It's not that you never hear the music you like, it's just that there is only one station and it's run by the U. S. Government. The problem is, at the time, that the station, Far East Network (FEN) tries its best to make EVERYBODY happy and, in the end, fails miserably. So you get one hour of contemporary pop music, one half hour of oldies, one hour of country, one hour of latin music, and so on. And it's not like you can turn the dial.

However, there were a few bright spots. One of those was a song that started to appear daily during the pop hour by I band that I had never heard before. That song was "The Warrior," and the band was Scandal. It was, to me, an instant favorite. To me, there was nothing about it that I didn't like. It was nothing short of a great song.

Add to that, being a Marine, I felt like it was talking to me personally in a manner that I don't think the writers or Scandal had anticipated. I, in fact, was The Warrior. I used to try every way that I could to get that song in my head as I jogged or worked out. It really kept my mind off the boredom and made me enjoy the workout that much more.

We didn't get MTV overseas at the time. Instead, the local video stores had their freinds record old movies from TV, pirate movies that they rented from the local their Stateside video stores, copy popular TV shows and, once they realized there was a market for it, MTV videos. Copyright laws were not that stringently enforced.

That was how I got to see the video for that fantastic song, The Warrior. I've heard that Patty Smyth is not overly happy with it, but I thought it was a great video. Also, through the local video store, I got to see the video for "Good-Bye to You." I thought that was an even more ass-kicking song than The Warrior. I always will remember the 60's psychodelic stuff in the background and, especially the leering smile on Benji King's face as Patty started to hike up her skirt.

I only knew one thing: I was a BIG FAN of the band. I had to get their records. I had to see them in concert. I looked forward to even more of their great stuff.

Well, in 1986, my military career was over and I was back in the USA. Apparantly, Scandal's career was over, too, because, short of albums I already owned, I never saw anything new and never got the opportunity to see them. They had joined bands like the Beatles and Creedence Clearwater Revival who had come into my life, held me up with their music, and were gone.

Flash forward to 2004. I was watching VH1's Bands Reunited show and saw that they were trying to reunite Scandal. YEAH! Even for just one night. To see them again! Of course, I cursed my luck at being in Boston instead of wherever the band appeared, but I saw them on TV. I never expected it and seeing them in person was just too much to ask of the muses.

Then I got word they were coming to Boston. I got tickets as soon as they went on sale. My wife and I were going - whether she had ever heard of them or not. I was going to rock that night.

We arrived at the Paradise Rock Club early enough to get something for supper and a couple of beers. It really was a great deal on the food prices. As we got up to stake or claim for seats for the start of the show in the mezzanine area, I saw Benji King sitting a couple of chairs away. I went over and thanked him for getting back together again and saw that he was sitting with most of the band, in fact, the entire band except Patty Smyth and Zack Smith. So, as I left, I ordered them a round of drinks - anonymously - and felt that I had done a great deed for duty and humanity.

By my estimation there we almost 300 people in attendance. There were the people around the stage, the people in the few seats downstairs and then a whole big group of people with my wife and me in the mezzanine section. Some of us were sitting down up there, but most were standing looking down at the show.

When they came out, I left my wife to her seat and went down to the stage area for their first few songs. Old age and sore knees brought me back upstairs until I went back down again during Good-Bye to You and, most importantly, The Warrior.

This show was one of the best concerts I ever attended. The songs were kick-ass great rock. Her ballads were beautiful. Patty's voice sounded as good as I ever remembered it. The band was tight!! As much as I liked The Warrior, it was the best version I ever heard of it. And, I suppose as importantly, 6 kids and 20 odd years later, Patty Smyth is still a knockout!!! If only I were in that kind of shape...

I don't care that they didn't play for hours, I was very satisfied with what they did play. I had gotten to see them after all these years and I never thought that would happen. I sincerely hope that they will carry forward the momentum and produce another album and tour. Not being greedy nor nothing, but I'd sure like another chance to see them again. I HATE it when great times come to an end and we have to return to our dreary lives.

I would like to thank them for the opportunity and for a great show. May their lives be as happy as they made mine for about an hour one Saturday night in Boston. As a piece of friendly advice, if I were an entertainer, and I wanted to see what it was like to be loved more than I had even been loved before, I'd get in touch with the USO and entertain the troops overseas. The troops deserve it, Scandal deserves the adulation, and the record sales probably wouldn't hurt.

Having seen this great band, I can now enter Valhalla with a smile. If only VH1 could resurrect George Harrison and John Lennon ...

Kasim with Thommy Price and Keith Mac in Sayreville last night

Review by SueW:
Navigating around the centre of Boston, trying to read directions and drive is not easy especially as Yahoo didn’t take any account of the massive construction project on the way! (Patty Smyth later said on stage "Boston is a frickin’ pretty city but what’s with all that construction? 10 years on and it’s still not completed"!) Consequently the "14 minute" journey took me way over an hour and 14 minutes! (However driving back to my hotel from the gig took over 3 hours as I managed to get a flat tyre!)

Despite all that it was a good gig, but not quite as good as Sayreville I thought. However Kasim did seem to sing a lot more tonight! Maybe they’ve worked out that that’s the only way they can stop him hugging the back wall of the stage (!) or maybe I just noticed it more as I stood further back so I could see all band and noticed how much more he sang than any of the others!

Something else that occurred to me tonight was how much better Patty Smyth’s voice has been this weekend compared to in Hartford. As I’d never seen her perform live before, I assumed in Hartford that she just had a husky voice but both last night and tonight her voice was much clearer!

The Paradise Rock Club consists of two venues within the one building. When I walked in, I thought that I was really late and was amazed that the stage (which was only about 10 feet from the door!) was still empty. I actually checked my ticket that I had the correct venue! The stage was in the middle of the room with dark (limited) seating areas at either end and the bar opposite the stage.

The first act was The Dana Fuchs Band which was a female singer, two guys on guitars and a drummer. Apparently they had driven up from New York for this gig but I think the most memorable thing about the set was Dana telling us that she had a hair ball to cough up (she had very long hair) and then proceeding to pick hair out of her mouth!

Patty Smyth and Scandal came on stage at about 10.15pm and only played until about 11.40pm so it was a slightly shorter gig than the other gigs. Thankfully this venue was at a comfortable temperature! There weren’t as many people there as last night but it was difficult to tell how many people there actually were as the ends were so dark!

After Love Is Gonna Get You Patty said that they were going to "kick some ass" tonight and "we’re gonna kick some ass tomorrow night" - talking about the SuperBowl! She later said that Keith is from Delaware so probably would be supporting Philadelphia which resulted in him getting some boos!

There were a couple of times tonight when Patty’s microphone whistled (most noticeable during Love's Got A Line On You) but at least she managed not to pull it to pieces! Patti mentioned early on during the set about “all the crap” there was on the stage and how she might fall into the audience!

Before Heartache Around The World again tonight Patty stressed how, if it wasn’t for Kasim, they wouldn’t be playing this tour! She called it "a love tour"!

Kasim was wearing his blue jeans and his loose dark red and black shirt that he often wore on the Meat Loaf Greatest Hits Tour. Near the beginning of the set Patty ruffled Kasim's hair (she usually does it to Keith Mac)!

Patty waffles on during all the songs which is amusing to hear! Tonight at one point she was given a shell bracelet so one of the audience tried to tie it on her wrist - "4 hours later and he still couldn’t do it"!

Someone in the audience asked Patty to wish Millie a Happy Birthday (they’d asked Dana Fuchs to do the same) so Patty then said about whose birthdays it was recently in the band (2 of them) plus that it’s her husband’s (John McEnroe) birthday next weekend. She joked that she’d be playing in Atlantic City that night so she "might" let him go to that gig!

As I was standing further back tonight I could see Thommy Price more and I was amazed at how animated he is when he’s playing the drums! He constantly moves his head in time to the beat too and really belts the drums at some points in the set - even raising his arms to shoulder height to do so!

They played the two very popular old songs Beat Of A Heart and The Warrior in quick succession and the audience obviously knew those two - The Warrior always receives a good reaction with the audience singing along and raising their arms at the "Bang, bang" part!

Patty next said that she was going to sing a song that someone had told her was their wedding song - "that frightened me"! She said that she thinks she writes "divorce themes! The song they were talking about was Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough and once again Kasim’s vocals were brilliant on that song (although I wish his microphone had been slightly louder). Eat your heart out Don Henley!

I was surprised that they played Goodbye To You next as that meant that they were due to leave the stage before the encore. Thankfully tonight all the band came back on stage together and Patty introduced them all first (she said that Kasim was Irish from Queens!).

Thankfully the encore was 3 songs long tonight, although there was some discussion about playing I Should Be Laughing ("another wedding song)". Patty then decided that she wanted to hear us sing so she got us to sing the chorus of The Warrior! Thommy then started playing it again so the rest of the band joined in. Kasim had a bemused look on his face at this point as though he couldn’t believe that they were going to play the whole song again! In the end they only played the first verse and one chorus!

They ended with River Deep, Mountain High - Kasim sings a lot of "Do, dah, do"s in it!

With a promise that they would come back out and sign anything that people wanted signed, they then left the stage.

3 gigs down, sadly only 5 to go!

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