All the Concerts Fit to Print

King Crimson again. Chicago again. This time during their 50th anniversary tour. And at the amazing Auditorium Theater of Roosevelt University. It was designed by Dankmar Adler and Luis Sullivan, and built in 1889. Our seats were pretty high up, but that's OK. Even if we couldn't quite see the expressions on their faces, we could still see all the action.

The band was a seven-piece. Same as the last few times, but without the eighth man on keyboards and Mellotron. Stacy played a lot of keyboards and Mellotron. Fripp (guitar and Mellotron), Jaksyk (guitar and vocals), Levin (bass and Chapman Stick), Collins (reeds and flute) and Mastelotto, Stacy and Harrison (drums and percussion).

The show started slow for me. After the drumming intro, they did "Pictures of a City," and early song which I'm not familiar with. Then Neurotica (without vocals), which I'm not a big fan of. And the sound didn't seem that great. I was hoping that they'd get it fixed, and it did get better, but it never got to 100%. Fourth tune was "Suitable Grounds for the Blues." I don't even remember this one, and can't find it online to remind me. After that things picked up with "Red", "Epitaph", "EleKtriK" and "The Court of the Crimson King", which closed out the first set.

The second set was much more pleasing than the first, though it too started a bit slow. It included "Frame By Frame". This is an Adrian-era song I didn't expect to hear, but I was a bit disappointed. It just didn't sound right. Larks' Tongues sounded good, if not perfect, and "Easy Money" is a favorite and "Level Five", "Starless" and "Indiscipline" in a row is awesome. "Starless" is another favorite. The encore was an extended "21st Century Schizoid Man". Lots of drums, with some other interludes as well.

Mel Collins sat out a song or two, which I appreciated because I think he's often superfluous. There were still a couple of songs in which I could have done without him. For one of the mellow songs (I don't remember which), Stacey was playing keyboards, Mastelotto was on drums, and Harrison was silent, allowing the single drummer to carry the piece. That was great.

( setlist )

King Crimson at the Chicago Theatre. We had great seats - third row balcony, not the closest, but we could kinda see the expressions on their faces, and we were high enough that we could see all the action. I like being able to look down on the drum kits. My only disappointment is that we were to the right, so I was looking right down the neck of Robert's guitar. While I could see his hands, I couldn't see his fretwork.

There were large signs on the stage explaining that we were being asked not to use our cameras or phones until after the show. Then there was a recorded announcement (by Fripp) explaining the same, with the addition that when Tony gets out his camera at the end of the show, we can get ours out as well. And also that there would be an intermission.

I love King Crimson. But I'm not... a well-versed fan. I'm very familiar with Discipline. And then my familiarity starts at the end and trails off as we go back in time. I like their last three seventies albums, but only a few tracks really stand out and are recognizable. Like "Easy Money" "Talking Drum" "Red" and "The Great Deceiver". Since this band is known for doing a lot of the seventies material, I probably should have brushed up. But I didn't, so most of the first half was kinda lost on me. They did the first two parts of "Larks' Tongues" which I'm not too familiar with. Two songs from Lizard (including a long section from the title track), "Fallen Angel" from Red, which I didn't recognize, but sounded like it was from Red. And the "Islands" from Islands, which I didn't know at all. But then there was "Neurotica" from Beat, which I didn't recognize, and "Radical Action III" which was new. I didn't recognize, but I did recognize it as new music. I was thinking, during this set, that these concerts are generally more interesting than enjoyable.

Then there was a twenty minute intermission, which took place after the first set, but before the second set. I would have liked to chat with my friend about the show more, but I had to go buy merch.

The second set was quite enjoyable. They did three new songs, and a couple of older ones I didn't recognize, but the songs were so cool, I didn't mind much. There was more prominent drumming, and said drumming was cool. They did "Indiscipline," which is an Adrian tune, so I was a little surprised to hear it, but Jakko put a tune to the words and sang it. Not sure why. Then there was "The ConstruKction of Light" "Easy Money" "Level Five" and "Starless". And several new tunes. I wish I could remember which ones had the extended solos and drummings.

The encore was Bowie's "Heroes" (Fripp played on the original) and "21st Century Schizoid Man." Heroes was lots of fun, and "Schizoid Man" has lots of everything, especially drums.

Fripp had a small keyboard set up in front of him. Mellotron, I guess. I've never seen him do that before. I've also never seen Crimson with a stand-alone keyboardist before. Last tour had Bill Rieflin playing keyboards occasionally, alongside his drum kit. He had stepped back from the band and was replaced by Jeremy Stacey on both drums and keyboards. But he came back for this tour to play "keyboards, synthesizer and fairy dust." I couldn't see his hands, so I couldn't always tell what he was playing, given that there were other keyboardists on the stage, and sometimes guitars sound keyboardish.

Jakko Jakszyk is the vocalist. I remembered from the last tour, that he sounded very much like Jon Wetton. But for the first song that he sung, he sounded horrible. Not like Wetton, and not even good. Not sure what was up with that, but it could have been a bad monitor. The next couple of songs he did, he sounded better, but still not quite like Wetton. After that, he sounded just like I remembered - just like Wetton (or Lake). Jakko was bouncy and animated sometimes, unlike Fripp, seated beside him.

The drummers were Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison and Jeremy Stacey. It was really interesting watching the three drummers. I've always wondered what the point having more than one is. And how do they play together? I'm kinda figuring it out now, at least for this band. When they play together - playing the same thing - it's thunderous. But they're not always playing together. At those times, they seem somewhat relaxed. This gives them the chance to figure what's best to play. They do improvisation well, or at least structured improvisation.

Mel Collins played Saxes and flutes. Soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, as well as at least two flutes. He gear list mentions two flutes, but he also played a bass flute. He played on every song. I don't think this was necessary. I know a lot of the songs were reworked for the eight-member band, but I think there were songs he didn't add to.

And of course there was my man Tony. What can I say? Tony is awesome. He played bass guitar, stand-up electric bass and Chapman Stick.

The band took the stage at 7:45, and the show ended shortly before 11:00. Not counting the intermission, they played for over two and a half hours.

Set 1
Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part One (from Larks' Tongues)
Neurotica (Beat)
Radical Action III (Radical Action)
Cirkus (Lizard)
Lizard ((c) The Battle of the Glass Tears (i) Dawn Song (ii) Last Skirmish (iii) Prince Rupert's Lament) (Lizard)
Fallen Angel (Red)
Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part Two (Larks' Tongues)
Islands (Islands)

Set 2:
Pictures of a City (In the Wake of Poseidon)
Indiscipline (Discipline)
The ConstruKction of Light (The ConstruKction of Light)
Easy Money (Larks' Tongues)
The Letters (Islands)
Interlude (Radical Action)
Meltdown (Radical Action)
Radical Action II (Radical Action)
Level Five (The Power to Believe)
Starless (Red)

Encore:
"Heroes" (David Bowie cover)
21st Century Schizoid Man (In the Court of the Crimson King)

It was cold in Chicago. Nasty cold, or at least it seemed that way since I left my warm coat in the car. Note to self: Park West has coat check. Doors opened at 8:00, which is when we arrived, and the line (mostly general admission) stretched about two blocks. I left my companions in line and went for a jog around the block to warm up. It didn't work. We finally got in, and got a good place to stand, down front.

About 9:20, The Nuggets took the stage (at least that's what Lenny called them). This was Patti's band minus Patti. Lenny Kaye is known as a proponent of garage rock, and put together some compilation albums called Nuggets. So that's what they played, or course - garage rock. Eight fun, short songs. Fun!

"Crazy Like A Fox", "Night Time" (The Strangeloves), "Journey to the Center of the Mind" (The Amboy Dukes, sung by Tony Shanahan), "Nobody but Me" (The Human Beinz, sung by Andy York), "I Had "Too Much to Dream Last Night" (The Electric Prunes), "See No Evil" (Television, sung by Tony Shanahan), "People Who Died" (The Jim Carroll Band, sung by Tony and Lenny), "In the Midnight Hour" (Wilson Pickett, sung by Tony and Lenny).

I had trouble with my ears. I had forgotten to bring my good earplugs, so had to stop at a drugstore and pick up some cheap ones. They were so "good" that they blocked out everything but the bass, which came in through my head. I had to pull them partway out, to hear anything, and it still wasn't great. Much worse sound than with my good earplugs.

Then we had a break for quite a while. When Patti took the stage, more people moved in. It was pretty cramped for a while. Including some stinky hippie chick, and her big boyfriend. Due to all of this, I wasn't having a good time. Fortunately, Patti showed up. That helped. ;-) And over time, people left, for some reason. It wasn't too crowded late in the show.

So Patti took the stage. She came out by herself and read "Piss Factory." Then the band came out and they did "Dancing Barefoot", "Ghost Dance" and "My Blakean Year". There was a lot of talking and stories between the songs. I wish I could remember what they were about. After that she did the first of many covers of the night. I get the impression her NYE shows include more covers than usual. Partly because of the party atmosphere, partly to honor the year's lost souls. This one was George Michael's "Father Figure." Then "Break It Up" followed by "Jesus is Just Alright." After that was Blue Oyster Cult's "Astronomy" to honor its writer, and the bands founder and manager, Sandy Pearlman. Then "Ain't It Strange", "Peaceable Kingdom" and "People Have the Power". Patti mentioned that they had to add something to make the timing come out right for midnight, so she and Lenny did a cover of Debbie Reynolds's "Tammy". Practically unrehearsed, she said. And then the buildup of "Pissing in a River" followed by "Land" with some "Gloria". The obligatory "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight. Then the finale of "Because the Night", "People Have the Power" and "My Generation".

She brought a kid out on stage, who came all the way from Tokyo. She gave him her guitar and he played on "People Have the Power". He was going to leave, but she kept him on during "My Generation" and she had him help break the strings off her guitar.

Like I said, due to the party atmosphere, with more talking than usual, and the all the covers, the show was quite different. I think the usual tempo was broken up by the covers. The previous night was her birthday. If we'd known that beforehand, we might have gone to that one instead. Michael Stipe showed up to sing "Happy Birthday". That show started with all of Horses, was followed by five covers, then four of her songs, with "My Generation" as the encore. During one of the songs, I forget which, Patti lost her way. She stopped a couple of times to confer with Tony while the band jammed. She finally gave up and told the story of Scheherazade, which morphed into some strange bit including someone in New Jersey. Then finally went back into the song, or maybe another, I don't recall.

I think the show got out around 12:30. We took our friend home, and got to our home at 3:00.

( setlist )

I learned the Violent Femmes were playing Chicago, so I decided to take the day off and head to the city. I shot some photos, met a friend and we went to the show.

I had never seen them outside of Milwaukee, and was curious of the difference. I figured they'd have a lot more people with them while playing in the hometown, and I was right. The band was Gano, Ritchie and Sparrow, with Garza and three others. No Hamilton. They had the two roadies in the Horns of Dilemma, playing horns for "Black Girls" and percussion for much of the rest of the show, plus the woman named Jamie playing Trumpet.

My friend Brenda and I were down front in the crowd. A couple of large people moved in on our turf just before the show started, so it became even more packed. In the last third or quarter of the show, a bunch of kids came down and started moshing. It was distracting and a little annoying to have to spend most of your energy trying to keep your feet. And I pushed hard on the body passees, to move them away from us (I'm tall enough to get some leverage on them). Brenda and I got separated, and she was given some sanctuary right at the front. Man, I'm out of shape. Just a little bit of moshing and I was exhausted.

Other than that, the shows were similar. They played two songs that I was excited to hear. "Breakin' Up" was one. I didn't enjoy it as much as on the album. Too rough in concert? After fifteen songs, Ritchie strapped on his electric bass. That's always a good sign. I guessed they'd play "Gimme the Car." But Ritchie said they'd play a song they don't play very often. For a moment I thought that meant "Color Me Once," but he then said it was from their second album. It wouldn't be "Hallowed Ground" because there was no keyboardist on stage, so that meant "Never Tell"! I've heard it in concert many (several?) times, but it's probably my favorite Femmes tune. I danced my ass off (as did a very few people around me).

It was a fun show. As always. It was hot, and I was drenched in sweat. The moshers were only a little annoying. Between moshing and dehydration, I was exhausted by the end. I'm sure glad I bought water before the show!

As for the setlist, in comparison to the Milwaukee show...
They started both shows with "Blister" and "Kiss Off". Here, they added "Confessions" and "You Move Me", before "Good for/at Nothing", "Love Love Love Love Love", "Country Death Song", "I Could Be Anything" and "Prove My Love". Then they added "Breakin' Up" and "Believing in Myself". Then "Jesus Walking", before the added "Good Feeling". "Issues" and "I Held Her in My Arms" were common to both shows, but in Milwaukee, they had played "Old Mother Reagan", "Freak Magnet" and "Gimme the Car" between them. Here, they left out "Color Me Once", but finished up with "Gone Daddy Gone", "Black Girls", "American Music", "Memory" and "Add It Up". They switched the order of "Gone Daddy Gone" and "Black Girls". Other than that, each song that was common to both shows was played in the same order. Ritchie calls the songs from the stage. I wonder how much of the show is decided beforehand. "American Music" was called as a request by a kid in the balcony, though they always play it.

Ava Mendoza opened the show. She's a solo guitarist. She has quite a full sound. She sang a few songs, but I wasn't as thrilled with her voice. She has a low, husky sound, which fits her somewhat dark style of music. She joined the Horns of Dilemma for "Add It Up", and did the guitar solo near the end.


Singer/guitarist Gordon Gano and the Horns of Dilemma


Bassist Brian Ritchie

( see more )

Rush is on tour in commemoration of the bands 40 years together (41, actually, but who's counting?). Their show is a travel through time. They started with songs and set from their most recent album and tour, and ended in their earliest days. It was a fitting (apparent) end to their grand concert touring.

They started with three songs from Clockwork Angels, one of which incorporated a short drum solo. Then two songs from Snakes & Arrows - "Far Cry" and the instrumental "Main Monkey Business," which were excellent. Then Vapor Trails with "One Little Victory" (the original video seemed a bit tired). They skipped over T4E and went to Counterparts for "Animate." The first set was finished up with a couple of synth era songs - "DEW" and "Subdivisions."

It was hard for me to get into this part of the show. I'm not all that familiar with Clockwork Angels. I loved the two songs from Snakes & Arrows but after that I wasn't extremely enthused. The sound wasn't great, and most importantly, we were way in the back, only a few rows from the top. It was just harder to feel it from back there.

Workers in red coveralls kept coming out to adjust the set. They began with their steampunk set up, but shortly, a couple of guys came out to replace some of Geddy's gear with his trademark washing machine, like he had used in prior years. This continued through the set. At the same time, Alex's steampunk stuff was gradually replaced with a small Marshall stack. complete with dinosaurs and Barbies.

The second set continued the journey through time. It opened strong with Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves. "Tom Sawyer," "YYZ," "Spirit of Radio." Next was a song that I'm not thrilled about. "Natural Science" is not only dull but nine minutes long. I was thinking that as long as they were playing a long dull song, they should have done "Jacob's Ladder," since I like that one marginally better. They played it next. Both of them? Guys, they're nearly interchangeable - what were you thinking? Speaking of long dull songs, on other dates they dropped "Natural Science" and "YYZ," and did "The Camera Eye." Okay, I actually like that one.

But then they got into my favorite part. "Cygnus X-1." This one sounded a little different. Something about the live experience, I guess. It's not often a Rush song sound different live, so that was cool. They followed it up with "Cygnus X-1." Since they were going by album in reverse order, they had to play "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres" which was from the Hemispheres album, before "Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage" which was from A Farewell to Kings. They did "Prelude" from Book II, and then the first and third parts from Book I. Yes I know how pretentious that all is. Shut up. Neil did his second drum solo during that one. The solo was quite enjoyable, though not as long or as technical as his previous solos have been. I assume that has something to do with his chronic tendinitis.

After the whole Cygnus thing (or the various parts of the whole Cygnus thing) they did "Closer to the Heart." Beautiful. My favorite song of the night. The next one, "Xanadu," was a close second. It seemed abbreviated, though. Geddy played his double-necked Rickenbacker and a Minimoog, and Alex his double-necked Gibson. They finished up with Overture, Temples, Presentation and Finale from "2112." Fun stuff.

After a short break, they came back for the finale. "Lakeside Park" (from Caress of Steel), "Anthem" (from Fly By Night) and "What You're Doing" and the classic finisher "Working Man" from their debut album.

Before the start of the second set, they showed a video made up of outtakes from many of the videos they've showed at their concerts over the years.

When the curtain went up on "Tom Sawyer," their gear on stage consisted of Alex's huge Marshall stacks, and Geddy's similarly sized stacks of bass amps. Throughout the set, stagehands would come out periodically to remove some, until the end of the show when there were only a couple left. During the finale, their set resembled a school gymnasium. The video wall showed a basketball court and there were a few institutional chairs onstage. Geddy and Alex were each reduced to a single amp, Geddy's sitting across a couple of the chairs. And there was a big disco ball. While I sometimes found the stagehands distracting, it was a fun concept.

The sound started out horribly. It seemed like the sound crew was frantically trying to get everything set during the first song, like they hadn't had a soundcheck. It took a couple more songs to really get things dialed in, but things didn't sound quite right for several other songs or sections. The second half sounded pretty good, with the exception of 2112. It sounded thin, like they lost the tune, except on the most bombastic riffing.

The light show was good. A video wall on the back, with a couple of tall, narrow screens to each side. Two additional projection screens hung farther out to the sides of the stage. Lasers in a few songs. Spotlights shining upwards sometimes. Dear lighting designers. You always have spotlights shining on the audience at some point, and that's great, as long as they keep moving. Last night you had lights shining directly on my section of the audience for the entire drum solo. They were shining directly through Neil's kit, so I couldn't see him, and had to watch on the video screens. Not cool.


Section 313, row 14.

( more pics, and setlist )

The Stones were on Cyn's bucket list, so we had to go. Yes, it was expensive. Don't ask. I'd passed up seeing them, a few times, due to expense, and the feeling that I was okay with never seeing them. Their only midwest date on their farewell tour was in Chicago, which is only a couple-hour drive.

The last time we went to the United Center, we left at 5:00. There was some construction, in the way this time, and we wanted to be sure we didn't miss anything, so we left at 4:30. Actually, that was my decision, since Cyn had the afternoon off, and Steve had the day off, so they would have preferred to have left earlier. The trip down took for freaking ever. Several construction delays, including a truck broken down, and then the obligatory Chicago traffic was a little worse than usual. It made for somewhat of a tense ride. But it turned out we were in our seats around 7:45, so the timing worked out well anyway. The guys next to us, who had come from Cleveland, were there by the time the doors opened. Unfortunately, the band didn't start until 8:45, for some reason, so that was a long wait - especially for the guys next to us. The audients were well in their seats by 8:30, but they were reasonably well-behaved.

The band came out under giant lips, and opened with "Get Off of My Cloud". That's a rather unconventional opener, for them. But it was fun, and that was the theme of the show! "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" and "Paint It Black" followed. These songs had a stripped down sound, that put me in the mind of their early and mid-sixties sound. This was true even for "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll", despite it being from 1972, and despite the band being a seven piece, not including the backing singers, and the two occasional saxophones and the two occasional guests.

The band was Mick, Keith, Ronnie and Charlie, plus Darryl Jones on bass and longtime sideman Chuck Leavell on Keyboards. Bobby Keys and Tim Ries on sax, an Lisa Fischer and Bernard Fowler sang backing vocals.

The fourth song was "Gimme Shelter." Fischer sang that one, of course. She could really wail, but I would have preferred a little less wailing on this one. Keys's sax solo was similarly over the top. It was kind of a mess, actually.

A couple more of their early hits were followed by "Emotional Rescue." Disco. Not a favorite, but it was danceable, so ended up being fun anyway. Same for "Miss You," later on. I went to the restroom during that one. Anyway, after "Emotional Rescue," they brought out Taj Mahal, as their special guest. That was pretty cool. He can rock it, old school. They did an old Dave Dudley song, "Six Days on the Road". Taj and Mick traded lead vocals, and Taj played lead (steel) guitar.

That was followed up with a brand new song, "Doom and Gloom." It rocks. Next was their next single, from December, "One More Shot." After "Honky Tonk Women," (was that the song Leavell had a solo?) Mick introduced the band, finishing up with Keith, who sang "You Got the Silver." He and Ronnie played acoustic slide guitars. It's a beautiful song, and it was in my head the whole way home. After that, was "Before They Make Me Run," another of Keith's songs (Steve was unhappy they didn't play "Happy.") And then...

Mick came back with... Mick! Mick Taylor joined the band for "Midnight Rambler." It was a great jam. And fun to see the Micks interacting. Taylor's kinda low-key. They rounded out the main set with "Start Me Up," "Tumbling Dice," "Brown Sugar," and "Sympathy for the Devil." While "Brown Sugar" isn't one of my most favorite Stones songs, it may have been my favorite of the night. They rocked that one.

After a short break, the Roosevelt University Conservatory Chorus opened up "You Can't Always Get What You Want." One of my favorites, and it sounded good. Then "Jumpin' Jack Flash," which rocked, of course, and the finale, "Satisfaction," where Taylor returned to the stage. Not my favorite of the night. This one was a little bit of a mess, too.

So... The Rolling Stones. These guys are old. And it shows. But that's by comparison to their earlier days. Mick was still prancing around the stage, much like ever, though he didn't run like he used to, and his feet shuffled a little bit more than they used to. But he still had more energy than most sixty-nine-year-olds that I've seen. Even if he does look like someone's (homely) granny. Keith was looking rather run down, to be honest. Ron Wood seemed to be holding up pretty well. Charlie looked as great as ever. He can still hit 'em. In fact, one of his cymbals was bent! They replaced it during the encore. Mick Tayor sat down cross-legged in front of the drum riser, during "Satisfaction." Cyn said he was a big slow to get back up, but he's a big guy. I guess that's why this is (supposedly) their final tour. I just saw a video from ten years ago, and difference is striking. I'd be surprised if they could do it again, even three years from now.

But it was The Rolling Stones! I've seen a lot of shows, and this was the first time I ever felt like I was in the presence of a legend. I was happy to just be there; to see them in person. Cyn, on the other hand, was practically giddy!

Our seats were not bad. Not great, but not bad. We were on the right side, the first section off the floor, where the curve starts towards the back. We were in the back row of the section. Not only was there no one behind us, but were were over the entrance tunnel for the section, so there was no one in front of us. We weren't close enough to make out facial expressions, but we were close enough to feel like we were there.

The stage had a big inflatable upper lip over it, with a screen behind it. They showed only graphics for the first few songs. Then the lip rose up, and they showed video. Later they removed the lip, and showed video on the whole big screen. They alternated live video of the band, with a few music video footage. They played an old song by request from some sort of online poll. For that one, they showed vintage footage of the old blues, country and motown predecessors. They had a catwalk going in a loop out from the stage. It was shaped like the tongue, to complete the lips logo. Mick went out on it quite a bit, but not much during the first half. Keith walked around it a couple of times, later in the show. I don't think he had the energy to do it any more than that. And Ronnie went onto it just a little ways, once. Steve remarked that they brought the lights down in between songs. I thought the pause between songs was longer than usual. I wonder if they just needed more of a rest than usual.

Steve said the top level - the "cheap" seats - made the most noise. That muse have been where all the young people were sitting. Steve said Keith threw an empty water bottle across the stage, and hit Leavell in the head. That's a pretty good shot.

Setlist:
Get Off of My Cloud
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
Paint It Black
Gimme Shelter
Wild Horses
Rocks Off
Emotional Rescue
Six Days on the Road - with Taj Mahal
Doom and Gloom
One More Shot
Honky Tonk Women
You Got the Silver
Before They Make Me Run
Midnight Rambler
Miss You
Start Me Up
Tumbling Dice
Brown Sugar
Sympathy for the Devil

You Can't Always Get What You Want
Jumpin' Jack Flash
Satisfaction

This year, Yes is playing a few shows, here and there. And they're playing a cruise in a couple of weeks. One of their stops was at The Venue in the Horseshoe Casino, Hammond Indiana. I had wanted to see the band with a semblance of the original lineup, and this lineup included Howe, Squire and White. Hammond isn't very close, so I wasn't sure I wanted to go, but the set included three albums straight through - Close to the Edge, Going for the One and The Yes Album. It was totally worth it.Two tickets are $40, plus a tank of gas? Still a cheap show.

The Venue is a big box sort of theater. Seats fanned out in a 90 degree arc, most rising up the slope, with a high balcony area. But there weren't really any walls or ceiling near enough to the stage to reflect any sound, so I think the acoustics were decent. The Venue's main problem is that it's within the maze of the casino, and which is not smoke-free. Just walking through it twice left the smell in my clothes. Our seats were most of the way to the back, on the far right end of our row. We could still see the whole stage, and there were the usual big video screens, so we could see fingers on fretboards - occasionally, when the videographers would allow it.

The band consisted of original bassist Chris Squire, nearly-original guitarist Steve Howe, longtime drummer Alan White, occasional keyboardist Geoff Downes, and new singer Jon Davison (recruited last month, to replace ailing Benoît David). Davison was great. His voice was very similar to Jon Anderon's, but a little smoother.

The show started out with Close to the Edge. That was great! It's a fantastic album. "Close to the Edge," "And You and I," and "Siberian Khatru." I loved being able to watch the band play. There's so much going on in the music, so seeing them play gives it clarity. Or at least helps my geek side home in on who's playing what. I actually saw a few times, that a different instrument was playing something than I thought, guitar versus keyboards versus bass. Squire played a Rickenbacker through the whole album.

As with most concerts, the sound wasn't perfected until about ten minutes into it, which was only halfway through the first song. Davison's vocals were always very high in the mix, as were Howe's guitars when Davison wasn't singing. The drums sounded good - never overpowering, but always audible. I was disappointed that the bass was sometimes buried in the mix. And keyboards were often inaudible.

I found the video to be very annoying. It switched back and forth between Howe and Davison, sometimes on Downes, and only occasionally on Squire. Even less on White. For Siberian Khatru," I really wanted to get a closeup of Squire, so I could see what he was doing, but the cameras did not oblige. Nor did they for the entire next album. One of the camera was mounted on the rigging on stage left. Once, while showing Howe playing his lap steel guitar, Downes bass sound was so low and loud, it caused the rigging to vibrate, and Howe went out of focus.

Second was the underrated Going for the One. My favorites were "Wondrous Stories" and "Awaken". There were a few points where the music differed slightly from the studio versions. Some of this is just natural variation, but "Awaken" included a bit of an extended interlude in the middle. Also, at some point (I don't recall which song), Squire played harmonica.

After a twenty minute break, they returned to play The Yes Album. Another classic, one of the great prog albums. I was very disappointed that the sound was off during its opening, "Yours Is No Disgrace". That's one of my favorite Yes tracks. It was the worst sound of the night. Howe killed 'em with "The Clap", of course. The guy is just amazing. "Starship Troopers" was awesome. After that, it was kinda downhill - "I've Seen All Good People", "A Venture" and "Perpetual Change". I think they should have switched the two sides, and started with "All Good People" and ended with "Starship Troopers." That song was meant to be a show closer. It rocks! Some people would have been scratching their heads, but I think it would have worked better.

After that stellar set, they returned with "Roundabout" as their encore. Another totally awesome song. I really wanted to get up and dance, but I was concentrating on what Howe and Squire were playing. :-)

Best show I've seen in a few years.

Then we were out of there, and got home in just under two hours.

It is the 25th anniversary of Peter Gabriel's So, so he put the old band back together, and went on tour. It was an interesting show. If anyone expected a regular concert, they didn't quite get one.

At eight o'clock sharp, Peter took the stage to explain that the scheduled opening act, Ane Brun was sick, and could not perform the tour. Her backing musician, Jennie Abrahamson, would perform in her place. Jennie sang in a high, breathy voice, and played Peter's big Bosendorfer piano. She was accompanied by Linnea Olssen on cello and vocals. They both have beautiful voices, but there was one point in particular, where their harmony was breathtaking. They did four songs.

At 8:40, Peter came out to give a brief explanation of his show. Yes, it needed an explanation, but more on that in a moment. His band comprised Tony Levin on basses and stick, David Rhodes on guitar, Manu Katche on drums and David Sancious on keyboards, along with Jennie Abrahamson and Linnea Olssen on backing vocals.

So Peter came out to the front of the stage, with the house lights still up, and explained that the show would be in three parts. Basically, acoustic, electric and So. The first song was a sort of rehearsal. Tony came out with his bass, and the two of them kinda jammed, like they were working through a new song. After that one, the rest of the band joined them. They did three more tunes, acoustically. "Come Talk to Me" (Sancious on accordion), a slow, jazzy version of "Shock the Monkey," and "Family Snapshot." The last, included the lyrics, "Come back Mum and Dad/You're growing apart/You know that I'm growing up sad/I need some attention" at the end.

If I recall correctly, it was during "Family Snapshot," during the rocking part, that the house lights went down. They were playing it casual, like a rehearsal, up until that point. After that, it became a real concert. For the second section, they played five songs. All the songs in the show were from Us or earlier. In this respect, with the exception of the four songs from Us and one from OVO, it wasn't very unlike a concert of the time. The other difference was that they played all the songs from So.

The third set was the album, straight through. Note that it was the running order of the new remastered version, with "In Your Eyes" moved to the end. Though I owned the LP, I must never have played it much. "That Voice Again," merely sounded familiar, while "We Do What We Are Told" didn't. Nor did "This Is the Picture," though that song was not on the original LP. The other five songs (except "In Your Eyes") were on Shaking the Tree which I played extensively.

They came back for an encore with "The Tower That Ate People," another song I had never heard before. It's a heavy, techno-ish tune. One of Gabriel's set pieces was a large ring, up in the light battens. He was at front center of the stage, when the ring came slowly down and surrounded him. Then it split, leaving the lower half lying on the stage, while the upper half rose back up. It trailed behind a helix of cloth surrounding a tube of cloth, which held Peter inside of it. The band closed with the still-relevant and always emotional "Biko." Oh, oh, ohhh-oh!

The main stage element of his 1987 tour that he brought back was the animated light stands. There were five of them on a track that ran around the perimeter of the stage. Each consisted of a trolley, a straight, counterbalanced arm with a head on the end, that rose and fell. The head had three Vari-lites mounted on the bottom. They were pushed around and operated by stagehands, while the Vari-lites were computer controlled, of course. The choreography was great. As in the original stage show, they "attacked" Peter during "No Self Control," and seemed to nurse him during "Mercy Street". Their spotlights swept the audience accusingly, for "We Do What We Are Told."

It seemed the average age of the audients was in the forties. Lots of thirtysomethings and fiftysomethings as well. Some older, some younger, even young children, but I'd call it an old crowd. Old enough that they wanted to sit whenever the songs weren't really danceable. And I mean *really* danceable, because there were many songs that I wanted to dance to, but couldn't because I had to sit. Every song began with wondering whether we were going to have to sit back down or whether we'd be able to get up. It was rather aggravating. And those of you who know me, know I'm not all that into dancing, so I don't know what was up with that crowd. I'm too old for all that up and down - I'd rather just have stayed up the whole time.

And speaking of old, Gabriel isn't appearing as spry and energetic as he has in the past - even the last time we saw him, only ten years ago. It didn't affect the music any, just the level of energy coming from the stage. And it seemed there were more of the low-key songs. "Here Comes the Flood," "Mercy Street," "Secret World", "Don't Give Up." But Gabriel does a mix of cerebral, emotional, ominous, exuberant, etc. "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time" were just as energetic as always, and "Solsbury Hill" was appropriately bouncy. "Red Rain" and "Digging In the Dirt" were as intense as ever. Even so, he took the stage at 8:45, and played until 11:00. That's two hours and fifteen minutes, but he only left the stage for a couple of minutes before the encore.

( setlist )

I wasn't sure I wanted to go to the show. I mean, I wanted to see it, but it was expensive. I decided it would be worth it. It was. I had a certain historical interest in seeing it, because I'd never seen any footage of the original tour, and I wanted to know how it was done. Plus, it was The Wall. It's an awesome album. One that I listen to only rarely, but awesome nonetheless. Anyway, I kinda had to go. I didn't get the $250 seats, but this still may have been my most expensive show ever, at $125. We ended up in the club level. The seats weren't that awesome, but we had better amenities outside. Not that we took advantage of the bars, the cushy lounge chairs or the fancy restaurant.

Steve got the tickets a few months ago. Several days beforehand, he hurt his back, and wasn't sure if he could go. He was in a lot of pain. He didn't decide to go until about 4:00. He got hold of me at about 4:30 and was surprised to hear I wasn't leaving work until 5:00. He sounded a little panicked, so I left at 4:45. I rushed home, grabbed the tickets, rushed down to meet him, waited a bit, then hurried down to Chicago. I realized when I hit the first toll, that I had forgotten my iPass. And drove through the second toll without paying. Got to our seats with about 20 minutes to spare.

The stage was dressed sparsely, with only the trademark round video screen at the back. The partly-built wall stretched out from the sides of the stage.

The show closely paralleled the movie. They reenacted the fascist scenes, with the crossed hammers and banners. But much of the video was updated or just plain new. They used the original animation from "The Trial" projected onto the wall. They used the original video of the sexual flowers for "Empty Spaces", but they added some sinuous computer generated roots snaking across the wall below the round screen. They did the movie version of "Empty Spaces" and did "What Shall We Do Now?"

Early in the show, during "The Thin Ice", they showed photos of victims of war on the round screen, and also tiled across the bricks on the side wall. There was footage of a child in black and red, behind the sinister tones of Another Brick in the Wall part 1.

A searchlight spotlight and the sound of a helicopter marked the beginning of "The Happiest Days of Our Lives". At this time, there was graffiti projected onto the wall. An enormous marionette of the teacher descended. It slowly moved back and forth and up and down at the side of the stage. When the chorus was about to start, a line of children ran onstage. They were stepping and clapping and chanting. We don't need no education! They were apparently from a local school. Toward the end of the song, they ran to the side of the stage, pointing in unison at the teacher puppet until it shrank back out of sight. During this song, the line, "all in all, we are all just bricks in the wall," marked the beginning of the construction of the wall across the front of the stage.

From here, to the intermission, workers continually brought 5'x2.5' bricks out and added them to the wall. As each brick was set into place, whatever video was being projected, would "turn on" on that brick. Apparently, the projectors were aligned within a couple of inches, and a technician would key in that spot of the video at the right moment. Amazing. During Brick 2, when the graffitid wall was displayed, I saw the shadow of a child walk briskly across the stage. And a subway train went by.

"Mother" included an inflatable version of the cartoon Mother from the movie, and a large security camera on the screen, that was watching everything. It was all in black and blood red. "Goodbye Blue Sky" was all animated bombers against a blood sky. The bomb bay doors opened to release payloads of crosses, hammers and sickles, stars of David, crescents and stars, dollar signs, oil company logos, etc.

Did I mention the themes of anti war, anti imperialism, anti corporate/government? Waters has become more outspoken, and some might say heavy handed about this stuff in recent years, but you may not have noticed if you didn't listen closely enough to care about the message in The Wall or Dark Side of the Moon. It's pretty blatant in Animals, though. Alienation is the most obvious message in The Wall.

As they built the wall, they left three openings in it, so you could see the band as the wall grew. During one song, I could see the keyboardist's hands lit by spotlights during a solo. Near the end of the first half, the wall was almost complete. After "Another Brick in the Wall Part 3", they did an instrumental called "Last Few Bricks". It was a new tune (as far as I know) that was sort of an amalgam of The Wall's sound. As you can imagine, they placed the last few bricks in the empty spaces through which we could still see the band. There was one last brick still missing. A spotlight shone out, and Waters sang "Goodbye Cruel World". The moment he finished, the last brick was put into place, sealing off the band from the audience.

The second half of the show started with "Hey You", performed from behind the wall. It sounded live, and the spotlights were moving as if the band were performing it, so they must have been. But fifteen thousand people were starring at a blank wall, while Roger Waters and crew were playing "Hey You"... out there beyond the wall...

Surreal.

A spot soon opened up in the wall so we could see the guitarist for one song. The Waters came out to sing from in front of the wall. The rest of the band stayed behind. For "Bring the Boys Back Home", they showed video of children surprised in their classrooms when their fathers returned from Iraq. I'll bet there were quite a few tears in the arena.

Waters was down front for "Comfortably Numb". The guitarist did the solo from the top of the wall, as did the second vocalist for his parts.

Then came the fascist part again. Not my favorite, generally, but "Run Like Hell" rocked. Funny I saw this on Monday, with the Nazi-esque group, and then saw Cabaret on Tuesday.

Then came "The Trial". Waters sang all the parts, but I think the music was all the original recording. Then the bricks came crashing down. Tear down the wall!

The band came out to the front to play "Outside the Wall", with an assortment of folk instruments. Accordion, banjo, etc. Waters had a trumpet. In the movie, this moment was rather bleak. Here, at the end of the amazing show, it was rather more jubilant.

The band was Robbie Wyckoff (vocals) longtime Floyd and Waters sideman Snowy White (guitar), GE Smith of SNL fame (guitar and bass), Dave Kilminster (guitar) Jon Carin (guitar and keyboards), Graham Broad (drums), Harry Waters (Hammond organ) and Jon Joyce, Mark Lennon, Kipp Lennon and Pat Lennon (backing vocals).

Here's video footage of about four songs near the beginning, including Brick 2.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ressurection9#p/u/7/9TlpWGKfeas
It's 14 minutes long, but if you don't want to watch it all, skim. And make sure to check it out starting about 9:20, for the bricks and the kids and the puppet. And 12:43 is where that ghost walks across from left to right. And then check out that user's channel for about half the rest of the show, if you're interested.

This was among the best concerts I've ever seen.

My friend Doug won tickets to see Beck at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago on thursday, and he invited me along. I should have driven, since he supplied the tickets, but I was shot from work, and would not have been able to pay attention to the road, and hold up a conversation at the same time.

As we were crawling along Lawrence, Doug saw a pizza place, so we stopped. Interesting place. It still had it's original 1970 decor - wood paneling, and a lot of red vinyl. And lots of mirrors. I particularly liked the stamped copper table tops, which was also on the walls between the wood paneling. It looks like it had originally been an Italian restaurant, but there were Asian figures painted on the mirrors covering the back wall. The Brewers game was on over the bar, and a jazz trio played. Kinda surreal.

We made it down to the Aragon, where there were still a few parking places left. Still $20. I think that's what I paid to park there ten years ago (Patti Smith at the Riviera). We walked across the street to get in line. The line came out of the theater, cross an alley, under the el, and around the corner and up another alley to where some homeless guys were hanging out with their shopping carts behind an old warehouse. The line was moving pretty quickly, so I think it only took about ten minutes to get inside.

We got there in time to hear MGMT's last three songs. They sounded familiar. I think they have a song in rotation on our local "new rock" station. Not bad.

Like many of the old ballrooms, it has a stage at the end of a big open floor, a balcony all around, and a big domed ceiling. The ceiling is painted up as the night sky, complete with glowing, twinkling stars. This place is more ornate than most. It seems to be Spanish with a good bit of Moorish. I did not realize until now, that Aragon is an "autonomous community" (region) in Spain. There are four "buildings" on the sides of the room, with doors, windows and balconies. Check out the picture below.

So... Beck. I like his music. It's fun stuff. And the show had this fun stuff. But the overall experience seemed a bit lacking. Part of this was undoubtedly due to the poor sound. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good. And we were standing near the sound board. I think it has to do with that domed ceiling. Maybe Beck's lo-fi sound doesn't translate well on stage? Or maybe he didn't connect well with the audience? He pretty much just played the music. I don't know. I'd think it was just me, but I've heard the same from others. I've also heard from others that the show was incredibly awesome, so... whatever.

His band was a five-piece, including himself on guitar and vocals. The other guitarist was a rockin' chick in a tight skirt. I liked her attitude. Jessica Dobson. Also Bram Inscore on bass, Scott McPherson on drums and Brian LeBarton on keyboards. He seemed to be the most outgoing one on stage. All but the drummer sang backup vocals. They did a couple of numbers standing at the front of the stage with small electronic devices that were essentially 8-bit synthesizers. Very old-school Nintendo. (video of this can be found on YouTube)

The stage featured oversize versions of old-time spotlights. Big glass lenses on the front, and those shades on the sides of the lenses. The curtain at the back turned out to be an LED screen. True to Beck's lo-fi sound, the "screen" was lo-fi as well. The LEDs were spread out, and never really showed more than two colors at a time. Most of the show had only block graphics. A few times it showed film people, and they were very vague looking. We'll call it reminiscent of ASCII art.

I'm a fan of Odelay and Guero, though not so much that I can remember which album the songs are from. I am somewhat familiar with Sea Change. I would say that I like most of his work. There was little that didn't appeal to me. The songs rocked, and were danceable. The crowd was not annoying. I was disappointed that he didn't play "New Pollution", but that didn't contribute to the overall impression of the show. I don't know why I didn't have a great time. Maybe it was because I was so tired. Or distracted by having my camera along. I've been feeling this way more often in recent years, though. I guess I'm just getting old.

Here are a coupla my pics:




Here's a video from earlier this year.

Here's a review including a pic of Beck. He's pretty much unrecognizable under the fedora and long hair.

Here's a set list.

Loser
Nausea
Girl
Timebomb
Minus
Mixed Bizness
Nicotine and Gravy
Que Onda Guero
Hell Yes
Black Tambourine
Devil’s Haircut
Soul of a Man
Orphans
Think I’m In Love
Walls
Missing
Chemtrails
The Golden Age
Lost Cause
Where It’s At

Encore:
Gamma Ray
Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat
Novacane
Profanity Prayers
E-Pro

If he played "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat", I didn't recognize it. I see it on YouTube, and the music is unrecognizable as such, so was I unable to make out the words? Weird.