Jun
26
Raleigh Wide Open Welcomes Lou Gramm
The Raleigh Wide Open 3 (RWO3) celebration, set to begin Friday, September 5, will be a 36-hour fiesta this year. The fun begins with a Noon ribbon cutting, while at 5pm that afternoon RWO3 will take over Fayetteville Street.
The celebration this year is focused primarily on the opening of the new 500,000 square foot convention center, where the International Flavor Festival will be running.
Saturday’s celebration begins at 11am and ends at 11pm with the music of Lou Gramm, lead singer for Foreigner.
21 Comments
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June 26th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
you’ve got be kidding! C’mon Raleigh, can’t we do better than that! The city really, really needs help planning events like this… sure alot of people will show up, but they could do much, much better… especially given that this is a celebration for the RCC.
in case anyone wants a preview of modern day Lou Gramm…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5OFdaszRqE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5OFdaszRqE&feature=related
June 27th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Please say they are not serious! That is REALLY pathetic.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
They rolled in Eddie Money last year. What a bunch of clueless clowns.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Just wait until thousands of fans sing “I Wanna Know What Love Is” in unison with their hands waving in the air. This is clearly a burb pull.
Hopefully the new downtown amphitheater will attract more up and coming artists than downtown is currently attracting. I’d love to see bands like: John Butler Trio, Colbie Callet, The Raconteurs, Phantom Planet, The Bravery, Gomez, Spoon, Arcade Fire, Ingrid Michaelson, World Leader Pretend, Jason Mraz, Death Cab for Cutie, Needtobreathe, Amos Lee, Sara Barreilles, Aimee Mann, Hybrid, Hot Chip, Feist, Yellowcard, Beck, Jimmy Eat World, Graham Colton, and so on.
June 27th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
The amphitheater will be booking more in the line of Toby Keith, Warrant, Twisted Sister, Great White, Brett Michaels, every cover band in the world, Chaka Khan, the remaining 4 Tops (maybe 1 left),every wretched beach music band, (insert washed up solo hack here). Judging from their offical convention center song I wouldn’t expect much.
June 27th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
You have got to be kidding me. Why do they even bother? Who planned this? When I was on the concert council at App State 12 years ago you could get Eddie Money for dirt cheap, and we didn’t book him then! I had to laugh last year when I saw he was on the bill. Lou Gramm, REALLY? “No, Mr. Gramm, I do NOT want to know what love is.”
My god, we have the Rosebuds, Connells, Annuals, Tift Merrit – a plethora of talent around here.
Coulda been worse I guess, Mr. Aiken anyone?
June 27th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I sent an email to the folks involved with the planning of the celebration and received this in response:
“…We have 35 bands playing that weekend ..Plus the Symphony, Ballet, and North Carolina Theater performing Wed at the dedication gala… We have been hunting for entertainment for over five months now using our relationship with DeepSouth and LiveNation ….pickings are slim …Wilson Howard- talent buyer for LiveNation said he has never seen it so bad …We had some good stuff back out on us …Looks like Chuck Berry Friday and Lou Sat might be where we have to settle.”
In their defense, apparently they had a difficult time booking bigger and/or more relevant acts. However the opening of the RCC was several years in the making and there should have been no reason to settle… how about a celebration of all things North Carolina, some fireworks, a showing of the LEDs at the Shimmerwall and call it a day.
June 27th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
“how about a celebration of all things North Carolina, some fireworks, a showing of the LEDs at the Shimmerwall and call it a day.”
I like it! That seems far less embarassing than wheeling out those two acts. I mean LOU GRAHAM! Lou’s got to be pinching himself at the amount of people that will be there compared to the normal “crowds” he would draw (and using the word crowd here seems to be a stretch). Lou Graham ??? !
June 27th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Uh, they have booked schlock for the last 3 years-I don’t buy their excuse. I didn’t know Chuck Berry was still alive.
June 28th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Really? Lou f’n Gramm? You mean every good band in the world is booked that day? It’s hard to make Raleigh seem like the little town that could when we book this kind of brown for a main attraction. Next year hopefully we can get a classic barbershop quartet or one of the original Menudos.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Maybe someone could actually tell them about a booking agency like The Agency Group(http://www.theagencygroup.com/artists.aspx) who actually books people from this century.
June 29th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Don’t know him. He sounds like a washed-up lead singer from some 80s hair band. Raleigh seriously needs some help with planning events such as this. It sounds to me like they’re trying too hard to be cool.
July 1st, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Would it kill them to check with the local bars & clubs that are booking talent every weekend to see what *RALEIGH* area bands really know how to please a crowd? Instead of dragging in some irrelevant old farts, let’s put our best local talent out there.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
I would have to totally agree with Magnus here (which doesn’t happen often). As much as I guiltily enjoy Foreigner, how much does Lou Gramm really bring people in. Wouldn’t it be great to have the Rosebuds, Birds of Avalon, and the Bowerbirds. We can also add the Connells and Arrogance to bring in the older Raleigh crowd. This is supposed to be a celebration of Raleigh, so let’s make it that.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:55 am
I’m not sure that many 40-60 year olds driving minivans and toting kids would get excited about those good local bands. Remember how many transplants are here.
This is Lou Gramm OF FOREIGNER. DID WE MENTION (foreigner) THAT HE WAS (foreigner) IN THE BAND “FOREIGNER”? (marketing emphasis). Though not a household name, he has a household voice that a lot of people really liked at one point in their lives.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 am
Sure Lou Gramm isn’t the best choice.It probably didn’t cost alot to get him,but he is definitely better than some of the bands mentioned.The Connells? Give me a break.At least the majority of the crowd knows several Foreigner songs.And how much are you paying to attend? Nothing.I will probably go and have a few beers and hear some free music.Eddie Money put on a good show last year.
And Mick Jones is Foreigner that’s why he is still in the band and Lou isn’t.
July 11th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Actually, I was just called yesterday to book my band to play that weekend. We are a local band that just moved to Raleigh from Atlanta a year ago. Here is a link to our myspace and youtube pages:
http://www.myspace.com/themercuryblue
http://www.youtube.com/mercblue12
Sam
Mercury Blue
July 19th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
All things North Carolina — what about Mike Cross? Doc Watson? Red Clay Ramblers? Don Dixon? etc.
August 31st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Geez, people…lighten up. You sound like a bunch of angst-filled emos. Lou Gramm is a rock legend. And the reason he’s no longer in Foreigner is that he ventured out on his own, returning to his rock roots, rather than continue with the synth-filled stuff that Mick Jones had been writing.
And he’s heavy due to high dosages of steroids from a freakin’ brain tumor that was removed in the late ’90s.
Any other brilliant comments you’d like to post, cj?
January 20th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Just stumbled onto this site. (How lucky am I!)Yeah, even though it’s 4 months after the fact seems like someone has to inform the uniformed(which is the majority here)on the some of the facts.
Lou Gramm is one of the greatest voices in rock history. The success he had both with Foreigner and his solo career is inmeasurable. Bands like Hot Cheap(Sorry, I meant Hot Chip)Jimmy Eats What and Death Cab For Bootie (There my favorite!) could only wish but never achieve an eighth of the recognition and success Lou Gramm has. If you are going to bash someone morons, oh, I meant people, get your facts right or at least have the smarts to fake it. Oh,I apologize. Most of you were still hanging around your father’s testicles to have any reasonable amount of sense to know this.
Oh, and yes sweet Dana I happen to be one of those 40 to 60 years olds you so graciously mentioned. By the way, I drive a 2009 Jaguar, listen to metal, and don’t have any kids to tote around. (Just a few cats.) Hair transplant crowd? Sweetie, be careful what you say. You could be a recipient one day and then people can come on to a website like this and talk about you. Hey,gotta go now so I can wave my hands in unison with thousands of fans to “I Want to Know What Love Is”. Let’s hear it for the hair transplant crowd!!
P.S. Hey Dana here is one for your fact book. “I want to Know What Love Is” is the biggest International (did I say INTERNATIONAL??) hit ever. Not so bad for an irrelevant old fart there Magnus. Keep in mind Magnus (such a COOL name,yeah!)you will be an irrelevant fart someday too. Then you and Lou Gramm WILL have something in common. Yee Ha!
January 20th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
“one for your fact book. “I want to Know What Love Is” is the biggest International (did I say INTERNATIONAL??) hit ever.”
Thanks for finding the site! Unfortunately this statement is far from the truth. Here are a couple of Wikipedia entries for you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_To_Know_What_Love_Is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_singles_worldwide
Also, while Lou Gramm was a great talent for about 10 years, ending with his hit “Midnight Blue”, it is 2009 now and his voice is (unfortunately) nearly unrecognizable. I’m glad he has recovered from his tumor,but his voic really took a toll. While I am rooting for Gramm, I did not think he was the best talent available in 2008 for that price to open the Convention Center.
At the end of the day, though, we had a great celebration, we have a great building, and Raleigh continues its path upward.