Jim Irsay is a million-(maybe billion)-aire who is living a dream! Not only does he own an NFL team, he has taken his love of music and history and thrown a significant amount of his fortune at those ideals. Meaning to say that Mr. Irsay’s hobbies include collecting historical items from the worlds of rock music and Americana.
It is quite an impressive collection (valued at $100 million!). The collection ranges from famous guitars to presidential items like Kennedy’s rocking char and letters written by Lincoln and Washington. There are sports items like Muhammad Ali’s robe, belt and boxing shoes. There are items from the world of Hollywood like Stallone’s hand written ‘Rocky” script. Not to mention instruments used by David Gilmore, Ringo Starr, Prince, Jerry Garcia and others. It is a collection to be proud of and Jim Irsay is very proud. So proud that he wants to share the collection with everyone. So he took it on the road. I attended one such event on a wet and cold December evening in San Francisco. (Read a great ESPN article about Jim’s collection)
Muhammad Ali’s 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” Boxing Heavyweight Championship Belt. He won the WBC heavyweight championship belt in 1974 with victory over George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo)
Jack Kerouac’s original manuscript for “On The Road”. Single sheets of tracing paper taped to end to end so he could type continuously without stopping to change the paper.
The Price Was Right
Not only did Irsay set up a museum-quality viewing of his unbelievable items, he also put together a legitimate rock and roll band to play for almost 2 hours with some very special guests. All this happened that night in SF and the cost of attending the memorabilia exhibit and concert was $0.00 plus NO service fees! This is what is meant by a ‘Generous Millionaire’ . A rare FREE event! San Francisco was the 9th stop for this traveling show.
Stellar Line Up
Personally this show came as a complete surprise to me when I saw the ad online. I could not believe the roster of special guests that was advertised. Guests announced were: Ann Wilson of Heart, Buddy Guy of blues fame, R.E.M.’s Mike Mills and the biggest one (to me) John Fogerty! To top it all off, Stephen Stills was added right before the day of the show. The ‘house’ band featured Kenny Wayne Shepard on lead guitar and Kenny Aronoff on drums.
Kenny Wayne Shepard is a versatile, talented guitarist that I follow because of his strong blues chops. On this night, however, KWS was much more than a blues guitarist. Having to play multiple styles and direct a band full of very talented musicians, KWS stood out! The other Kenny (Aronoff) is a drummer that, if you are paying attention, you will see playing in many different situations. He seems to be the go-to drummer for many specially assembled bands. I know when I saw John Fogerty around 2005, Kenny Aronoff was the drummer. In 1981, Kenny Aronoff was John Cougar Mellencamp’s. I tune into a Kennedy Center Honors show and there he is! I go to see Chickenfoot in concert and the regular drummer (Chad Smith) is replaced by you-know-who!
THANK YOU
This post is to say THANK YOU! to Jim Irsay! Jim put on a top notch concert. Fully equipped with great sound and lights. I did not mind listening to the gruff, tuneless singing by Mr. Irsay when he took the mic a few times during the night. What he lacked in singing talent, he made up for in spirit. I kept thinking, if I had his money, THIS is exactly what I would be doing too. I would put together a killer band and force them let me sing whatever I wanted.
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| LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION | THANK YOU JIM IRSAY |
The Concert
About the show: It was a blast from beginning to end. One of those rare occasions when you have no idea what is coming next. The show started off with Irsay himself seated and singing a gravelly version of “Born to Run”. He then left the stage as the next presentation grabbed at your heartstrings. Ann Wilson came out to sing “The Chain” the Fleetwood Mac song, as a moving tribute to the recently deceased Christine McVie.
From this moment on came a variety of special guests starting with Mike Mills from R.E.M. Who, other than the grey hair, looks just like he did in the 80’s. Next was the 86 year old blues legend Buddy Guy! The guitar interplay between Shepard and Guy was tremendous. Even at his advanced age, Guy can still play a mean blues guitar. Buddy Guy is an American treasure. Ann Wilson was back after that to take a crack at a few Led Zeppelin tunes. Ann’s voice fits perfectly into those Led Zep songs. She DID NOT sing any of the Heart hits, for some strange reason. She DID sing the Van Morrison classic “Into the Mystic” which was a surreal highlight for me.
Special Surprise
After a late start, the show was moving along rather quickly when a legend hit the stage. A late announcement, Stephen Stills walked out, picked up an acoustic guitar and launched into the CSN classic “Carry On” with Ann Wilson singing background. “For What It’s Worth” was next. You may not recognize the title but you WILL recognize the chorus :”STOP children, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down”. Stills went on to perform an extended stinging guitar solo during this one!
Truth be told, I was waiting for Fogerty all night and I started to lose hope. The show was scheduled to end at 10pm and it was now 10:20 and NO FOGERTY. I thought that he was a no-show but, low and behold, at 10:35, John Fogerty was introduced and for the next 45 minutes he cranked out CCR classic after CCR classic. I was not disappointed as Fogerty looks and sounds like he just stepped off the Woodstock stage. The night was complete for me!
The obligatory ‘all-star’ jam closed the long night and as we took the BART train home we were very grateful and singing praises to a very cool rich guy named Jim Irsay for a unique experience that does not come along very often. For one night we ALL got to party like billionaires!
UPDATE: Mr. Irsay was offered a staggering amount of $$$ for his collection in it’s entirety.
