Thousand Oaks is my California hometown. The first place I lived after moving here in 10th grade. The place I learned to drive a car. The place I got my first job. The place my parents still live.
Every spring, Thousand Oaks holds Conejo Valley Days. There's a chili cook-off. A 5k run. And lots of carnival rides that, as a teenager, equaled a majorly exciting weekend in boring T.O.
I haven't been to Conejo Valley Days in more than 25 years... until yesterday.
Last year, I learned after-the-fact that Chevy Metal, a cool '70s cover band led by Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins (who lives nearby) had played "CVD"... and his Foo friend Dave Grohl showed up. So this year, when I saw Chevy Metal would be playing CVD again, I convinced my Foo Fan friend Lisa to join me in the hot afternoon sun to see Taylor and his Chevy-crew, and in hopes that history would repeat itself...
Once the techs came out and started tuning guitars, I knew it would. Dave Grohl plays very distinctive guitars, and I saw his gold Gibson being tuned. But he didn't come out right away. So then I started watching the guitars Chevy Metal's other guitarist was playing as the set went on. They played some Motley Crue, Billy Squire, Queen, Van Halen and AC/DC. (Full setlist is here.) But the guitarist never played a gold Gibson.
Then about 40-45 minutes into the set, Taylor started calling, "Dave. Dave. DAVE!!" And out came Dave Grohl.... with his gold Gibson guitar. Apparently he was late, and Taylor blamed him for having to switch the entire set list around. Dave said he was off winning goldfish and puking on the tilt-a-whirl. :)
They ended up playing three more covers from the Rolling Stones, Faces and then ended with David Bowie's "Under Pressure" which I love. Taylor, Dave and Chevy Metal bassist Wiley Hodgden trading vocals. Enjoy...
(And sorry about the feedback noise. I don't know if that's because of the wind, how I was holding my phone, the fact I was situated in between Wiley's amps and two giant speakers on the side of the stage, or a combo of all three. Just don't turn this up too loud. You've been warned.)
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