Album and Concert Review - Ghost - Infestissumam

I have a theory that producers Rick Rubin and Nick Raskulinecz had a gentleman’s bet to see who could out-Sabbath the other on their latest projects. Rubin worked with the actual Black Sabbath on the band’s upcoming album ’13,’ while Raskulinecz was behind the desk for Swedish devil band Ghost B.C.’s latest, Infestissumam, released last month.

We won’t know until June when the Sabbath album comes out but good odds would go to Ghost, who out-Sabbathed Sabbath on its debut, Opus Eponymous.

Ghost is a real enigma. Their image is full on Satan: The band plays in black masks and robes, so you don’t know who they are, and the singer, Papa Emeritus, is in full papal gear including pointy hat and vestments, but with an angry skull mask obscuring his face. Both of their albums feature for example what sound like Gregorian chants but of course are topically a bit different.

I would have passed over this in two seconds if the music wasn’t so damn good. The Opus album is insane – there is not a bad track on it. Very melodic and far more Blue Oyster Cult than Disfigured Prostitute (yes that is a real band). The songs are total earworms. Great arrangements, layered vocal harmonies, even the odd synth part for dressing.

Yes, Ghost is the Schoolhouse Rock of Satanic music. Instead of singing about conjunction junction, you walk around singing “come together, together as one, come together, for Lucifer’s son.” Brilliant strategy if these guys are serious, Spinal Tap funny if they are not. Either way, they win.

So the new album, Infestissumam. It’s not as strong as Opus. If there were three tunes chopped out of it, it would stand side by side. But as it is, there are some songs that are shockingly too sing-songy and catchy and they just don’t work.

However, the songs that DO work are incredible. Secular Haze, Year Zero, and Monstrance Clock stand out, as does the pretty classic take on the ABBA song I'm a Marionette. The song Jigolo Har Megiddo sounds like it came right off of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

Covering ABBA makes me think these guys are just riding this devil thing for a laugh (the Swedish bands have to stick together, right?), as does the impression that Monstrance Clock is probably a play on “Monsterous Cock.” I can see that as something someone said on the tour bus and was immediately turned into a song. It is about the conception of the devil’s son after all. I read an interview where one of the 'nameless ghouls' in the band (that is what they call themselves) said it's a little bit like Iron Maiden, except that in Ghost, Eddie (Maiden's zombie mascot) sings all the songs. Could not have said it better myself.

The other thing I find interesting is that the singer, Papa Emeritus, is now called Papa Emeritus II. Not sure if he died between albums and was replaced by a new guy. It was also funny that I got an email from Ghost last year asking me to vote for Papa when the Vatican was electing the new Pope. I did. Not sure it did any good…

So the album is good – some strong stuff. A few days after it came out, I saw the band live in Portland (last week). This was my third time seeing them. Last time, my buddy Dave and I drove three hours to Seattle to watch them play for 30 minutes, and then we drove back home. That is how much I like this band.

With the new album they are able to play a nice, 70 minute set that is chock full of great songs and theater. The best five or six new songs blend perfectly with the bulk of Opus, still in the set list.

I didn’t know the new album very well when I saw them but it didn’t matter. I immediately liked the songs they chose to play live.

There were rumors that the band took a massive advance when they signed to their label and there were a lot of concerns the music would suffer as the record label became increasingly eager to make its money back. But I hope Ghost is in it for the long game.

They are building a following by touring over and over, and a little bit like KISS, the mystique doesn’t hurt. My wife’s cousin and her husband, who do NOT generally go for this kind of music, proactively went to the show in Seattle the day after my Portland show. They were impressed. And if a mellow Dead Head can be impressed by Ghost, anyone can!

Below are a few photos from the Portland gig, plus a video for Secular Haze. Again, the fact that the video has Ghost on what looks like an Ed Sullivan-era sound stage cracks me up. Enjoy.

Concert Review – Rush (Key Arena, Seattle)

Made the dreadful six-hour round trip from Portland to Seattle and back to see Rush yet again, on the 26th show of the band’s Clockwork Angels tour on Tuesday. Was it worth it? Hell yes. Hell yes it was. So here is my review, along with some photos I snapped.

By the way: SPOILER ALERT – if you don’t want to know what the band is playing on this tour, stop reading, because that is the main focus of this post: the setlist.

Rush live is so amazing that it’s challenging to write about their shows. It comes down to little things like, how was Geddy’s voice? How was the mix? How was Neil’s solo? They never suck live, never have a bad night that isn’t better than most every other band’s best performance. So seeing Rush live really comes down to the setlist – what the hell are they going to blow our minds with?

The last few tours have been great dives into the past. Certainly the 30th anniversary tour was a celebration of the band’s whole repertoire, and the Time Machine tour was as well, with the band playing all of Moving Pictures for the first time ever. But now it’s time to focus on the present, and the excellent new Rush CD Clockwork Angels. After all this tour is supposed to promote that album, so I expected a lot of CA songs. And I got that. But I got more. A lot more. 

Rush’s set list on this tour is really out there. I think this is a ballsy set list move on Rush’s part, for two reasons.

First of all, if you are a fan of 70s Rush, forget it – you got nothing except the encore of 2112. If you dig 90s Rush, same thing – you get The Pass and depending on the night, Bravado or Dreamline (more on this in a sec). If you dig 80s Rush and their new CD, you are in for a treat. The band this week played two songs from Signals, two from Grace Under Pressure, one from Hold Your Fire, and, brace yourself – four Power Windows songs (Big Money, Grand Designs, Territories, and Middletown Dreams). They add a fifth every other night - Manhattan Project.

So, the first set is another Time Machine tour, but back to the 80s. Second set is heavily the new album. The gems squeezed in between represent different eras, but Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures are notably absent, as is every album from the 70s for the most part!

OK, and then dig this: For the first time, the band is rotating numerous songs in and out of its setlist every other night. In the past there have been one or two tunes like Vital Signs that they have swapped in and out, but this move almost makes them seem like the Grateful Dead – on Rush’s terms of course!

Dig it: they have a list of about seven songs (Middletown Dreams, The Body Electric, The Pass, Bravado, Manhattan Project, and two songs from the new album – Seven Cities of Gold and Wish Them Well) that they are swapping out every night. So that’s interesting.

And a big change for Neil – he had two (three perhaps) drum solos. In the first set, he did a pretty solid, improvised run around the acoustic kit for a few minutes. Brilliant. Then in set two he did another solo, which was on his electric kit and more focused on triggering sounds and setting soundscapes. The ‘third solo’ was really a very extended drum break in the new song Headlong Flight that lasted about a minute. Very different and neat way to feature Neil without a seven minute spot.

So, here was the setlist:

Set 1:
Subdivisions
The Big Money
Force 10
Grand Designs
Middletown Dreams
Territories
Analog Kid
The Pass
Where's My Thing (with drum solo)
Far Cry

Set 2:
Caravan
Clockwork Angels
The Anarchist
Carnies
The Wreckers
Headlong Flight (with drum solo)
Halo Effect (with guitar solo intro)
Wish Them Well
The Garden
Dreamline
The Percussor (drum solo)
Red Sector A
YYZ
The Spirit of Radio

Encore:
Tom Sawyer
2112 Overture/Temples of Syrinx/Grand Finale

Yep you read that right – set two starts with nine (9) new songs in a row. Hope you bought that new album! Most of the songs are great with two or three exceptions. But any way you cut it, after an 80s-fest of a first set, they are really asking their audience for a lot of patience. When the band finally got to the final four songs of the night starting with YYZ, the audience unleashed two hours of pent-up energy and the place went mad.

Still, the band understands that its loyal fan base is tired of the same songs over and over again. So they have rightly been varying it up over the last 10 years. This 80s focused set lit is a surprise, but one I dig. I got into Rush in the 80s and my first show was Grace Under Pressure. So to see more half of Power Windows live again was killer for me. Yeah I missed Red Barchetta, Stick It Out, Freewill, Limelight and The Trees. But I’ve seen those songs a lot. Glad to check out some fresh stuff!

The band was joined for the second set by a seven-piece string section who augmented the band nicely and probably freed up Geddy from playing more keyboards and triggering samples. I could take or leave it, but it was cool. When the strings left and it was just back to three guys, the energy took off.

The stage set was sweet as usual, and the videos before and after the sets were also funny as usual. The sum total though was that the band gets better every time I see them. Geddy’s voice was strong, especially on all of those high-assed 80s songs. The guys just had a ten-day rest, so I am sure that had something to do with it. This set list is more song-focsed so there were less Alex Lifeson freakout jams, and I did miss that a bit. But I have to say, once the started Analog Kid, I thought to myself – the drive is already worth it! Here are some snaps:

Concert Review - KISS and Motley Crue

Last month I took my wife and young son to see KISS and Motley Crue. This was their first time for KISS, and my first time for Crue. I was very excited to ‘pass the torch’ of KISS fanaticism to my son, and for my wife to see why KISS puts on the best show in the biz. I honestly gave no shits about seeing Motley Crue and was actually bummed that the two bands were splitting the night, because it meant less KISS.

But in the end, I had it backwards. Motley Crue wiped the stage up with KISS’ fake wigs and rehashed costumes. I left the show with the final, incredible conclusion that KISS should hang up their boots and call it a day.

Let’s back up. First of all, Crue was not appropriate for my son at all. KISS after about 1978 has always been fairly ‘family friendly,’ with minimal swearing and pretty much the most offensive thing being Simmons waggling his codpiece and Stanley swaggering mid song about meeting him and Gene in the ladies room.

Crue dropped the f-bomb so many times in its set that I almost became immune to it. There were at least three semi-clad hotties grinding around onstage in various costumes for almost every song. Put it this way – the last thing we saw of Crue’s set was Tommy Lee at the front of the stage screaming “I say Motely, you say Crue; I say FUCK, and you say YOU.” Let’s just say that Mitt Romney probably won’t accidentally use a Crue song at a campaign rally next month…

But having said that, Crue’s stage and performance trumped KISS in every way. Crue’s set was like some kind of apocalyptic circus. It looked like something inspired by a meth-addled combination of Blade Runner, Alien and Barnum & Bailey. Random steel out-croppings, huge guns mounted on turrets that shot water into the crowd, four giant slowly spinning industrial fans on stage left, where amps would usually be, chains hanging from the light truss, lights, lasers, fire, smoke, and then the mother of it all, which was Tommy Lee’s drums set. It sat at the bottom of a circular roller coaster track, and during Lee’s solo, the drums rolled all the way around it, 360 degrees.

And then there was the music. I am not a big Motely Crue fan, or wasn’t before coming to the show. But like when I saw ZZ Top, I came away from the show converted. Crue has a trove of great tunes, and they played them really well. I thought Vince Neil’s voice was solid. And Mick Mars – no idea how good he was on the guitar. The dude can really play. I was honestly very impressed with his skill and how unique of a style he has on the axe.

The band also pulled off the KISS-like challenge of making every band member equally interesting. They basically looked dirty. They looked like they came off of a really dusty construction site in Hell, strapped on their guitars and hit the stage, no time for a shower. But it worked with the overall stage motif. So when their set was done, I turned to my wife and said “OK! That was really good.” Rather, that was really FUCKING good, as Tommy Lee would have had me say.

Then after an amazingly short set break, during which probably the hardest working stage crew in the business took down Crue’s set and assembled KISS’, the lights went down, the bass rumble thundered through the speakers, and then the familiar “allllll right, Portland. You wanted the best. You got the best. The hottest band in the world. KISSSSSS!”

Then strapped to wheelchairs, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons rolled out with their instruments. OK, not really. Actually, the opening was quite exciting. Simmons, Stanley and fake-Ace Tommy Thayer started off on a platform above the stage that slowly lowered until the three emerged stage level to the opening notes of Detroit Rock City, a killer show opener if there ever was one.

The stage was far more organized than Crue – it was cleaner and more streamlined. If Crue’s was a dusty, junkyard diesel from Blade Runner, KISS’ was a clean, gleaming Maserati. But it was too clean. There was nothing really mechanical or interesting about KISS’ stage. It was all video screens. A huge one behind the stage, and a series of screens back where the amps should be. And aside from close-ups of the band, all that ran on those screens was 3D animations or things like the band’s makeup icons, or fake fire. Honestly it looked third rate – it was the visual version of a really compressed MP3. It was supposed to look right but your eyes felt cheated.

So I was left to focus on the band. Detroit Rock City got my blood pumping for sure, but then Stanley took the mic. And his voice was GONE baby gone. They band had played the night before and that was probably a routing error on this tour. It was evident from that very first verse that he’d be struggling, and I immediately lost my KISS boner.

Because let’s be honest – the band replaced guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss a decade ago. Gene is a reality TV star who can’t remember the verses to his own songs and needs to drop about 30 pounds to not look laughable in his stage get-up. So it’s all about Stanley’s ability to own it. And for the first time ever after a KISS show, I felt like he was phoning it in.

I can forgive his voice being raggy but it’s been that way for years and it’s not going to get better. Gene had to step in and take over a verse here and there, and Stanley’s stage antics and mid-song banter (which despite his voice being ragged, he screamed through) were tired.

The most interesting and non-scripted moment of the night was the 10 minute guitar and drum solo interplay between Thayer and drummer Eric Singer. These are the young guys in the band who can really play and must be credited for pumping new life into KISS many years ago. But now they are propping up the band, and frankly the fact that they are not original members makes me not very interested in them at all.

My son was getting tired so we left a couple of songs early to beat the traffic. Yes, I left a KISS show early to beat traffic. That says it all right there. I am just glad I got to see the reunion tour in the 90s with the original guys since I was too young to see them in the 70s. I have supported every era of KISS and have always had a blast at their show. The 2009 tour will probably be my favorite of the recent version of KISS – now THAT was a KISS show. So, sad but true, I am hanging up the KISS hat and won’t see them again.

Crue? I’d see them again in a second.

Concert Review - Roger Waters The Wall in Portland

It seems only fitting to review this show over Memorial Day weekend, since Waters has converted The Wall from an autobiographic piece to a larger global statement on war and the abuse of power.

All the footage in the show of soldiers coming home from duty and particularly the song Bring The Boys Back Home made me think of all those who fight for our freedom. The show vacillates between heartfelt and frequently tear-inducing images of the victims of war - including soldiers, and the Dogs and Pigs who wage war from behind the boardroom walls. You all know the story.

I took my 14 year old son to the show and Waters didn't disappoint. Right out of the gate it was a visual onslaught from the pyro opening of In The Flesh to the giant Wall toppling over two and a half hours later.

I noticed some new things in the show from when I saw it in December 2010. First of all, cameras have been added to capture Waters onstage and broadcast him onto the wall - much like the jumbo screens at big stadium shows.

But it was very effective on a couple of fronts. In Nobody Home, where Waters sings the song from a faux hotel room that extends from the wall, I remember that in the 2010 show I had a hard time seeing him. I was in the 100 section in the back, which was a great place to be but not for moments like Nobody Home.

But now, an image of Waters is broadcast on the right hand side of the wall so you can see all the nuances of his delivery. They also used this in Don't Leave Me Now to great effect (see photo below).

And it was also used in my favorite moment of the show, where Waters machine guns the audience to death at the end of In The Flesh. He now shows up 50 feet tall in front of the 'Nazi rally' imagery so you REALLY get the point. See the video below.

Otherwise, my review from December pretty much stands - I don't have much to add except that Waters sounded awesome vocally and stretched out a little more on the bass. The sound in the Portland Rose Garden was very crisp and his band was fantastic.

I especially noted the large amount of vocal harmonies for example in The Show Must Go On. These live four and five part harmonies, so well executed, are refreshing given today's era of lip syncing and playing to pre-recorded backing tracks.

Overall, I am glad I saw this show a second time, and honestly wish I could see it just one more time.



Isorski and Son

Yep, I had to also get the T-Shirt! Run Like Hell!

Concert Review: Ghost at The Showbox in Seattle

A bit of a 'real-time' review here from last night: Drove three hours to Seattle to catch Ghost at the Showbox where they opened for Mastodon and Opeth.

In fact I am typing this on my phone half way through Mastodon's set. Not a fan of these guys at all. Every song sounds the same with little melody or variation. A big snore for me. But I do want to see Opeth or we'd be on the road back to Portland already.

So, Ghost.

You can read my CD and Portland show reviews to know how I feel about Ghost. Or you can ponder the fact that my buddy Super Dave and I drove three hours on a Monday to hear six songs, and then drove back another three hours and go to work tomorrow.

Ghost is that kind of band.

They started at 7 p.m. sharp and played for 30 minutes exactly. They did six songs from their debut album: Con Claro Con Dio, Elizabeth, Prime Mover, Death Knell, Satan Prayer, Ritual.

I missed the inclusion of a couple of songs like Stand By Him but overall the gig was awesome. This band is fantastic live. Forget for a moment the image thing (caped, masked band; zombie pope singer). The songs are a highly effective amalgamation of old school Sabbath, BOC and Metallica.

They seem to have gotten even tighter since the last tour. The singer seemed even more cozy with his chosen persona. More than once I thought of a 70s era costumed Peter Gabriel but with only one character!

Anyhow very enjoyable. And finally I am at Mastodon's last song. Like the dinosaurs this band is named after, they need to be hit by meteors and global warming. Sorry, nothing redeemable at all about this band. They suck ass.

Fast forward a few hours. Opeth...

Opeth was very good - I thought they were playing Heart of the Sunrise as their opener but it was something else but just as proggy.

The band has listened to a lot of Yes, and certainly share a brotherhood with groups like Porcupine Tree. PT has in fact set the bar so high that it was hard for Opeth to match up.

But they were a welcome change from Mastodon, and a nice way to end the evening before the three hours back to Portland.

The best part of Mastodon's set (they had just left the stage):

Opeth:

Concert Review - Ghost

So, I made it back alive. And it's only 11:30 PM.

Caught Ghost tonight on the 11th show of its 13 Dates of Doom tour, the Swedish band's first ever tour of the U.S.

As I said in my CD review yesterday, I was turned on to this band by a colleague who loves the darkest crevices of metal.

But in this case his advice to check the band out was right on. I got the band's CD Opus Eponymous and was hooked right away. The fact that they had a super theatrical show complete with Peter Gabriel-esque singer in full costume and makeup just sort of shoved it over the cliff for me.

The band packed the Hawthorne Theater in Portland on a Tuesday night no less, and like with seeing Them Crooked Vultures at the Roseland, I imagine this is the smallest venue where I will ever see this band. They are on their way to big things.

Maybe it's the KISS-like mystique, or the catchy music or the Sabbath meets Genesis tunes, but this band has something special. They only played about 50 minutes - their whole CD plus an oddly gorgeous cover of Here Comes The Sun. And no encore. Certainly left us wanting more.

Part of the fun was bringing my friend Dave to the show and not telling him what he was going to see. I broke out the CD in the car on the way there and as expected he dug the music. But as the smoke filled the Theater, I turned to him and said, "Oh by the way, these guys are kind of theatrical."

Turned out to be the understatement of the year.

The band as expected was completely shrouded. There was a notable absence of front lights and no spotlights so for much of the show the band was backlit, meaning you could see their silhouettes but not their fronts. The amount of fog would have made Pink Floyd envious.

Interesting musical notes - there was for sure a backing vocal track a la Rush, because the singer was the only guy with a mic, yet the backing vocals from the CD were very present. Also, the whole band used Orange amps (see photos), which is a very cool deal. They also had a sweet tour bus - I mean nicer than I have seen at shows a couple of levels above this one. Someone is funding these guys to tour in comfort or they made a deal with...oh wait...

Anyway, it was certainly a show I will remember for a very long time, and was pretty much exactly as exciting as I expected. They head to San Francisco tomorrow and I wish I could see them again.

And actually, just today a U.S. tour was announced with Ghost, Mastondon and Opeth, so there will be another chance for you all to see these guys. Like KISS opening for Fleetwood Mac, I expect Ghost will steal the show on this tour.

The merch guy said this tour had exceeded everyone's expectations across the board and I think they can log the Portland show in with this assessment. The show was epic.

Sorry for the disjointed review - I am still buzzing from the show. Below are some of my terrible iPhone photos, plus a YouTube of Here Comes The Sun. Wow.

Van Halen Cafe Wha? Gig -- Exclusive Report and Photos

A former housemate in San Francisco from many years ago was able to get into the Van Halen show last week and I spoke to him about it and with his permission am posting some of his photos and observations for you to enjoy.

Hi name is Vince Muraco, and he is Executive Chef at Andaz 5th Avenue in New York City. In fact, when I knew Vince in the mid 90s, he was attending California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where at age 17 he was its youngest student ever.

He has a long, prestigious resume as a chef in California, Miami and New York, including Park Hyatts in SF and LA, Vix in Miami, Grove Isle Resort in Coconut Grove, Florida and as Executive Chef at Zimzala in Huntington Beach. Now in New York and soon to be married and a father to boot, Vince is making a name for himself at Andaz 5th Avenue.

He has always been a Van Halen fanatic, even back in the day when we shared a house with a bunch of other guys in the city. We needed to have seven or eight people in that house to make rent, and Vince was one of those guys. I was in a touring band and wasn't around much but when I was we'd sometimes talk Halen, and I'd borrow his red Strat, the only axe in the house with a whammy bar. Vince also had one of the first 5150 heads, which he still has!

So anyway, he was able to get into the show at literally the last second from a classic 'friend of a friend of a colleague' situation and was ushered into Cafe Wha? during the first song. He stood off to the side of the stage on Wolfgang's side. You can see that from some of the photos he has shared.

Vince told me the vibe in the venue was electric and even though it was mostly industry folks in attendance, people went totally nuts.

He said that while Dave couldn't really hit the high highs, he sounded great and was the same old Dave, telling stories and going on and on. He said the band was mugging behind him and Eddie looked at his watch a couple of times during the longer Dave intros but all in fun.

Wolfgang was solid but as with most people, Vince missed Michael Anthony's voice. Wolfgang and Eddie did sing backups, though. Alex was rock solid on the kit, playing the smallest drum set Vince had ever seen him play -- probably due to the tiny stage more than anything. And the happiest surprise was that Eddie seemed sober and was having fun and was on fire.

Vince told me he had been able to sit in on some Van Hagar sound checks a few years ago and Eddie would be tight and killer but by show time he'd be wasted and couldn't play. Not the case in New York.

As you'd expect (and with an only 45-minute set), it was over in a blur. As noted in other reports, despite Beautiful Girls and Unchained being on the setlist for the encore, the band only did one song, Ain't Talkin Bout Love

Vince hung out after the show, bumped knuckles with Wolfgang, who gave him a pick, and then made his way to Eddie's side and was able to grab a setlist (pictured) and one of Eddie's picks too. Gearheads will appreciate the photos of Eddie's rig.

Speaking of Eddie, Eddie Trunk (NYC DJ and host of VH1 That Metal Show) was there and Vince was able to shoot the bull for a second and give him his card. Jimmy Fallon and John McEnroe were also in attendance.

Enjoy Vince's photos, and for sure hit the Andaz 5th Avenue if you make it to NYC. Thanks Vince for your insights and photos! Next step - let's see how good the new album is.

Also, according to Eddie Trunk's website, the track listing for Van Halen's new studio album, A Different Kind Of Truth has been revealed via The Van Halen News Desk.

A Different Kind Of Truth's Track listing:

1. Tattoo
2. She’s The Woman
3. You and Your Blues
4. China Town
5. Blood and Fire
6. Bullethead
7. As Is
8. Honeybabysweetiedoll
9. The Trouble With Never
10. Outta Space
11. Stay Frosty
12. Big River
13. Beats Workin’

In other Van Halen news, MelodicRock.com is reporting that the Deluxe Edition CD will feature a bonus DVD featuring four brand new acoustic performance videos titled The Downtown Sessions.

Van Halen's A Different Kind Of Truth is due to be released on February 7th through Interscope Records.

Concert Review - Rush - Portland Oregon - Time Machine Tour

I was not going to review this Rush show since it was the exact same setlist as the show I reviewed last August. As you can see, I took loads of photos and video that time but this time decided to not even bring in the camera, so I could just enjoy the gig without worrying about capturing it. I knew it would be the same show but I wanted to catch it anyway because this tour has been so great.

The August show was the 15th on the tour, and this was the third to last, so I was interested in seeing how things might have developed over the last year on the road. I did the same thing with The Police reunion, catching the second or third show on that tour and one near the very end. In that case the band was very, very rough at that first gig and was obviously still working out arrangements and even the keys of the songs. At the second, they were super tight.

Well, in Rush’s case they were tight both shows. I am not sure which one was better to be honest. They were visually stoked to play The Camera Eye on the front end of the tour and I think Alex Lifeson’s solo was better at that first gig. But I have to say, Geddy was on fire in Portland, jumping around and hitting every note – and I mean EVERY note. How he keeps his voice in shape on a long tour like this is beyond me.

While Neil Peart looked tired, he played great and my friend Dave who has seen Rush a million times thought the center section of Freewill might have been the best he’d ever seen.

So yes, same setlist, same awesome band. For me the highlights were Marathon, Subdivisions, all of Moving Pictures, which was still AWESOME to see live all the way through, and the new stuff – Caravan and BU2B. They were really fired up to play these new songs.

I still think the setlist was weird. Time Stand Still and Presto were not great choices for second and third place but whatever. Overall this tour was a real treat and I am looking forward to the DVD that will likely come from the Cleveland appearance.

In the meantime, here is video I shot at the show last August:

Concert Review - Roger Waters The Wall

I saw Roger Waters’ The Wall in San Jose last Tuesday and it took me a few days to put ‘pen to paper’ because I wanted to let it all soak in. Of course as expected the concert was unlike anything I have ever seen. I think the photos I took will do it far more justice than a detailed description but here are some thoughts:

Musically, Waters stuck to the script. There were the same extended pieces that the Floyd did back in the 1980 shows (three solos at the end of Brick 2 instead of one, the extended Mother solo, the ‘A Few More Bricks’ medley). These were included to add more time to the concert and allow more time for the Wall to be built. It was great to hear a really true rendition of the album with all of the music pretty much as I knew it.

His band was great – Snowy White and G.E. Smith on guitars. A younger guy who did the leads, who was a little over the top rocker-style for me, but played Gilmour’s parts very faithfully (on a Tele no less). Waters had a number of vocalists including a guy who did nothing but sing Gilmour’s parts. And of course Rog played loads of bass.

But truthfully I was not watching the band. They are all dressed in black and on a visual level, they are totally secondary to the Wall, the props and the amazing, amazing visuals that were broadcast onto the Wall itself. The Wall had an almost fluorescent glow to it all night when it was just being backlit. But most of the time, amazing videos were beamed onto the Wall, which then became basically a 240-foot long movie screen.

I mean, these visuals were insane and led the audience on everything from IMAX-style nausea-inducing 3D to transforming the arena much like the use of different movie sets would – look at my various photos below and you will see what I mean about how the Wall itself was the star of this show.

The props were all there: the enormous marionette teacher for Brick 2, the plane flying into the Wall at the end of In The Flesh?, the giant inflatable Mother, and of course the flying pig, which roamed the rafters of the arena during Run Like Hell. Rog used a number of videos from the Wall film, including the parrying flowers from What Shall We Do Now? and the whole The Trial sequence. It was great to see that original, grainy film animation and that Waters did not try and ‘update’ (ruin) it in any way.

One thing that was different was Waters himself. He admitted more than once during the show that when he wrote The Wall 30 years ago he was an ‘angry young man’ and even went so far as to say he didn’t feel that way anymore and was really happy to be playing the show for us. Which is great for Waters, but I kind of missed the angry, tortured guy in some of the gut busters like Don’t Leave Me Now and Nobody Home. He was almost campy in those songs and it didn’t work as well, but shit I wouldn’t wish him sorrow for my enjoyment, so what the hell! I am just glad to see this show.

My buddy and I were saying that The Wall stage show is an amazing concept that we really sort of take for granted because it’s been around about 75 percent of the time we’ve been alive. But what an idea, and to come up with this in 1980! Image the band meeting: “So we build a wall. In front of the band. After the first set, the audience can’t see the band at all. We have giant puppets and a flying pig. At the end we topple the wall into the audience and that’s it – no encore. Holy f’ing shit.

Thematically the visuals were true to the original themes of alienation between nations, people and institutions. Lots of imagery of the recent wars and the men and women lost in those wars and how senseless they are – driven by greed, and ideological and religious jockeying. On his Facebook site, Waters had asked people who lost loved ones in wars to send photos and information prior to the tour, and he used at least a couple hundred of those images over the course of the night.

I have heard that the crux of the story for Waters is the song Bring the Boys Back Home and I have to say that this was the only part of the show that gave me a giant lump in the throat. In Vera, he showed slow-mo footage of little kids in school classrooms in surprise reunions with their dads and this one girl’s face went from surprise to elation to just a waterworks as she jumped into her daddy’s arms. It may be the one image I always remember after the bitching animations and flying pigs and planes fade from my memory. It was heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time when you really get to the emotion of what these wars do to little kids. I found someone's video of it and posted that below the photos.

So anyway, the North American leg of The Wall tour is almost over and I am damn glad I saw it. Here are some of my snaps for those interested: