Monday was my jet-setting day. I had breakfast in New York City, lunch in Philadelphia, and dinner back in St. Louis. I had really planned to spend more time in Philly during my trip for RoSFest, but another show meant another side trip away from the city. Still, I'd have a few hours to spend.
New York is called The City That Never Sleeps, but I don't think I slept at all on Sunday night. I usually don't sleep well when I'm not with Roy. It was either that or being too excited from the night's events or the uncomfortable bed. Morning rolled around, and I got ready for the day. I got a recommendation for a breakfast place from the hotel, and ate there. Another nice day. I walked over to Penn Station and still had some time to kill before the train arrived. I was halfway tempted to walk to Times Square; it's such a touristy thing to do. I could imagine my coworkers in the midwest asking if I saw Times Square when I'd tell them about my trip. There wasn't quite enough time, so I just walked down to the train station and people-watched there.
The train ride was pretty easy. The car had plenty of empty room, so noone sat next to me. I had forgotten that it had a view of the Philadelphia Zoo and boat house row. I met Roy at 30th Street Station.
The train station is near my old college, so we walked to Penn's campus and had lunch at my favorite pizza place, Allegro's on Spruce Street. It was such a weird feeling that I only had a couple hours to spend in the city. It was like I was reliving the past, because I did not have time to do anything new, just walk around. It was warmer out that day, and I was wiped out from walking and standing so much the day before and not sleeping. We ended up sitting down on campus and talking for a while.
We had a little trouble finding the garage where Roy parked the car. The lot is part of the new glass skyscraper north of the train station - it didn't exist when I lived around there. Then, I insisted we drive down to my old neighborhood to see my old apartment. I figured we had to go somewhere to get gas for the rental car, and I knew where the gas station was there. Roy bought me a Tastycake there. We were running a bit late. After we dropped the rental car off, we left something in it, so retrieving it made us even later. Luckily, there was no wait at the security, so we made the flight with no problem.
It was nice to be home in my own bed that night. It took me a few days to feel back to normal and to start writing up my thoughts for the blog. It's nice to be done with this review too.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Steve Winwood's Nine Lives Celebration Concert
Steve Winwood
The Blender Theatre @ The Gramercy
New York, NY
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
General Admission Standing
$50
First, let's get the Spinal Tap moment out of the way. During one of the new songs, Winwood was sitting at his organ, and he gestured towards a roadie. The roadie crouched in front of Steve's amplifier with what looked like a wireless white keyboard. Steve gestured again. The roadie moved behind Winwood and tried desperately to fix ... something. Equipment trouble? Everything sounded fine.
The cause of the problem became clear. The roadie went backstage and then came back, walked right on stage, and right to the big Teleprompter. This time, he had a wireless keyboard and mouse. He used the stage itself as a mousepad. The crisis was averted. I can only guess that the correct lyrics now were showing on the Teleprompter.
This was just a delightful day. Roy and I were at RoSFest, the Rites of Spring festival held in a small town near Philadelphia. He was continuing on to see the final day of the fest, but I was skipping out to see one of my favorites, Steve Winwood, in New York City. I felt so lucky. Winwood is coming to St. Louis this summer, but as an opening act with a shortened set. I bought tickets, but discovered I won't be in town the day of the concert. Winwood announced a couple shows on his own, and the one in New York coincided with my trip to the East Coast. Better yet, this show was general admission, so I only had to show up early and wait in line to get a prime viewing spot.
Roy and I had breakfast at the main RoSFest hotel. I chatted a little with my friend Robert, before saying goodbye. We also bumped into Robin. Robin is a photographer for YesWorld and usually spends more time with the band than hanging out with friends. I've known her for a long time, and it was nice to catch up without her being in an official function or having the band around distracting us.
Roy drove me up to the train station in Trenton. There are a million options to get to New York City and back. I decided I didn't want to travel late at night after the show. My plan was to take a New Jersey Transit train up to Penn Station in Manhattan. It runs every half hour and is fairly cheap, even if it takes longer than Amtrak. I was staying overnight, and I had an Amtrak reservation to get me to Philly quickly the next morning. The plan worked perfectly. I didn't have to wait long for the train, and I got into New York just before noon.
I dropped my bag off at the hotel (more on that later) and walked to the club. It was an absolutely beautiful day, perfect for walking around or standing outside all day waiting in line. My hotel was in the Chelsea neighborhood and the Blender was a mile north of there, near Gramercy Park. No one was there yet. I had lunch and wandered around for a bit. I haven't spent much time in this part of the city, but there were some beautiful spots. On a day like this, I could imagine living there so easily.
The hotel was odd. I found it on the Trip Advisor site. It was like a bed and breakfast without the breakfast part. Small rooms with shared bathrooms in the hall. The room did have a sink and shower, so there was some privacy. It was cheap enough that I didn't feel guilty staying in the city overnight and it was clean and safe. I freshened up and walked back to the club.
Someone was else was in line, Mike. He was hoping to get some things signed by Steve. We chatted for a bit, and it turned up he grew up near me in Northeast Philly. The next guy was very talkative. His name was Jeff, he was from Long Island and was a know-it-all who gave me a lot of wrong trivia about Yes. Friendly though. Some of the band arrived, walking in from the east. Jeff noticed Steve Winwood coming from there and the three of us in line walked over to talk to him.
I didn't bring anything to get signed, but they both did. Steve was quiet, but friendly, signing all their albums and CD sleeves. I noticed he was wearing glasses, but took them off for the fan pictures. I didn't get to talk to him, but I took the pictures for Mike and Jeff. It was interesting just observing this, but it all went very quick. Mike decided to leave to drop the albums back in his car and tour the city a little. That made me first in line. Steve arrived around 4:30, and we had until 8 for the doors to open.
We got a small glimpse of the soundcheck. The doors were open and the inner doors were open. When we peeked in, we could see right in to the stage. I've been further away from this at actual concerts. Steve was playing something on the organ. We only got to watch for a few minutes before the staff closed the doors on us. Later on, we got to see a bit of Back in the High Life. We didn't see Steve come out for dinner, but several of the band members walked in and out. I spotted the guitarist Jose Neto using a payphone on the corner. I pointed him out to Jeff, who I don't think believed me at first. As Jose walked back into the club, we told him to have a good show. He wished us the same and told me he liked my Yes tshirt.
A guy who worked at the club recommended a place for dinner. It was a bbq and Southern seafood place called Live Bait. I had only planned on getting another slice of pizza, but I went to this place and had another weird experience. This woman at the restaurant bar decided she was going to Be My Friend. She was reading Ayn Rand's the Fountainhead and was full of anti-corporate buzzwords. She offered the seat next to me, got the waitress for me so I could order, told me about how she was married but didn't wear a ring because she didn't buy into the symbolism. I don't think I could just start making conversation with someone random like that without an ice breaker, but it was interesting. It turned out that I had a math degree, and she had worked as an actuary, a field a lot of math majors go into.
I got my food to go, freshened up a bit, and got back in line to eat dinner. I ordered bbq chicken, which wasn't the smartest thing. I was standing up, holding the platter with one hand and breaking off bits of food with a plastic knife with the other. Still, it was nice to eat something real rather than another burger or slice of pizza. Well, the marshmellows on the sweet potatoes weren't all that real. Jeff saved my place in line for me. Ironically, Mike came back and was now the third guy in line. The idea of actually being in the front row and getting to lean on the stage is such a draw.
The doors opened a little earlier than 8. There was a guy in a wheelchair and one person with him who were allowed in first and took the center spot. My ideal spot for Winwood is front row, a little to the audience right of the center microphone stand, so I went there. I think this offers the best viewing angle to Steve when he's sitting at his organ, which is on stage right. The rest of the band forms a semi-circle around the stage. When Steve plays guitar, he stands front and center. The fascinating thing for me is that the band doesn't have a bass player; Steve plays the basslines using the bass pedals on the organ with his foot. At times, he's singing, playing the keyboard, and tapping his foot all over the place playing bass lines simultaneously! Maybe I can forgive him for needing help with the lyrics. Anyway, the Teleprompter was sitting on stage at audience left, and had I been standing on that side, it would have blocked my full view of the stage. So my preferred spot worked well for me. Unfortunately, my new acquaintances stood on the other side of the guy in the wheelchair, so I couldn't talk to them anymore. The stage was so small, that while I was two people over from dead-center, I was directly in front of the drums. I used an earplug in my right ear, and it wasn't nearly as loud as I thought it would be.
There was a setlist hanging up on the drum stand. With the light shining on it, we could read it from behind, like mirror writing. The people around me seemed interested too, so we deciphered it before the show. A lot of songs from the new album, but only one Traffic song. I'm glad I knew this in advance. This is one of two stand alone concerts Steve is doing before going on tour with Tom Petty. The next one is in Boston and is billed as "a
special concert of his career-spanning hits" after he gets an honorary doctorate from Berklee. I assumed this one would be a warm up concert, but it was something different entirely.
The concert started few minutes after nine. It opened with a new song from Nine Lives. Next was I'm a Man and another new one. There was a very cute moment during Can't Find My Way Home. Steve starts out playing organ, and then the flute/woodwind/other organ player Paul Booth takes over and Steve comes to center stage to play guitar. They handle the organ transition just so, with Paul standing behind Steve and reaching over to hit the same keys while they exchange places with (exagerrated?) care. This is live music with a smooth transition. This is a big audience singalong piece. Steve sings the word "Can't" with an American sounding accent rather than the "kahnt" of the original recording. I always liked how English he sounded on words like can't and years on the studio recording.
Steve addressed the audience after this. He usually talks to us only twice during a show - once as an introduction and again near the end of the show to introduce the band. He did something very smart here. I don't know how this show was billed, but he told us the show's purpose was to play the material from his new album Nine Lives, a celebration of its release. Not all the older favorites could be performed because of this, but he hoped there was a good mix for everyone. I kept comparing this to the Circa concert the night before, where they played all of their new album, but didn't introduce it or communicate this with the audience.
The full setlist was:
Secrets (new song)
I'm a Man
Hungry Man (new song)
Can't Find My Way Home
Had To Cry Today
We're All Looking (new song)
Fly (new song)
At Times We Do Forget (new song)
Raging Sea (new song)
Light Up Or Leave Me Alone
Crossroads
Back In The High Life Again
Dirty City (new song)
Other Shore (new song)
Why Can't We Live Together
Gimme Some Lovin
After Can't Find My Way Home was the other Blind Faith song of the night, Had to Cry Today. I saw this at the Crossroads festival last year with Steve and Eric Clapton on guitar, but never at one of Steve's shows. He did the guitar hero thing on it, duetting with Jose Neto. It was really cool to be able to see this so close and upfront. One of the downsides of the wonderful view from the front row is compromising a bit on the sound. The speakers are above us and pushing the sound back. I was hearing everything from the monitors and hearing the drums and percussion without amplification. The sound was much better than at the Circa show the previous night. If anything, it was too low. I didn't need to wear earplugs in each ear, just the right to protect me from the drums. The mix was very clear and I could hear every instrument distinctly, with no distortions. Having everything a little louder to compete with the drums would have been just perfect.
I really had to remind myself that this was the first time these songs were being performed live. The band was tight, and this felt more like a gig several weeks into a tour with everyone comfortable with the material and the flow of the concert. The band members were making a lot of eye contact and smiling a lot too. Later on, Jose would tell us how excited they all were to have this chance to play so much new material.
Light Up was the sole Traffic song. I had seen Steve do this live a couple years ago, but this version was longer. A drum/percussion/organ section was added to it. This was originally a song sung and written by Jim Capaldi, an odd choice for his only song from that era. I was dancing and bopping around the most to this song the most. It kind of took the place of Low Spark of High Heeled Boys as the long showcase song in the setlist. I was getting hit by the stage lights and it was getting warm in there. Was it after this song that I saw the drummer down a whole bottle of water in one gulp?
The one song I could have done without was Crossroads. I realize it's a hugely influential song, but I'm not much of a blues fan, and something else could have fit in that time. But it was good to play a song that everyone knows, with so much unfamiliar material in the show. Back in the High Life Again was similar to the other times I've seen it, with Steve playing a mandolin. He started out playing a quiet instrumental bit with the mandolin, guitar, and a triangle. Then it led into the song. Big applause on this one. They played Dirty City, the new single, as the last song of the main set, and it was the only one of the new songs with Steve playing guitar on it. It kind of took the place of Dear Mr. Fantasy as a big guitar hero type song and similar placement in the set.
Like I mentioned above, I could see the setlist before the concert. I knew what was in the main set versus what the encores would be. There was a lot of applause after Dirty City. However, the band didn't leave the stage. It never triggered to the audience that we reached the end of the main set and the next songs were part of the encore. When the band finally left the stage after Gimme Some Lovin', the audience was expecting an encore. The applause and cheers went on for quite a while, even after the lights came up and the roadies started to take apart the equipment. I hoped it didn't get ugly with disappointed fans thinking they didn't get an encore. I also hoped that all this applause might lead to a true unplanned encore. The Hammond organ was still set up and Winwood could do something solo. It didn't happen though.
I bought a tshirt after the show and went outside. I hadn't brought anything to get signed, but I had my ticket stub with me. I planned to wait outside and see if I could have Steve sign that as he left. I had a strange conversation with one woman after the show. She claimed she knew me. I didn't recognize her, but I'm bad with faces. She knew me from Path? I had no idea what she was talking about, but I said okay. She told me I should walk with her to the Path stop. Ah, it's a train to New Jersey. She got upset when I wouldn't go with her. Told me she had been backstage and someone told her Steve wasn't signing anything, so I should just leave with her now. I looked confused and told her I was from out of town and taking a cab. I called Roy and was able to reach him at the hotel. Roy doesn't have a cell phone and the hotel voicemail didn't work, so I was glad to be able to touch base and let him know how my day went.
I also bumped into some guys who had been standing behind me during the concert. They were going to wait out to meet Steve and told me where the stage door was. It was around the corner. I had seen the band enter through the front door, so we all stood on the corner looking at each entrance. We chatted for a bit and saw the flute player Paul Booth head out the front door. He told us Steve would be leaving that way as well.
I saw Jose Neto at the payphone again. This led to one of my favorite parts of the evening. As he walked towards us, one of the guys called out that Jose could have borrowed his cellphone. Jose stopped to say that he didn't have one yet, he was old-fashioned that way, but it was no problem using the payphone. He ended up chatting with us for a good 10 or 15 minutes. It was relaxed and casual and Jose was so sweet. He asked where we all came from. I had taken pains the rest of the day to tell people even though I was from St. Louis, I had only traveled from Philly for the show, but this time I proudly said I had come from St. Louis in Missouri. He told us about the upcoming tour with Tom Petty, some of the TV appearances taking place later that week, how happy they all were with Nine Lives. He commented on my Yes tshirt again, and asked me if I'd seen them live. When I told him 59 times, he asked when I first saw them. He didn't seem too impressed that it was only in 1990. The chat was just so un-hurried and not rushed at all. It was really nice. Jose eventually excused himself to go back inside and get his guitar.
The other fans and I were all pretty buzzed after this conversation. The atmosphere changed shortly afterwards. I wonder if Jose told anyone there were some fans waiting outside? Anyway, Mrs. Winwood came out. She didn't introduce herself, but I recognized her from another show when she came on stage. She asked if any of us had Nine Lives. Two of us raised our hands. Strictly speaking, I didn't have it yet. I special ordered the LP version from my local record shop and it hadn't arrived yet. But I raised my hand anyway. Mrs. Winwood said that Steve would only be signing his new album. "Well, I don't have it with me", I said. She said if we don't have it, we'd all better leave now, as Steve wouldn't be signing anything. Or taking pictures. Or shaking hands. We might as well leave now. But I had seen Steve sign autographs that afternoon without any problem. She went back in, and we all decided to wait.
When the band left, they walked to a van waiting half a block away on the next corner. Mrs. Winwood walked out first and was already halfway there before Steve came out. He shook my hand, and I told him I enjoyed the show, and asked him to sign my ticket stub. Didn't seem to be a problem. We all started walking to the van. The other guys asked if they could take a picture with him. Steve asked if we had Nine Lives yet. "I bought the LP." "Oh, the vinyl?", he replied. He seemed a little put out that noone had the new album there to be signed, and he told the guys in a less friendly way that he'd let them take a picture as they were walking, but wouldn't stop for one. He still reached over for my ticket stub and signed it for me. The guys got a quick photo, and that was it. I felt like running over to the van and saying "na na na na na, I got my signature!" to Mrs. Winwood, but of course I didn't.
I heard later from Roy that the first two bands that day for RoSFest were very good, but Crack the Sky disappointed him. He had seen them about ten years ago and just loved it. He had dinner with a bunch of our friends and skipping the last band Wishbone Ash. We had seen them a few years ago at ProgDay, and he was in the mood for a quiet evening. I am so glad I went up to New York for the Winwood show. Without all the Traffic material, it didn't have the highs of the previous times I've seen him, but it was a very good performance and a lot of fun. It was a rare experience too to get to see so many songs of the new album performed live.
The Blender Theatre @ The Gramercy
New York, NY
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
General Admission Standing
$50
First, let's get the Spinal Tap moment out of the way. During one of the new songs, Winwood was sitting at his organ, and he gestured towards a roadie. The roadie crouched in front of Steve's amplifier with what looked like a wireless white keyboard. Steve gestured again. The roadie moved behind Winwood and tried desperately to fix ... something. Equipment trouble? Everything sounded fine.
The cause of the problem became clear. The roadie went backstage and then came back, walked right on stage, and right to the big Teleprompter. This time, he had a wireless keyboard and mouse. He used the stage itself as a mousepad. The crisis was averted. I can only guess that the correct lyrics now were showing on the Teleprompter.
This was just a delightful day. Roy and I were at RoSFest, the Rites of Spring festival held in a small town near Philadelphia. He was continuing on to see the final day of the fest, but I was skipping out to see one of my favorites, Steve Winwood, in New York City. I felt so lucky. Winwood is coming to St. Louis this summer, but as an opening act with a shortened set. I bought tickets, but discovered I won't be in town the day of the concert. Winwood announced a couple shows on his own, and the one in New York coincided with my trip to the East Coast. Better yet, this show was general admission, so I only had to show up early and wait in line to get a prime viewing spot.
Roy and I had breakfast at the main RoSFest hotel. I chatted a little with my friend Robert, before saying goodbye. We also bumped into Robin. Robin is a photographer for YesWorld and usually spends more time with the band than hanging out with friends. I've known her for a long time, and it was nice to catch up without her being in an official function or having the band around distracting us.
Roy drove me up to the train station in Trenton. There are a million options to get to New York City and back. I decided I didn't want to travel late at night after the show. My plan was to take a New Jersey Transit train up to Penn Station in Manhattan. It runs every half hour and is fairly cheap, even if it takes longer than Amtrak. I was staying overnight, and I had an Amtrak reservation to get me to Philly quickly the next morning. The plan worked perfectly. I didn't have to wait long for the train, and I got into New York just before noon.
I dropped my bag off at the hotel (more on that later) and walked to the club. It was an absolutely beautiful day, perfect for walking around or standing outside all day waiting in line. My hotel was in the Chelsea neighborhood and the Blender was a mile north of there, near Gramercy Park. No one was there yet. I had lunch and wandered around for a bit. I haven't spent much time in this part of the city, but there were some beautiful spots. On a day like this, I could imagine living there so easily.
The hotel was odd. I found it on the Trip Advisor site. It was like a bed and breakfast without the breakfast part. Small rooms with shared bathrooms in the hall. The room did have a sink and shower, so there was some privacy. It was cheap enough that I didn't feel guilty staying in the city overnight and it was clean and safe. I freshened up and walked back to the club.
Someone was else was in line, Mike. He was hoping to get some things signed by Steve. We chatted for a bit, and it turned up he grew up near me in Northeast Philly. The next guy was very talkative. His name was Jeff, he was from Long Island and was a know-it-all who gave me a lot of wrong trivia about Yes. Friendly though. Some of the band arrived, walking in from the east. Jeff noticed Steve Winwood coming from there and the three of us in line walked over to talk to him.
I didn't bring anything to get signed, but they both did. Steve was quiet, but friendly, signing all their albums and CD sleeves. I noticed he was wearing glasses, but took them off for the fan pictures. I didn't get to talk to him, but I took the pictures for Mike and Jeff. It was interesting just observing this, but it all went very quick. Mike decided to leave to drop the albums back in his car and tour the city a little. That made me first in line. Steve arrived around 4:30, and we had until 8 for the doors to open.
We got a small glimpse of the soundcheck. The doors were open and the inner doors were open. When we peeked in, we could see right in to the stage. I've been further away from this at actual concerts. Steve was playing something on the organ. We only got to watch for a few minutes before the staff closed the doors on us. Later on, we got to see a bit of Back in the High Life. We didn't see Steve come out for dinner, but several of the band members walked in and out. I spotted the guitarist Jose Neto using a payphone on the corner. I pointed him out to Jeff, who I don't think believed me at first. As Jose walked back into the club, we told him to have a good show. He wished us the same and told me he liked my Yes tshirt.
A guy who worked at the club recommended a place for dinner. It was a bbq and Southern seafood place called Live Bait. I had only planned on getting another slice of pizza, but I went to this place and had another weird experience. This woman at the restaurant bar decided she was going to Be My Friend. She was reading Ayn Rand's the Fountainhead and was full of anti-corporate buzzwords. She offered the seat next to me, got the waitress for me so I could order, told me about how she was married but didn't wear a ring because she didn't buy into the symbolism. I don't think I could just start making conversation with someone random like that without an ice breaker, but it was interesting. It turned out that I had a math degree, and she had worked as an actuary, a field a lot of math majors go into.
I got my food to go, freshened up a bit, and got back in line to eat dinner. I ordered bbq chicken, which wasn't the smartest thing. I was standing up, holding the platter with one hand and breaking off bits of food with a plastic knife with the other. Still, it was nice to eat something real rather than another burger or slice of pizza. Well, the marshmellows on the sweet potatoes weren't all that real. Jeff saved my place in line for me. Ironically, Mike came back and was now the third guy in line. The idea of actually being in the front row and getting to lean on the stage is such a draw.
The doors opened a little earlier than 8. There was a guy in a wheelchair and one person with him who were allowed in first and took the center spot. My ideal spot for Winwood is front row, a little to the audience right of the center microphone stand, so I went there. I think this offers the best viewing angle to Steve when he's sitting at his organ, which is on stage right. The rest of the band forms a semi-circle around the stage. When Steve plays guitar, he stands front and center. The fascinating thing for me is that the band doesn't have a bass player; Steve plays the basslines using the bass pedals on the organ with his foot. At times, he's singing, playing the keyboard, and tapping his foot all over the place playing bass lines simultaneously! Maybe I can forgive him for needing help with the lyrics. Anyway, the Teleprompter was sitting on stage at audience left, and had I been standing on that side, it would have blocked my full view of the stage. So my preferred spot worked well for me. Unfortunately, my new acquaintances stood on the other side of the guy in the wheelchair, so I couldn't talk to them anymore. The stage was so small, that while I was two people over from dead-center, I was directly in front of the drums. I used an earplug in my right ear, and it wasn't nearly as loud as I thought it would be.
There was a setlist hanging up on the drum stand. With the light shining on it, we could read it from behind, like mirror writing. The people around me seemed interested too, so we deciphered it before the show. A lot of songs from the new album, but only one Traffic song. I'm glad I knew this in advance. This is one of two stand alone concerts Steve is doing before going on tour with Tom Petty. The next one is in Boston and is billed as "a
special concert of his career-spanning hits" after he gets an honorary doctorate from Berklee. I assumed this one would be a warm up concert, but it was something different entirely.
The concert started few minutes after nine. It opened with a new song from Nine Lives. Next was I'm a Man and another new one. There was a very cute moment during Can't Find My Way Home. Steve starts out playing organ, and then the flute/woodwind/other organ player Paul Booth takes over and Steve comes to center stage to play guitar. They handle the organ transition just so, with Paul standing behind Steve and reaching over to hit the same keys while they exchange places with (exagerrated?) care. This is live music with a smooth transition. This is a big audience singalong piece. Steve sings the word "Can't" with an American sounding accent rather than the "kahnt" of the original recording. I always liked how English he sounded on words like can't and years on the studio recording.
Steve addressed the audience after this. He usually talks to us only twice during a show - once as an introduction and again near the end of the show to introduce the band. He did something very smart here. I don't know how this show was billed, but he told us the show's purpose was to play the material from his new album Nine Lives, a celebration of its release. Not all the older favorites could be performed because of this, but he hoped there was a good mix for everyone. I kept comparing this to the Circa concert the night before, where they played all of their new album, but didn't introduce it or communicate this with the audience.
The full setlist was:
Secrets (new song)
I'm a Man
Hungry Man (new song)
Can't Find My Way Home
Had To Cry Today
We're All Looking (new song)
Fly (new song)
At Times We Do Forget (new song)
Raging Sea (new song)
Light Up Or Leave Me Alone
Crossroads
Back In The High Life Again
Dirty City (new song)
Other Shore (new song)
Why Can't We Live Together
Gimme Some Lovin
After Can't Find My Way Home was the other Blind Faith song of the night, Had to Cry Today. I saw this at the Crossroads festival last year with Steve and Eric Clapton on guitar, but never at one of Steve's shows. He did the guitar hero thing on it, duetting with Jose Neto. It was really cool to be able to see this so close and upfront. One of the downsides of the wonderful view from the front row is compromising a bit on the sound. The speakers are above us and pushing the sound back. I was hearing everything from the monitors and hearing the drums and percussion without amplification. The sound was much better than at the Circa show the previous night. If anything, it was too low. I didn't need to wear earplugs in each ear, just the right to protect me from the drums. The mix was very clear and I could hear every instrument distinctly, with no distortions. Having everything a little louder to compete with the drums would have been just perfect.
I really had to remind myself that this was the first time these songs were being performed live. The band was tight, and this felt more like a gig several weeks into a tour with everyone comfortable with the material and the flow of the concert. The band members were making a lot of eye contact and smiling a lot too. Later on, Jose would tell us how excited they all were to have this chance to play so much new material.
Light Up was the sole Traffic song. I had seen Steve do this live a couple years ago, but this version was longer. A drum/percussion/organ section was added to it. This was originally a song sung and written by Jim Capaldi, an odd choice for his only song from that era. I was dancing and bopping around the most to this song the most. It kind of took the place of Low Spark of High Heeled Boys as the long showcase song in the setlist. I was getting hit by the stage lights and it was getting warm in there. Was it after this song that I saw the drummer down a whole bottle of water in one gulp?
The one song I could have done without was Crossroads. I realize it's a hugely influential song, but I'm not much of a blues fan, and something else could have fit in that time. But it was good to play a song that everyone knows, with so much unfamiliar material in the show. Back in the High Life Again was similar to the other times I've seen it, with Steve playing a mandolin. He started out playing a quiet instrumental bit with the mandolin, guitar, and a triangle. Then it led into the song. Big applause on this one. They played Dirty City, the new single, as the last song of the main set, and it was the only one of the new songs with Steve playing guitar on it. It kind of took the place of Dear Mr. Fantasy as a big guitar hero type song and similar placement in the set.
Like I mentioned above, I could see the setlist before the concert. I knew what was in the main set versus what the encores would be. There was a lot of applause after Dirty City. However, the band didn't leave the stage. It never triggered to the audience that we reached the end of the main set and the next songs were part of the encore. When the band finally left the stage after Gimme Some Lovin', the audience was expecting an encore. The applause and cheers went on for quite a while, even after the lights came up and the roadies started to take apart the equipment. I hoped it didn't get ugly with disappointed fans thinking they didn't get an encore. I also hoped that all this applause might lead to a true unplanned encore. The Hammond organ was still set up and Winwood could do something solo. It didn't happen though.
I bought a tshirt after the show and went outside. I hadn't brought anything to get signed, but I had my ticket stub with me. I planned to wait outside and see if I could have Steve sign that as he left. I had a strange conversation with one woman after the show. She claimed she knew me. I didn't recognize her, but I'm bad with faces. She knew me from Path? I had no idea what she was talking about, but I said okay. She told me I should walk with her to the Path stop. Ah, it's a train to New Jersey. She got upset when I wouldn't go with her. Told me she had been backstage and someone told her Steve wasn't signing anything, so I should just leave with her now. I looked confused and told her I was from out of town and taking a cab. I called Roy and was able to reach him at the hotel. Roy doesn't have a cell phone and the hotel voicemail didn't work, so I was glad to be able to touch base and let him know how my day went.
I also bumped into some guys who had been standing behind me during the concert. They were going to wait out to meet Steve and told me where the stage door was. It was around the corner. I had seen the band enter through the front door, so we all stood on the corner looking at each entrance. We chatted for a bit and saw the flute player Paul Booth head out the front door. He told us Steve would be leaving that way as well.
I saw Jose Neto at the payphone again. This led to one of my favorite parts of the evening. As he walked towards us, one of the guys called out that Jose could have borrowed his cellphone. Jose stopped to say that he didn't have one yet, he was old-fashioned that way, but it was no problem using the payphone. He ended up chatting with us for a good 10 or 15 minutes. It was relaxed and casual and Jose was so sweet. He asked where we all came from. I had taken pains the rest of the day to tell people even though I was from St. Louis, I had only traveled from Philly for the show, but this time I proudly said I had come from St. Louis in Missouri. He told us about the upcoming tour with Tom Petty, some of the TV appearances taking place later that week, how happy they all were with Nine Lives. He commented on my Yes tshirt again, and asked me if I'd seen them live. When I told him 59 times, he asked when I first saw them. He didn't seem too impressed that it was only in 1990. The chat was just so un-hurried and not rushed at all. It was really nice. Jose eventually excused himself to go back inside and get his guitar.
The other fans and I were all pretty buzzed after this conversation. The atmosphere changed shortly afterwards. I wonder if Jose told anyone there were some fans waiting outside? Anyway, Mrs. Winwood came out. She didn't introduce herself, but I recognized her from another show when she came on stage. She asked if any of us had Nine Lives. Two of us raised our hands. Strictly speaking, I didn't have it yet. I special ordered the LP version from my local record shop and it hadn't arrived yet. But I raised my hand anyway. Mrs. Winwood said that Steve would only be signing his new album. "Well, I don't have it with me", I said. She said if we don't have it, we'd all better leave now, as Steve wouldn't be signing anything. Or taking pictures. Or shaking hands. We might as well leave now. But I had seen Steve sign autographs that afternoon without any problem. She went back in, and we all decided to wait.
When the band left, they walked to a van waiting half a block away on the next corner. Mrs. Winwood walked out first and was already halfway there before Steve came out. He shook my hand, and I told him I enjoyed the show, and asked him to sign my ticket stub. Didn't seem to be a problem. We all started walking to the van. The other guys asked if they could take a picture with him. Steve asked if we had Nine Lives yet. "I bought the LP." "Oh, the vinyl?", he replied. He seemed a little put out that noone had the new album there to be signed, and he told the guys in a less friendly way that he'd let them take a picture as they were walking, but wouldn't stop for one. He still reached over for my ticket stub and signed it for me. The guys got a quick photo, and that was it. I felt like running over to the van and saying "na na na na na, I got my signature!" to Mrs. Winwood, but of course I didn't.
I heard later from Roy that the first two bands that day for RoSFest were very good, but Crack the Sky disappointed him. He had seen them about ten years ago and just loved it. He had dinner with a bunch of our friends and skipping the last band Wishbone Ash. We had seen them a few years ago at ProgDay, and he was in the mood for a quiet evening. I am so glad I went up to New York for the Winwood show. Without all the Traffic material, it didn't have the highs of the previous times I've seen him, but it was a very good performance and a lot of fun. It was a rare experience too to get to see so many songs of the new album performed live.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
RoSFest 2008: Circa, Circa, Circa
Rites of Spring Festival (RoSFest)
Circa:
Keswick Theater
Glenside (Philadelphia), PA
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
Section Left, Row HH, Seat 27
$110
The soundcheck was the highlight of Circa's appearance at RoSFest. There was just so much potential at that point. Plus the illicit pleasure of hearing something we weren't supposed to have access to.
Roy and I ate a quick dinner and came back to the Keswick Theater. Yes drummer Alan White and former members of Yes Tony Kaye and Billy Sherwood had arrived. The auditorium was closed off for the soundcheck, but the lobby was open. The auditorium couldn't be completely closed off, as there weren't doors between it and the lobby. All the sound carried through. And while they put some folding screens up to block the view and roped off the entrances to the auditorium, we could see around them.
I got myself into a spot with a good view and watched Alan play the drums. Roy, Mark, Tina, and Krista joined me for a bit. Mark and I had time to catch up with each other. I hadn't seen him since 2005, I think. In between talking, we were playing "Name that Tune" with the soundcheck. Circa was going to play a long Yes medley, and every once in a while we'd hear a familiar drum part or a chord played on the keyboards. I heard Tony play Yours Is No Disgrace. Mark and I both thought we heard Alan play a bit of The Ancient, but it was not part of the medley during the show.
Tina and I tried to have a serious discussion about our friend Zoey, who is not doing too well. But then Circa would play again, and it was too loud to continue talking. We'd look at each other, start happily bopping around to the music, and then turn serious again once it was quiet. It was nice during this break and the previous one to just have time to talk to people. It was also thrilling knowing that Yes musicians were in the house.
Even then, as excited as I was, I wasn't sure how the concert would go. From reading some fan sites, I knew the format of the concert. Circa would play their entire new album, then the 40 minute Yes medley featuring songs from every Yes album. The encore would be The More We Live—Let Go, Billy Sherwood's track from Union. Roy thought the Circa album was inconsistent. I liked it better, but I wondered if it would work well live. Like the rest of Billy Sherwood's projects, it was a very heavily produced sound, with most of the tracks being mid-tempo. It all sounds nice, but there's such a consistently full sound that it gets fatiguing to listen to the whole thing. It doesn't breathe. I do really liked a couple of tracks on it, the first song Cut the Ties and Together We Are.
We went to our seats and the concert started. Much bigger crowd than was in attendance the rest of the day. I like to stand up and dance at concerts - we got seats on the far aisle so I could do this without being in anyone's way or blocking their view. From this vantage point, I could see Tony Kaye from behind his keyboards, actually seeing him play. That was pretty cool.
I thought the show started off well. Cut the Lines reminds me of Does it Really Happen from Yes' Drama album, with a forceful bass line. It was a good performance.
And then things started going wrong...
The next song Don't Let Go had a plodding chorus. I liked it less live than I did on the album. And I was noticing how bad the sound was. The Keswick is really a good listening room, with good acoustics. All the bands I had seen over the last two days had good sound. Circa was playing so loud that it was overpowering the room. It's almost like the volume was another instrument, adding echo and boominess and distortion. I've been in this venue enough, in similar seats even, to know that this is not usual here. The sound was as bad as when we saw Genesis at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, which was a shame. I had earplugs, so the sound wasn't painful, just bad.
It wasn't just me. People started to leave. Other people started to speak up. During a break in between songs, people were yelling to turn the volume down, turn the bass down, turn the guitar up, since it was lost in the mix. I overheard Billy talking after the show, and it seems like he heard lots of "turn it down" and "turn it up" without knowing the problem. And the people way up front were hearing the music from the band's monitors, so they weren't hearing the overloaded sound.
Still, I don't think Billy handled it well on stage. He responded to the yellers by commenting "I'm sure we're all musicians here, and we all want to mix it differently". That could have been alright, but it was just about the only comment he made to the audience other than saying thanks after a song. Now, I just don't think he was making a good relationship with the audience. The festival audience had just spent all day listening to mostly unfamiliar music by enthusiastic bands, so it's not like they were just turned off by not knowing Circa's material. I wonder how much of a difference Billy could have made by introducing some songs and talking to us rather than only addressing us when he was frustrated about the sound complaints during the first hour of the show.
There was a general lack of connection from the band to the audience. I've read other reviews of the performance, and someone said it seemed like Circa wasn't playing to the audience. When I saw Billy all those times with Yes, I thought he had good stage presence. It sounds funny, but I think part of the problem was that he was using a microphone attached by headset instead of a mic stand. He wasn't singing to the audience; it felt like he was singing to himself. And the vocals were so processed, I could hear his breathing through the headset mic and that sounded processed too. Partway through the performance, he got a regular mic stand.
Roy got up at one point. When he came back, I shrugged at him. He told me the second half would be better. At least we knew the Yes medley was coming. I saw about 50 people leave, even a couple with the guy wearing a Circa tshirt and the woman wearing a Yes tshirt. I think they expected to like the show! I would seriously say I endured the first half of the set. I've read after the fact that 200 of the 700 festival attendees skipped out of Circa's set.
Did the Yes medley make up for it? It was wonderful and exhilirating, even with the bad sound. I guess I knew what it should sound like, and my mind filtered the distortion and filled in the rest of the sound. The medley opened with Tony Kaye playing the keyboards on Looking Around, a song from the first Yes album. Tony kicked ass on those early albums. Roy said the highlight of the performance was seeing him play those early pieces in the medley.
The medley was just awesome. It featured bit of the following songs:
Looking Around
Harold Land
Every Little Thing
Survival
Somethings Coming
No Opportunity Necessary
Yours is No Disgrace
Heart Of The Sunrise
South Side Of The Sky
Roundabout
Close To The Edge
And You And I
Ritual
Sound Chaser
Parallels
Arriving UFO
Silent Wings
Tempus Fugit
Changes
Owner Of A Lonely Heart
Cinema
Rhythm Of Love
Lift Me Up
Endless Dream
Mind Drive
Open Your Eyes
Lightning Strikes
It was all instrumental, except for Endless Dream. Billy sang the end of the song. I copied this list off of a website. I couldn't place Harold Land. My favorites were the early tracks, Ritual, Sound Chaser, and Arriving UFO. How obscure is that?! During Tempus Fugit, the original version has vocals going through a vocoder going "yes, yes" a few times. Circa changed that to "Circa, Circa, Circa". It was a cute touch. I miss seeing Yes live, and this really excited me that I'll have the chance this summer.
The encore was, eh. Yeah, it's a Yes track and I've never heard it live, and it's even a standout on its album. But it sounded so similar to the Circa material, it didn't do much for me. Some people had really different opinions of the show. My friend Robert, who is an organizer of FMPM festival in Montreal said he liked the first half better and thought the guitarist Jimmy Haun didn't do a good job on the Yes parts. Some of the big Yes fans sitting up front looked thrilled about the whole performance. Cherry was so happy about it, I gave her my glass-half-full opinion: only commented that the medley was wonderful and left out what I thought of the rest of the set.
Circa did an autograph signing after their set. I wasn't going to be around the next day, so I hoped to get all their autographs that night. There was an after party, but we didn't have the VIP tickets to get in. Even if I could get in anyway, it was going to end pretty late into the night and I had a big day planned the next day. We got into the autograph line. I saw Linda briefly, but I didn't really get a chance to say goodbye to her. At first, it was just Alan, Billy, Jimmy, and Billy's brother Michael at the table. Man, I really wanted to get Tony's autograph. I had only met him once briefly on the Talk tour.
I don't think Alan recognized me. He looked exhausted. I told him I was really looking forward to the Yes tour, and he didn't hear me at first. I repeated myself a few times and he nodded. Then I said I was going to four shows. Alan smiled, and asked what shows I was going to. The guy in front of me interupted, and that was all I got to say to Alan. Billy recognized both Roy and me, even though we hadn't seen him since he left Yes in 2000. He shook both our hands. I should have told him something like "oh, we got married since we saw you last" but I thought of it too late.
Tony Kaye finally came out to the lobby, but took his time. He signed a few autographs for people waiting in line, but there was a group of us at the end of the band's table waiting just for him. Thankfully, the venue security didn't make us leave. Tony then waited til he got a drink. He walked over to his place at the end of the table, and lifted his glass to toast us. I had my bottle of water with me, so I lifted it up and we clinked our plastic glasses.
Tony signed my Talk CD and Something's Coming CD. Both of these were a big deal to me. I had all the autographs on Talk except for Alan and Tony, so I was able to complete it that night. I even had the artist Peter Max sign it, and he draw a little Yes logo on it. I bought Something's Coming over ten years ago, right when it was released. Shortly after that, I met Peter Banks, and he signed his name *and* he wrote Tony's name on it. I've been wanting to show that to Tony Kaye for ten years now, but he hasn't been performing. I pointed it out to him, and he asked "who signed that? It doesn't even look like my signature?" "Peter Banks". When Tony and Jimmy saw my Time and a Word, with Jon Anderson's signature on it, they didn't recognize it and asked who that was. Jon changed his autograph a few years ago, and it's now a big J with circles around it. We made fun of it.
My fully autographed Talk CD.
Check out the Yes logo Peter Max drew on it.
The fake Tony Kaye signature is on the top right.
Afterwards, I ran up to a few friends who were still hanging around, like Krista, Mark, and Cherry, and giddily showed off my Talk CD. Roy and I went back to the hotel and wound down for a bit after the day's excitement. If I lived closer, I'm sure I would go to RoSFest every year. It really was well organized and I really appreciated that.
Circa:
Keswick Theater
Glenside (Philadelphia), PA
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
Section Left, Row HH, Seat 27
$110
The soundcheck was the highlight of Circa's appearance at RoSFest. There was just so much potential at that point. Plus the illicit pleasure of hearing something we weren't supposed to have access to.
Roy and I ate a quick dinner and came back to the Keswick Theater. Yes drummer Alan White and former members of Yes Tony Kaye and Billy Sherwood had arrived. The auditorium was closed off for the soundcheck, but the lobby was open. The auditorium couldn't be completely closed off, as there weren't doors between it and the lobby. All the sound carried through. And while they put some folding screens up to block the view and roped off the entrances to the auditorium, we could see around them.
I got myself into a spot with a good view and watched Alan play the drums. Roy, Mark, Tina, and Krista joined me for a bit. Mark and I had time to catch up with each other. I hadn't seen him since 2005, I think. In between talking, we were playing "Name that Tune" with the soundcheck. Circa was going to play a long Yes medley, and every once in a while we'd hear a familiar drum part or a chord played on the keyboards. I heard Tony play Yours Is No Disgrace. Mark and I both thought we heard Alan play a bit of The Ancient, but it was not part of the medley during the show.
Tina and I tried to have a serious discussion about our friend Zoey, who is not doing too well. But then Circa would play again, and it was too loud to continue talking. We'd look at each other, start happily bopping around to the music, and then turn serious again once it was quiet. It was nice during this break and the previous one to just have time to talk to people. It was also thrilling knowing that Yes musicians were in the house.
Even then, as excited as I was, I wasn't sure how the concert would go. From reading some fan sites, I knew the format of the concert. Circa would play their entire new album, then the 40 minute Yes medley featuring songs from every Yes album. The encore would be The More We Live—Let Go, Billy Sherwood's track from Union. Roy thought the Circa album was inconsistent. I liked it better, but I wondered if it would work well live. Like the rest of Billy Sherwood's projects, it was a very heavily produced sound, with most of the tracks being mid-tempo. It all sounds nice, but there's such a consistently full sound that it gets fatiguing to listen to the whole thing. It doesn't breathe. I do really liked a couple of tracks on it, the first song Cut the Ties and Together We Are.
We went to our seats and the concert started. Much bigger crowd than was in attendance the rest of the day. I like to stand up and dance at concerts - we got seats on the far aisle so I could do this without being in anyone's way or blocking their view. From this vantage point, I could see Tony Kaye from behind his keyboards, actually seeing him play. That was pretty cool.
I thought the show started off well. Cut the Lines reminds me of Does it Really Happen from Yes' Drama album, with a forceful bass line. It was a good performance.
And then things started going wrong...
The next song Don't Let Go had a plodding chorus. I liked it less live than I did on the album. And I was noticing how bad the sound was. The Keswick is really a good listening room, with good acoustics. All the bands I had seen over the last two days had good sound. Circa was playing so loud that it was overpowering the room. It's almost like the volume was another instrument, adding echo and boominess and distortion. I've been in this venue enough, in similar seats even, to know that this is not usual here. The sound was as bad as when we saw Genesis at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, which was a shame. I had earplugs, so the sound wasn't painful, just bad.
It wasn't just me. People started to leave. Other people started to speak up. During a break in between songs, people were yelling to turn the volume down, turn the bass down, turn the guitar up, since it was lost in the mix. I overheard Billy talking after the show, and it seems like he heard lots of "turn it down" and "turn it up" without knowing the problem. And the people way up front were hearing the music from the band's monitors, so they weren't hearing the overloaded sound.
Still, I don't think Billy handled it well on stage. He responded to the yellers by commenting "I'm sure we're all musicians here, and we all want to mix it differently". That could have been alright, but it was just about the only comment he made to the audience other than saying thanks after a song. Now, I just don't think he was making a good relationship with the audience. The festival audience had just spent all day listening to mostly unfamiliar music by enthusiastic bands, so it's not like they were just turned off by not knowing Circa's material. I wonder how much of a difference Billy could have made by introducing some songs and talking to us rather than only addressing us when he was frustrated about the sound complaints during the first hour of the show.
There was a general lack of connection from the band to the audience. I've read other reviews of the performance, and someone said it seemed like Circa wasn't playing to the audience. When I saw Billy all those times with Yes, I thought he had good stage presence. It sounds funny, but I think part of the problem was that he was using a microphone attached by headset instead of a mic stand. He wasn't singing to the audience; it felt like he was singing to himself. And the vocals were so processed, I could hear his breathing through the headset mic and that sounded processed too. Partway through the performance, he got a regular mic stand.
Roy got up at one point. When he came back, I shrugged at him. He told me the second half would be better. At least we knew the Yes medley was coming. I saw about 50 people leave, even a couple with the guy wearing a Circa tshirt and the woman wearing a Yes tshirt. I think they expected to like the show! I would seriously say I endured the first half of the set. I've read after the fact that 200 of the 700 festival attendees skipped out of Circa's set.
Did the Yes medley make up for it? It was wonderful and exhilirating, even with the bad sound. I guess I knew what it should sound like, and my mind filtered the distortion and filled in the rest of the sound. The medley opened with Tony Kaye playing the keyboards on Looking Around, a song from the first Yes album. Tony kicked ass on those early albums. Roy said the highlight of the performance was seeing him play those early pieces in the medley.
The medley was just awesome. It featured bit of the following songs:
Looking Around
Harold Land
Every Little Thing
Survival
Somethings Coming
No Opportunity Necessary
Yours is No Disgrace
Heart Of The Sunrise
South Side Of The Sky
Roundabout
Close To The Edge
And You And I
Ritual
Sound Chaser
Parallels
Arriving UFO
Silent Wings
Tempus Fugit
Changes
Owner Of A Lonely Heart
Cinema
Rhythm Of Love
Lift Me Up
Endless Dream
Mind Drive
Open Your Eyes
Lightning Strikes
It was all instrumental, except for Endless Dream. Billy sang the end of the song. I copied this list off of a website. I couldn't place Harold Land. My favorites were the early tracks, Ritual, Sound Chaser, and Arriving UFO. How obscure is that?! During Tempus Fugit, the original version has vocals going through a vocoder going "yes, yes" a few times. Circa changed that to "Circa, Circa, Circa". It was a cute touch. I miss seeing Yes live, and this really excited me that I'll have the chance this summer.
The encore was, eh. Yeah, it's a Yes track and I've never heard it live, and it's even a standout on its album. But it sounded so similar to the Circa material, it didn't do much for me. Some people had really different opinions of the show. My friend Robert, who is an organizer of FMPM festival in Montreal said he liked the first half better and thought the guitarist Jimmy Haun didn't do a good job on the Yes parts. Some of the big Yes fans sitting up front looked thrilled about the whole performance. Cherry was so happy about it, I gave her my glass-half-full opinion: only commented that the medley was wonderful and left out what I thought of the rest of the set.
Circa did an autograph signing after their set. I wasn't going to be around the next day, so I hoped to get all their autographs that night. There was an after party, but we didn't have the VIP tickets to get in. Even if I could get in anyway, it was going to end pretty late into the night and I had a big day planned the next day. We got into the autograph line. I saw Linda briefly, but I didn't really get a chance to say goodbye to her. At first, it was just Alan, Billy, Jimmy, and Billy's brother Michael at the table. Man, I really wanted to get Tony's autograph. I had only met him once briefly on the Talk tour.
I don't think Alan recognized me. He looked exhausted. I told him I was really looking forward to the Yes tour, and he didn't hear me at first. I repeated myself a few times and he nodded. Then I said I was going to four shows. Alan smiled, and asked what shows I was going to. The guy in front of me interupted, and that was all I got to say to Alan. Billy recognized both Roy and me, even though we hadn't seen him since he left Yes in 2000. He shook both our hands. I should have told him something like "oh, we got married since we saw you last" but I thought of it too late.
Tony Kaye finally came out to the lobby, but took his time. He signed a few autographs for people waiting in line, but there was a group of us at the end of the band's table waiting just for him. Thankfully, the venue security didn't make us leave. Tony then waited til he got a drink. He walked over to his place at the end of the table, and lifted his glass to toast us. I had my bottle of water with me, so I lifted it up and we clinked our plastic glasses.
Tony signed my Talk CD and Something's Coming CD. Both of these were a big deal to me. I had all the autographs on Talk except for Alan and Tony, so I was able to complete it that night. I even had the artist Peter Max sign it, and he draw a little Yes logo on it. I bought Something's Coming over ten years ago, right when it was released. Shortly after that, I met Peter Banks, and he signed his name *and* he wrote Tony's name on it. I've been wanting to show that to Tony Kaye for ten years now, but he hasn't been performing. I pointed it out to him, and he asked "who signed that? It doesn't even look like my signature?" "Peter Banks". When Tony and Jimmy saw my Time and a Word, with Jon Anderson's signature on it, they didn't recognize it and asked who that was. Jon changed his autograph a few years ago, and it's now a big J with circles around it. We made fun of it.
Check out the Yes logo Peter Max drew on it.
Afterwards, I ran up to a few friends who were still hanging around, like Krista, Mark, and Cherry, and giddily showed off my Talk CD. Roy and I went back to the hotel and wound down for a bit after the day's excitement. If I lived closer, I'm sure I would go to RoSFest every year. It really was well organized and I really appreciated that.
Monday, May 12, 2008
RosFest 2008: Saturday bands
Rites of Spring Festival (RoSFest)
Keswick Theater
Glenside (Philadelphia), PA
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
Section Left, Row HH, Seat 27
$110
On Saturday, it was obvious what band I was looking forward to most. Current and former members of my favorite band Yes would be headlining that night as the band Circa. I envisioned seeing them around the festival all day and being able to hang out with them. It didn't quite work out that way. They had a show on Friday night near Washington, DC, and didn't arrive until the late afternoon. And then, I was not at the festival on Sunday, when they did hang out with fans. There were some missed opportunities, but I made the right decisions.
Roy and I got to the fest a half hour before the start time. We saw Linda outside, and I went in to buy a program. The first band of the day was called Blind Ego. I had never heard of them, but they were made up of veterans from the prog scene - two people from RPWL, the former singer from Arena, and John Jowitt. John Jowitt is best known as the bass player from IQ, but he plays with a number of current bands. He's a good player and he's a lot of fun to be around, so he is in demand. He's fun to watch on stage too. He's been at most RoSFests playing with one band or another, but I didn't know he'd be here, so this was a nice surprise for us. I didn't love Blind Ego's music, but they put on a good performance and held my interest.
I did want to say hi to Jowitt, so I planned to get in the autograph line after the show. I bumped into Tina and her two prog-loving daughters and we got into line together. The autograph line was weird - it was at the upstairs of the Keswick, along with some vendors. But there wasn't enough room to stand up there, so the line snaked down the steps. This, apparently, was a fire hazard, so the staff kept trying to organize us differently. We were near the front of the line, and finally, the band came out to sign autographs. The good news is, Tina might come to ProgDay this year! I described the festival atmosphere, and that there were no autograph lines, the bands just hung out all day. I hope she comes.
Jowitt held up the line by chatting with everyone. When it was my turn, I reminded him of one day we had met before: Peter Banks was supposed to headline a festival in Connecticut, and Jowitt would be playing bass for him. The festival was canceled, due to poor organization and low ticket sales, but the band still flew out. The organizer invited a few of us up to the hotel, and I got to go out to dinner with Peter Banks. It was a very memorable day. JJ and I bonded on our mutual Yes-fanboyism. I had already seen Yes on the tour for The Ladder and I gave him details on that. Anyway, he certainly remembered the day, he said "You were one of the eight?", referring to the small number of fans hanging out with them or maybe even the small number of people who bought tickets in advance. I said I went with Linda, and he brightened up. "Linda's here?" Linda has always been a big fan of his and got to know him over the years. I had the rest of the band sign my program.
So now I had to run off to find Linda and tell her JJ asked about her. She was outside, so I bumped into her on the way to lunch. We didn't have much time - the break was only an hour and fifteen minutes, and I spent time at the autograph line. The Greek place across the street said they could feed us in time, so we had a good lunch there. Unfortunately, it took us a little too long to get out, and we missed the first song of the next band Ritual.
Roy said I would like Ritual and that their style was the traditional symphonic sound. He was right. They were my favorite band of the festival (if we're judging by the complete sets). Ritual is the name of one of my favorite Yes songs, but I don't know if they named themselves after it or not. Our seats were over by the far left aisle, and the people behind us were talking. The theater had a lot of empty seats; we were about 10 rows from the stage, and even our row was mostly empty. We moved over towards the center for a better view and to get away from the talking. I wondered how well the festival was doing with a turnout like this, and I also wondered if most people had just bought tickets for Circa and would show up later on.
I already was liking Ritual a lot, but they really won me over with their acoustic portion. They played keyboards, acoustic guitar, some and traditional Swedish instruments. It was really pretty and such a nice change of pace from the full sound that the rest of the bands had that day. The only song I didn't like all that much was towards the end, a long piece that started acoustically and went back into the full electric instruments and drums.
This next break was my favorite time of the festival. It sounds funny, but these things are as much about the people as they are about the music. When we left the auditorium, I saw that Tom Brislin had set up a table where he was selling CDs. Tom was the keyboard player for Yes on their YesSymphonic tour and is the singer/keyboard player of his own band Spiraling. We've seen them a number of times and have gotten to know Tom and his band. I wanted to say hi, but didn't want to feel like I was monopolizing his time, so after he saw us, we headed outside.
I saw Mark! Mark was a friend of mine when I lived in Philly. We went to a lot of concerts together, and I got to know his family fairly well. We kept in touch a little bit after I moved, but I had not seen him at the last couple Yes-related concerts in the Philly area. I know his health isn't the greatest, and I had been worried about him. He was heading off to eat, but it was good to see that he was around.
It was nice outside, but a little chilly. Roy went down to 7-Eleven to buy something, and Linda and I talked for a while. Another acquaintance from the festivals, Mike Potter was there. Mike owns the Orion Sound Studios in Baltimore and has hosted a series of prog shows there. I was surprised to see him at RoSFest. His tastes seem to go to the more avant garde style of the genre. He bucked the marriage trend - he got back together with his ex-wife and they remarried. Too many married couples I know have recently split up. We had to make dinner plans too - Linda and her friends from Montreal had reservations back at the Greek place. She didn't think I liked Greek, so they didn't ask us. I guess I have a reputation as a picky eater. I saw Tina's older daughter Erin outside. I've seen her grow up at various Nearfests and other shows over the years. She's still in college but came down just for the festival. They were planning dinner at the Keswick Tavern.
I went inside and chatted with Tom Brislin some more. When I mentioned I wouldn't be at the festival the next day, he asked if I would be visiting my family. I gave an emphatic no. So few people ask me that anymore when I'm in the Philly area, they know my history, it's kind of surprising to hear someone ask it. I explained that there was yet another band I am obessessed with, Traffic, and I had to go see Steve Winwood in NYC the next day. We talked about some other bands and music festivals. Tom got excited when I said I had been to ProgFest in California. He asked about the Kevin Gilbert performance. The only ProgFest I went to was years after that, in 2000, but when Roy walked over I asked him to tell Tom what it was like.
I also thought I might be able to help Tom out. Spiraling has just released a new CD, and he sent it to the radio station I used to work for. I thought I could use my connections to get him an in. It's sad to realize I had a tiny bit of influence in Philly radio when I was 19 or so that I don't have anymore. I think my former boss Robert would like Spiraling, but I haven't really kept in touch with him much since I moved. I e-mailed him asking for advice, hoping he'd be interested in checking out the band. He wrote back, but just with a name at the radio station to send the CD to.
The other thing interesting going on was that we could clearly hear the next band's soundcheck. The seated auditorium was closed off during the soundcheck, but the lobby right behind it was open. I realized that we'd be able to hear Circa's soundcheck as well before their set. I had been wanting to go out to dinner with friends. Now, all I wanted was to eat quickly and get back inside to hear them.
The next band was RPWL. They had played at the first RoSFest, and Tina and her girls were excited to see them again. They started out as a Pink Floyd cover band and then started to do their own material. The highlight of their set was a song about prog. The singer explained that the last time they player RoSFest, they asked a number of fans what the definition of "prog" is. No one could give them a definitive answer. This was the introduction to the song "This is Not a Prog Song". It included snippets of songs like "Rock You Like a Hurricane" from the Scorpions and "Rockin' Me" from the Steve Miller Band with the word prog substituting for rock. So the lyrics were "Keep on progging me baby" and "Prog you like a hurricane". It was lighthearted and fun. RPWL had the most stage design of any band at the festival. They showed films on the stage screen to go along with their music. They were alright, but I got tired of them by the end of their set.
I was on the lookout for Circa members. After RPWL's set, I still didn't see any of them. I told Roy we had to get a quick dinner and get back to the theater to look for them and overhear the soundcheck. Instead of dining with our friends, we stopped at the small pizza place across the street. They didn't have any inside seating, but there were a few outdoor tables. The wind had picked up and it was hardly outdoor-eating weather, but we did it. The pizza was quite yummy and we did not take long. Next was the band I was waiting for ... Circa!
Keswick Theater
Glenside (Philadelphia), PA
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
Section Left, Row HH, Seat 27
$110
On Saturday, it was obvious what band I was looking forward to most. Current and former members of my favorite band Yes would be headlining that night as the band Circa. I envisioned seeing them around the festival all day and being able to hang out with them. It didn't quite work out that way. They had a show on Friday night near Washington, DC, and didn't arrive until the late afternoon. And then, I was not at the festival on Sunday, when they did hang out with fans. There were some missed opportunities, but I made the right decisions.
Roy and I got to the fest a half hour before the start time. We saw Linda outside, and I went in to buy a program. The first band of the day was called Blind Ego. I had never heard of them, but they were made up of veterans from the prog scene - two people from RPWL, the former singer from Arena, and John Jowitt. John Jowitt is best known as the bass player from IQ, but he plays with a number of current bands. He's a good player and he's a lot of fun to be around, so he is in demand. He's fun to watch on stage too. He's been at most RoSFests playing with one band or another, but I didn't know he'd be here, so this was a nice surprise for us. I didn't love Blind Ego's music, but they put on a good performance and held my interest.
I did want to say hi to Jowitt, so I planned to get in the autograph line after the show. I bumped into Tina and her two prog-loving daughters and we got into line together. The autograph line was weird - it was at the upstairs of the Keswick, along with some vendors. But there wasn't enough room to stand up there, so the line snaked down the steps. This, apparently, was a fire hazard, so the staff kept trying to organize us differently. We were near the front of the line, and finally, the band came out to sign autographs. The good news is, Tina might come to ProgDay this year! I described the festival atmosphere, and that there were no autograph lines, the bands just hung out all day. I hope she comes.
Jowitt held up the line by chatting with everyone. When it was my turn, I reminded him of one day we had met before: Peter Banks was supposed to headline a festival in Connecticut, and Jowitt would be playing bass for him. The festival was canceled, due to poor organization and low ticket sales, but the band still flew out. The organizer invited a few of us up to the hotel, and I got to go out to dinner with Peter Banks. It was a very memorable day. JJ and I bonded on our mutual Yes-fanboyism. I had already seen Yes on the tour for The Ladder and I gave him details on that. Anyway, he certainly remembered the day, he said "You were one of the eight?", referring to the small number of fans hanging out with them or maybe even the small number of people who bought tickets in advance. I said I went with Linda, and he brightened up. "Linda's here?" Linda has always been a big fan of his and got to know him over the years. I had the rest of the band sign my program.
So now I had to run off to find Linda and tell her JJ asked about her. She was outside, so I bumped into her on the way to lunch. We didn't have much time - the break was only an hour and fifteen minutes, and I spent time at the autograph line. The Greek place across the street said they could feed us in time, so we had a good lunch there. Unfortunately, it took us a little too long to get out, and we missed the first song of the next band Ritual.
Roy said I would like Ritual and that their style was the traditional symphonic sound. He was right. They were my favorite band of the festival (if we're judging by the complete sets). Ritual is the name of one of my favorite Yes songs, but I don't know if they named themselves after it or not. Our seats were over by the far left aisle, and the people behind us were talking. The theater had a lot of empty seats; we were about 10 rows from the stage, and even our row was mostly empty. We moved over towards the center for a better view and to get away from the talking. I wondered how well the festival was doing with a turnout like this, and I also wondered if most people had just bought tickets for Circa and would show up later on.
I already was liking Ritual a lot, but they really won me over with their acoustic portion. They played keyboards, acoustic guitar, some and traditional Swedish instruments. It was really pretty and such a nice change of pace from the full sound that the rest of the bands had that day. The only song I didn't like all that much was towards the end, a long piece that started acoustically and went back into the full electric instruments and drums.
This next break was my favorite time of the festival. It sounds funny, but these things are as much about the people as they are about the music. When we left the auditorium, I saw that Tom Brislin had set up a table where he was selling CDs. Tom was the keyboard player for Yes on their YesSymphonic tour and is the singer/keyboard player of his own band Spiraling. We've seen them a number of times and have gotten to know Tom and his band. I wanted to say hi, but didn't want to feel like I was monopolizing his time, so after he saw us, we headed outside.
I saw Mark! Mark was a friend of mine when I lived in Philly. We went to a lot of concerts together, and I got to know his family fairly well. We kept in touch a little bit after I moved, but I had not seen him at the last couple Yes-related concerts in the Philly area. I know his health isn't the greatest, and I had been worried about him. He was heading off to eat, but it was good to see that he was around.
It was nice outside, but a little chilly. Roy went down to 7-Eleven to buy something, and Linda and I talked for a while. Another acquaintance from the festivals, Mike Potter was there. Mike owns the Orion Sound Studios in Baltimore and has hosted a series of prog shows there. I was surprised to see him at RoSFest. His tastes seem to go to the more avant garde style of the genre. He bucked the marriage trend - he got back together with his ex-wife and they remarried. Too many married couples I know have recently split up. We had to make dinner plans too - Linda and her friends from Montreal had reservations back at the Greek place. She didn't think I liked Greek, so they didn't ask us. I guess I have a reputation as a picky eater. I saw Tina's older daughter Erin outside. I've seen her grow up at various Nearfests and other shows over the years. She's still in college but came down just for the festival. They were planning dinner at the Keswick Tavern.
I went inside and chatted with Tom Brislin some more. When I mentioned I wouldn't be at the festival the next day, he asked if I would be visiting my family. I gave an emphatic no. So few people ask me that anymore when I'm in the Philly area, they know my history, it's kind of surprising to hear someone ask it. I explained that there was yet another band I am obessessed with, Traffic, and I had to go see Steve Winwood in NYC the next day. We talked about some other bands and music festivals. Tom got excited when I said I had been to ProgFest in California. He asked about the Kevin Gilbert performance. The only ProgFest I went to was years after that, in 2000, but when Roy walked over I asked him to tell Tom what it was like.
I also thought I might be able to help Tom out. Spiraling has just released a new CD, and he sent it to the radio station I used to work for. I thought I could use my connections to get him an in. It's sad to realize I had a tiny bit of influence in Philly radio when I was 19 or so that I don't have anymore. I think my former boss Robert would like Spiraling, but I haven't really kept in touch with him much since I moved. I e-mailed him asking for advice, hoping he'd be interested in checking out the band. He wrote back, but just with a name at the radio station to send the CD to.
The other thing interesting going on was that we could clearly hear the next band's soundcheck. The seated auditorium was closed off during the soundcheck, but the lobby right behind it was open. I realized that we'd be able to hear Circa's soundcheck as well before their set. I had been wanting to go out to dinner with friends. Now, all I wanted was to eat quickly and get back inside to hear them.
The next band was RPWL. They had played at the first RoSFest, and Tina and her girls were excited to see them again. They started out as a Pink Floyd cover band and then started to do their own material. The highlight of their set was a song about prog. The singer explained that the last time they player RoSFest, they asked a number of fans what the definition of "prog" is. No one could give them a definitive answer. This was the introduction to the song "This is Not a Prog Song". It included snippets of songs like "Rock You Like a Hurricane" from the Scorpions and "Rockin' Me" from the Steve Miller Band with the word prog substituting for rock. So the lyrics were "Keep on progging me baby" and "Prog you like a hurricane". It was lighthearted and fun. RPWL had the most stage design of any band at the festival. They showed films on the stage screen to go along with their music. They were alright, but I got tired of them by the end of their set.
I was on the lookout for Circa members. After RPWL's set, I still didn't see any of them. I told Roy we had to get a quick dinner and get back to the theater to look for them and overhear the soundcheck. Instead of dining with our friends, we stopped at the small pizza place across the street. They didn't have any inside seating, but there were a few outdoor tables. The wind had picked up and it was hardly outdoor-eating weather, but we did it. The pizza was quite yummy and we did not take long. Next was the band I was waiting for ... Circa!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
RoSFest 2008: Nice Nice Very Nice
Rites of Spring Showcase (RoSFest)
Keswick Theater
Glenside (Philadelphia), PA
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
Section Left, Row CC, Seat 15
$55
This was the fifth annual RoSFest, the Rites of Spring festival held outside of Philadelphia. Roy and I have never been there before. It's not that we weren't interested, but you can only go to so many festivals per year! RosFest is a prog festival with a specific focus, sort of the more accessible side of prog. All the bands could be categorized as neo-prog, symphonic, or even rock with progressive influences. All are bands with vocals. It's the type of prog I first fell in love with, but I wasn't sure if a whole festival of them would be too same-y.
We found out quite a while ago that Circa would be headlining. Circa is a Yes off-shoot band with Alan White on drums and two former Yes members, Tony Kaye and Billy Sherwood, also in the band. Still, we didn't decide to go until a few months before the festival. Roy saw that Starcastle and Crack the Sky would be playing, and that the festival would be held at the Keswick Theater. The Keswick is a nice comfortable place to see a concert. I seem to be going there a lot - this is the third time I've blogged about seeing shows there. With that new information plus the chance to see and hang out with Yes people, we made up our minds quickly and bought tickets.
Not everything with the festival went as planned. Starcastle dropped out, and were replaced by a band called GPS, featuring members of the John Payne-era of Asia. I pulled another trip-within-a-trip, when Steve Winwood announced a headlining show in New York the Sunday of the festival. I am going to miss his show in St Louis, and he's just going to be an opening act anyway then, so I was thrilled to get the chance to see another full length show. I made plans to get together with Angela and Debbie when I got into town. We would hang out until Roy and I had to leave for the Friday night show.
The flight arrived a couple hours late due to bad weather. We got to see Angela and Baxter's new house, and Debbie stopped by briefly. Unfortunately, Debbie couldn't stay for dinner. Her 2 year old son hadn't had a nap that day, so she didn't want to keep him awake longer so she could spend time with us. She is a responsible mom. Angela and Baxter and Roy and I had dinner at a little Italian place near them. I'm glad Angela came out to visit me last fall. It gave us a couple uninterupted days to spend together, instead of trying to fit her in to my concert schedule. I always plan to spend more time in Philly, but then end up going somewhere else to see more shows.
The drive to the Keswick was pretty. I think of Philly as having a similar climate to St Louis', but the dogwood trees were at their peak, and we reached ours earlier. Roy had never seen so many azalea bushes in blossom, and he pointed out all the colors. We got to Glenside in plenty of time and parked on a residential street in back. Linda was the first person we saw. She was getting something at her car.
The Keswick Theater is not too far from where I grew up. I imagined being able to meet friends for brunch or something before the day's shows. In reality, the festival takes up so much of the day, it's hard to fit outsiders into a timeslot. We stayed at one of the official hotels way out in the suburbs. Once the festival started, it could have been anywhere. Still, the festival was located in a nice little town, too pretty and historic to call it a burb. There were lots of small restaurants and shops in the area.
The first band GPS was decent. Their singer John Payne, is the former singer of Asia. His voice has an "operatic metal" quality, not my favorite sound. When he wasn't singing, the band sounded pretty good. Their usual keyboard player is Ryo Okumoto from Spock's Beard. He wasn't able to make it, but his replacement was Erik Norlander of the Rocket Scientists. Roy likes them, and we were both reminded of the time we tried to get RS for ProgDay. Their price was out of our league and possibly more than our entire band budget for the year. Yet here was the main guy of the band, sitting in and probably not getting paid much at all.
The headliner for Friday was Ambrosia. They were the big surprise for me. I had only heard a few of their songs previously, and my general impression was light rock with good harmonies. I was quite off base; well, I was right about the harmonies at least! They were a tight band and did everything from prog-influenced rock to jazz. It really made for a good concert. Their sound never got tiring with the eclectic styles, but it all retained their signature. I wish more bands today would have prominent keyboard parts and solos, rather than using them just for texture. Three of the guys were original members, and two of the others had been with them for years. Roy told me later that they do have more poppy stuff in their catalog, but they did a good job of choosing material for this audience. Ambrosia became one of my favorite bands of the festival. I think they are one of those bands that have something everyone would like about them, even a general audience. To quote their opening song, they were nice, nice, very nice.
The festival had some good production values. The sound was good for both bands, but the video was really unusual for a prog festival. They had a screen on stage showing the band, just like at a regular big budget concert. The cameraman was off to the side, and it only worked well when they did close ups. Otherwise, we were seeing the musicians at the same size as we could see them in real life. It was also run very well. All the bands I saw started within 10 minutes of their published start times. There was none of that "hurry up and wait" feeling that I get from some other festivals, where a band was running late, but could either start in 5 minutes or an hour from now, so we couldn't go anywhere. It was refreshing.
I got to see a few friends at the festival. Linda was the only person from our old festival gang who was there. I saw Krista and Cherry and Fred Herndon and one of Tina's daughters. After the show, we checked into the hotel and bumped into another person I knew. Unfortunately, not everyone at the festivals is a friend, and some people can be downright odd. Anyway, this one person, who I'm sure is well meaning, came up and told me it was so good to see Roy and me still together. Still?! I laughed it off, does she know something that I don't? But it seemed to be a theme of the weekend. I ran into a couple friends who each told me they had separated after 20 some year marriages and kids. It's sad to hear that. With one friend, I've known him and his wife for quite a while, although I haven't seen them much since I relocated. I thought of them as a team and enjoying each other's company. I guess that's not enough. It just amazes me how my parents can be miserable and ill suited for each other and married for over 30 years, when people I both like can't make it together.
Keswick Theater
Glenside (Philadelphia), PA
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
Section Left, Row CC, Seat 15
$55
This was the fifth annual RoSFest, the Rites of Spring festival held outside of Philadelphia. Roy and I have never been there before. It's not that we weren't interested, but you can only go to so many festivals per year! RosFest is a prog festival with a specific focus, sort of the more accessible side of prog. All the bands could be categorized as neo-prog, symphonic, or even rock with progressive influences. All are bands with vocals. It's the type of prog I first fell in love with, but I wasn't sure if a whole festival of them would be too same-y.
We found out quite a while ago that Circa would be headlining. Circa is a Yes off-shoot band with Alan White on drums and two former Yes members, Tony Kaye and Billy Sherwood, also in the band. Still, we didn't decide to go until a few months before the festival. Roy saw that Starcastle and Crack the Sky would be playing, and that the festival would be held at the Keswick Theater. The Keswick is a nice comfortable place to see a concert. I seem to be going there a lot - this is the third time I've blogged about seeing shows there. With that new information plus the chance to see and hang out with Yes people, we made up our minds quickly and bought tickets.
Not everything with the festival went as planned. Starcastle dropped out, and were replaced by a band called GPS, featuring members of the John Payne-era of Asia. I pulled another trip-within-a-trip, when Steve Winwood announced a headlining show in New York the Sunday of the festival. I am going to miss his show in St Louis, and he's just going to be an opening act anyway then, so I was thrilled to get the chance to see another full length show. I made plans to get together with Angela and Debbie when I got into town. We would hang out until Roy and I had to leave for the Friday night show.
The flight arrived a couple hours late due to bad weather. We got to see Angela and Baxter's new house, and Debbie stopped by briefly. Unfortunately, Debbie couldn't stay for dinner. Her 2 year old son hadn't had a nap that day, so she didn't want to keep him awake longer so she could spend time with us. She is a responsible mom. Angela and Baxter and Roy and I had dinner at a little Italian place near them. I'm glad Angela came out to visit me last fall. It gave us a couple uninterupted days to spend together, instead of trying to fit her in to my concert schedule. I always plan to spend more time in Philly, but then end up going somewhere else to see more shows.
The drive to the Keswick was pretty. I think of Philly as having a similar climate to St Louis', but the dogwood trees were at their peak, and we reached ours earlier. Roy had never seen so many azalea bushes in blossom, and he pointed out all the colors. We got to Glenside in plenty of time and parked on a residential street in back. Linda was the first person we saw. She was getting something at her car.
The Keswick Theater is not too far from where I grew up. I imagined being able to meet friends for brunch or something before the day's shows. In reality, the festival takes up so much of the day, it's hard to fit outsiders into a timeslot. We stayed at one of the official hotels way out in the suburbs. Once the festival started, it could have been anywhere. Still, the festival was located in a nice little town, too pretty and historic to call it a burb. There were lots of small restaurants and shops in the area.
The first band GPS was decent. Their singer John Payne, is the former singer of Asia. His voice has an "operatic metal" quality, not my favorite sound. When he wasn't singing, the band sounded pretty good. Their usual keyboard player is Ryo Okumoto from Spock's Beard. He wasn't able to make it, but his replacement was Erik Norlander of the Rocket Scientists. Roy likes them, and we were both reminded of the time we tried to get RS for ProgDay. Their price was out of our league and possibly more than our entire band budget for the year. Yet here was the main guy of the band, sitting in and probably not getting paid much at all.
The headliner for Friday was Ambrosia. They were the big surprise for me. I had only heard a few of their songs previously, and my general impression was light rock with good harmonies. I was quite off base; well, I was right about the harmonies at least! They were a tight band and did everything from prog-influenced rock to jazz. It really made for a good concert. Their sound never got tiring with the eclectic styles, but it all retained their signature. I wish more bands today would have prominent keyboard parts and solos, rather than using them just for texture. Three of the guys were original members, and two of the others had been with them for years. Roy told me later that they do have more poppy stuff in their catalog, but they did a good job of choosing material for this audience. Ambrosia became one of my favorite bands of the festival. I think they are one of those bands that have something everyone would like about them, even a general audience. To quote their opening song, they were nice, nice, very nice.
The festival had some good production values. The sound was good for both bands, but the video was really unusual for a prog festival. They had a screen on stage showing the band, just like at a regular big budget concert. The cameraman was off to the side, and it only worked well when they did close ups. Otherwise, we were seeing the musicians at the same size as we could see them in real life. It was also run very well. All the bands I saw started within 10 minutes of their published start times. There was none of that "hurry up and wait" feeling that I get from some other festivals, where a band was running late, but could either start in 5 minutes or an hour from now, so we couldn't go anywhere. It was refreshing.
I got to see a few friends at the festival. Linda was the only person from our old festival gang who was there. I saw Krista and Cherry and Fred Herndon and one of Tina's daughters. After the show, we checked into the hotel and bumped into another person I knew. Unfortunately, not everyone at the festivals is a friend, and some people can be downright odd. Anyway, this one person, who I'm sure is well meaning, came up and told me it was so good to see Roy and me still together. Still?! I laughed it off, does she know something that I don't? But it seemed to be a theme of the weekend. I ran into a couple friends who each told me they had separated after 20 some year marriages and kids. It's sad to hear that. With one friend, I've known him and his wife for quite a while, although I haven't seen them much since I relocated. I thought of them as a team and enjoying each other's company. I guess that's not enough. It just amazes me how my parents can be miserable and ill suited for each other and married for over 30 years, when people I both like can't make it together.
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