Kevin's Watch

Saw the Pixies two weeks ago in Houston.
amazing show. even the opening band (Best Coast) rocked it hard.

Kim Deal has left the Pixies. but I saw her twice in the Breeders.
33 or so songs and most of my favorites. amazing show.

I'm going to see Yes Saturday. There's no way it'll be as good as Steve Hackett was, but they are doing Close To The Edge and Relayer in their entirety, so it should be great.

dANdeLION wrote:I'm going to see Yes Saturday. There's no way it'll be as good as Steve Hackett was, but they are doing Close To The Edge and Relayer in their entirety, so it should be great.

I think they're doing Close to the Edge and Fragile, rather than Relayer, dAN.

LMK what you think of Davison after seeing him live. SD and I are seeing Yes on August 21st, and I'm really hoping Davison is better live than David was.

Went to see Josh Kaufman (well, the Voice Tour, but he's in it) in San Jose last night. Pretty good show actually. Small, intimate theater, good music, the band was great, and the singers gave it their all. Josh even hit the high notes a la Steve Perry in their Journey songs. Great time. In retrospect I should have bought the VIP package and gone in and talked to him prior.

Menolly wrote:

dANdeLION wrote:I'm going to see Yes Saturday. There's no way it'll be as good as Steve Hackett was, but they are doing Close To The Edge and Relayer in their entirety, so it should be great.

I think they're doing Close to the Edge and Fragile, rather than Relayer, dAN.

LMK what you think of Davison after seeing him live. SD and I are seeing Yes on August 21st, and I'm really hoping Davison is better live than David was.

Well, there's only one Jon Anderson. unless you count the country music one, which would make it two. I don't count him, though. Davison was fine, though I know he didn't sing everything exactly like Anderson would have. I really went because of the albums they were doing, and to see Chris Squire and Steve Howe. They played 2 songs off the new cd, which I didn't really care about, and the encore were Long Distance Runaround and Starship Trooper, which I definitely wanted to hear. The opening act (Syd Arthur) was mixed badly (on purpose, no doubt), and sorely needed a guitarist who could solo, IMO. His style vaguely reminded me of Radiohead, but IMO it didn't work in that context. The violin/mandolin player appeared to be a good soloist, though it was hard to tell because of the bad mix.

dANdeLION wrote:I'm going to see Yes Saturday. There's no way it'll be as good as Steve Hackett was, but they are doing Close To The Edge and Relayer in their entirety, so it should be great.

Although I've seen them twice,
(In the Round And when Alan Parsons opened)
I'm still jealous!

My first Yes concert was the In the Round one for Tormato. Still my favorite of all the ones I've seen since then, with the Union tour a close second.

Went to see Stoneburner last night. They're industrial dance music, and a side project of one of my favorite bands. Pretty awesome show. Though I got pulled onto the stage by one of the dancers, and I can't dance. At all. I should probably hope that no one was videotaping, but I really don't care. It was fun, and I don't have a whole lot of fun in my life these days. Spent half the night dancing (or 'dancing') next to the lady who wrote the song that my signature comes from, so that was pretty awesome.

Have you heard this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v5OI0TwgzI

Have you heard this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v5OI0TwgzI

A few stand out.

Probably the best gig I've been to was Queen on their final world tour at Wembley Stadium in 86 (one of the two gigs that their 'Live at Wembley' album was culled from). I went with low expectations as rumors abounded that they were only doing this tour to take the money and were going to split, and there had been a lot in the news about how Freddie Mercury had been advised to cancel the tour or risk permanent damage to his voice. It was incredible though, and it was so hard to not get drawn in to his personality and let him manipulate you. I don't think I have ever been to another gig where the singer had so much influence over every person in the stadium (over 80,000 people).

Another that stands out was seeing the Subhumans in about 83 at a small venue. They were such a great live band.

Other great gigs were The Jam, King Kurt, Teardrop Explodes, Chemical Brothers, some amazing drum and bass nights in the basement of a club I would go to from time to time, and a ton of bands/events at festivals in different countries.

hoping to see Fleetwood mac come December

sgt.null wrote:hoping to see Fleetwood mac come December

Are you telling us sweet little lies?

Lots of memorable shows....

Def Leppard/Krokus/Gary Moore in '83

Pink Floyd twice in '87/'88, twice in '94

The Firm in '86

Andy Summers (Police) in a tiny club in '92 (I think)

Great White in a tiny club in '98 or '99

Man, I haven't seen a concert since Rush's Clockwork Angels. I wish something good was coming near.

My most memorable show was probably Michael Hedges. I saw him in a tiny theater and he blew us away. It was a magical Elven feast of sound. I was so bummed to hear that he'd died. Anyone else ever get a chance to see him play?

This is his last recorded show. I've watched it many times. Check him out at 1:23:23. [Computer speakers just won't do, his playing has so much subtlety ... if you can, watch this on your TV through your main system.]

My next most memorable was Pink Floyd. I saw them twice in '94, too. The wrap-around sound in a stadium was like a UFO had landed to play us a show, bringing angels with them to sing background.

After that I think Rush's return in 2002 (Vapor Trails) after Neil's tragedy was my most joyous show ever. My wife and I saw them on the lawn at Starwood Ampitheater in Nashville. A brief, light storm blew up and we danced in the rain on the grass while my favorite band played their hearts out. It was good to have them back after a time when I thought they were done.

Hedges studied and taught at the Peabody in Baltimore, and came back often. A lot of the other guitarists I knew worshiped him. He was good, but I find that sort of music tedious and he didn't do much for me. I had no idea that he'd passed.

Smaller venues are where I've seen some great stuff.

Dr Feelgood around 92 or something like that when John Mayo returned to the band briefly.

John Martyn at a small outdoor tent during a beer festival, then later in the day when he drunkenly gatecrashed another band's show. He staggered on stage with a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand, picked up a bouzouki from a stand, slung it over his shoulder then realized it wasn't a guitar so put it back and started singing backing vocals for the band.

Subhumans at a tiny venue (as I said above).

Tenpole Tudor in a small club where I was DJing that night. Eddie Tudor-Pole is insane! He smashed chairs, set fire to things, climbed or jumped on everything and everybody, and didn't stop moving for an instant. It might have had something to do with that huge pile of cocaine that I saw him putting up his nose in the dressing room...

While it's not everyone's thing, I also went to some great rave/techno/trance nights at various venues and dropped ecstasy. The smaller places were the best - often they would let you out and back in so that you could 'chill out' (i.e. go and roll a few spliffs...)

Then there's all the great totally unknown bands that didn't make it...(including some that I was in)

Vader wrote:

sgt.null wrote:hoping to see Fleetwood mac come December

Are you telling us sweet little lies?

... I might not give you the answer you want me to.

New Model Army at the Gagarin in Athens.
Joe Satriani in Lisbon, 2008 I think. Not the latest.
Suicidal Tendencies Lisbon 1992.
Alter Bridge, Lisbon 2013.
Mari Boine, Hamburg 2009.
Einsturzende Neubauten, Oslo 2008.
Kimmo Pohjonen, Helsinki, 200?3/4/5
Rammstein, Les Arenes de Nîmes

Julie wants to see Dennis Deyoung in January.