Ted Nugent - guitar, lead vocals; Dave Kiswiney - bass, vocals; Cliff Davies - drums; Dave Amato - guitar, vocals; Brian Howe - vocals; Todd Howarth - keyboards, vocals
Ted Nugent was deep into his "Wildman of Rock 'N' Roll" image when he played this show on April 20, 1984, while on a tour co-headlining with Humble Pie. Though the latter group had only recently been reformed, with only Steve Marriott and Jerry Shirley remained from the original lineup, the tour was still highly anticipated. More than anything, it allowed Nugent to play most nights in front of audiences that previously had had only limited exposure to his music and flamboyant stage show.
Nugent was promoting The Penetrator, his second disc since moving from Epic to Atlantic Records. While the record saw little success, Nugent remained a viable live act, and this show is a good example of his dynamism. Nugent often appeared dressed in nothing more but a Tarzan-styled loin cloth with fur and leather boots. He usually made his stage entrance via a swinging vine, and often brought his act to a climax by shooting a flaming arrow across the stage.
What this performance does do, however, is remind us that Ted Nugent, despite his cartoon antics, is a formidable rock guitarist who has penned some great songs over the course of his forty year music career. First breaking onto the music scene with the Detroit-based Amboy Dukes, Nugent got his first taste of success when the group's second album, Journey to the Center of the Mind, hit the top of the charts in 1967. Nugent, however, has long been a vocal anti-drug conservative and was clearly fronting the wrong band. In 1970, he assembled a backing trio and changed the name of his act to Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes. By 1975, he had moved from Warner Brothers to Epic Records, where his frenzied, crazy man of rock persona took over with over-the-top hard rock songs like "Stranglehold" and "Wango Tango."
For this tour he had accomplished musicians backing him, most who went on to become part of other big '80s bands, so the musicianship is pretty solid throughout. Nugent would put his solo career on hold to develop an '80s supergroup with members of Styx and Night Ranger, called Damn Yankees. They would have a few hits and some successful tours before breaking up.
Today Nugent splits his time between making music and being the host of a conservative talk radio show.