Review of the July 19, 2002 show at the Waukesha Fair, Wisconsin:

As luck would have it, I had some business in the Milwaukee area on 7/18 and 7/19, so I told Liz to pack the bags and get ready for some Cheese Funk.

I was in the middle of a meeting Friday afternoon and I get a call from the Duck....my inner Funk began to stir, and the meeting ended and Liz and I headed to Waukesha. Shortly after, I called JR to see where all would be, then we headed to the venue. This was a fair, and the stage was set up on the edge of the field. It was a beautiful day and night for a show. As I staked out our place directly in the front left, a lady came up to me and said, "I'm looking for someone who knows a lot about Grand Funk Railroad." I felt a warm surge in my gut as I said, "well, that would be me." She proceeded to tell me how she went to high school with Mel and used to help him with some stuff in class, then she whipped out the high school year book and showed me the proof, so I was staring at a pic of Mel in high school. She said she wanted to meet Mel, so, I took her over to DJ and Tim F. and told them the story. Shortly there after, the band came out to do a little sound check and afterwards, Mel chatted with this lady, and she got her pic taken with him....she was beaming from ear to ear and it looked like she was going to faint as she walked back to her chair on the lawn....just in case, I WAS prepared to revive her using all means necessary.

The entire Funking crew was gathering in front of the stage, including JR, Lynn AJ, Howard, Rick S., JB, Marlene , Dana the Duck, Mike O., and who did I miss? Well, about 1/2 hour before the show started, people began to fill the field, and by 8:20 or so, the field was a sea of people all the way back to the ferris wheel. My conservative crowd estimate would be about 8,000. From the opening notes (the very LOUD notes) I knew the band was dead on tonight. Max's vocals were probably the best I've ever heard from him...just so dynamic and extended...WOW. Bruce was feeding off the crowd, just smokin' his axe and improvising in many songs, especially ILO, where he pierced the ears of many....Mel was smilin' and happy as usual, and Don even changed up his drum solo a bit in the middle. Tim was also on fire, making it seem so easy to get those sounds out of his keyboards.....just awesome...the band is so tight and they keep gettin' better. The crowd totally loved them, and some guy behind us kept shouting, "Mel, where have you been all my life?"

The show ended, and due to the tight schedule, there was no meet and greet, so we all said our good-byes, and Liz and I, the Duck, Rick S. and eventually Mike O., went back to the bar for some drinks.

Back at the bar, we decided to sample the Jaeger in Wisconsin, and it was surprisingly like the Jaeger in Michigan, Florida, Nevada, Oregon and well...a good time was had by all and even got my traditional picture with a young female.

What a great show and a great time....come on people....get to a show!!!

Jimmy G.