Nugent rocks garden crowd
He adds bow and arrow, guns, politics to fiery performance in concert series

Rob Holderness
Appeal Tribune
August 22, 2007

Rock legend Ted Nugent closed the Wooden Nickel Summer Concert Series with a bang Thursday and sent more than 2,000 leaving Silverton’s Teufel Amphitheater with ears ringing.

This year the series at Silverton’s The Oregon Garden struggled to sell tickets, but Thursday you wouldn’t have known as thousands packed the Garden to bang their head to Nugent’s gritty, patriotic blend of rock and watch his flammable on-stage theatrics.

At one point Nugent donned a large black and orange Native American head dress and shot a flaming arrow through one of his guitars after a rendition of “Spirit of the Buffalo.” It’s those antics that faithful followers have come to expect.

Eddie Pestrikoff and Beverly Owen came from Salem for the concert. Both had come to the Garden earlier in the summer to watch country act Diamond Rio. They mentioned light advertising and a weaker lineup of bands as reasons why they thought the concert series didn’t do as well this year.

“They had a lot better bands last year,” Owen said.

However, both agreed that Nugent was the most intriguing name on this season’s list of musicians.
Owen said she thought Nugent’s audience was twice the size of Diamond Rio’s concert weeks earlier. Pestrikoff described the crowd as packed.

“The crowd was big — huge — huge tonight,” he said. “I mean, it was just totally awesome.”

Ty Freeman and Michael Voelsch, both of Keizer, also seemed stoked after the concert. Freeman said he’s been to a lot of concerts and that he ranks Nugent as one of his favorites in the classic rock genre.

Thursday’s concert was the first for Voelsch. He said he liked the encore.

Throughout the concert, Nugent repeatedly expressed his support for the troops in Iraq. He also had a few choice words for presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

At one point during the concert Nugent brought some machine guns on stage and said Clinton could “suck on these,” referring to the guns. Clinton is a gun-control advocate.

Nugent, however, is no stranger to the political spectrum. He has been an outspoken advocate of the second amendment (the right to bear arms) and pro-hunting issues.

Nugent also openly takes an anti-drugs and alcohol stance, which he reportedly has followed during his career, unlike many other rock musicians.

In addition to his music career, Nugent has starred in his own television reality shows, Surviving Nugent (2003, VH1) and Wanted: Ted or Alive (2005, OLN). He also hosts a morning radio show in Detroit, Mich.

Nugent, 58, grew to fame as the frontman of the Amboy Dukes. He then set out on a solo career. Throughout his career, Nugent has played to many packed houses.

Silverton was no different.

“This was the best concert,” Owen said.