my sister to have her baby. It was a boy. I had looked forward to this show for 6 months, so I was very disappointed that I had to miss it. I was living it through texts from a different sister who was there watching it. She made sure to rub it in of how great it was lol. Everyone that I've talked to that went had only good things to say.

The concert was definately worth the price of admission. There is never a bad seat at the Embassy. Really loved the band that did Earth, Wind, and Fire. Not an easy band to cover, but they did an AWESOME job.

Okay, let's start off by saying I'm a bit of a local music virgin around Fort Wayne, so I had no familiarity with any of the bands going into the show. But The Cure, John Mellencamp, Earth Wind & Fire, Tom Petty, and The Beatles? I was bound to have fun. First up was Wooden Satellites, playing The Cure. This was a fairly basic set, and aside from the female vocalist, the band doesn't *really* possess much stage presence, but the covers were well done, if a bit truncated in the case of "Pictures of You". The high point was actually their original offering, as they were allowed one. They played "When Fast At Home" from their album Let's Make Crimes. The band experienced a failed amp during the last two songs, but they still managed to pull it off. This set was enough to get me to buy the CD immediately after their set and seek out future dates. *** (of ****) Next was Dash Rip Rock, covering John Mellencamp. While their lead singer's voice isn't really "Mellencampesque", the band had incredible energy and created a thoroughly enjoyable set, involving the crowd at several points, most notably "R.O.C.K. In The USA". The band took more of a medley approach to Mellencamp's work, cutting from one song to another nearly instantly. One gets the feeling that these guys have honed their stage presence for quite some time, and I would love to see them play again. **** The middle set was from Urban Legend, playing the music of Earth, Wind, & Fire. These guys managed to nail the pop and soul, if not the funk, aspects of their chosen band. All three vocalists performed well despite a minor cord issue that almost tripped one of the ladies. The high points of the set were, of course, a raucous rendition of "September" and a wonderfully harmonic "After The Love Is Gone". I think the set suffered a bit from the lack of live horns, but all things considered, it was quite enjoyable. *** of **** Fourth up was Kill The Rabbit. These guys have won multiple local awards, they have a killer stage presence, and they sound *great*. That said, Tom Petty was probably not the best choice for these guys to cover. Petty's trademark vocal style was entirely absent as were most of the subtle nuances. I'd love to see KTR play their own stuff -- they played one song, and it was excellent -- but in the context of this show, I was not as impressed as I expected to be. ** Last and certainly not least were Dave Todoran and Kenny Taylor. These two performed in the 80s together in the Red Belly Boys, with each going on to have a moderately successful local music career. This show was the first time the duo had played together in 20 years, but it did not show. Armed with two acoustic guitars and their voices, they started with early Beatles material, working their way up to Let it Be. "I've Just Seen A Face" was excellent, though "Eleanor Rigby" could have used a few backup vocalists to flesh out the harmonies. These guys were great, and I hope it's not another twenty years before we see them together again! ***