February 25, 2019

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Dokken brought a good, old fashioned, '80s hard rock show to the Rocksino last Thursday.  Original members Don Dokken (vocals) and "Wild" Mick Brown (drums)  along with relative newcomers Jon Levin (guitar) and Chris McCarvill (bass) were in fine form all evening long as the band tore through the set list.

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The band tour through the hits, but also played a few more recent selections.  Don noted that "we aren't a tribute band to ourselves" before they launched into "Maddest Hatter."

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Mick Brown was clearly having a good time on stage as he was keeping a steady beat behind the kit.  He would often interject a few one-liners to the audience between taking sips from his red plastic cup.  

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Don Dokken was also having fun and he was in fine voice as well.  He told a few stories about where a song originated or the reason behind the song.  For instance, he stated that he and Mick wrote "Breaking The Chains" while they were in Germany.  He said, "It's hard to believe that this song is almost forty years old, because I just turned thirty-eight!"

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All the hits were there as well, "Into The Fire," "Alone Again," "It's Not Love" and "In My Dreams" had the packed house singing along and playing air guitar.

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During "It's Not Love," the bassist got to take an extended solo which eventually turned into a jam of Free's "All Right Now" before returning to finish the song.

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Instead of leaving the stage for an encore, the band stayed on stage and shook hands with the people in the front few rows before returning to their instruments to close the show with a raucous version of "Tooth and Nail."

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Review by Greg Drugan

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