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October 22, 2007
An awesome Experience
It’s almost a shame that Saturday night’s Experience Hendrix concert was held at the Palace Theatre in Waterbury. Not because there’s anything wrong with the venue — it’s beautiful and a great place to see a show — it’s just that more people should have been able to witness this event.
The amount of talent that graced the stage during the event should have been enough to sell the Palace out many times over, but for those of us on the inside, the intimate theater was ideal.
The funny thing is, that while the show was terrific, no one performer stood out over the others. Some of the artists, I couldn’t help but wonder why they would go out on the road with a tour like this when they’re only on stage for a fraction of the concert.
Former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, The Doors’ Robby Krieger and blues legend Hubert Sumlin, who played with Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, were just three of those involved that didn’t seem to have much time in the spotlight.
I guess the lure of performing the music of Jimi Hendrix was enough.
The night started off with the less-famous names on the bill. First was a fiery performance by Eric Gales, followed by an equally rousing two songs from Mato Nanji, the singer-guitarist for the Native American rock band Indigenous.
Doyle Bramhall II, who has accompanied Roger Waters and Eric Clapton on tours in addition to his own recordings, was up next, joined by Living Colour singer Corey Glover. Bramhall did a transcendent version of Hendrix’s “Angel,” but his time on stage seemingly was cut short by a technical problem near the end of his rendition of “Rock Me Baby.”
Supplying the connection to the music of Hendrix was two of his bandmates — drummer Mitch Mitchell from The Jimi Hendrix Experience and bassist Billy Cox of Band of Gypsys. Cox even showed himself to be a heck of a singer, especially during the blues song “Red House.”
One of the night’s biggest ovations was when young guitar-slinger Kenny Wayne Shepherd appeared with the singer from his band, Noah Hunt. Shepherd blistered his way through three songs, cementing his reputation as a logical successor to Stevie Ray Vaughn, himself a disciple of Hendrix.
I write that Shepherd got “one of the night’s biggest ovations” because the next artist received, without a doubt, the warmest welcome. It was the great Buddy Guy.
Guy had the most time on stage and, strangely, didn’t play a Hendrix tune. This struck me as very odd because I seem to remember him doing one of Jimi’s tunes at this summer’s Gathering of the Vibes.
Sumlin joined Guy during his set, giving the Waterbury audience the opportunity to see two of the greatest remaining links to the old-time blues era.
(Here’s a personal note to the man in the crowd who screamed “play a [bleep]ing Hendrix song” at Buddy Guy: Please don’t go to any more concerts. You’ll probably just embarrass yourself some more. If you can’t sit quietly while two men who paved the way for Hendrix perform, then you should be kept separated from the rest of the music-loving public.)
With all of the talent on hand, it was left to young pedal-steel guitarist Robert Randolph to wrap up the three-hour show. He was joined by Krieger for “Purple Haze,” before Shepherd and Hunt returned for “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).”
Posted by Sean on 9:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 6, 2007
Van Halen concert review
There’s been a rash of reunion tours in the past two months that have played Connecticut – The Police, Crowded House, Genesis – but none of those comebacks was as unlikely as the one between Van Halen and its original lead singer, David Lee Roth.
Bad blood over Roth’s departure from the band in1985 has led to more than two decades worth of verbal sniping in the press, so when this tour was announced, even the least skeptical VH fans had to raise their eyebrows. Even though there was tons of money to be made, could Roth and his longtime nemesis, guitar god Eddie Van Halen, play nice together and keep things on track.
The two made like best friends at the press conference this summer announcing the reunion tour, smiling and mugging for the cameras, but you had to have doubts they could pull it off. Even as recently as three weeks ago, a source at the Mohegan Sun told me that the rumor was that the project wouldn’t last long enough to make it to the casino’s arena.
But, Friday night, there they were: Roth front and center, surrounded by Eddie to his left, drummer Alex Van Halen directly behind him, and, bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie’s son, to his right. (That figures: Van Halen finally gets Roth back for the first time in two decades and bassist Michael Anthony gets replaced.)
Admittedly, I rolled my eyes when I first heard of the planned reunion. Past attempts at reconciliation have all ended badly, so I just chalked it up as a money grab by a couple of aging rock stars searching for relevancy. If it came around the area on a day that was convenient, I’d check it out, but I certainly wouldn’t have gone out of my way to see the show.
Well, I’m certainly glad it came around because it was a tremendous concert. There was a certain joy in hearing nothing but the songs from the six albums Roth made with the group from 1978 through 1984. Not that the records and tours with Roth’s replacement, Sammy Hagar, weren’t fun, but to many people the original lineup was the only Van Halen that really mattered.
Even though Van Halen kept some of the Roth-era hits in the set lists with Hagar, it just wasn’t the same.
Friday night’s concert started, fittingly enough, with a cover of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me,” the first single from Van Halen’s debut album, and from then on, it was one classic-rock gem after another.
Roth, who turns 54 Wednesday, has always been one of rock music’s preeminent showmen, but he’s wise enough at his age not to try to act like he did when he was 25. He limited his mugging, preferring to play the rock star instead of the jester. He may not be as strong vocally as he was when he was first leading VH, but who other than the most optimistic fan could have expected him to be?
The common thread through Van Halen’s three decades of success has been Eddie’s innovative guitar playing. He set the bar high from the start and his imitators still haven’t caught up. He alone makes Van Halen a sight to behold.
As for 16-year-old Wolfgang, he did well, joining with uncle Alex to form a tight rhythm section. I would have liked to have seen Anthony with the band – his soaring backing vocals were missed – but if this is as close to seeing the original band as I’ll ever get, I’ll take it. On the plus side, no Anthony meant no bass solo.
There was, alas, a lengthy drum solo after the group’s take on Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman,” but that provided a chance to run up and grab a Diet Coke.
Eddie’s guitar solo, coming after a rousing rendition of “Panama,” is a different story. It is not to be missed. Reviews of previous shows on this tour remarked that his time alone on stage goes on too long. I disagree. His solos aren’t just him noodling around with his guitar, but rather well-structured pieces that incorporate many bits of the instrumentals that have appeared on VH albums. It wasn’t essential to the show, but it kept me in my seat.
If you were on the fence about dropping scalper prices for tickets to one of the five upcoming VH appearances in the region, know that if you can afford it, it’s definitely worth checking out. These shows are in Boston (Oct. 30), East Rutherford, N.J. (Nov. 3), Worcester, Mass. (Nov. 6), Uniondale, N.Y. (Nov. 8) and at New York’s Madison Square Garden (Nov. 13).
According to the Van Halen Web site, www.van-halen.com, all of these are listed as sell-outs, except the Worcester show. Check with Ticketmaster for availability, as quite often there are extra tickets released to the public closer to the date of the show.
The set list
You Really Got Me/I’m the One/Runnin’ with the Devil/Romeo Delight/Somebody Get Me a Doctor/Beautiful Girls/Dance the Night Away/Atomic Punk/Everybody Wants Some/So This Is Love?/Mean Street/Pretty Woman/Unchained/I’ll Wait/And the Cradle Will Rock/Hot for Teacher/Little Dreamer/Little Guitars/Jamie’s Cryin’/Ice Cream Man/Panama/Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love
Encore: Jump
Posted by Sean on 6:45 PM | Comments (1)
October 3, 2007
Springsteen in Hartford
“And so it begins.”
Those were the words of Bruce Springsteen Tuesday night as he embarked on a 26-city tour of North America and Europe with one of his usual high-energy concerts at the Hartford Civic Center.
The expectations were high as Springsteen had re-assembled his E Street Band for the first time in four years and created a record, “Magic,” that was generating significant buzz even before its official release, also Tuesday. That most of the 16,000 or so packed into the sold-out Civic Center probably hadn’t heard much of the new record – me included – didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm for the new material.
In fact, the Springsteen faithful earned points for staying put during the unfamiliar songs, whereas fans of a lot of artists may have found that an ideal time to hit the restrooms or concession stands. But for The Boss, respect was given and attention was paid to his “Magic” moments.
It helps that Springsteen is a marvel on stage and brought the same gusto to the new tunes as he did to his classics. Maybe more, as its obvious that he feels strongly about his new project, including eight of the 12 tracks from “Magic” in his set.
I must admit to being a little ticked off at the start of the show, which started an hour late. I almost wanted to check the ticket to see if I mistakenly attended a Guns N’ Roses concert.
But soon, I was as caught up as anybody in the arena, as Springsteen came out of the blocks with his new single (which begins sounding suspiciously similar to Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309/Jenny”) before raising the crowd noise exponentially with “The Ties That Bind.”
A wily veteran, Springsteen knew better than to throw too much “Magic” at his fans, opting instead to sandwich new songs between his hits. Only twice in the 135-minute show did he play new tunes back-to-back – near the beginning when he followed “Gypsy Biker” with the new disc’s title track and near the end of his set when he played “Last to Die” and “Long Walk Home.”
On both occasions, he followed with incredible performances. After the first double-dip, his version of “Reason to Believe” was so electrifying, it almost made me forgive his butchering of the song on his solo tour of 2005. Coming after the second two-fer was a transcendent version of “Badlands” that closed his set.
After a very brief time off-stage, Springsteen led his bandmates back for an encore that began with the new “Girls in their Summer Clothes,” followed by “Thundercrack,” a very early Springsteen song that had been unreleased until finally seeing the light on his 1998 collection of rarities, “Tracks.”
Finally, Springsteen played “Born to Run,” probably his signature tune, before ending the night with “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” from 2002’s “The Rising” and “American Land,” a song from one of the versions of his “Seeger Sessions” traditional folk album.
Aside from closing with a folk song, two things sort of surprised me about Tuesday night’s concert. The first was that Springsteen gave his wife, backup singer Patti Scialfa, a turn in the spotlight, singing a duet with her on the song “Town Called Heartbreak” from her recent solo album, “Play it as it Lies.”
The second was how overtly political Springsteen seems to be these days. He brought up a few of the issues he has with the current administration – similar monologues also are included in his introduction in the tour program – and his feelings also find their way into a few of the new songs.
Springsteen campaigned for Democrat John Kerry in the last presidential election, taking part in the music tour called Vote for Change. I guess the only change that occurred is that Springsteen no longer feels he has to bite his tongue when it comes to politics.
Good for him, but not so good for people who believe in the separation of powers, in this case politics and entertainment.
The set list
Radio Nowhere/The Ties That Bind/Lonesome Day/Gypsy Biker/Magic/Reason to Believe/Night/She’s the One/Livin’ in the Future/The Promised Land/Town Called Heartbreak/Darkness on the Edge of Town/Darlington County/Devil’s Arcade/The Rising/Last to Die/Long Walk Home/Badlands
Encores: Girls in their Summer Clothes/Thundercrack/Born to Run/Waitin’ on a Sunny Day/American Land
Posted by Sean on 3:03 PM | Comments (1)
