Night Ranger – Canterbury Park – Shakopee MN – June 2nd 2023

Canterbury Park presents Night Ranger with special guests Them Pesky Kids

Review and photos by Kyle Hansen

Minneapolis legends Them Pesky Kids opened the show. Legends, well yes cause most of them have been in bands like Touched, Hurricane Alice and Scream Parade since the 80’s. They had about a hour set and mixed in classic rock covers and a bunch of original music. I love that they do original music that sets them aside from most cover bands. Plus there covers include Styx, Fleetwood Mac, Journey, KISS, Rush and many more.

Night Ranger never disappoints, and tonight it is no different. They came as part of the Summer Concert Series along with a bunch of other national acts Spin Doctors, Smash Mouth and Randy Houser. Now Night Ranger delivers every time cause they play exactly what you want to hear. They don’t change the songs or sign them in a different key, or extend them into a jam you don’t care about. They come they play they kick our ass. This is Jack Blades first show back since having surgery so we welcomed him back with open arms. They kicked right into You Can Still Rock in America. It was funny cause I told someone right before they went on it’s not like they would play that the first song. Well I was totally wrong.

The stage is set up right on the track with the stands being used as seats so it gives it this intimate experience. There is also a small GA section up front for those who want to get close. They then kept all the hits going Sing Me Away, The Secret of My Success, Sentimental Street, Night Ranger, Goodbye. They included High Enough and Coming of  Age from the Damn Yankees era. As they will never get together again it is the only way to hear those songs live. The crowd was amazing tonight, dancing and having fun with every song. As they closed out the set with When You Close Your Eyes, Don’t Tell Me You Love me and Sister Christian it made us just wanting more.