This one was tied briefly, until the eventual winner pulled away.
Here's what I had to say:
I'm ready to vote.
I liked the Evership album overall, although I found that I liked "The Serious Room" and the first half of "Island of the Broken Tree" much more than I liked the rest of the album. Like Friday, I also feel that it's a little dull in some of the other spots.
I found that the Spettri album sounded varied and colorful throughout. At times it rocks out. At other times it's slow and lovely. I also liked the obvious Keith Emerson influence evident in the keyboards. There are parts of the album that feel like they could have been missing cuts from Tarkus. And that last instrumental track is exquisite.
I'll probably buy the Evership track "The Serious Room" for download. However, my vote goes to Spettri.
However, as has been par for the course this year, my view didn't prevail. Evership pulled out to an early lead, then Spettri caught up. All of the late votes went to Evership, though.
Final Result: Evership 8 votes, Spettri 4 votes.
One more match to go in the first round.
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
The Grumpy Old Men
From time to time, you've heard me drop a mention on this page of what I refer to as "The Grumpy Old Men" of YouTube. I have to admit, I call them that somewhat ironically, as 1. For the most part, they're not that Grumpy. I'm probably grumpier; and 2. I'm 99% sure that I'm older than all three of them.
The three gentlemen I'm mostly referring to when I use this term are: 1. Pete Pardo from the YouTube channel Sea of Tranquility (seaoftranquility.org); 2. Ant (that's the only name I was able to find for him) from the YouTube channel RushTrader (rushtrader.com); 3. David Spuria - from the YouTube channel The Real Music Observer (therealmusicobserver.blogspot.com).
All three cover a significant amount of classic and/or progressive rock, and all three are definitely opinionated. What I mean by this is that all three are veteran music fans who have reached a point in life where they're not afraid to say what they think, whether people agree with them not. They tend to talk about new and classic albums, current tours, and whatever other music topics pop into their heads.
I'll be honest -- I tend to enjoy Pardo and Ant more than Spuria -- I find him to be the most sarcastic of the three. And I often disagree with all of them. But I do like to keep up with them and check in with what they have to say from time to time.
Topics where I've disagreed with them have included:
1. Styx. Both Ant and Spuria love Dennis DeYoung, and have a real problem with the fact that Tommy Shaw and J.Y. Young not only threw DeYoung (the primary songwriter) out of the band a number of years back, but that they are emphatic about not wanting to reunite with him, even though they concede it would be a big payday. Consequently, they both endorse seeing Dennis DeYoung and his current band over seeing Shaw and Young's version of the band (which has the legal right to the name "Styx".)
I saw both versions of the band last year, and honestly, I felt that it was six of one and half a dozen of the other music-wise -- both versions of Styx are fun, neither version is earth-shaking. Let's face it -- Styx ain't Yes.
As for the DeYoung controversy, I get the argument that DeYoung is the guy who wrote all the hits, and it's a shame he's being blackballed from joining his old band. But on the other hand, if you saw the Mike Wallace interview with Shaw and Young, it's obvious that both of them find DeYoung endlessly annoying, and that they'd pretty much rather hang themselves than have to be in a band with him again. And watching DeYoung, I can sort see that he'd be an irritating person to have to be in close quarters with. Although in his defense, he's been married to the same woman for almost 50 years now, so I guess he's not that aggravating to her. But to me, you get to choose who you want to play with. And if just the thought of playing with a given person gives you hives, then you've got a right to pass, and live a happier life.
2. Fleetwood Mac. I think all of them were very down on Fleetwood Mac after they dumped Lindsey Buckingham (although I could be mistaken about that in Pardo's case). I didn't have a problem with it. There have been renditions of the band without Stevie Nicks over the years, and renditions without Christine McVie. (And it's not even the first time since joining that they've gone out without Buckingham in the band). Again, I get that Buckingham was hugely important for many years as the musical leader of the band who did all of the arranging, etc. But to me, there's a reason why Stevie Nicks is the only FM member who's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame both as a member of Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. She's the star. And in terms of the songs I love the best, Buckingham was the band's third best songwriter, after Ms. Nicks and Ms. McVie.
Plus, I have to admit that I was curious to see what Mike Campbell and Neil Finn would bring to the table in the most recent FM lineup. I saw them live, and I enjoyed the show. It was kind of cool to hear "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Free Fallin'" thrown into a Fleetwood Mac set. And as it unfortunately turned out, if they'd have waited for Buckingham to go out on tour with them, they'd have had to cancel the tour anyway. This past February, Buckingham had open heart surgery that injured his throat. So you wouldn't have had Buckingham out for a full tour no matter what. These guys are all pretty long in the tooth these days, so who knows if there will be another tour after this one. But if they go out again, and if Buckingham recovers his voice (or even if he just plays guitar), and if everyone involved was amenable to a reunion, would I be up for it? Hell yeah! But I'm still glad I didn't skip this year's tour.
3. Yes. (Are you sensing a theme here?) This is another band that had two different versions of it out on tour last year -- the version with Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman, and the version with Steve Howe, Alan White and Geoff Downes, among others. This was another case where I think all three were all-in on the ARW version of the band, although there were also some suggestions that Yes should just hang it up. I only saw the Howe version of the band, both last year and this year. I missed ARW when they came around the first time, and now it looks like they won't be coming back -- both Anderson and Wakeman are touring solo this year. (I'll be seeing Anderson, although it looks like I'll unfortunately miss Wakeman.) There was a unanimous consensus between the three (as I remember) that the ARW version was the more legitimate version. I think both versions were equally legitimate. I think you can just as easily say "It's not Yes without Howe" (I'm not a huge Trevor Rabin fan) and you can "It's not Yes without Anderson". (Wakeman has been in and out so often that while he's clearly -- and deservedly -- the most popular Yes keyboard player, you could never stake the legitimacy of the band on his presence or absence.)
Anyway, if you're a fan of classic and/or progressive rock, it might be worth your while to give one or all of these guys a watch. But don't be afraid to disagree with the grumpy old bastards. Unlike me, they're not always right. :)
The three gentlemen I'm mostly referring to when I use this term are: 1. Pete Pardo from the YouTube channel Sea of Tranquility (seaoftranquility.org); 2. Ant (that's the only name I was able to find for him) from the YouTube channel RushTrader (rushtrader.com); 3. David Spuria - from the YouTube channel The Real Music Observer (therealmusicobserver.blogspot.com).
All three cover a significant amount of classic and/or progressive rock, and all three are definitely opinionated. What I mean by this is that all three are veteran music fans who have reached a point in life where they're not afraid to say what they think, whether people agree with them not. They tend to talk about new and classic albums, current tours, and whatever other music topics pop into their heads.
I'll be honest -- I tend to enjoy Pardo and Ant more than Spuria -- I find him to be the most sarcastic of the three. And I often disagree with all of them. But I do like to keep up with them and check in with what they have to say from time to time.
Topics where I've disagreed with them have included:
1. Styx. Both Ant and Spuria love Dennis DeYoung, and have a real problem with the fact that Tommy Shaw and J.Y. Young not only threw DeYoung (the primary songwriter) out of the band a number of years back, but that they are emphatic about not wanting to reunite with him, even though they concede it would be a big payday. Consequently, they both endorse seeing Dennis DeYoung and his current band over seeing Shaw and Young's version of the band (which has the legal right to the name "Styx".)
I saw both versions of the band last year, and honestly, I felt that it was six of one and half a dozen of the other music-wise -- both versions of Styx are fun, neither version is earth-shaking. Let's face it -- Styx ain't Yes.
As for the DeYoung controversy, I get the argument that DeYoung is the guy who wrote all the hits, and it's a shame he's being blackballed from joining his old band. But on the other hand, if you saw the Mike Wallace interview with Shaw and Young, it's obvious that both of them find DeYoung endlessly annoying, and that they'd pretty much rather hang themselves than have to be in a band with him again. And watching DeYoung, I can sort see that he'd be an irritating person to have to be in close quarters with. Although in his defense, he's been married to the same woman for almost 50 years now, so I guess he's not that aggravating to her. But to me, you get to choose who you want to play with. And if just the thought of playing with a given person gives you hives, then you've got a right to pass, and live a happier life.
2. Fleetwood Mac. I think all of them were very down on Fleetwood Mac after they dumped Lindsey Buckingham (although I could be mistaken about that in Pardo's case). I didn't have a problem with it. There have been renditions of the band without Stevie Nicks over the years, and renditions without Christine McVie. (And it's not even the first time since joining that they've gone out without Buckingham in the band). Again, I get that Buckingham was hugely important for many years as the musical leader of the band who did all of the arranging, etc. But to me, there's a reason why Stevie Nicks is the only FM member who's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame both as a member of Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. She's the star. And in terms of the songs I love the best, Buckingham was the band's third best songwriter, after Ms. Nicks and Ms. McVie.
Plus, I have to admit that I was curious to see what Mike Campbell and Neil Finn would bring to the table in the most recent FM lineup. I saw them live, and I enjoyed the show. It was kind of cool to hear "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Free Fallin'" thrown into a Fleetwood Mac set. And as it unfortunately turned out, if they'd have waited for Buckingham to go out on tour with them, they'd have had to cancel the tour anyway. This past February, Buckingham had open heart surgery that injured his throat. So you wouldn't have had Buckingham out for a full tour no matter what. These guys are all pretty long in the tooth these days, so who knows if there will be another tour after this one. But if they go out again, and if Buckingham recovers his voice (or even if he just plays guitar), and if everyone involved was amenable to a reunion, would I be up for it? Hell yeah! But I'm still glad I didn't skip this year's tour.
3. Yes. (Are you sensing a theme here?) This is another band that had two different versions of it out on tour last year -- the version with Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman, and the version with Steve Howe, Alan White and Geoff Downes, among others. This was another case where I think all three were all-in on the ARW version of the band, although there were also some suggestions that Yes should just hang it up. I only saw the Howe version of the band, both last year and this year. I missed ARW when they came around the first time, and now it looks like they won't be coming back -- both Anderson and Wakeman are touring solo this year. (I'll be seeing Anderson, although it looks like I'll unfortunately miss Wakeman.) There was a unanimous consensus between the three (as I remember) that the ARW version was the more legitimate version. I think both versions were equally legitimate. I think you can just as easily say "It's not Yes without Howe" (I'm not a huge Trevor Rabin fan) and you can "It's not Yes without Anderson". (Wakeman has been in and out so often that while he's clearly -- and deservedly -- the most popular Yes keyboard player, you could never stake the legitimacy of the band on his presence or absence.)
Anyway, if you're a fan of classic and/or progressive rock, it might be worth your while to give one or all of these guys a watch. But don't be afraid to disagree with the grumpy old bastards. Unlike me, they're not always right. :)
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Prog Contest: Round 1, Match 7
There are only two first-round matches left to go. So here is Match 7:
Evership
Evership II
"They say you can't judge a book by it's cover, but apparently that doesn't hold true for records. This 2018 release contains the classic 70s inspired prog that you would expect from a cover like that. The production is up to date, but the music is classic (including a seven part, 27 minute long, closing number)... It's a testament to how long Friday's been running this tourney that I find myself rummaging through 2018 releases for obscure prog." - TwigTW
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4FNPi7My6H9mwdlEEt8VY4?si=nuBHjtLQRqCCwXCGI4wb8g
Bandcamp: https://mrmdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/evership-ii
vs.
Spettri
2973 La Nemica Dei Ricordi
"A band born in the 60s but that only managed to get published in the 2010s. 2973 (published in 2015) is a concept album that begins right after the end of the previous album: unhappy with our society, the protagonist talks with the dead to search for answers but ends up losing his mind; now, in this second album, he sails on a ghostly ship that will bring him closer to his inner self. The music sounds like Black Sabbath doing rpi, with a constant haunted house vibe (complete with sax) throughout and lots of keyboards. The singer isn't very gifted, but definitely fits the Halloween feel." - Sabrutin
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3vbcUg0RCkKKW2qu5xqYbX?si=FGwNSiKzT-u7ynBEMApIcw
So here, we have a modern American prog album (2018) vs. an Italian prog album that was recorded more than forty years ago, but only released in 2015. (It's as if we found it in a time capsule). Should be in interesting matchup.
Evership
Evership II
"They say you can't judge a book by it's cover, but apparently that doesn't hold true for records. This 2018 release contains the classic 70s inspired prog that you would expect from a cover like that. The production is up to date, but the music is classic (including a seven part, 27 minute long, closing number)... It's a testament to how long Friday's been running this tourney that I find myself rummaging through 2018 releases for obscure prog." - TwigTW
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4FNPi7My6H9mwdlEEt8VY4?si=nuBHjtLQRqCCwXCGI4wb8g
Bandcamp: https://mrmdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/evership-ii
vs.
Spettri
2973 La Nemica Dei Ricordi
"A band born in the 60s but that only managed to get published in the 2010s. 2973 (published in 2015) is a concept album that begins right after the end of the previous album: unhappy with our society, the protagonist talks with the dead to search for answers but ends up losing his mind; now, in this second album, he sails on a ghostly ship that will bring him closer to his inner self. The music sounds like Black Sabbath doing rpi, with a constant haunted house vibe (complete with sax) throughout and lots of keyboards. The singer isn't very gifted, but definitely fits the Halloween feel." - Sabrutin
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3vbcUg0RCkKKW2qu5xqYbX?si=FGwNSiKzT-u7ynBEMApIcw
So here, we have a modern American prog album (2018) vs. an Italian prog album that was recorded more than forty years ago, but only released in 2015. (It's as if we found it in a time capsule). Should be in interesting matchup.
Prog Contest: Round 1 Match 6 Results
Well, this one was so close that it took an extra two days to get a result.
Once again, I was the first to vote. Here's what I said:
OK, I'm ready to vote. I suspect I'm going to surprise my friend Jethro with this one.
On first listen, I really didn't like the Trettioariga Kriget album at all. It's grown on me some with repeated listens -- I do like that second song. But there are some parts of it I just hate -- I tend to like my prog melodic, and there are times when both the vocalist and the music itself wander far from that pleasant pasture. (And this was one of those albums when my wife gave me one of those looks, and asked "Why are you listening to THIS?") I really wanted to like it, but it's just not my thing.
The Embryo was a whole different trip. I've mentioned at various times that I don't really like jazz, but that's because jazz can all too often be harsh and dissonant. (I used to know a local folk singer named Kathy Fleischmann. And any time she'd accidentally hit a clunker chord on her guitar, she'd smile and say, "Jazz!") For the most part, this music goes down smoothly, especially the third track, the aptly named "Warm Canto" -- they're right, here. It IS a warm canto.
So while I appreciated the Trettioariga Kriget a little more each time I listened to it, I still had a clear preference for the Embryo.
My vote is for Embryo.
Unfortunately, my streak of putting the curse of the cat people on the albums I vote for continued. Trettioariga Kriget roared out to an early lead in the vote. Then Embryo caught up. However, the final result was:
Final Result: Trettioariga Kriget 9 votes, Embryo 7 votes
This has the unfortunate result of meaning that Trettioarriga Kriget will be around for at least one more round. I don't mind listening to the album again. But it means that I'll have to spell the damned band name in this blog again! "Trettioarriga" indeed!
Oh well. On to Match 7.
Once again, I was the first to vote. Here's what I said:
OK, I'm ready to vote. I suspect I'm going to surprise my friend Jethro with this one.
On first listen, I really didn't like the Trettioariga Kriget album at all. It's grown on me some with repeated listens -- I do like that second song. But there are some parts of it I just hate -- I tend to like my prog melodic, and there are times when both the vocalist and the music itself wander far from that pleasant pasture. (And this was one of those albums when my wife gave me one of those looks, and asked "Why are you listening to THIS?") I really wanted to like it, but it's just not my thing.
The Embryo was a whole different trip. I've mentioned at various times that I don't really like jazz, but that's because jazz can all too often be harsh and dissonant. (I used to know a local folk singer named Kathy Fleischmann. And any time she'd accidentally hit a clunker chord on her guitar, she'd smile and say, "Jazz!") For the most part, this music goes down smoothly, especially the third track, the aptly named "Warm Canto" -- they're right, here. It IS a warm canto.
So while I appreciated the Trettioariga Kriget a little more each time I listened to it, I still had a clear preference for the Embryo.
My vote is for Embryo.
Unfortunately, my streak of putting the curse of the cat people on the albums I vote for continued. Trettioariga Kriget roared out to an early lead in the vote. Then Embryo caught up. However, the final result was:
Final Result: Trettioariga Kriget 9 votes, Embryo 7 votes
This has the unfortunate result of meaning that Trettioarriga Kriget will be around for at least one more round. I don't mind listening to the album again. But it means that I'll have to spell the damned band name in this blog again! "Trettioarriga" indeed!
Oh well. On to Match 7.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Prog Contest: Round 1, Match 6
Moving right along, here are this week's two contestants in the Summer of Prog Contest:
Trettioariga Kriget
Krigssang
"- stellar guitar playing, Mellotron, some acoustic guitars, prominent bass lines etc
- kinda "heavy" and "dark" ( as to be expected from scandinavians)
- sung in swedish for an öhh.... exotic flavor
- they go both ways ...short and long. (usually around 4 min. + a 17 min. track to close it out.
In one sentence: Young (well at the time) swedish prog rock band emulating the sounds of the "foreign greats" like King Crimson, Rush and Yes with some hard rock." - hansoloshotfirst
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VdxeeQjOho
vs.
Embryo (GER)
Rocksession
"Embryo is a german krautrock musical act known for their distinct brand of jazz-rock music. Of their albums I find this one to be their most sonically interesting. It mainly is a jazz-rock album like their others, but is filled with odd sounds and influences, from marimbas to violins and a bunch of other things I can't identify because I suck at describing music
tl;dr: it's a sonically weird instrumental krautrock jazz-prog record." - SharkTooth
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1_31qSCIY&list=PL8a8cutYP7foyL_TubmoMTEwUCG6zmB8l&index=1
So it's Sweden vs. Germany. Sort of like a World Cup match.
Trettioariga Kriget
Krigssang
"- stellar guitar playing, Mellotron, some acoustic guitars, prominent bass lines etc
- kinda "heavy" and "dark" ( as to be expected from scandinavians)
- sung in swedish for an öhh.... exotic flavor
- they go both ways ...short and long. (usually around 4 min. + a 17 min. track to close it out.
In one sentence: Young (well at the time) swedish prog rock band emulating the sounds of the "foreign greats" like King Crimson, Rush and Yes with some hard rock." - hansoloshotfirst
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VdxeeQjOho
vs.
Embryo (GER)
Rocksession
"Embryo is a german krautrock musical act known for their distinct brand of jazz-rock music. Of their albums I find this one to be their most sonically interesting. It mainly is a jazz-rock album like their others, but is filled with odd sounds and influences, from marimbas to violins and a bunch of other things I can't identify because I suck at describing music
tl;dr: it's a sonically weird instrumental krautrock jazz-prog record." - SharkTooth
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1_31qSCIY&list=PL8a8cutYP7foyL_TubmoMTEwUCG6zmB8l&index=1
So it's Sweden vs. Germany. Sort of like a World Cup match.
Prog Contest: Round 1 Match 5 Results
This was a close round, although my pick stayed constant throughout three listens of each album. I was the first one to vote in this round. I wrote:
I think I'm as ready to vote as I'm ever going to be. This was a difficult round.
As I mentioned before, I had listened to the Wobbler album extensively when it came out in 2017. I liked it then, and I liked it even more now. It's definitely a throwback to classic prog, with all of the strengths and weaknesses that implies. It's biggest drawback is that it does, at times, fall into what I sometimes think of as the classic prog rock conundrum - develop some melodic themes, usually around the vocal parts, then play a bunch of complicated shit until the next theme develops around the next vocal part. (It's like the difference between the arias and the recitative parts in opera.) But the themes here are nicely developed, and grew on me with repeated listens.
When I first realized who Fish was, I had some mixed feelings. I'm not a big Marillion fan, beyond Misplaced Childhood, and even on that one, there are some songs I like a lot and others I can do without. What I've heard of Fish's work with Marillion can be a little over the top, in the same way that I feel a lot of Peter Gabriel's work with Genesis could go over the top.
However, I was very pleasantly surprised here to hear how understated Fish is on this album, and how accessible the music is. Yes, many of the lyrical themes have been done before, but I feel that they were done very well here. (I notice that this album also fills the vacuum that Friday had pointed out in this year's contest re/something more in the folk-prog vein.)
Wobbler is definitely the proggier album, but I don't concern myself with that. Once Friday rules that an album is proggy enough to include in the contest, I vote almost solely on which album I like better. And while I liked them both a lot, the one I liked slightly better is the Fish album.
So much to my own surprise, my vote is for Fish.
Nevertheless, I knew from the get-go that of the two, Wobbler was the proggier album. So I wasn't surprised at the final vote count.
Final Results: Wobbler 11 votes, Fish 5 votes
I think I'm as ready to vote as I'm ever going to be. This was a difficult round.
As I mentioned before, I had listened to the Wobbler album extensively when it came out in 2017. I liked it then, and I liked it even more now. It's definitely a throwback to classic prog, with all of the strengths and weaknesses that implies. It's biggest drawback is that it does, at times, fall into what I sometimes think of as the classic prog rock conundrum - develop some melodic themes, usually around the vocal parts, then play a bunch of complicated shit until the next theme develops around the next vocal part. (It's like the difference between the arias and the recitative parts in opera.) But the themes here are nicely developed, and grew on me with repeated listens.
When I first realized who Fish was, I had some mixed feelings. I'm not a big Marillion fan, beyond Misplaced Childhood, and even on that one, there are some songs I like a lot and others I can do without. What I've heard of Fish's work with Marillion can be a little over the top, in the same way that I feel a lot of Peter Gabriel's work with Genesis could go over the top.
However, I was very pleasantly surprised here to hear how understated Fish is on this album, and how accessible the music is. Yes, many of the lyrical themes have been done before, but I feel that they were done very well here. (I notice that this album also fills the vacuum that Friday had pointed out in this year's contest re/something more in the folk-prog vein.)
Wobbler is definitely the proggier album, but I don't concern myself with that. Once Friday rules that an album is proggy enough to include in the contest, I vote almost solely on which album I like better. And while I liked them both a lot, the one I liked slightly better is the Fish album.
So much to my own surprise, my vote is for Fish.
Nevertheless, I knew from the get-go that of the two, Wobbler was the proggier album. So I wasn't surprised at the final vote count.
Final Results: Wobbler 11 votes, Fish 5 votes
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy, John Lodge, Asia, Yes
A few months ago, Denise started talking about an '80s cruise some of her friends from the WLIR group are going on next March. It has a pretty good lineup, including The B-52s (who are one of her favorite bands), Berlin, Scandal, The Motels, etc. (There are a lot more, but these were some of the ones that intrigued me.) Also, listed among the non-new-wave-'80s bands was Asia, which didn't interest Denise a bit, but interested me a lot. Even though John Wetton passed away not that long ago, I've never seen Asia, and I still wanted to. At first, I said I'd go with her. Then, when I started thinking about the logistics of it, including leaving my son alone for a week, the money (when my finances are kind of a mess), how much I hate to fly (the cruise is leaving out of Florida), etc., I decided it wasn't a great idea. So she's going with her friends, but I'm staying here with my son (and possibly my daughter - her boyfriend is planning to go into the military in November, so it's not clear if she's going where he goes, she's coming back here, etc.) But there was a little pang in my heart about not seeing Asia, even without John Wetton.
Shortly after that, I got an email notice that Yes (the Steve Howe version) was bringing a tour called The Royal Affair Tour, to Long Island in June. (For some reason, I have a mental block about the tour name -- I keep wanting to call it "The Royal We" tour -- but whatever.) The tour would include Yes, John Lodge (of Moody Blues fame), Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy, and, wait for it ... Asia! (You guessed that, didn't you?) I bought myself a pair of tickets almost immediately. I had just seen Yes last year at Westbury, of course, but they're one of my top favorite bands of all time, so even though they're showing their age a little, it's still always fun to see them. As to John Lodge and Carl Palmer's bands, I would never have bought tickets to see them on their own -- I'd seen both The Moody Blues and Emerson Lake & Palmer back in the day -- but it certainly wouldn't hurt to add a little Moodies and ELP music to the show. And as I read more about the tour, it made sense -- it was going to be a musically incestuous thing (maybe that's where they got the "Royal Affair" name), with a lot of the musicians playing in several of the bands over the course of the evening.
Ironically, shortly after I bought the tickets, I learned that there were actually two versions of Asia out there now (shades of Yes!), and that the other version, "Asia featuring John Payne" (who took over Asia's lead singing duties from Wetton in 1992, and went to on to make six studio albums with them) would also be appearing on Long Island this summer at The Patchogue Theater. (I still might get tickets for this show too, although I watched a few clips on YouTube and wasn't blown away by Payne's vocals.)
So this week was one of those weeks where Denise and I each went our own way for music. She went into the city on Thursday night and met up with her WLIR friends to see Howard Jones, Men Without Hats and All Hail the Silence again. (We both just saw the same lineup together last week at the Paramount in Huntington, but Denise reported that the NYC show was twenty times better. Thanks a bunch, Hojo!). And last night, I made my way to Bald Hill for the prog rock show.
First, a few words about the venue. This venue has had like a zillion different names, and about as many different management companies. I always think of them it as The Brookhaven Amphitheater, but as recently as last year, it was the Pennysaver Amphitheater. This year, it's The Long Island Community Hospital Amphitheater. (Ironically, Long Island Community Hospital also changed their name this year. As Brookhaven Hospital, they always had a lousy reputation. So instead of upgrading the service and improving their reputation, some marketing genius had the idea, "Hey! Making it better would be hard. How about if we just rebrand it!" Don't even get me started on this topic.)
Now I haven't been to this venue for twenty years or so, and largely for two reasons. The first is, their booking has usually sucked! Very seldom in the last twenty years have they booked a show that I was actually tempted to attend. But the second reason is equally important. They call the area that the amphitheater exists on "Bald Hill", and they're not kidding about the "Hill" part. The venue is a pleasant enough outdoor arena at the bottom of Bald Hill. It's a little bit of a trek going from the parking lot to the venue itself, but at least it's all downhill. Getting back to the parking lot after the show, however ... well, suffice it to say that the last time I made this trip, I'm pretty sure I passed Heidi the mountain girl out walking her goat. It's a fairly brutal walk. Which made it an interesting location for this particular show, since the primary audience for bands like Yes, The Moody Blues and ELP is all old people! I'm bad enough, but there were a number of people there last night who were barely ambulatory. I'm hoping maybe they had some kind of prearrangement with the venue to take them back up the hill in golf carts. But even to go from the seating area to the bathrooms is an uphill walk. All I can say is at least the show didn't take place in the heat of August.
Anyway, I got out there about an hour early, and made my way down the hill to my seat. I bought myself a water and a huge pretzel knot about the size of my arm, and I was good to go. I had brought both a jacket and a sweatshirt with me, because it was supposed to be cool and a little windy last night. However, the temperature was comfortable all night, and the only time I really used my jacket was in the beginning of the evening (the show had a 6:30 starting time). This was because my seat (two seats, actually) was right out in the sun, and I didn't want to get sunburned. (I'm sure I looked like the Unabomber with my hood up protecting my ears.)
I watched the crowd for awhile -- I'd say I was about at the 50th percentile as far as age went.
A few minor complaints about the venue. (Because it wouldn't be a Long Island Music Guy write-up without some complaints.) The arena is pleasant enough, but much like the crowd on this particular evening, it's gotten a little long in the tooth. The way it's set up, there are about twenty rows of metal seats in front of the stage. Behind that is a mental floor section/staircase, with another fifteen rows or so. Then there's a wide break between sections for a central floor area that leads over to the bathrooms. (And in the pavilion above the bathrooms, as well as behind the pavilion, there are various food and merch vendors.) Then there's a section of metal bleachers with seats going up. And at the top of the hill (well, the top of the hill near the stage, anyway -- it's still a long walk up from there back up to the parking lot), looking down, is a general admission grassy area, where people bring blankets, lawn chairs, etc., to watch the show.
I was in the third row of the second section of seats, near where the metal stairs begin. And some of parts of the stadium are in disrepair. Right near me, in a narrow space between the last row of the floor area and first row of the area going up, the bottom of the metal staircase had a strip of metal sticking out that was a lawsuit waiting to happen. One of the young usherettes kept warning people to look out for it, but I saw several people trip over it during the course of the night. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt.
The second complaint about the stadium was that in this age, where smoking has mostly become forbidden even in outdoor spaces, this amphitheater (named after a hospital) had as one of its vendors a cigar stand! And there were several groups of idiots ... um, I mean patrons ... puffing out stinky cigar smoke. I wasn't even sitting that close to them -- I was a good ten rows back -- but every so often, a breeze would carry the stench back my way. I can only imagine how miserable it was for the people sitting around them. So boo! to Long Island Community Hospital Amphitheater for that. Whatever the opposite of kudos are, you deserve them.
(Also, they made most of the young kids working as ushers wear bright yellow shirts with the words "I Heart My Job" on the back. I'm sure some of them do, but I'm also sure those shirts made liars out of the rest of them.)
OK, I've been writing for about an hour now, so I guess I should finally get to part about the actual show, huh?
Now I had gone up on setlist.fm beforehand, and printed out the setlist that each of the four bands had performed in Pennsylvania two nights earlier. My experience has been that especially with some of these older bands, they don't vary their setlists from night to night -- it's easier to keep sharp on the material if you keep your setlist consistent -- and this held true for this show, as each of the four bands performed exactly the same setlist they had done at Wednesday's show in Bethlehem, PA.
At exactly 6:30PM, Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy took the stage for a relatively short five-song set. There were a couple of interesting things about this set. The first was the complete lack of a keyboard player. They used canned keyboards throughout the night. I thought that this was an interesting choice, given that Emerson, Lake & Palmer's music was 99% keyboard driven! But I have to admit, when I thought about it, it made at least some sense. Because barring Rick Wakeman dropping by, a fairly unlikely event, who the hell are you going to get to try to stand in for the late Keith Emerson, one of the two behemoth keyboard players of the seventies! I guess they could have asked poor Geoff Downes, but he's already killing himself trying to play Wakeman's parts for Yes every night. So it was Palmer on drums, a guitarist named Paul Bielaowicz, Simon Fitzpatrick on bass, and a vocalist.
Now bear in mind that at this point, there was bright sunlight glaring in my eyes and I was wearing sunglasses, so it was a little hard to see. (There was a small video screen behind Palmer, but all of the bands just used this to show their own concept video footage -- you never enlarged versions of the bands). But the way the vocalist was dressed as a cross between Elton John (in his wackiest days) and Paul Revere, with one of those big top hats that Slash of Guns & Roses so favors. The band started playing, diving right into "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, Part 2". Now I consider Greg Lake to have been maybe the best vocalist in rock history -- his voice was both rich, and very, very beautiful. So as soon as this freakshow started croaking, "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends!" I had a Beavis and Butt-head moment. ("Uh oh! What's this? ... Can I see your backstage pass, sir?") The guy was terrible! It was fascinating to watch, because of his outfit, but in a horrific kind of way. I will say that the crowd (which was still fairly sparse at this point) was eating it up, for nostalgia reasons. There were large cheers going on. But I was partially confused, still trying to see where the keyboards were coming, partially amused at this guy's attire, and partially aghast at the godawful noises that were coming out of the man's throat.
It soon became clear that this was a guest vocalist, as he left the stage for the second number. This one made me sad, as at the beginning of the song, Carl Palmer announced that he'd gotten mixed up the other night and introduced "Hoedown" as having been on ELP's Trilogy album, when of course, it was actually on Tarkus. Um, no Carl, you were right the first time -- it was on Trilogy. I thought that poor Carl had gone senile. (As it turned out, whether it was senility or just a mental block, the more I watched him throughout the night, the more I realized that he has still has plenty left in the tank as far as drumming goes.) Anyway, this song was done, as it was on the album, as an instrumental, so no harm, no foul (albeit, also no live keyboards.)
As the third song loomed, the aberration made his way back onto the stage. This time he was wearing what my weak eyes perceived as a Hawkman mask, and some kind of metallic space hat. (The guy next to me lent me his binoculars for this one, and I was then able to see that the mask was merely a mask of many colors.) At this point, Palmer introduced him, and cleared up the mystery as to who this buttmunch was and what he was doing there. It was none other than Arthur Brown, of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, which was actually one of Palmer's first bands prior to Atomic Rooster and ELP. This at least explained what this guy was doing there. The song they played was "Knife-Edge" which at least starts in a lower key than "Karn Evil 9", so Brown was slightly less dreadful on this one. As I listened, I wondered if the man's voice was shot, or if maybe he'd never been able to sing, as like most of you (I'm sure), the only song I knew of his was "Fire".
The next song -- surprise, surprise -- was a cover of "Fire!" The band had a cool video of fire going on behind them. (Back to Beavis -- "Yes! Fire! Fire!"). This was probably the highlight of the set, although even here, I felt distracted, watching ushers leading more and more audience members to their seats, and hoping that no one was going to kill themselves on that loose metal strip. The ELP Legacy finished out their set with another instrumental, this time of "Fanfare for the Common Man". (Between this and "Hoedown", it was a big night for Aaron Copland.)
The crowd gave the band a big cheer. And I had to smile. Did the set much please the gods of music? Probably not. But had I been entertained? I had to admit that I had.
Less than five minutes later, the speakers emitted a painful ear-splitting screech. It was a video montage of John Lodge and The Moody Blues, but some sound person had accidentally turned up the volume to about ten times what it should have been. The sound was turned down to a more acceptable level, and a few seconds later, John Lodge and his band took the stage.
The band was a five-piece, which included a keyboard player and a second guitarist who doubled on electric violin for some songs. I'd like to tell you who the musicians were, but I can't find it online, and I didn't shell out the thirty bucks for the Yes Royal Affair Tour Guide (which might have included it, or might have simply focused on Yes. You're welcome to order it on the Yes website. If you do, let me know.)
Here are the key things to know about this set. 1. Lodge's singing was better than Arthur Brown's, but like so many '70s rock vocalists, his voice has taken some hits over the years. 2. They had some colorful hippy-ish videos playing on the screen, which added to their set. 3. They played a seven-song set. I thought that some of the choices were strange for such a short set (for example, "Steppin' in a Slide Zone" and "Gemini Dream"), given the Moodies' extensive catalog. Then I realized that they (naturally) wanted to mostly focus on songs that were written by Lodge. And this led me to another revelation: 4. In spite of some true classics, like "Isn't Life Strange", "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)" and "Ride My See-Saw", Justin Hayward and the rest of the Moodies have obviously been carrying this lazy bastard over the years.
OK, let me stop. I'm obviously exaggerating here. But ironically enough (I think that's the third time I've used that word in this review so far), for me, the highlight of the set was a cover of "Legend of a Mind" (better known to most of you by its first line of lyrics, "Timothy Leary's Dead!"), which was written and sung by Ray Thomas. Oh well.
Near the end of Lodge's set, during the last song, I was distracted again by the crowd, as a middle-aged women was being helped up the stairs by a man, while a worried-looking woman followed behind. The first woman was either drunk off her ass or ill (or maybe both), as she pitched sharply a number of times, and it was all the man could do to keep her from falling. Yes singer Jon Davison joined Lodge for this song ("Ride My See-Saw"), which should have helped to smooth out the vocals. Sadly, however, they had him turned down so low that you could barely hear him. It was a good idea, but a missed opportunity.
Anyway, Lodge and his band finished up and took their bows, again to a nice hand by the crowd. At this point, it was only slightly past 7:30, and I predicted to the couple next to me that we were all going to be out of there by 10, especially since the set changes were happening so fast. I figured that the idea was that the bands and the crowd were all so old, they were trying to get us home and to bed. And sure enough, in less than five minutes, Asia took the stage, and were ready to play.
Now here's where the night changed for me, from a nostalgia night to a good music night. In spite of Wetton's death, Asia still seems to have quite a bit left in the tank. Their new lead vocalist, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal sounded world's better than either Arthur Brown or John Lodge. Mind you, he's not in the same class as a Wetton, or a Greg Lake. But his vocals certainly didn't detract from the music. As for the rest of the lineup, it included Yes bass player Billy Sherwood, Yes keyboard player (and original Asia member) Geoff Downes, and another original band member, an energized Carl Palmer, on drums. And as a special treat for the crowd, the band was joined for the last four songs by another original Asia member, none other than Steve Howe.
This set had a number of highlights. The first was a cover of The Buggles' classic, "Video Killed the Radio Star", which was appropriate because in addition to being a member of Yes and Asia, Downes was also one-half of The Buggles. (I actually texted Denise at this point to tell her I'd had my eighties moment for the night. She texted back that that was cool, and that maybe she'd even go see Asia on the cruise ship if they were going to be doing that one. Unfortunately, while was I was researching this blog entry, I looked up the cruise lineup, and found that it's the John Payne version of Asia that's going to be playing on the boat. Sorry about that, sweetie.) A few songs later, to give Mr. Palmer some respect, they did a cover of ELP's "Lucky Man". And they closed out the set (with Howe's assistance) with four of the best songs off of their classic eponymous 1982 debut album, "Wildest Dreams", "Sole Survivor", "Only Time Will Tell" and "Heat of the Moment". It was an excellent ten-song set.
By this time it was dark. The venue had been about two-thirds full when Asia took the stage. Now it was mostly full in the seated area, except for some open spaces on the sides. This time, there actually was a break between sets, although it was still a reasonably short one of about 15 minutes. (Which thankfully gave me a chance to run the bathroom. This new diabetes medication I'm on has me peeing like a race horse. And I'm sure Howe, Downes and Sherwood were grateful for the short breather as well.)
Then, the chords to the traditional opening of a Yes concert, "The Firebird Suite" started to pour out of the speakers. And a moment later, Yes hit the stage.
Now as I mentioned, I'd seen this rendition of Yes last year in Westbury. The full lineup included Davison on vocals, Howe on guitar, Downes on keyboards, Sherwood on bass, and Jay Schellen (for most of the night) on drums. It's not the best lineup the band has ever had -- it's hard to replace people like Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman and Chris Squire. In comparison to, say King Crimson (as of the end of 2017 when I saw them), I'd say they've lost a step as a band. Even Howe will flub the occasional note nowadays. But they were at such a high level to begin with that even a lesser version of Yes is still pretty great. And for me, on the whole, Yes has more great material in their back catalog to choose from than King Crimson, which also gives them a leg up. So having just enjoyed a fine set from Asia, I was psyched to have Yes close things out.
The setlist the band had chosen for this tour was a little unusual. If I was seeing them for the first (and maybe only) time, I might feel a little cheated that they opted to leave out such staples as "And You and I" and "Heart of the Sunrise". (And "Owner of a Lonely Heart" was right out, as that's a Trevor Rabin song, not a Steve Howe one -- although weirdly enough, they did choose to play "Rhythm of Love"). For someone like me, though, who has seen the band seven times now, it was exciting to see them do a bunch of songs I hadn't seen them perform before. For example, they opened up with "No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed" from Howe's first album with the band, Time and a Word (which as it turns out is actually a Richie Haven cover -- who knew?), and went from there into their well-loved cover of Paul Simon's "America". Other oddities included "Going for the One" (from the album of the same name), "Onward" (from Tormato, which they dedicated to Chris Squire), "Tempus Fugit" from Drama, and "Sketches in the Sun," a solo acoustic number from Howe's one album as part of the band GTR. (I thought that "Onward" was especially lovely, although the couple sitting next to me got up "to walk around" at that point, because they said it was putting them to sleep. They never did come back.)
Near the end of the set, Howe announced that for their extended piece for this tour, they were going to perform the entirety of "Gates of Delirium" from the Relayer album (for the first time since 2001). In some ways, this was a difficult choice (as was "Onward") for an outdoor show of this type, with a partially inebriated crowd that was looking to hear the obvious hits. And there were some people who gave up the ghost during this 20-plus minute performance. On the other hand, I thought that the band did a great job on it, much better than when they had performed the full "Close to the Edge" last year, One of the reasons for this, I think, was Geoff Downes.
In some ways, it's hard being Geoff Downes. The man has accomplished a lot in his career. As mentioned earlier, he was one-half of the new-wave duo The Buggles. He was a founding member of Asia. He was a member of Yes for the excellent Drama album, as well as for the underrated (IMHO) Fly From Here and Heaven & Earth albums. But every night, he has to sit down and bust his ass trying to play the Rick Wakeman parts in some of the greatest prog rock songs that were ever created. And he's just not up to it. (Nor would almost any other keyboard player be.) He plays the same notes as Wakeman did, but nowhere near bombastically enough. Where Wakeman's parts blast in over Howe's guitar and shake you to your soul, Downe's notes kind of sneak in, sometimes barely noticeable, so that you feel like part of the song is missing. On "Gates of Delirium", though, he doesn't have play Rick Wakeman parts. He just has to play Patrick Moraz. And while Moraz is himself an excellent keyboard player, he's much more in Downes' range. Unfortunately, if you're playing a Yes show, you just can't leave out the Wakeman songs altogether. But the more you replace Wakeman songs in the setlist with the songs of Moraz, Tony Kaye, and Downes himself, the more you allow Downes to show himself in his best light.
As happened in Westbury last year, Alan White only joined the band near the end of their set, since health problems have left him no longer physically capable of playing for full show. White took the stage right after the eighth song of the set, "Tempus Fugit", at which point Howe announced that it was White's birthday. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Then the band played "Rhythm of Love" (possibly at White's request, as he is the only member of the current band who was with Yes when they recorded that song on the Big Generator album.) White then left the stage for the bulk of "Gates of Delirium", returning only for the last part of the song (which is sometimes performed by itself), the ravishing "Soon".
(This made me think about how unappreciated Jay Schellen must feel. He's not an official part of the band, although he carries the bulk of the drumming chores these days. Last year, I was kind of hard on him in my review of the Westbury show for making some of the material a little draggy. However, I've since realized that this was a decision by the whole band, because they really aren't capable of performing some of the more complex songs, like "Close to the Edge", at full speed these days. But at least last year, when White came out for his part of the set, Schellen got to stay on the stage and play hand percussion with the rest of them. Tonight, every time that White came out, Schellen was kicked offstage. I pictured him sitting bitterly at the bar over the bathrooms during White's part the set, muttering to himself, "Get out of here, Jay! You're not really part of Yes! We only you play when Alan isn't here.")
At this point, Yes took a quick bow to a standing ovation from the crowd. They left the stage briefly, then came back for a two-song encore. Howe introduced the first song, reminding the crowd that in his storied career, prior to joining Yes, Alan White had done some drumming for John Lennon. The band then launched into a cover of "Imagine". They finished up the night with a mandatory rendition of "Roundabout", the only song of the night they performed from the Fragile album. (They also performed only one song each from Close to Edge -- "Siberian Khatru", and The Yes Album -- "I've Seen All Good People").
The band then took a long bow to another standing ovation, and the crowd started their long, painful journey back up the hill, yodeling all the way. (Not really, but we should have.) And actually, in a pleasant surprise, I learned that I'm actually in better shape now than I was twenty years earlier -- the climb was less grisly than it used to be. It was a good evening all around.
All of the band's setlists for the evening are available on www.setlist.fm. Just go up on that site and enter the band name, and you'll find the setlists for many of their recent shows, including last night's show.
Shortly after that, I got an email notice that Yes (the Steve Howe version) was bringing a tour called The Royal Affair Tour, to Long Island in June. (For some reason, I have a mental block about the tour name -- I keep wanting to call it "The Royal We" tour -- but whatever.) The tour would include Yes, John Lodge (of Moody Blues fame), Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy, and, wait for it ... Asia! (You guessed that, didn't you?) I bought myself a pair of tickets almost immediately. I had just seen Yes last year at Westbury, of course, but they're one of my top favorite bands of all time, so even though they're showing their age a little, it's still always fun to see them. As to John Lodge and Carl Palmer's bands, I would never have bought tickets to see them on their own -- I'd seen both The Moody Blues and Emerson Lake & Palmer back in the day -- but it certainly wouldn't hurt to add a little Moodies and ELP music to the show. And as I read more about the tour, it made sense -- it was going to be a musically incestuous thing (maybe that's where they got the "Royal Affair" name), with a lot of the musicians playing in several of the bands over the course of the evening.
Ironically, shortly after I bought the tickets, I learned that there were actually two versions of Asia out there now (shades of Yes!), and that the other version, "Asia featuring John Payne" (who took over Asia's lead singing duties from Wetton in 1992, and went to on to make six studio albums with them) would also be appearing on Long Island this summer at The Patchogue Theater. (I still might get tickets for this show too, although I watched a few clips on YouTube and wasn't blown away by Payne's vocals.)
So this week was one of those weeks where Denise and I each went our own way for music. She went into the city on Thursday night and met up with her WLIR friends to see Howard Jones, Men Without Hats and All Hail the Silence again. (We both just saw the same lineup together last week at the Paramount in Huntington, but Denise reported that the NYC show was twenty times better. Thanks a bunch, Hojo!). And last night, I made my way to Bald Hill for the prog rock show.
First, a few words about the venue. This venue has had like a zillion different names, and about as many different management companies. I always think of them it as The Brookhaven Amphitheater, but as recently as last year, it was the Pennysaver Amphitheater. This year, it's The Long Island Community Hospital Amphitheater. (Ironically, Long Island Community Hospital also changed their name this year. As Brookhaven Hospital, they always had a lousy reputation. So instead of upgrading the service and improving their reputation, some marketing genius had the idea, "Hey! Making it better would be hard. How about if we just rebrand it!" Don't even get me started on this topic.)
Now I haven't been to this venue for twenty years or so, and largely for two reasons. The first is, their booking has usually sucked! Very seldom in the last twenty years have they booked a show that I was actually tempted to attend. But the second reason is equally important. They call the area that the amphitheater exists on "Bald Hill", and they're not kidding about the "Hill" part. The venue is a pleasant enough outdoor arena at the bottom of Bald Hill. It's a little bit of a trek going from the parking lot to the venue itself, but at least it's all downhill. Getting back to the parking lot after the show, however ... well, suffice it to say that the last time I made this trip, I'm pretty sure I passed Heidi the mountain girl out walking her goat. It's a fairly brutal walk. Which made it an interesting location for this particular show, since the primary audience for bands like Yes, The Moody Blues and ELP is all old people! I'm bad enough, but there were a number of people there last night who were barely ambulatory. I'm hoping maybe they had some kind of prearrangement with the venue to take them back up the hill in golf carts. But even to go from the seating area to the bathrooms is an uphill walk. All I can say is at least the show didn't take place in the heat of August.
Anyway, I got out there about an hour early, and made my way down the hill to my seat. I bought myself a water and a huge pretzel knot about the size of my arm, and I was good to go. I had brought both a jacket and a sweatshirt with me, because it was supposed to be cool and a little windy last night. However, the temperature was comfortable all night, and the only time I really used my jacket was in the beginning of the evening (the show had a 6:30 starting time). This was because my seat (two seats, actually) was right out in the sun, and I didn't want to get sunburned. (I'm sure I looked like the Unabomber with my hood up protecting my ears.)
I watched the crowd for awhile -- I'd say I was about at the 50th percentile as far as age went.
A few minor complaints about the venue. (Because it wouldn't be a Long Island Music Guy write-up without some complaints.) The arena is pleasant enough, but much like the crowd on this particular evening, it's gotten a little long in the tooth. The way it's set up, there are about twenty rows of metal seats in front of the stage. Behind that is a mental floor section/staircase, with another fifteen rows or so. Then there's a wide break between sections for a central floor area that leads over to the bathrooms. (And in the pavilion above the bathrooms, as well as behind the pavilion, there are various food and merch vendors.) Then there's a section of metal bleachers with seats going up. And at the top of the hill (well, the top of the hill near the stage, anyway -- it's still a long walk up from there back up to the parking lot), looking down, is a general admission grassy area, where people bring blankets, lawn chairs, etc., to watch the show.
I was in the third row of the second section of seats, near where the metal stairs begin. And some of parts of the stadium are in disrepair. Right near me, in a narrow space between the last row of the floor area and first row of the area going up, the bottom of the metal staircase had a strip of metal sticking out that was a lawsuit waiting to happen. One of the young usherettes kept warning people to look out for it, but I saw several people trip over it during the course of the night. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt.
The second complaint about the stadium was that in this age, where smoking has mostly become forbidden even in outdoor spaces, this amphitheater (named after a hospital) had as one of its vendors a cigar stand! And there were several groups of idiots ... um, I mean patrons ... puffing out stinky cigar smoke. I wasn't even sitting that close to them -- I was a good ten rows back -- but every so often, a breeze would carry the stench back my way. I can only imagine how miserable it was for the people sitting around them. So boo! to Long Island Community Hospital Amphitheater for that. Whatever the opposite of kudos are, you deserve them.
(Also, they made most of the young kids working as ushers wear bright yellow shirts with the words "I Heart My Job" on the back. I'm sure some of them do, but I'm also sure those shirts made liars out of the rest of them.)
OK, I've been writing for about an hour now, so I guess I should finally get to part about the actual show, huh?
Now I had gone up on setlist.fm beforehand, and printed out the setlist that each of the four bands had performed in Pennsylvania two nights earlier. My experience has been that especially with some of these older bands, they don't vary their setlists from night to night -- it's easier to keep sharp on the material if you keep your setlist consistent -- and this held true for this show, as each of the four bands performed exactly the same setlist they had done at Wednesday's show in Bethlehem, PA.
At exactly 6:30PM, Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy took the stage for a relatively short five-song set. There were a couple of interesting things about this set. The first was the complete lack of a keyboard player. They used canned keyboards throughout the night. I thought that this was an interesting choice, given that Emerson, Lake & Palmer's music was 99% keyboard driven! But I have to admit, when I thought about it, it made at least some sense. Because barring Rick Wakeman dropping by, a fairly unlikely event, who the hell are you going to get to try to stand in for the late Keith Emerson, one of the two behemoth keyboard players of the seventies! I guess they could have asked poor Geoff Downes, but he's already killing himself trying to play Wakeman's parts for Yes every night. So it was Palmer on drums, a guitarist named Paul Bielaowicz, Simon Fitzpatrick on bass, and a vocalist.
Now bear in mind that at this point, there was bright sunlight glaring in my eyes and I was wearing sunglasses, so it was a little hard to see. (There was a small video screen behind Palmer, but all of the bands just used this to show their own concept video footage -- you never enlarged versions of the bands). But the way the vocalist was dressed as a cross between Elton John (in his wackiest days) and Paul Revere, with one of those big top hats that Slash of Guns & Roses so favors. The band started playing, diving right into "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, Part 2". Now I consider Greg Lake to have been maybe the best vocalist in rock history -- his voice was both rich, and very, very beautiful. So as soon as this freakshow started croaking, "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends!" I had a Beavis and Butt-head moment. ("Uh oh! What's this? ... Can I see your backstage pass, sir?") The guy was terrible! It was fascinating to watch, because of his outfit, but in a horrific kind of way. I will say that the crowd (which was still fairly sparse at this point) was eating it up, for nostalgia reasons. There were large cheers going on. But I was partially confused, still trying to see where the keyboards were coming, partially amused at this guy's attire, and partially aghast at the godawful noises that were coming out of the man's throat.
It soon became clear that this was a guest vocalist, as he left the stage for the second number. This one made me sad, as at the beginning of the song, Carl Palmer announced that he'd gotten mixed up the other night and introduced "Hoedown" as having been on ELP's Trilogy album, when of course, it was actually on Tarkus. Um, no Carl, you were right the first time -- it was on Trilogy. I thought that poor Carl had gone senile. (As it turned out, whether it was senility or just a mental block, the more I watched him throughout the night, the more I realized that he has still has plenty left in the tank as far as drumming goes.) Anyway, this song was done, as it was on the album, as an instrumental, so no harm, no foul (albeit, also no live keyboards.)
As the third song loomed, the aberration made his way back onto the stage. This time he was wearing what my weak eyes perceived as a Hawkman mask, and some kind of metallic space hat. (The guy next to me lent me his binoculars for this one, and I was then able to see that the mask was merely a mask of many colors.) At this point, Palmer introduced him, and cleared up the mystery as to who this buttmunch was and what he was doing there. It was none other than Arthur Brown, of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, which was actually one of Palmer's first bands prior to Atomic Rooster and ELP. This at least explained what this guy was doing there. The song they played was "Knife-Edge" which at least starts in a lower key than "Karn Evil 9", so Brown was slightly less dreadful on this one. As I listened, I wondered if the man's voice was shot, or if maybe he'd never been able to sing, as like most of you (I'm sure), the only song I knew of his was "Fire".
The next song -- surprise, surprise -- was a cover of "Fire!" The band had a cool video of fire going on behind them. (Back to Beavis -- "Yes! Fire! Fire!"). This was probably the highlight of the set, although even here, I felt distracted, watching ushers leading more and more audience members to their seats, and hoping that no one was going to kill themselves on that loose metal strip. The ELP Legacy finished out their set with another instrumental, this time of "Fanfare for the Common Man". (Between this and "Hoedown", it was a big night for Aaron Copland.)
The crowd gave the band a big cheer. And I had to smile. Did the set much please the gods of music? Probably not. But had I been entertained? I had to admit that I had.
Less than five minutes later, the speakers emitted a painful ear-splitting screech. It was a video montage of John Lodge and The Moody Blues, but some sound person had accidentally turned up the volume to about ten times what it should have been. The sound was turned down to a more acceptable level, and a few seconds later, John Lodge and his band took the stage.
The band was a five-piece, which included a keyboard player and a second guitarist who doubled on electric violin for some songs. I'd like to tell you who the musicians were, but I can't find it online, and I didn't shell out the thirty bucks for the Yes Royal Affair Tour Guide (which might have included it, or might have simply focused on Yes. You're welcome to order it on the Yes website. If you do, let me know.)
Here are the key things to know about this set. 1. Lodge's singing was better than Arthur Brown's, but like so many '70s rock vocalists, his voice has taken some hits over the years. 2. They had some colorful hippy-ish videos playing on the screen, which added to their set. 3. They played a seven-song set. I thought that some of the choices were strange for such a short set (for example, "Steppin' in a Slide Zone" and "Gemini Dream"), given the Moodies' extensive catalog. Then I realized that they (naturally) wanted to mostly focus on songs that were written by Lodge. And this led me to another revelation: 4. In spite of some true classics, like "Isn't Life Strange", "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)" and "Ride My See-Saw", Justin Hayward and the rest of the Moodies have obviously been carrying this lazy bastard over the years.
OK, let me stop. I'm obviously exaggerating here. But ironically enough (I think that's the third time I've used that word in this review so far), for me, the highlight of the set was a cover of "Legend of a Mind" (better known to most of you by its first line of lyrics, "Timothy Leary's Dead!"), which was written and sung by Ray Thomas. Oh well.
Near the end of Lodge's set, during the last song, I was distracted again by the crowd, as a middle-aged women was being helped up the stairs by a man, while a worried-looking woman followed behind. The first woman was either drunk off her ass or ill (or maybe both), as she pitched sharply a number of times, and it was all the man could do to keep her from falling. Yes singer Jon Davison joined Lodge for this song ("Ride My See-Saw"), which should have helped to smooth out the vocals. Sadly, however, they had him turned down so low that you could barely hear him. It was a good idea, but a missed opportunity.
Anyway, Lodge and his band finished up and took their bows, again to a nice hand by the crowd. At this point, it was only slightly past 7:30, and I predicted to the couple next to me that we were all going to be out of there by 10, especially since the set changes were happening so fast. I figured that the idea was that the bands and the crowd were all so old, they were trying to get us home and to bed. And sure enough, in less than five minutes, Asia took the stage, and were ready to play.
Now here's where the night changed for me, from a nostalgia night to a good music night. In spite of Wetton's death, Asia still seems to have quite a bit left in the tank. Their new lead vocalist, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal sounded world's better than either Arthur Brown or John Lodge. Mind you, he's not in the same class as a Wetton, or a Greg Lake. But his vocals certainly didn't detract from the music. As for the rest of the lineup, it included Yes bass player Billy Sherwood, Yes keyboard player (and original Asia member) Geoff Downes, and another original band member, an energized Carl Palmer, on drums. And as a special treat for the crowd, the band was joined for the last four songs by another original Asia member, none other than Steve Howe.
This set had a number of highlights. The first was a cover of The Buggles' classic, "Video Killed the Radio Star", which was appropriate because in addition to being a member of Yes and Asia, Downes was also one-half of The Buggles. (I actually texted Denise at this point to tell her I'd had my eighties moment for the night. She texted back that that was cool, and that maybe she'd even go see Asia on the cruise ship if they were going to be doing that one. Unfortunately, while was I was researching this blog entry, I looked up the cruise lineup, and found that it's the John Payne version of Asia that's going to be playing on the boat. Sorry about that, sweetie.) A few songs later, to give Mr. Palmer some respect, they did a cover of ELP's "Lucky Man". And they closed out the set (with Howe's assistance) with four of the best songs off of their classic eponymous 1982 debut album, "Wildest Dreams", "Sole Survivor", "Only Time Will Tell" and "Heat of the Moment". It was an excellent ten-song set.
By this time it was dark. The venue had been about two-thirds full when Asia took the stage. Now it was mostly full in the seated area, except for some open spaces on the sides. This time, there actually was a break between sets, although it was still a reasonably short one of about 15 minutes. (Which thankfully gave me a chance to run the bathroom. This new diabetes medication I'm on has me peeing like a race horse. And I'm sure Howe, Downes and Sherwood were grateful for the short breather as well.)
Then, the chords to the traditional opening of a Yes concert, "The Firebird Suite" started to pour out of the speakers. And a moment later, Yes hit the stage.
Now as I mentioned, I'd seen this rendition of Yes last year in Westbury. The full lineup included Davison on vocals, Howe on guitar, Downes on keyboards, Sherwood on bass, and Jay Schellen (for most of the night) on drums. It's not the best lineup the band has ever had -- it's hard to replace people like Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman and Chris Squire. In comparison to, say King Crimson (as of the end of 2017 when I saw them), I'd say they've lost a step as a band. Even Howe will flub the occasional note nowadays. But they were at such a high level to begin with that even a lesser version of Yes is still pretty great. And for me, on the whole, Yes has more great material in their back catalog to choose from than King Crimson, which also gives them a leg up. So having just enjoyed a fine set from Asia, I was psyched to have Yes close things out.
The setlist the band had chosen for this tour was a little unusual. If I was seeing them for the first (and maybe only) time, I might feel a little cheated that they opted to leave out such staples as "And You and I" and "Heart of the Sunrise". (And "Owner of a Lonely Heart" was right out, as that's a Trevor Rabin song, not a Steve Howe one -- although weirdly enough, they did choose to play "Rhythm of Love"). For someone like me, though, who has seen the band seven times now, it was exciting to see them do a bunch of songs I hadn't seen them perform before. For example, they opened up with "No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed" from Howe's first album with the band, Time and a Word (which as it turns out is actually a Richie Haven cover -- who knew?), and went from there into their well-loved cover of Paul Simon's "America". Other oddities included "Going for the One" (from the album of the same name), "Onward" (from Tormato, which they dedicated to Chris Squire), "Tempus Fugit" from Drama, and "Sketches in the Sun," a solo acoustic number from Howe's one album as part of the band GTR. (I thought that "Onward" was especially lovely, although the couple sitting next to me got up "to walk around" at that point, because they said it was putting them to sleep. They never did come back.)
Near the end of the set, Howe announced that for their extended piece for this tour, they were going to perform the entirety of "Gates of Delirium" from the Relayer album (for the first time since 2001). In some ways, this was a difficult choice (as was "Onward") for an outdoor show of this type, with a partially inebriated crowd that was looking to hear the obvious hits. And there were some people who gave up the ghost during this 20-plus minute performance. On the other hand, I thought that the band did a great job on it, much better than when they had performed the full "Close to the Edge" last year, One of the reasons for this, I think, was Geoff Downes.
In some ways, it's hard being Geoff Downes. The man has accomplished a lot in his career. As mentioned earlier, he was one-half of the new-wave duo The Buggles. He was a founding member of Asia. He was a member of Yes for the excellent Drama album, as well as for the underrated (IMHO) Fly From Here and Heaven & Earth albums. But every night, he has to sit down and bust his ass trying to play the Rick Wakeman parts in some of the greatest prog rock songs that were ever created. And he's just not up to it. (Nor would almost any other keyboard player be.) He plays the same notes as Wakeman did, but nowhere near bombastically enough. Where Wakeman's parts blast in over Howe's guitar and shake you to your soul, Downe's notes kind of sneak in, sometimes barely noticeable, so that you feel like part of the song is missing. On "Gates of Delirium", though, he doesn't have play Rick Wakeman parts. He just has to play Patrick Moraz. And while Moraz is himself an excellent keyboard player, he's much more in Downes' range. Unfortunately, if you're playing a Yes show, you just can't leave out the Wakeman songs altogether. But the more you replace Wakeman songs in the setlist with the songs of Moraz, Tony Kaye, and Downes himself, the more you allow Downes to show himself in his best light.
As happened in Westbury last year, Alan White only joined the band near the end of their set, since health problems have left him no longer physically capable of playing for full show. White took the stage right after the eighth song of the set, "Tempus Fugit", at which point Howe announced that it was White's birthday. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Then the band played "Rhythm of Love" (possibly at White's request, as he is the only member of the current band who was with Yes when they recorded that song on the Big Generator album.) White then left the stage for the bulk of "Gates of Delirium", returning only for the last part of the song (which is sometimes performed by itself), the ravishing "Soon".
(This made me think about how unappreciated Jay Schellen must feel. He's not an official part of the band, although he carries the bulk of the drumming chores these days. Last year, I was kind of hard on him in my review of the Westbury show for making some of the material a little draggy. However, I've since realized that this was a decision by the whole band, because they really aren't capable of performing some of the more complex songs, like "Close to the Edge", at full speed these days. But at least last year, when White came out for his part of the set, Schellen got to stay on the stage and play hand percussion with the rest of them. Tonight, every time that White came out, Schellen was kicked offstage. I pictured him sitting bitterly at the bar over the bathrooms during White's part the set, muttering to himself, "Get out of here, Jay! You're not really part of Yes! We only you play when Alan isn't here.")
At this point, Yes took a quick bow to a standing ovation from the crowd. They left the stage briefly, then came back for a two-song encore. Howe introduced the first song, reminding the crowd that in his storied career, prior to joining Yes, Alan White had done some drumming for John Lennon. The band then launched into a cover of "Imagine". They finished up the night with a mandatory rendition of "Roundabout", the only song of the night they performed from the Fragile album. (They also performed only one song each from Close to Edge -- "Siberian Khatru", and The Yes Album -- "I've Seen All Good People").
The band then took a long bow to another standing ovation, and the crowd started their long, painful journey back up the hill, yodeling all the way. (Not really, but we should have.) And actually, in a pleasant surprise, I learned that I'm actually in better shape now than I was twenty years earlier -- the climb was less grisly than it used to be. It was a good evening all around.
All of the band's setlists for the evening are available on www.setlist.fm. Just go up on that site and enter the band name, and you'll find the setlists for many of their recent shows, including last night's show.
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