All the Concerts Fit to Print

We went to Shank Hall tonight, to see the Carl Palmer Band. Palmer was the drummer for the legendary Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The band is doing ELP tunes.

They're a three-piece - Carl brought a guitarist, Paul Bielatowicz, and a bassist, Simon Fitzpatrick. Paul looked (and acted) like a teenager. I wasn't all that impressed by his intricate playing (some was better than other), but I give him credit for reimaging Keith Emerson's keyboards to the guitar. Simon was pretty damn good, I thought. For his solo, he played "Bohemian Rhapsody". For the first part, he capoed the upper three strings so they sounded like an acoustic guitar. During the second (the a capella) part, he did a lot of two-hand tapping, for the harmonies. For Paul's solos, he started out with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", which sounded a bit rough, did "The Liberty Bell March", which sounded very clean, two-hand tapping up and down the neck, and duetted "Flight of the Bumblebee" with Simon.

Carl is a showman. He loves to show off. Being one of the greats, he's allowed. His kit was center stage, and the drums were all low enough that we could see him play. I love watching drummers. I think because it's a skill I don't have. They impress the hell out of me. I also like watching them play, so I can get a better idea of what I'm hearing. Anyway, the guy is phenomenal. Speed, power, precision, inventiveness. During his solo (yes, he did a longish solo), he did wacky things like bouncing his stick off the cymbal with the other stick (repeatedly). He played all parts of the cymbals with all parts of his sticks.

The guys were having a good time. Carl loves playing, and loves showing off. And the audience loves it all. They went wild, all night. It was a pretty gray crowd, too. Fewer women than usual, for a prog show, though I think the ones that were there were all *really* into it. There were three girls (they didn't look like they were old enough to drink ;-) right behind us, who were total fans. They knew some songs that I'm not familiar with.

Songs played:
The Barbarian
Hoedown
Bitches Crystal
Peter Gunn
Canario
Trilogy
Tarkus
Pictures at an Exhibition
Fanfare for the Common Man
Nutrocker

I was disappointed they didn't play "Toccata". The ad for the show implied they play that one, and it's one of my favorites. Tarkus and Pictures were abbreviated versions. I was really impressed with Pictures. It's one of the more complicated pieces.

A local band, Jimmy at the Prom opened the show. At first, I was thinking "who the hell booked this band?" but a short time into their set, I realized they weren't bad. Kindof a hard rock, darkish, prog-ish band. And Dave Schoepke on drums.

Keith Emerson, Carl Palmer and Robert Berry. This was at Billy's Old Mill on the south side. "Wisconsin's largest bar". The only time I was ever in the place. It closed within a year or two.

Emerson had a wall of synthesizers on stage right. No idea if any of it was for real. Looked like an old-time space craft. Since the stage was so small, he didn't do quite as much of his usual antics. I recall Palmer's drum solo. At one point, he walked around his kit, playing the cymbals. I was most impressed when he got down to playing only one of them. I don't remember much else about the show. I wish I could remember what songs they played.