Ultimate Rhoads

Ok first off...forgive me as I am about 3 sheets to the wind right now.

Anyway I have always been curious if some of you think along the same lines as I do. When you see a pic of Randy posted anywhere do you try to figure out what he was playing as I always do? There are always a few contributing factors in figuring it out of course. Such as guitar being played and scenery. But do you guys noticed things such as his hair and sweat ratio lol? For example on the diary your if Randy is playing his white Jackson and his hair is perfectly done up you can pretty much guarantee that it's from Over the Mountain, but later songs such as believer or flying high again he will be sweatier. Do you guys notice this stuff or is it just me lol?

Again..if anything I have said makes no sense blame on the vodka!

I'll have to answer after a while... I had to get out the Jim Beam so I could look at pictures of Randy while being "3 sheets to the wind" to be certain my answer is accurate

All in the process of elimantion... i think we have all done this to the extent to even find out which gig the photo has been taking at. Noticing things laid out on the stage, be it a towel or beers on the drum riser to the clothes the band are wearing. Noticing a person at the side of the stage etc. Some photos being easier to recognise then others. Having an eye for detail on a photograph can sometimes help you discover things you never knew. I remember seeing a black LP guitar at the side of the stage and it had been loaned to Randy as a second guitar from Budgie's John Thomas...Not a lot of people know that...but it was captured on an early photo from the 1980 tour.

Oh man I forgot I even posted this lol

There are more than one or two times where I have looked at a few pics and said oh Randy's playing I Don't Know, or he's playing the solo to Crazy Train.


But as for where the gig is at I am not too good at finding the locations these gigs took place by a simple look at a pic.But yes I have done what you have described and to be honest if you know how to play the songs and you simply look at the pics it becomes a little easy to figure out what song Randy is playing and it's pretty fun

Sorry, the Jim Beam didn't work... the Cabo Wabo Tequila did though

I notice these things. Before the Diary tour, Jodi cut Randy's hair. If you notice the Livzey photos taken Dec 81 with the new Diary vest his hair was longer on the sides. It's real obvious on the MTV GP of the year award how much shorter it was. Also helps tell Cow Palace , LA Sports shows time frame. By Knoxville, his bangs and sides grew out. Also by this time he moved his amps to the sides of the stage out from the cage area. Things like that do help tell the time frame of photos.

I always think about what particular song he is playing when I see a picture of him..

TAB wrote:I notice these things. Before the Diary tour, Jodi cut Randy's hair. If you notice the Livzey photos taken Dec 81 with the new Diary vest his hair was longer on the sides. It's real obvious on the MTV GP of the year award how much shorter it was. Also helps tell Cow Palace , LA Sports shows time frame. By Knoxville, his bangs and sides grew out. Also by this time he moved his amps to the sides of the stage out from the cage area. Things like that do help tell the time frame of photos.

Ah I never knew he ended up moving the amps from the caged area. Knew he hated it because of the sound issues but never heard they finally moved them, only that a couple 4x12's were placed as monitors for him.

It may have been only the last few shows on the 2nd leg. They couldn't hear him on stage, and correct at 1st was a couple cabs. Below is a knoxville shot you can all the gear on the side. Then if you go back and look at other knoxville photos you will see no cabinets in the cage area.

Awesome pic TAB! His whole Marshall fleet aside of him!

TAB wrote:It may have been only the last few shows on the 2nd leg. They couldn't hear him on stage, and correct at 1st was a couple cabs. Below is a knoxville shot you can all the gear on the side. Then if you go back and look at other knoxville photos you will see no cabinets in the cage area.

I'm curious, how do we know that's from the Knoxville show? Not trying to question you I'm just curious why it's for certain.

it was uploaded on RR society facebook the person that took said he took it at Knoxville. Another good indication and this is something Shockwave is talking about on this thread noticing little things. A big giveaway is his jaws how swollen they are and noticeable in Knoxville photos. That last show he teeth were bothering him badly still from the procedure he had on his break. Here is another knoxville shot from a different source that's been around a while. You can see most of his marshall heads on the side. They ended up putting a black sheet in the background where his amps were at in the castle.

I don't think this pic is from Knoxville as Randy's cabs and amp heads still have the black tape on the edges and Marshall logos. they are still like that now. They never removed the black tape from the white cabs, so that would make sense. If this is Randy's last gig his cabs would still be covered up ?

Look closer at the shots there is black tape on the edge of white cab. The amps match the current photo below of his amps. Those are Knoxville from 2 different photo sources.