A ROCK’N NEW YEARS CELEBRATION WEEKEND
Eric Gilliom joined forces with a slew of rock royalty to bring Maui some musical magic on New Year’s Weekend.
The first show, The Maui Celebrity Series, at the Maui Theatre in Lahaina, December 30th, a sold out crowd enjoyed the headlining act Grammy-nominated Mick Fleetwood Blues Band with Eric Gilliom and Gretchen Rhodes. The band includes legendary Mick Fleetwood, guitarist/singer Rick Vito, bassist Lenny Castellanos and keyboardist Mark Johnstone with special guests Mick Fleetwood’s Island Rumours Band lead-vocalist and guitarist Eric Gilliom and female vocalist Gretchen Rhodes. The event also featured Canadian Blues musician Colin James, Tom Arnold, William Shatner, Hal Sparks, Shawn Hatosy and Brian Evans.
The place to be the next night, December 31st, was MALA Wailea for the glitz and glamour all-star New Year’s Eve Bash. This was Eric Gilliom’s third year performing at the MALA Benefit Concert with proceeds supporting the Maui Food Bank and was a sold out show. Eric grooved with Mick Fleetwood and his fellow Island Rumours band-mates, plus Rick Vitto, Metallica’s James Hetfield, Mike Kroeger of Nickelback, Michael McDonald and Pat Simmons of the Doobie Brothers, Colin James, and Alice Cooper.
The rock stars morphed to form one mega supergroup and was nothing short of a crowd pleaser. Highlights of the evening included James Hetfield of Metallica belting out their hit song “‘Enter Sandman,” Michael McDonald and Pat Simmons of the Doobie Brothers with “Long Train Runnin,” Eric Gilliom singing “Signed Sealed Delivered” by Stevie Wonder, and in MALA tradition, the show closed with Gilliom and the other musicians joining Alice Cooper, singing his hits, “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “Eighteen,” and “Schools Out for Summer.”
“We’re happy to play and are all excited,” says Mick. “It’s become almost traditional (to play Mala Wailea). It’s the core band with Gretchen Rhodes and Eric Gilliom, so at the end of the evening we’ll become partially the Island Rumours.”Fleetwood has made a number of appearances at Maui events this year including recently jamming with John Mayall and drumming with Eric Gilliom and Dr. Nat at the “Get a Job” premiere at the MACC.
Eric Gilliom has shared the stage the previous New Year’s Eve MALA events with Mick Fleetwood and the Island Rumours Band, Carlos Santana, Dave Murray from Iron Maiden, Michael Bolton, John Mayall, and Chad and Mike Kroeger of Nickelback. The lineup always delivers a synergetic matchup of musicians and celebrities are always dropping into MALA, including Owen Wilson, Helen Hunt, Sharon Stone, Clint Eastwood, Mike Myers, Lindsey Lohan, Slash, Ronnie Wood, Zoe Deschanel, and Virginia Madsen to name a few… sure they come to enjoy the award winning restaurant but everyone comes to Maui for its tropical beauty and low key anonymous island lifestyle.
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