GREAT WHITE Play First Full Show Since Rhode Island Tragedy

July 23, 2003

Owen S. Good of Rocky Mountain News is reporting that GREAT WHITE played their first show since the tragedy at The Station in West Warwick, R.I. on Tuesday night (July 22) in Sterling, Colorado. "It is the first date on a benefit tour for the survivors and victims. GREAT WHITE guitarist Ty Longley was among the dead. He had lived in Colorado, which is why the band started out here.

"A crowd of about 1,000 packed the fairgrounds arena for GREAT WHITE, the hair band that reached its apogee in the late 1980s. Fans came for nostalgia, campy fun and guilty pleasure.

"But none came out of morbid curiosity.

" 'I put 40 dollars in that boot,' said Tanya Kitchin, 30, of Woodrow, when asked if GREAT WHITE's notoriety brought her to the Logan County Fairgrounds. She was referring to a firefighter's boot passed by the Sterling Fire Department among the hundreds waiting in line before the show.

"GREAT WHITE expects to write checks for between $5,000 and $15,000 for each date it plays on this tour [to The Station Family Fund, a memorial started by survivors, and has signed up to be a workhorse fund-raiser for the cause], said manager Charrie Foglio. Tickets to Tuesday's show were $17. Promoters have offered 41 dates through Oct. 2, she said, and 18 have been confirmed. A show in Colorado Springs is today.

"[GREAT WHITE guitarist Mark] Kendall is glad to have a purpose for his music after months of depression.

" 'I don't think I'd ever play a note for GREAT WHITE for the rest of my life' had the band not joined forces with the fund, he said. 'It feels great, turning something that's very down into something very positive. It feels like the right thing to do.' " Read more.

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