Well, here I am again reviewing another great concert! This has been a great year for concerts in Atlanta so far! Last night was one for the ages. Renaissance was supposed to play here last October but had to cancel due to Annie Haslam's back issues. Little did anyone know that only a few short weeks later there would be an even greater tragedy with the sudden death of Michael Dunford. When that happened I thought maybe it would be the end for the group. But they kept going and last night was proof that Michael is still with the band, if only in spirit.
Don't think this will be much of a spoiler for anyone since this tour was billed as playing 2 of their best albums in their entirety: Turn of the Cards and Scheherazade and Other Stories. This was truly a magical night.....but before they started Turn of the Cards, the band played what Annie said was one of Michael's favorite songs, Carpet of the Sun. Just an excellent way to start the evening!
From there, on came the entire Turn of the Cards and Scheherazade. Both were just fantastic! (If you don't have it, buy the DVD that came out recently where they performed these two WITH Dunford in 2011. It is well worth it!) Even though I love every Renaissance release, Scheherazade has always been my favourite. Once they got to the song itself, I couldn't believe how well they were playing as a band! Jason Hart, the second keyboard player was playing practically every part that was original played by an orchestra on the studio version. Annie even said before they started that Michael had given him over 80 pages of music to learn for this one song alone! You could tell! He was one busy bee, but pulled it off excellently!
After Scheherazade, the band came back out and played 2 songs from their new CD Grandine il Vento. Both were excellent. I had just received my autographed copy from Kickstarter campaign yesterday and was able to hear the entire CD before the show. It is an excellent CD! You all should get this!
So, after waiting for 35 years to see Renaissance again I was able to enjoy 2 complete albums! Even though Annie is the only remaining original member, this band has been together for a while. Rave Tesar, the other keyboard player in the group, has been with her for many years. David Keyes is an excellent singer and bass player. And Frank Pagano has a fantastic touch on the drums. And Annie? Well the angel can still sing!
A very memorable night in Atlanta!
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