I want everyone to enjoy the show and telL Steve I said if he doesn't come around the D.C./Baltimore area, it's WEDGIE TIME!
Holy mole, what an amazing show last night in Phoenix. I was taken aback at the musicianship last night. Any one of those guys would be worthy but all together? Stunning. I knew Nick Beggs was a monster but my goodness, I am smitten with his style, finesse, and power.
Steven humorously discussed his music having a large amount of "melancholia." Hilarious stage presence.
As someone yelled out last night, "you are a genius Steven Wilson!"
ProgEars and other prog posters & prints: http://www.michaelphipps.net
.*AWAKEN*. gentleMASS -touch-
You know, it is a unique place. The Celebrity theater is fairly old (1964) and holds about 2600 people in full, in-the-round performances. Yup, in most cases, the stage rotates.
I first saw George Benson there in 1978 followed by Chick Corea/Herbie Hancock a month later. I saw Yes there a few years ago.
But in some cases, they don't rotate the stage and instead, only use about 1/2 of the seating. That was the case last night which was good. The sound can be fairly bad there, especially when the stage rotates. (Yes' sound was muddy and a bit much for the small interior.) But last night things weren't bad at all. The sound was fairly good.
And ProgArtist, like you, I wasn't up on all of his work but he'll blow you away. Watch Beggs, he'll impress you!
I love the Celebrity Theatre! Great venue and the rotating stage is excellent!
The buddy I went with had never seen any of these people before and was gobsmacked that Nick Beggs started out in Kajagoogoo!
But he was also blown away at the level of musicianship in every position. He kept saying, "They make it look so easy." The person who impressed him the most was Dave Kilminster, actually. I like Kilminster, though I could do without some of his posing.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
I agree. Every player was so skilled. Kilminster did impress me with his tone and near-effortless looking runs. But yeah, he was doing the rock-star thing. (Whereas Steven's playing/movements/antics looked like they were the reflection of pure joy.)
Oh, it needs to be said that despite the fact that they had a number of technical problems, the flow was hardly affected at all. In particular, much of the time they were not able to hear their click track which made it harder for them to sync together and to the video. Steven was a real pro in these cases and the band just used their excellent musical skills to get the job done.
Where were you seated Paulrus?
Just wondering if Bruce Soord made it to the Phoenix gig?
YES! He did. He humorously described his visa problems that delayed his arrival to the US. And he did a good job on stage. He is charming, clever, well-spoken, and has a great voice. His use of a looper was well done. I felt that the second or third song that he played with the looper--the first time he used the shaker--was a bit suspect, timing wise (I think the nerves got to him). And of course anything that isn't quite perfect keeps coming back at you! But the other looped songs were done very well with a good sense of accurate rhythm. But my goodness, I thought the volume level was much too high. His guitar was too loud. His voice was too loud. And certainly, the "bass drum" effect he got by thumping on the top of the guitar was waaaaaay too loud.
But special bonus points to him for handling the broken high-E string on his Taylor with grace and aplomb. And by the way, what was the make of his other guitar that he described as his "fat guitar?" That had a lovely tone (despite the crazy volume).
All in all, he made me want to check out his solo stuff and work with The Pineapple Thief.
Just been reading some of Bruce Soord's comments about this tour. Seem's like the Americans have been very courtious and receptive to his music. Now I am not a wordly bloke. But wow what a big country America is. The distances he has had to travel between gigs. No surprises here to any Americans reading this but for a little Brit like me its fairly mind blowing.
Yes, he mentioned being astonished at the drive from Phoenix to Salt Lake City when I saw him on Friday. I just looked it up and it's 663 miles / 1067 km between the two gigs. The entire length of Great Britain is 847 miles / 1363 km! I made the same trip to see The Musical Box, and it is a very long drive. It really shows why a lot of bands don't come around here, as in the northeast there are a lot of large cities a whole lot closer to each other. I've lived in New and Old England, and the close proximity to so many things is wonderful.
ProgEars and other prog posters & prints: http://www.michaelphipps.net
.*AWAKEN*. gentleMASS -touch-
Perhaps I'll have time to post more later, but very quickly, the show on Friday was rather mind blowing. I mentioned earlier that I'm a casual fan of SW, but I was really impressed by the musicianship of his band. The Moog solo in whatever-the-track-is in the second half of H.C.E. was a highlight. Wow. Apparently this was the first time SW has ever played in Salt Lake. The venue was fairly small, but it had to be moved from a smaller room to a larger one because it had sold out. I ended up being in the second "row" of people standing on the guitar/keys side, so the view was great.
I enjoyed Soord's show, having never heard him or Pineapple Thief before. He did a fairly good job at his looping effects, although I'm not sure why he did the exact same "bass drum" part each time (a hit on every quarter note with no accents). A minor complaint though.
ProgEars and other prog posters & prints: http://www.michaelphipps.net
.*AWAKEN*. gentleMASS -touch-
Probably better suited for it's own thread, but I agree! I shelved it initially after purchase, but after a year gave it some more listens and it's definitely a grower of an album.
If he was going to be at the NYC show, it would've been enticing enough for me to go. Shame he wasn't making the whole tour.
The Moog solo in whatever-the-track-is in the second half of H.C.E. was a highlight. Wow.-
That's the one, Sean! The guitar solo was great, too.
ProgEars and other prog posters & prints: http://www.michaelphipps.net
.*AWAKEN*. gentleMASS -touch-
I wonder when SW will release a live album. Does anyone know if there are any plans in the works to do this?
He has not released one since the Grace for Drowning tour (except for the EP Drive Home). I was disappointed there was no live album after the "Raven" tour, which is a favorite album of mine.
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