Did anyone attend this show, and if so, reviews? well attended? I was unable to attend, sadly.. I did see them here back in 2004 (w Caravan)..It was pretty packed, but this is NYC in the heart of Times Square..
Did anyone attend this show, and if so, reviews? well attended? I was unable to attend, sadly.. I did see them here back in 2004 (w Caravan)..It was pretty packed, but this is NYC in the heart of Times Square..
I was at that 2004 show, and I was a bit underwhelmed by both bands' sets. BUT, it's cool that Nektar played there again.
I was at the 2004 show at BB King's, as well as the previous show at Town Hall with the original members (which was AWESOME!). I remember Nektar at BBK's having to cut their set short for some reason. I dunno. It was wierd. I think they just wanted to clear the place for something else that would sell more drinks. I thought Caravan was really great. I've been there a couple of other times, but I really don't care for the place.
Yes, agreed that they were a bit off in 2004.."Supposedly" there was a " curfew" which cut their set short..But lately they have a lot of Midnight "after concert" shows such as when the Allman's were playing the Beacon..Caravan were the better group for sure that night in 2004..I also recall There being TOO much bass in the Nektar mix, and a lot of people seemed to be there just to be out, not to see Nektar..Tons of loud conversations..
A friend of a friend was at the BB show, he knew someone on the union crew and managed to get in.
He knew OF Nektar, but not well enough to supply a setlist (as he was unfamiliar with the titles)... however his comment to my first friend was that "if he'd had to pay to get in, he'd want his money back". When asked why, he added that the guitar overwhelmed everything, the singers' voice was shot, the bass player played the same three notes, there was NO lightshow whatsoever and the only saving grace was the drummer (Ron).
He liked Wishbone Ash tho'.
So until someone else says different, that's the only review I've heard (third hand) from this years NY gig so far.
Last edited by Mick; 06-25-2013 at 06:01 PM.
http://www.thenektarproject.com/geew...um/default.asp ...where CLASSIC Nektar lives[/I]
Well, I'll say differently regarding Lux's bass playing. He was all over the place at the Pittsburgh gig. Roye sounded good to me, although I know enough not to expect the Roye of 1973. The problem with the Pittsburgh gig was that it was so loud that, if you didn't know the music, you'd be lost.
Y'know, that struck me as strange too, as I was at the 2011 Sellersville gig doing lights with Jim, and I thought Lux did an excellent job on bass. The band really kicked serious ass on the Space-Rock tour, and prior reviews of Pittsburgh and Sellersville were also very positive this year... including Lux.
If I could have made it into NYC, I'd have been there (or Sellersville), but it wasn't to be... so I'm now eagerly waiting for a truer, more detailed second opinion... from someone who knows what this incarnation of Nektar IS capable of, knows their repertoire and can honestly compare THIS performance to other recent Nektar shows they've seen.
Last edited by Mick; 06-25-2013 at 06:17 PM.
http://www.thenektarproject.com/geew...um/default.asp ...where CLASSIC Nektar lives[/I]
Shame if that's all true but I just think that the guy wouldn't like Nektar regardless, which is ok - it's not for everyone. That being said, Roye's guitar is usually way up in the mix, sometimes drowning out the keys, and for me, the keys are essential to the Nektar sound. You can't fuck around with that, especially with Tab. Let Klaus be heard, is all I'm saying.Originally Posted by Mick
I sometimes get the feeling that Roye is way more of a studio guy and less concerned about the live experience, although that does not imply that he phones it in, because he doesn't. Obviously they're touring on a budget.
Roye's voice is what it is. He's not a choir boy. He's no Carl Wilson. But he has a unique voice, like Neil Young or Dylan. If you're not used to it then you might think it's shot, or that he can't sing, which is certainly not the case.
I've seen them with Mo, Randy and Peter on bass, but I can't speak for Lux. As I mentioned previously, I do like Billy's work on the album. You can talk a lot of smack about Billy, but he's not just a three-note guy.
Ron? I'm not even gonna touch that. There would be no Nektar without him.
I understand the limitations of touring a "big sound" prog band in small clubs, and it does no justice to Nektar no matter how you look at it. But seriously, the only thing that would have really disappointed me would have been the lack of the lightshow.
Well, I payed very close attention to each musician in Pittsburgh. Even though Klaus was low in the mix, he was mostly audible. They all played up to the Nektar standard, which is pretty damned high. I never saw Mo live, but Lux is every bit as good as Randy (who was personally endorsed by Mo).
My only experience with Randy and Tom was the afore-mentioned 2004 BBK's show, which was my first time seeing a "scaled-down" Nektar show, and for that reason alone it was a bit of a letdown, not even taking into consideration that their set was shortened. There was nothing about Randy's playing that stuck out to me personally. Both he and Tom were competent, even though Tom was playing on such a small rig that he may as well have been using one of those Casio things that you can get at WalMart.
I went to that one too, my friend took his kids, ages 17 & 10. We all left after Nektar's third song due to the bass being too loud and distorting everything. That was a real shame as we, just the 2 of us had gone to Nearfest a few months prior looking forward to Nektar's set. There too we felt they were way too loud with the low end reverberating the whole sound horribly. We were about halfway up in the balcony then. Both times though, Nektar were brilliant.
"Henry Cow always wanted to push itself, so sometimes we would write music that we couldn't actually play – I found that very encouraging." - Lindsay Cooper, 1998
"I have nothing to do with Endless River. Phew! This is not rocket science people, get a grip." - Roger Waters, 2014
"I'm a collector. And I've always just seemed to collect personalities." - David Bowie, 1973
Why are you guys talking about past performances? You should be talking about this one or at least this tour. I was at this show and I thought it was fine. The guitar was a bit loud but that didn't bother me. The performance was a bit on the short side being about 1hr20min. Wishbone Ash played about the same amount of time. Plus with the opening act, it was over 3 hours of music. I didn't write down the setlist, but I remember Dream Nebula, Day In The Life Of A Preacher, Recycled (part of it anyway), Time Machine, Doctor Kool, Desolation Valley, Good Day. The crowd was small for BB Kings. The most half full. But their was nothing wrong with the show and I look forward to seeing them in the future.
Bob G
Because you're the first one to say that he was at this show, and ronmac has talked already about seeing them on this tour. There are at least two other active Nektar threads as well. Welcome. Have fun.
Last edited by Banquo; 06-25-2013 at 10:06 PM.
Thanks for YOUR input Bob G.
I'm glad that finally SOMEONE from PE was there last Sunday...
with a more positive review.
Last edited by Mick; 06-25-2013 at 10:05 PM.
http://www.thenektarproject.com/geew...um/default.asp ...where CLASSIC Nektar lives[/I]
"Good Day"??!! I'm jealous!
They did the entire Recycled side one suite in Pittsburgh. Are you saying they only did part of that in NYC?
Great show in Cleveland tonight. Front row center table didn't hurt either.
It's my understanding that MTWA was not on the bill in Cleveland. How long was Nektar's set and what did they play?
Setlist:
A Better Way
Doctor Kool
The Dream Nebula
Desolation Valley
Waves
Time Machine
Crying In The Dark
King Of Twilight
A Day In The Life Of A Preacher
Recycled
Encore: Man In The Moon
Clocked in at 95 minutes.
My only disappointment, if you could call it that, was while sharing a cig with Ron and grilling him about the setlist before the show, he told me that they were going to play RTF1 but it didn't happen. I did get a pretty decent recording of the show though ;-)
I would LOVE a copy, if you're up for a trade. PM me, if so.
There were 2 members in the audience that I heard about, but out of respect for Andy Powell's Wishbone Ash, who plays there regulary, the club chooses not to have them perform there.
How was the attendance in Cleveland? Did you see any promotional efforts?
Ridiculous
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. This is Martin Turner's first US tour in about 20 years, from what I understand. I think both bands can co-exist.
Ooh, just found this online. Roye KILLS!
Better yet, full show:
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