@tzzlite Dance is awesome, especially when I first heard it many years ago. at the time I didn't know much else by Ratt or any other band. So it blew me away, I don't listen to it much anymore, I have many other things I enjoy. But I listened to Dance constantly back then, and it's always in my heart...I still remember a lot of the lyrics and can sing along every time.
Back when RATT was one of the biggest bands in the world. The world seems to have forgotten that there was a time when Ratt was in the conversation. Great year 1987. Ratt, Motley Crue, Van Halen, Metallica, Dokken, KISS…..who else did I see that year??? Europe I think? It’ll never be like that again. Not in my lifetime.
I think it's because their prime years were so short. You're right, they were huge in the mid 80's. You had to be there to really know. They were up there from 1984 to 1987 then fell off as the scene got bigger and more bands came out. Thrash bands got more popular by the late 80's and people started forgetting about Ratt especially as their album quality declined. They didn't sustain their popularity long enough. I think that's why people often feel they are underrated, because other bands ended up bigger for longer stretches like Motley, Guns n Roses, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella..ect
I legit just teared up at 3:17 This is 100%, straight off the boat from Bogota, grade A, uncut Ratt N Roll up the nostrils of a Wall Street party cranked up to 11 in Madison Square Garden live via 1987 on some BetaMAX camera! We will NEVER see Glam Metal enjoyed and consumed like this again in this lifetime. This is a rare magical piece of music phenomena
This show is the only real footage of Ratt in the height of the glam era American arena tour. Notice that a lot of Ratt videos are in Japan, which doesn't compare to the energy and vibe of an American crowd. The stage was huge, and everything was just over the top cheesy 80's glam goodness, in the best way possible. Even tho the footage and audio is bad, it still good enough to feel what it was like to be in that arena watching. The crowd was screaming and going wild, and the band was feeding off it. The only other video of Ratt in a America arena is the Pittsburgh 89 show.
87 was the pivotal glam year. By 88 saturation set in. I was fortunate enough to see three dates this tour. (Residing in the hard-rocking upper midwest was a major advantage in those days- bands would swing through 2-3 times, months apart.) This video reminds me of their late 86 Milwaukee show (and one of the first US 'dancing' gigs). 10k-seat Ratt madness just as you see here. Especially nuts on the first notes of 'Dance', the tune you couldn't escape while watching Mtv if you tried. By end of the long tour (summer 87) my impression was the air was going out of the Ratt balloon. Smaller and tamer audiences. Ratt's decline is hard to fathom.
I seen Ratt on this tour in Kansas City. Joan jett & Poison opened. We were 3rd row center. I remember it was so loud you couldnt understand anything they were saying or playing. Also when ratt came out I looked back behind us and there was a wave of people coming at us, I thought we were going to be crushed. Crazy times.....Fun times. Now the last concert I went to was so orderly, and everybody stayed in their seats, no pot smoke in the air, Times have sure changed.
i was at this show in charlotte NC, as well as invasion, and out of the cellar. one thing's for sure, ratt's stage and light productions were unmatched in that era.
Dance has always been my favorite RATT song and maybe my favorite song EVER! So I tweeted Pearcy and asked him why don't you guys sing it live?? He responded with: "RATT used to do it live, that was then. Hard song to sing because of range, how it was recorded, and all the lyrics. We could?" That's really a testament to what a great and melodic rock song Dance is! It's hard to play since there's so much too it and a lot of mixing and arranging.
@Rattmaster86 That SUCKS! Dance is my favorite song by ANY band EVER! I hope Pearcy sings Dance at his solo shows. I know it won't be as good as the glory days but it's all we got right now! RATT 'n roll all the way my fellow rodents!
@TheMrBlinx there were probly a bunch of drunk headbangers all around him knocking the camera. Plus 80's cameras were massive, i agree it sucks but hey...we're lucky to see this footage.
@Rattmaster86 Yeah, it's hard for any human on the planet to create a better song than DANCE DANCE DANCE!! I'm just stoked that Pearcy replied to me! He's replied to me several times on twitter. Pearcy said he's got bootleg videos of RATT live performances from all over the world! He said he has to put it together and I'm sure he'll release it. Mark me down for an advanced copy!
@Rattmaster86 That's because Dance is the greatest song ever made by ANYONE! No joke dude! It's THAT good! Ok maybe a slight hyperbole but Dance is just THAT good! When you see it with the video you see how the incredible rhythm, beat, melody, and POWER practically EXPLODE right in your face! It's so good that Dancing Undercover should've sold 5 million copies! But going Platinum is nothing to sneeze at! Doing that today is next to impossible for most all bands and singers!
Just FYI, I saw this tour in Troy NY (RPI Fieldhouse) on Sat., March 21, 1987 (the day after this show? still have the ticket stub). Poison cancelled the RPI show at the last minute (not sure why, diabetes?) and was replaced by a local? band called M-16. They were decent, and I didn't like Poison's music much anyway so I didn't care because I was there to see Ratt, and Ratt was phenomenal. Sounded much better in person than this video. I'm sure the guy holding this giant 80s camera was getting crushed, plus he's way back and the mic on the camera probably sucked too, though the backing vocals still don't sound great. Would love to know how he snuck the camera in to the show! I remember those massive lighting rigs on stage were so impressive. We were closer than this guy and I remember just feeling awe at the production of this tour (I was only 16, so I hadn't seen many shows before this). I did also see the Invasion of Your Privacy tour at the RPI fieldhouse in Oct, 1985 (Still have that ticket too - Bon Jovi opened. They rocked back then (7800 Fahrenheit tour). Very much enjoyed them too. I just dug out my tickets to see what the prices were. Invasion ticket was $11.00! Decent seat too. This tour (Dancing Undercover) was $113.50, but that was for 5 or 6 tickets! Concerts were great back then! And for anyone who cares, I'd like to comment on the guy who tried to dis Robin for playing badly and "being in his own world" because he was high on heroin. I was stone sober at two Ratt shows and Robin played great as did all of the band members. I don't know if they were on drugs, but they played solid the whole show. You can tell in this video that his playing was solid too. The only thing that sounds bad in this video is the backing vocals which didn't sound bad in person at the shows I went to at all. It sounds to me like "as 13 year old kid gettin drunk and smoking dope", that guy might have been in HIS own world.... and perhaps his memory is a bit cloudy. Mine is crystal clear.
@tzzlite I didn't, last year they put out a new album, but they hardly toured to promoted it, I thought it was kinda wierd. And no ratt shows this year, I guess they're on a break. Warrant was actually touring with a new singer already before jani lane died. so warrant was not the same already. too bad, maybe if warrant still had jani lane he wouldn't have died.
@tzzlite yes it's at MSG, I also have a interview and lip-sync performance of "dance" in Japan 1987 that I'd be happy to share, but youtube will probably throw a "third party copyright" warning at me. I can temporarily upload it if you wanna see it...
@tzzlite hey thats cool, can you ask him when they will start touring again? seems like they've been on hiatus for the past year, whats going on with them?
They do a lot of theaters, music halls, and festivals, too. There aren't that many bands from the 80's still able to pack an arena anymore outside of, Motley Crue, Metallica, Bon Jovi, GnR, ect. The majority do smaller gigs nowadays. This is also why they make the multi band package tours too, to sell more tickets than one band could command.
@tzzlite Haha...I'm just a big fan, I wouldn't be a metal fan if it wasn't for Ratt. I have all of their bootlegs, audio and video, so I know a lot about their setlist over the years. Stephen Pearcy has said that "Dance" was always a bitch to sing live, the song is very difficult to play musically as well.
@tzzlite it was on a japanese tv show, the bands always lip sync on it. just like the American bandstand show, all the famous artist no matter who they are or how great they sing lip sync on it.
@Rattmaster86 What the hell??!? Dance is their biggest hit of the Platinum Dancing Undercover album! They gotta play it more often for pete's sake!! How do you know SO MUCH about RATT?? Do you follow the band wherever they go or something?? LOL
WOW! The glory days!! Dance totally KICKS ASS and is the best RATT song ever!! The video and especially the audio is awful though. Does anyone have a link to a better version of Dance live? Even if it's a Pearcy solo tour. Thanks.
@Rattmaster86 Pearcy is doing a solo tour dude! Don't you know that?? No RATT dates till at least next year. I know it sucks but face it 90% of a band is the lead singer. RATT is gone forever if Pearcy isn't here. Look how Jani Lane just died so Warrant will never sound the same again. Kevin Dubrow died so Metal Health won't ever sound the same. The reality is it's the lead singer that gives a band its unique sound. Just go to Stephen Pearcy dot com for tour dates. He just added some.
Nirvana and Pearl Jam did more to save rock n roll from itself than you will ever know. For every talented, distinct and kick-ass rock band like Ratt, there were 20 really, really bad, over-the-top bands that were pure image. Rock became a sad mockery of itself. It was bands like PJ that returned rock to it's core and made it all about the actual music. Drugs and the industry hurt Ratt, not Seattle.
I was there as 13 year old kid gettin drunk and smoking dope poison opened for them, it kinda cold in the city, Robin would mess up here and there the band just turn to him and say what the hell, he would play a solo out nowhere or be out of key, he was in own world, then we learn he was high on heroin, what Shame he should know better
Ratt is the greatest band ever; I would of loved to be there.
Highly debatable! They were amazing at best... but not the greatest.
It will be great when Pearcy releases all his live RATT video then we can get some good live versions of Dance!
Still waiting for ... 😎
Man this was such an awesome tour I remember it like yesterday. Thanks for sharing!!!!
@tzzlite Dance is awesome, especially when I first heard it many years ago. at the time I didn't know much else by Ratt or any other band. So it blew me away, I don't listen to it much anymore, I have many other things I enjoy. But I listened to Dance constantly back then, and it's always in my heart...I still remember a lot of the lyrics and can sing along every time.
Hi dear!!
It is astonishing to read it nowadays :))
Have you been listening Ratt?
Cheers from Brazil
@@LuizFernando-mp7hm Yes, I listen to Ratt now more than ever before. Ratt 'n' Roll Forever!!!
@@MetalMaster101 wow, really really nice!!!
Rat n' Roll forever \m/
Back when RATT was one of the biggest bands in the world. The world seems to have forgotten that there was a time when Ratt was in the conversation. Great year 1987. Ratt, Motley Crue, Van Halen, Metallica, Dokken, KISS…..who else did I see that year??? Europe I think? It’ll never be like that again. Not in my lifetime.
I think it's because their prime years were so short. You're right, they were huge in the mid 80's. You had to be there to really know. They were up there from 1984 to 1987 then fell off as the scene got bigger and more bands came out. Thrash bands got more popular by the late 80's and people started forgetting about Ratt especially as their album quality declined. They didn't sustain their popularity long enough. I think that's why people often feel they are underrated, because other bands ended up bigger for longer stretches like Motley, Guns n Roses, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella..ect
I was there... Oh man, brings me back... Thanks for posting!
Thanks for posting...these videos always take me back to better days!
Glad you enjoyed it
I legit just teared up at 3:17 This is 100%, straight off the boat from Bogota, grade A, uncut Ratt N Roll up the nostrils of a Wall Street party cranked up to 11 in Madison Square Garden live via 1987 on some BetaMAX camera! We will NEVER see Glam Metal enjoyed and consumed like this again in this lifetime. This is a rare magical piece of music phenomena
This show is the only real footage of Ratt in the height of the glam era American arena tour. Notice that a lot of Ratt videos are in Japan, which doesn't compare to the energy and vibe of an American crowd. The stage was huge, and everything was just over the top cheesy 80's glam goodness, in the best way possible. Even tho the footage and audio is bad, it still good enough to feel what it was like to be in that arena watching. The crowd was screaming and going wild, and the band was feeding off it. The only other video of Ratt in a America arena is the Pittsburgh 89 show.
87 was the pivotal glam year. By 88 saturation set in.
I was fortunate enough to see three dates this tour. (Residing in the hard-rocking upper midwest was a major advantage in those days- bands would swing through 2-3 times, months apart.) This video reminds me of their late 86 Milwaukee show (and one of the first US 'dancing' gigs). 10k-seat Ratt madness just as you see here. Especially nuts on the first notes of 'Dance', the tune you couldn't escape while watching Mtv if you tried. By end of the long tour (summer 87) my impression was the air was going out of the Ratt balloon. Smaller and tamer audiences. Ratt's decline is hard to fathom.
seen many times....ratt great live band...kool times!!!!!
Of course, 5 stars for RATT-always!
I seen Ratt on this tour in Kansas City. Joan jett & Poison opened. We were 3rd row center. I remember it was so loud you couldnt understand anything they were saying or playing. Also when ratt came out I looked back behind us and there was a wave of people coming at us, I thought we were going to be crushed. Crazy times.....Fun times. Now the last concert I went to was so orderly, and everybody stayed in their seats, no pot smoke in the air, Times have sure changed.
i was at this show in charlotte NC, as well as invasion, and out of the cellar. one thing's for sure, ratt's stage and light productions were unmatched in that era.
Dance has always been my favorite RATT song and maybe my favorite song EVER! So I tweeted Pearcy and asked him why don't you guys sing it live??
He responded with:
"RATT used to do it live, that was then. Hard song to sing because of range, how it was recorded, and all the lyrics. We could?"
That's really a testament to what a great and melodic rock song Dance is! It's hard to play since there's so much too it and a lot of mixing and arranging.
Very honest. The Truth Is that nowadays the Stephen's range Is really far from the old days, impossibile to sing this Song for him now.
This month (June) 28 years ago (1987), I saw Ratt at the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia. Poison opened.
I was there too :)
@Rattmaster86 That SUCKS! Dance is my favorite song by ANY band EVER! I hope Pearcy sings Dance at his solo shows. I know it won't be as good as the glory days but it's all we got right now!
RATT 'n roll all the way my fellow rodents!
Man Juan's backing vocals were really overpowering on this!! 😮
my favorite list of heavy metal bands are ratt and priest
@TheMrBlinx there were probly a bunch of drunk headbangers all around him knocking the camera. Plus 80's cameras were massive, i agree it sucks but hey...we're lucky to see this footage.
@Rattmaster86 Yeah, it's hard for any human on the planet to create a better song than DANCE DANCE DANCE!! I'm just stoked that Pearcy replied to me! He's replied to me several times on twitter.
Pearcy said he's got bootleg videos of RATT live performances from all over the world! He said he has to put it together and I'm sure he'll release it. Mark me down for an advanced copy!
@Rattmaster86 That's because Dance is the greatest song ever made by ANYONE! No joke dude! It's THAT good! Ok maybe a slight hyperbole but Dance is just THAT good! When you see it with the video you see how the incredible rhythm, beat, melody, and POWER practically EXPLODE right in your face!
It's so good that Dancing Undercover should've sold 5 million copies! But going Platinum is nothing to sneeze at! Doing that today is next to impossible for most all bands and singers!
i'd like to hear them do this song now..
@gw90isback Yes Poison opened, don't know anything about Bret Michaels collapsing though...
Just FYI, I saw this tour in Troy NY (RPI Fieldhouse) on Sat., March 21, 1987 (the day after this show? still have the ticket stub). Poison cancelled the RPI show at the last minute (not sure why, diabetes?) and was replaced by a local? band called M-16. They were decent, and I didn't like Poison's music much anyway so I didn't care because I was there to see Ratt, and Ratt was phenomenal. Sounded much better in person than this video. I'm sure the guy holding this giant 80s camera was getting crushed, plus he's way back and the mic on the camera probably sucked too, though the backing vocals still don't sound great. Would love to know how he snuck the camera in to the show! I remember those massive lighting rigs on stage were so impressive. We were closer than this guy and I remember just feeling awe at the production of this tour (I was only 16, so I hadn't seen many shows before this). I did also see the Invasion of Your Privacy tour at the RPI fieldhouse in Oct, 1985 (Still have that ticket too - Bon Jovi opened. They rocked back then (7800 Fahrenheit tour). Very much enjoyed them too. I just dug out my tickets to see what the prices were. Invasion ticket was $11.00! Decent seat too. This tour (Dancing Undercover) was $113.50, but that was for 5 or 6 tickets! Concerts were great back then! And for anyone who cares, I'd like to comment on the guy who tried to dis Robin for playing badly and "being in his own world" because he was high on heroin. I was stone sober at two Ratt shows and Robin played great as did all of the band members. I don't know if they were on drugs, but they played solid the whole show. You can tell in this video that his playing was solid too. The only thing that sounds bad in this video is the backing vocals which didn't sound bad in person at the shows I went to at all. It sounds to me like "as 13 year old kid gettin drunk and smoking dope", that guy might have been in HIS own world.... and perhaps his memory is a bit cloudy. Mine is crystal clear.
@eugvh18 RATT is the greatest ever! Come on and release that live DVD!
@tzzlite yeah its a great song, I started off listening to Dancing Undercover before anything else.
@tzzlite I didn't, last year they put out a new album, but they hardly toured to promoted it, I thought it was kinda wierd. And no ratt shows this year, I guess they're on a break. Warrant was actually touring with a new singer already before jani lane died. so warrant was not the same already. too bad, maybe if warrant still had jani lane he wouldn't have died.
@tzzlite they sang in it 1998 at some shows, but never again since then.
@tzzlite yes it's at MSG, I also have a interview and lip-sync performance of "dance" in Japan 1987 that I'd be happy to share, but youtube will probably throw a "third party copyright" warning at me. I can temporarily upload it if you wanna see it...
@tzzlite None, this is all there is..but there is a good quality audio somewhere...live in germany 1987
@tzzlite hey thats cool, can you ask him when they will start touring again? seems like they've been on hiatus for the past year, whats going on with them?
man how did they sneak in that huge camera to film this?
I wish there were more decent videos from the 80s from bands like this
i never mind off key ,
alot of times the variation of that is pretty cool
These guys play bars now
They do a lot of theaters, music halls, and festivals, too. There aren't that many bands from the 80's still able to pack an arena anymore outside of, Motley Crue, Metallica, Bon Jovi, GnR, ect. The majority do smaller gigs nowadays. This is also why they make the multi band package tours too, to sell more tickets than one band could command.
@Rattmaster86
Yes he did. Diabetic and he did pass out shortly after the set backstage:
)
@Rattmaster86 Was this filmed at Madison Square Garden in New York? Dance rules! Dance FOREVER!
@tzzlite Haha...I'm just a big fan, I wouldn't be a metal fan if it wasn't for Ratt. I have all of their bootlegs, audio and video, so I know a lot about their setlist over the years. Stephen Pearcy has said that "Dance" was always a bitch to sing live, the song is very difficult to play musically as well.
@RATTnJETS Poison still rocks....yeah live they had problems with drugs and booze so ya it explains it.
@tzzlite it was on a japanese tv show, the bands always lip sync on it. just like the American bandstand show, all the famous artist no matter who they are or how great they sing lip sync on it.
@Rattmaster86 What the hell??!? Dance is their biggest hit of the Platinum Dancing Undercover album! They gotta play it more often for pete's sake!!
How do you know SO MUCH about RATT?? Do you follow the band wherever they go or something?? LOL
1:44 Did someone throw a fucking chair on stage? lmao
😂 Yes they did LOL!!
WOW! The glory days!! Dance totally KICKS ASS and is the best RATT song ever!!
The video and especially the audio is awful though. Does anyone have a link to a better version of Dance live? Even if it's a Pearcy solo tour. Thanks.
I’m sorry this song looses it all over the place nah scrach
Wow... Robbin was tall as fuck
WMG makes RATT sound absolutely stupid on youtube!
@Rattmaster86 Why did they lip-sync?? Pearcy has great chops and sing with the best of them! Can you please send it to me at RacerX at gmx dot com?
Awesome show there background vocals sound to loud
Its pretty overpowering on this. But in my audio shows for this tour it's never this bad.
@Rattmaster86 Pearcy is doing a solo tour dude! Don't you know that?? No RATT dates till at least next year. I know it sucks but face it 90% of a band is the lead singer. RATT is gone forever if Pearcy isn't here. Look how Jani Lane just died so Warrant will never sound the same again. Kevin Dubrow died so Metal Health won't ever sound the same.
The reality is it's the lead singer that gives a band its unique sound. Just go to Stephen Pearcy dot com for tour dates. He just added some.
Nirvana and Pearl Jam did more to save rock n roll from itself than you will ever know. For every talented, distinct and kick-ass rock band like Ratt, there were 20 really, really bad, over-the-top bands that were pure image. Rock became a sad mockery of itself. It was bands like PJ that returned rock to it's core and made it all about the actual music. Drugs and the industry hurt Ratt, not Seattle.
Great video, but those back-up vocals sound horrible.
I was there as 13 year old kid gettin drunk and smoking dope poison opened for them, it kinda cold in the city, Robin would mess up here and there the band just turn to him and say what the hell, he would play a solo out nowhere or be out of key, he was in own world, then we learn he was high on heroin, what Shame he should know better