Semi-Official Concert Review Thread

[southparkcpa]

33 minutes ago, CTM said:

The art won't be as good if they are playing things they aren't interested in. I think it's a good thing that it's not all about money for some people

Understood..but at the end, Greg Lake was selling meet and greet passes for his shows that drew between 500 and 2,000 people.  There is a balance. Look at the Eagles. They ALL did and do plenty of freelance but can burn money to heat their homes. 

[CTM]

15 minutes ago, southparkcpa said:

Understood..but at the end, Greg Lake was selling meet and greet passes for his shows that drew between 500 and 2,000 people.  There is a balance. Look at the Eagles. They ALL did and do plenty of freelance but can burn money to heat their homes. 

I get it for sure, just not going to knock someone for not chasing $$'s. I'm sure if I was in that position I'd be more like the Eagles.

[Bugg]

On 8/27/2018 at 4:13 PM, HighPitch said:

Ya just read an article on slash. Says his band may never do any gnr. Thats just stupid! Fans wanna hear some classics. A guy like him should play 1 gnr tune ar least every third or fourth song. All bands shoul

Dunno about that. When I saw him him at the Starland with Miles Kennedy before GNR reunited, was almost 2/3s GNR. Understand he's doing a tour with Kennedy again this fall, so we'll see how that holds up if ticket sales get a bit slow. 

[HighPitch]

Its what he said so who knows moving forward 

[jetstream23]

Nine Inch Nails last night.  Excellent show here in Phoenix.  It's been a while since I've seen Trent Reznor play and I was glad to see he still has it.  The guy is an industrial rock genius, plain and simple.  The Jesus and Mary Chain opened and was pretty good, hadn't listened to any of their stuff in years.

 

[The Crimson King]

Paul Gilbert at the Iridium last night in third of three sold out shows

Played two specially made Ibanez' though single stack Marshall and just a few pedals. Great drummer, bassist (6 string!) and keyboards (Nord EP and an honest to goodness B3) all schooled in jazz and prog.

Cool thing was that he only sang once (Red House closes the show B4 encore). He said that he "plays" the vocals on guitar. A tear came to my eye as I love it that way. Alternated between "vocals" and solos. Very inspiring, the Ibanez had magnets attached where he kept his slide. Never saw that before and it allowed him to seamlessly alternate between fingers and the slide (metal slide on middle finger). Darned if the guy can't play ! 

One of the quickest two hours I have ever experienced.  

You may know him from Mr. Big, Racer X or one of the G3 tours but he has been doing solo for quite some time and he is a GREAT player. 

Found this on You Tube:

 

The venue is OK but standing outside for an hour an half to get a decent seat is getting tiring, Food not bad and not priced too bad either.

Now thinking about this is making me sign off and go practice

[The Crimson King]

Eric Johnson at the Ridgefield Playhouse tonight.

Three piece with Tommy Taylor on drums and Kyle Brock on bass (his old band from Ah Via Musicom days)

Show was pretty good but as you might know Johnson is a one or two trick pony and the same lick gets played over and over again although it is a hellova lick and some great playing

Eric played three Strats (two maple, one rosewood) and a Paul. He had a much smaller pedal board than when we saw him last year.  Amps were a Marshall for lead (2 4X12 cabs) and Fender Twins for rhythm on an A-B switch

Worth seeing if you play before all this music goes away. No one under 50  there tonight as far as we could see

[Bergen Jet]

Billy Joel in Winston-Salem, NC last Saturday.  He is still pretty much the same, just older (but so are we).  Weird seeing him play outside of NY though. 

[peebag]

Saw Beck in Red Rocks last month - he always puts on a good show!

[The Crimson King]

David Sancious and Will Calhoun at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock tonight

Just the two of them, with Sancious on a Yamaha Motif and the amazing Calhoun on a double bass drum set and a myriad of very interesting electronic percussion thingees none of which I ever saw before and all of which I want to have now

A lot of improv and some great playing in front of a crowd of about 35 people. I've seen more at amateur open mics. Weird.

Woodstock is the phoniest and most BS town I have ever been to. Remember that they were too uptight to have the festival so they forced them out and at the last minute it was moved to Yasgur's farm way on the other side of the Catskills. Now the whole town claims to be the center and start of the counter culture. What crap

Anyway, if you don't know who Sancious is, he is the guy who musicality wise stood heads and shoulders above the rest of the E Street Band in the first two albums (witness the piano intro on NYC Serenade or the organ solo on Kitty's Back) and also starred on electric guitar in the band Tone and in sessions with the likes of Stanley Clarke … and he still has "it"

Calhoun, another one of those Berklee guys, was the drummer from Living Color (w/Vernon Reid). the dude is amazing

Although I thought that they could have used a bassist and electric guitar, the two played their butts off and made a show worthy of attending. I believe that they have an Iridium show coming up. If you like musicianship, you will like the show. 

…  and of course, no one not collecting Medicare in the entire place

[peebag]

Saw Gary Clark Jr. last week in Omaha - good show!

 

[JOJOTOWNSELL]

saw Jim James solo acoustic at Town Hall last night. 

 

the guy is a ******* genius, just him and a guitar and a drummer on some songs.

he is playing at the Capital theater tonight and the is a free webcast at 9 pm. check it out

 

 

side note, great weekend for music here in nyc.....jack white at kings theater in Bklyn and bob weir at the beacon

[peebag]

6 hours ago, JOJOTOWNSELL said:

 

side note, great weekend for music here in nyc.....jack white at kings theater in Bklyn and bob weir at the beacon

Saw Jack White earlier this year...fantastic!

[HighPitch]

Hulaween 2018 was great as expected. 

First time seeing Vulfpeck. They killed.  Great musicians and entertaining 

Roosevelt Collier kicked ass again

This band from Orlando, the groove orient, second time i saw them and they are superb. Great originals. The young bassist has this odd old school southern  crooner voice going on. 

This band Future Rock was really good too. 2 piece band with a great female vox joing on a few tunes. 

Joe russos almost dead played 2 superb dead sets, but their zeppelin instrumental project, bustle in your hedgerow, disappointed me a bit. 

Then you got great sets from papadosio,  lettuce and sts9. Good times.... Worth the 500 buckd

[The Crimson King]

9 minutes ago, HighPitch said:

Hulaween 2018 was great as expected. 

First time seeing Vulfpeck. They killed.  Great musicians and entertaining 

Roosevelt Collier kicked ass again

This band from Orlando, the groove orient, second time i saw them and they are superb. Great originals. The young bassist has this odd old school southern  crooner voice going on. 

This band Future Rock was really good too. 2 piece band with a great female vox joing on a few tunes. 

Joe russos almost dead played 2 superb dead sets, but their zeppelin instrumental project, bustle in your hedgerow, disappointed me a bit. 

Then you got great sets from papadosio,  lettuce and sts9. Good times.... Worth the 500 buckd

Wow, how long were you there ?

Wanted to see Vulfpeck when they played in Brooklyn but that would have involved having to actually go to Brooklyn so we skipped it. Love the musicians, especially Joe Dart on bass. Did they do an extended version of Dean Town?

[HighPitch]

Weds to sunday. I dont know any vulfpeck songs specifically i just like what ive heard on jam on and follwed the hype but they rocked. The cool kids were at vulfpeck the others at jamiriquio

[The Crimson King]

Vanilla Fudge at Daryl's Place Wed. night. All original except Tim Bogert who retired a decade or so ago

Carmine and Mark still have it big time and both were charming and funny in between songs. Martell is way better than he was in the old days and is still a step or two being contemporary guitarists. The "new" bass player was OK but just not Bogert who was an important part of their sound

Still doing covers in their own inimitable style with the familiar power and unique harmony.  They did the classic covers plus some new ones, "I'm a Believer" (didn't work),  "Break on Through" (not so much), "Gimmie Some Lovin' (uh, not that one either) but a new original by Stein, "Let's Pray For Peace" was pretty good and he nailed the vocals. The old covers, "Take Me For a Little While", "You Keep Me Hanging On", "Season of the Witch (Mama I'm coooollld)", "People Get Ready" were taking us all back to the Action House in Island Park.

Naturally, no one there had not heard of what a Medicare Advantage Plan is

I'm not big on nostalgia, the music needs to hold up now and these guys still do that. For many Long Islanders, the Fudge was immensely influential. Still have not done a cover like the record (or at least that I would admit) since Roscoe was playing them on WABC-FM. 

Now let's all set the time machine to My Father's Place in Roslyn for more of this. Who do you want to see?

[HighPitch]

I want to see riot at m y fathers place

[southparkcpa]

On 11/30/2018 at 12:30 PM, The Crimson King said:

Vanilla Fudge at Daryl's Place Wed. night. All original except Tim Bogert who retired a decade or so ago

Carmine and Mark still have it big time and both were charming and funny in between songs. Martell is way better than he was in the old days and is still a step or two being contemporary guitarists. The "new" bass player was OK but just not Bogert who was an important part of their sound

Still doing covers in their own inimitable style with the familiar power and unique harmony.  They did the classic covers plus some new ones, "I'm a Believer" (didn't work),  "Break on Through" (not so much), "Gimmie Some Lovin' (uh, not that one either) but a new original by Stein, "Let's Pray For Peace" was pretty good and he nailed the vocals. The old covers, "Take Me For a Little While", "You Keep Me Hanging On", "Season of the Witch (Mama I'm coooollld)", "People Get Ready" were taking us all back to the Action House in Island Park.

Naturally, no one there had not heard of what a Medicare Advantage Plan is

I'm not big on nostalgia, the music needs to hold up now and these guys still do that. For many Long Islanders, the Fudge was immensely influential. Still have not done a cover like the record (or at least that I would admit) since Roscoe was playing them on WABC-FM. 

Now let's all set the time machine to My Father's Place in Roslyn for more of this. Who do you want to see?

I remember seeing Zebra at My Fathers Place right around the time of the 1st album.  They used to be terrific.

[munchmemory]

On 12/13/2018 at 7:38 AM, southparkcpa said:

I remember seeing Zebra at My Fathers Place right around the time of the 1st album.  They used to be terrific.

Those guys could flat out play.  Not only could they cover Zeppelin well.  They did the best version of "Question" I ever heard, including the Moody Blues.

[southparkcpa]

2 hours ago, munchmemory said:

Those guys could flat out play.  Not only could they cover Zeppelin well.  They did the best version of "Question" I ever heard, including the Moody Blues.

I LOVED their cover of Ride my See-Saw and Story in her eyes. Ive met and "partied' with the guitar player Randy once many years ago.  I watch him now and im not as impressed But they were, to me, the best LI Bar band in the 70's including Twisted Sister. Sister was fantastic but not as deep a bench as Zebra. He's a huge Beatles fan as well.

 

 

[The Crimson King]

2 hours ago, southparkcpa said:

I LOVED their cover of Ride my See-Saw and Story in her eyes. Ive met and "partied' with the guitar player Randy once many years ago.  I watch him now and im not as impressed But they were, to me, the best LI Bar band in the 70's including Twisted Sister. Sister was fantastic but not as deep a bench as Zebra. He's a huge Beatles fan as well.

 

 

Other names and places from those days:

The Good Rats, NRBQ, Long Island Rale Rode, Elephant's Memory

Hammerheads, Oak Beach Inn, Peaches, The Green Door

Ash in Huntington and Hempstead, Gracin's on Sunrise Hwy

Buy Lines

so many more, it was a great place for music in so many ways

[HighPitch]

Lol lots of stuff there:

Februarys

Rat race choir 

Equinox

We buy guitars

Good times magazine

Dublin pub

Buy lines press haha thats before craigslist. I once boufht a 25 cal mauser off some guy that wanted to know what he coyld trade for my air compressor

 

 

[The Crimson King]

Remember Rudy's on 48th St? That is where John Suhr came from. Pensa-Suhr back then now two sperate names and both ridiculously expensive. Never played one. 

Now that 48th ST had been de-music'd, Rudy opened stores in Soho and, of all places, Scarsdale. Gotta go see the Westchester store but that could be dangerous 

[HighPitch]

[HighPitch]

[slowmoe57]

On 12/14/2018 at 2:30 PM, munchmemory said:

Those guys could flat out play.  Not only could they cover Zeppelin well.  They did the best version of "Question" I ever heard, including the Moody Blues.

1st time I saw Zebra was the day John Bonham died. Sad day but a great night.

God knows how many times I saw Twisted Sister.

[The Crimson King]

heads up on some good shows for the player oriented coming up:

Keaggy, Levin, and Marotta at the Bearsville Theater on 2/28, worth it for the crowd so small that it is like getting a private concert, especially for fellow Tony Levin fans 

Procol Harum at Ridgefield Playhouse 3/1

Musical Box at Tarrytown Music Hall 3/10, perfect early pre sell out Genesis recreation, visuals and all. 

Tony MacAlpine (CAB, Steve Vai) at the Iridium 3/10 and 3/11, great 7 string guitar player/jazz shredder

Lewis Black at Tarrytown 3/14, first tour since Trump elected, this should be funny as heck

Winery Dogs 5/5 at Ridgefield, Yngwie Malmsteen there on 5/30

Adrian Belew at Daryl's House 4/14 

[The Crimson King]

Keaggy, Levin and Marotta at the Woodstock Community Center last night

Was supposed to be a the Bearsville Theater but they moved it here. Narrow room with room for a couple of hundred or so. Pretty crappy if you don't sit in front.

This is guitarist Phil Keaggy (Glass Harp), THE Tony Levin (which is why we went), drummer Jerry Marotta (played with a zillion folks, hired gun type) and an extra guitarist to handle the other parts on the records (didn't get his name)

Keaggy played a super strat HB's in the neck and bridge. Couldn't make out the name on the headstock (Avion?) and an older looking Strat with lace sensors. Played through a miked Supro. Sounded pretty good. Switched to an acoustic for a bit. Played through a bunch of pedals (nice that the stage was almost floor level so you can walk right up and look). Several Truetone/Visual Sounds (looked like duplicate Route 66's), two Infinity Loopers, Boss DimC and a Boss OD plus several more. Spent most of his stomping on a boutiquey three switch OD but I've forgotten the model.  Good player with a lot of technique, some really good acoustic work too. Worth seeing. 

Levin opened on the Stick but never picked it up again. He mostly played a semi hollow Epi (!). Don't know the model but you know the type, 335 style. He also played an electric 5 string upright. He was, as always, brilliant and unique in his style.  I want to have him cloned so I can keep a copy of him in my home studio.  It was cool sitting a first down away from him.

Marotta complimented the two nicely. Not quite the power/speed type I like but a competent pro. Great stage presence too.   

Material was mostly the all instrumental Bucket List album which is a nice lighter side of fusion undertaking worth giving a listen to. Keaggy also added some of his Christian Rock where he sang. I just waited that out until they went back to the Bucket List. He also did a long improv-y thing with his acoustic and the two loopers. Gave me some ideas. 

Bearsville was a nice little venue but seems to be in jeopardy. Too bad because in August they have schedule the Stickmen (Levin etc) opening for Adrian Belew.

[The Crimson King]

Musical Box at Tarrytown tonight

This is a great Genesis tribute band that uses the actual costumes and background films from the old Genesis tours (yup the ones they used) plus instrumentation that matches the period (Hackett's LP, Rutherford's double neck Rick, Bank's Roland 202 and yes, an honest to goodness live in person Mellotron)

These guys are on an international tour and started tonight in our little theater. Lead singer sounds just like Gabriel (even plays flute) and the others nail the exact parts or Rutherford, Hackett and Banks, Most impressively, the drummer that usually plays (they've been doing this for years) couldn't make the tour at last minute and they hired some guy who had 3 days of practice before tonight and he NAILED the parts. This is not easy peasy rock and roll I-IV-V music folks. and he pulled it off. 

First set were selections from Wind and Withering plus Trick of a Tail, second was some excellent work from Lamb Lies Down. After an intermission, a bit a of the earlier stuff from Trespass, Foxtrot, and Selling England with a great version of Musical Box (they had to do it) as an encore. None of the commercial crap that followed these releases.

I saw Genesis before they were known and played small places like My Father's Place and the Felt Forum. This is exactly what it was like and the same show experience (without a certain .. uh.. umm .. atmosphere enhancement of the time...)  If you loved this band before they sold out after PG left, you gotta see this show. You will leave with tears in your eyes. 

"… play me my song … here it comes again …"

[JustInFudge]

Was in NYC for the last few days.  Went to shows back to back nights at MSG

Fleetwood Mac - still got it.  I was blown away by how much they still had it going and the energy they brought to the stage.  70 year olds, running around the stage getting the crowd into it.  Stevie was killing it.  Still hitting all the notes. Mike Campbell from the Heartbreakers and Niel inn from Crowded House are the fill ins for Lindsey Buckingham.  Pretty great choices.  Played some Petty and "Dont Dream it's Over".  Was really surprised at how good they were.  I was going for like a nostalgic, check the box type of show and walked away impressed.

Basement -TV on the Radio - Pixies - Weezer

Didnt get there for Basement not a fan.  Unfortunately TotR only played like 5 or 6 songs but they were great as usual.  Pixies killed it.  Absolutely went mental with some great classics, deep cuts, newer songs and went off script quite a bit.  A couple of killer guitar solos with some insane feedback.  I was really going to see those 2 bands, 2 of my all time favorites so it was disappointing their shows were a bit abbreviated.  That said, Weezer was a lot of fun.  Really great performance.  Lots of energy, some cool stage set ups, the lead singer went around the crowd in a boat and played a bunch of acoustic songs including "dont want no scrubbs" by TLC.  Never realized how gifted Rivers Cuomo was...man can he rip the guitar and he has quite a stage presence.  I was really impressed. 

[HighPitch]

On 3/11/2019 at 12:43 AM, The Crimson King said:

Musical Box at Tarrytown tonight

This is a great Genesis tribute band that uses the actual costumes and background films from the old Genesis tours (yup the ones they used) plus instrumentation that matches the period (Hackett's LP, Rutherford's double neck Rick, Bank's Roland 202 and yes, an honest to goodness live in person Mellotron)

These guys are on an international tour and started tonight in our little theater. Lead singer sounds just like Gabriel (even plays flute) and the others nail the exact parts or Rutherford, Hackett and Banks, Most impressively, the drummer that usually plays (they've been doing this for years) couldn't make the tour at last minute and they hired some guy who had 3 days of practice before tonight and he NAILED the parts. This is not easy peasy rock and roll I-IV-V music folks. and he pulled it off. 

First set were selections from Wind and Withering plus Trick of a Tail, second was some excellent work from Lamb Lies Down. After an intermission, a bit a of the earlier stuff from Trespass, Foxtrot, and Selling England with a great version of Musical Box (they had to do it) as an encore. None of the commercial crap that followed these releases.

I saw Genesis before they were known and played small places like My Father's Place and the Felt Forum. This is exactly what it was like and the same show experience (without a certain .. uh.. umm .. atmosphere enhancement of the time...)  If you loved this band before they sold out after PG left, you gotta see this show. You will leave with tears in your eyes. 

"… play me my song … here it comes again …"

I would love to have been there. Especially for that second set

[The Crimson King]

The Hendrix Experience last night at The Palace in Albany

Firstly, the venue is amazing. Perfectly preserved and maintained century (or so) old building. Huge seating capacity. Awful parking ). My 90 yr old Dad grew up a few blocks from here and came here as a kid.

This was not a tribute band per se but a company of pros doing mostly Hendrix songs

Started with Eric Johnson and Dweezil Zappa doing a few early pieces. Billy Cox on bass (the only one who actually was connected to Jimi). SRV's old drummer, Chris Layton, who flat out sucked and seemed to be playing in a different time frame than others. Johnson is amazing and Dweezil can hold his own.  Nice start.  Then they brought out the Slide Brothers. Never heard if them before. One played a pedal steel and the other looked like he had a standard guitar on a stand. Played the blues like nobody's business.  A true highlight. I gotta see these guys in their own act. Somewhere along they trotted out Taj Mahal (actually more like shuffled out). He's only 77 but looked to be much much older. A classic from another time. Fun to see him after all these years. 

Dave Mustaine did a set. He was awful, out of phase and frankly lacking in skills. Johnny Lang also played and sounded like a minor leaguer considering who else was on stage that night.  Then after a break, the "headliner" came out. Joe Satriani in a trio with drummer Kenny Aranoff and the weirdest bass player I ever saw, Doug Pinnick from Kings' X.  

The Satriani set was marred by several things. the sound guy had the bass drum up so high that it dominated the sound and created a din. Satriani did way too much DIgitech Whammy tricks that tried but failed to do the Jimi feedback which was naturally done with Marshalls on 10. There were 3  mic'd Bassmans with 3x15 cabs and all you could hear was mud but Pinnick is so odd looking that it was entertaining. He looked to be about 7 feet tall and weighed 100 lbs top. Played lefty with Manute Bol arms and the bass slung the lowest I've ever seen anyone play (by the knees). Bizarre. Couldn't hear him so no idea of his skill level. 

Everyone had their own gear so there were 15 guitar amps on stage and a pedal board for each (view of which were blocked by monitors across the entire stage).  Load out must be a nightmare for this tour. 

All in all not worth the price of admission or the 2+ hour ride to this beautiful theater.  Winner? Eric J. and the Slide Brothers. Losers? Mustaine, Lang, Layton and the idiot that ran FOH 

[Panzer Division Marduk]

Overkill, Destruction, Flotsam & Jetsam at the Academy, Dublin. Been waiting over thirty years to see Flotsam, didn't disappoint. Erik AK's voice is still as great as ever, and to finally hear No Place for Disgrace live, and then Suffer the Masses was just a bonus. New stuff sounded great too.  Destruction were enjoyable, surprisingly, last time I saw them they were sloppy as hell, not this time. Overkill? Nothing different, they just did that best live band thing in the world they've done for years. Blitz was Blitz. Great setlist, old and new, but wasn't expecting them to play Welcome to the Garden State, but it worked. Hell of a night, only nitpick was I would have had the Flots ahead of Destruction on the bill.

[HighPitch]

Just got back from the first annual Rising festival. 

A lot of the usual suspects that play wanee fest regularly but i have to say if your into jazzy funky technical musicianship you should check out Ghost Note. I feel i can grab a guitar and sit in with every band there and do a respectable job, but not here. 

I dont have the skills. Hard stuff.....plus so many changes id have a hard time even remembering these tunes. They were good

the other special set was Otiel and Friends. They had the guitarist from rat dog, the kb player from dark star orchestra ( actually a l i guy....used to see him with the zen tricksters long ago), and the singer lamar from les breers. Such a great set. Opened with blue sky, into franklins tower, dear prudence, mercury blues, ophelia