RON KEEL TOUR DIARY

Part Three

Ron Keel is on the road with his "Acoustic Outlaws" tour, featuring himself and other players that we all know and love. Whenever Mr. Keel has an update from the road, we'll post it here for all to see.

This will be a chronicle of my activities for the next month – two weeks with my new Acoustic Outcasts project, and then two weeks on tour with IronHorse. Thanks to all the sites that are including this tour diary and to all the fans for hanging out with us on-line and at the shows.

The Acoustic Outcasts Tour is a collection of some of my good friends, and some of – in my opinion – the best voices in Rock, banded together to create an acoustic format in which we can showcase those voices and our songs. In addition to myself, the cast includes Terry Ilous (XYZ), Kelly Keeling (Baton Rouge, Michel Schenker, George Lynch, Blue Murder), Charlie Wayne (Keel & Wayne), and guitarist JK Northrup (XYZ, King Kobra, etc). During the course of the show, everyone will be performing solo, and in various combinations, and ultimately all together as a group. The first show, in Nashville Tennessee, also features vocalist Danny Vaughn (Tyketto, Waysted).

The tour kicks off in Nashville on Thursday July 28, and the first leg is concentrated in Ohio July 29-August 6. All the dates can be found at http://acousticoutcasts.com

Acoustic Outcasts Tour Diary:

Day 8: Thursday August 4 2005 - 1:23 Eastern Standard Time

Just now catching up with things, one of which is the Tour Diary - these past few days have been brutal for me to say the least. The first few days of the tour, like any tour I've done, were full of the euphoria of just being on the road and performing with a new situation, the excitement generated amongst the guys, and no one can keep up that level of endorphans for long without crashing hard at some point. As evidenced by the fact that we had two days off Sunday & Monday and I did not even have the strength or energy to get on-line, check emails, talk on the phone, or anything but recuperate. I've had a hard time sleeping, a lot of nerves and anxiety, a lot of overwhelming issues out here that have had to be dealt with, and it's taking its toll on me physically and mentally.

Now with another couple of shows under our belt, I am hitting my stride, and while still exhausted I am fully functional again and have a few minutes to bring you up to speed...

Last night's show in Delaware Ohio was quite possibly the best yet, as we continue to get to know each other musically and are getting more and more comfortable on stage together. Not much change in the songlist, we're pretty much settled on that...although Kelly has remained flexible during his solo spots and is doing pretty much whatever he feels like doing at the moment, and he also did "On & On" from MSG a couple of nights ago in Athens OH, which I thought was a good call. Terry has inserted a few different songs here and there as well, and I try to mix it up as well during my solo spot, rotating "Serenade", "The Time Of My Life", & "Dreams Are Not Enough". I will probably do "Calm Before The Storm" in Dayton on Saturday, I know there will be Keelaholics there wanting to hear it (happened last time I was in Dayton with Keel & Wayne). Here's the current setlist (K&W means Keel & Wayne):

Show On The Road/Pain Free– (K&W)
Rainy Day - Got To Believe - (Terry & JK)
Armed & Ready/Loaded Gun - Runaway - (Kelly)
People Get Ready – (Everyone)
Ronnie Solo (Time/Calm/What’s Left)
Little Ditty – (JK Northrup solo instrumental)
After The Rain – (Terry)
What’s Keeps Me Loving You – (Terry & JK)
In His Shadow – (Charlie & Ronnie)
Harley Davidson – (Charlie)
I Can’t Stop You (K&W)
We All Fall Down - (Kelly, JK, Ronnie)
Kelly Solo
Face Down In The Gutter (Everyone)
Bring It On -I Gave It All To You (K&W)
What’s On Your Mind (XYZ)
Kelly Solo (On & On?)
Tears Of Fire - (Ronnie, Charlie, Jeff)
Never Look Back – (Charlie, Everyone)
Inside Out
Because The Night
Walks Like A Woman
The Right To Rock/Rock & Roll All Night/Smooth Up In Ya

Everybody is getting along great, and the friendship we've built amongst the Acoustic Outcasts is the coolest thing about this.

Now it's on to another day of fun, and I'm of course running late for soundcheck. I'll post a new entry as soon as possible, but these next few days are going to be particularly rough, including a couple of longer drives and then the return trip to Nashville on Sunday, but I'll update you when I can. I plan to keep this going through the Metal Sludge Extravanganza and on into the upcoming IronHorse dates in Vermont. Till next time, as my friend Sheldon says, "Live The Rock". I know I will...

http://acousticoutcasts.com.