Musical Weekend: Steve Smith & Vital Information and Crimson ProjeKct

Part 1:

Steve Smith & Vital Information - 30th Anniversary Tour
Ottawa Tavern, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Saturday, June 23, 2012

I am a fan of jazz fusion music, and certainly have some instrumental CDs which feature drummer Steve Smith.    Steve may be more remembered for his time with the melodic rock platinum selling Journey, during their peak years in the 80s.    But, Steve is also a very versatile and skillful jazz drummer, which led to him forming Vital Information in the early 80s.   Having heard the band was going to be performing at Grand Rapids "Ottawa Tavern", I knew it was a show not to be missed.

The band featured Steve on drums, Tom Coster on keyboard and accordion, Baron Browne on bass, and Vinny Valentino on guitar. 


The band played two sets.   For the first set, the crowd looked to be around 75-80 (maybe 100).    I am not familiar with the song titles, so I am not able to include those.   During the opening song, you could tell something had gone wrong with the drum kit, but we didn't know exactly what was up.    Turns out, Steve had broken the bass drum head - something he said he hasn't done in 30 years.    So, they took a short break while Steve and their tour assistant changed the head.   This involved moving around most of the drum kit, which seemed to effect the rest of the set.    Although they sounded great, they seemed to be a bit "off" their groove.    The set included a great drum solo by Steve (very melodic), a nice ballad featuring Tom on the accordion, and some great "George Benson" type guitar work from Vinny.   While they had the accordion out, the band played a Zydeco flavored tune, which was a nice change in style.    Steve also featured his skills at "Konnakol", which he told us was "the art of performing percussion syllables vocally."    It is pretty cool, so look it up.   After about 90 minutes, they ended the first set.

I got to stay for the second set, with a small crowd of about 30 of us - WAY to small a turnout for such a quality band.    But, what I first noticed was that the band seemed more relaxed.   The entire set seemed more funky and featured the entire band more.   This time we got bass solos, extended guitar solos, and less drum solo work.    The set did feature entirely different music, and no technical difficulties (no broken drum heads).    Generally speaking, I liked the second set better, if only because it seemed like the band was having more fun.

I truly appreciate how Ottawa Tavern managed to book this show - a great catch for Grand Rapids.   It is a shame that the Grand Rapids jazz fans didn't get out to support this show.    Big missed opportunity.   

Thanks for my friend Mike for joining me for the evening, as well as running into fellow bass player Randy Goble.


Rating:  8 out of 10





Part 2:

Stick Men, Adrian Belew Power Trio, Crimson ProjeKct
The Intersection, Grand Rapids, Michigan
June 24, 2012

In a great grab by The Intersection club, Grand Rapids was treated to a 3 hour prog fest featuring King Crimson music.    The combined "Crimson ProjeKct" group is currently opening Dream Theater's tour, but playing their own shows on "off nights" from Dream Theater.   This was one of those "off nights".   

Tony Levin has his "Stick Men" group, which features himself on "Chapman Stick", Pat Mastelloto on drums, and Markus Rueter on "Touch Guitar".    This trio tore through some of Tony's solo material, some of the tracks from their Stick Men releases, and a track from a Robert Fripp solo release.   They also performed their interpretation of the Firebird Suite.   Overall, a nice opening set.    

Next up with Adrian Belew and his power trio.   The group features Adrian on guitar/vocals, Julie Slick on bass guitar, and Tobias Ralph on drums.   This trio stuck to some of Adrian's solo music, which I am not very familiar with.    But, they also included a couple Crimson tunes they put their on stamp on.   A very "jam band/improv" type set, with tons of odd tones and textures.    Pretty much what you expect from Adrian, right?


After a 15 minute intermission, we got the "Crimson ProjeKct" set.   Tony, Pat, and Adrian came out to start the "Crimson centric" set.   They opened with "Three of a Perfect Pair", which was nicely done by just the three musicians.   They moved on through "Elephant Talk" and a couple other tunes before the others all came out.   This put 6 musicians on stage, and allowed them to replicate later era Crimson stuff (the two trio era music).    Pat, Tony, and Adrian had their roles down.   Tobias did a nice job of filling the "Bill Bruford" role, while Markus covered much of "Robert Fripp" guitar parts and sounds.    Julie got to hold down the low end grooves for the set, while Tony dabbled with his stick or other parts.   They pulled off "Thrak" well, while Adrian created all sorts of weirdness (including the power drill on his guitar bit).   Of the many great moments, I especially liked their intro to "Indiscipline".    The two trios traded the opening of the song, giving each drummer a chance to solo and mess with the beat, before handing back to the other trio.    It was a very cool thing to watch live.     "Red", "Frame By Frame", and even the goofy "Dinosaur" were shared with the small audience (I'd estimate around 200-250).    They started wrapping up things with "Thela Hun Ginjeet", where Tony had his "funk fingers" for use on his regular bass guitar (not the stick).    Generally speaking, they stuck to 80s and 90s era King Crimson material, so no "20th Century Schizoid Man" or similar.   What I did notice is that the set was more focused and avoided the long slow improv sections that had become common with later era Crimson.


All three bands seemed to be enjoying the evening, and Pat Mastelloto seems to have the most fun creating different percussion loops and sounds to fill out things (all while still playing his required drum parts).     Adrian and Tony appeared to be having fun with the Crimson music, while getting a chance to also share their own stuff.    Tobias was amazing at working alongside Pat, and also adding his own style.   Julie and Markus added those necessarily parts to help fill out the missing Fripp while letting Tony have more freedom to overlap bass parts.


After 3 hours, everyone had gotten more than their money's worth.    It was a great evening of progressive music, with a bit of classical and improv thrown in.   


Rating:  9 out of 10

Barry Manilow - Van Andel Arena - June 14, 2012

Barry Manilow
Van Andel Arena
Grand Rapids, Michigan
June 14, 2012

Why was I going to a Barry Manilow concert?    Well, going back to the mid-70s, I always had an appreciation for his talent and his songwriting.    Sure, he didn't write all his hit songs, but he has had many that were his own.     So, realizing I needed to see the guy live before he completely retires, I decided this was my chance.

Manilow is 68, and has had a couple hip surgeries in recent years.   It appears to have slowed down his stage movements a bit, but that was to be expected.    What was front-and-center was the music, and there was plenty of great music.    Say what you want about Barry, but he is a very talented musician, vocalist, songwriter, and entertainer.     And for just under 90 minutes, Manilow displayed this to the about 1/3 full arena (no upper bowl seats were sold).

Barry and his 6 piece band with 2 backing vocalists covered most of the hits from throughout his career.   Opening (and closing) with "It's A Miracle", Manilow had a solid band, clean sound mix, and his voice sounded fairly strong.    He seemed in good spirits as he continued with the "club mix" version of "Could This Be The Magic".    The hits continued with "Looks Like We Made It", and he had the entire arena singing along with "Can't Smile Without You".    He made a brief dedication to Dick Clark, before the "American Bandstand" theme song.    He sat at the piano and reflected on the "Even Now" release, before playing the title song.    He had a nice reflection about his grandfather taking him to a "record your voice on vinyl" booth when he was a child, and they played some of the first recording.    This led into "This One's For You".     For me, a long favorite has been the song "Weekend in New England", and this was performed well and still holds up as a great song.     Barry talked about his recent "greatest songs of the..." releases, and went into his version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You", from the 60s release.     He briefly mentioned his support for school music programs and how it influenced his life, while also encouraging the audience to donate any instruments to local school programs.   Next was "Trying To Get The Feeling" which sounded great.    A video from his first performance on "The Midnight Special" was shown, with him performing the song "Mandy".     After the video covered the  first verse and chorus, Barry started singing the rest of the song on stage - I didn't hear a key change in this transition, so if the song had been lowered, the tech crew had managed to lower the pitch on the original Midnight Special video (which is unlikely, but possible).    Manilow began moving towards the end of the show with "Copacabana" and ending with "I Write The Songs", before reprising "It's A Miracle".

 

 



Having seem Roger Water's perform "Pink Floyd's The Wall" last week, I found myself appreciating Barry's show being solely about the music.    No fancy special effects or visuals taking away from the focus on the songs, and I didn't mind that.

Rating:  8 out of 10

Highlight for me:  "Weekend in New England"

Lowpoint:  Started about 20 minutes late, and show was less than 90 minutes.    Maybe this is a result of his last few years performing shows at a residency in Vegas, and the show is simply streamlined to this set of music.    But, considering Elton John and Paul McCartney are doing almost 3 hour shows, Barry could certainly give us more for an arena tour.

Roger Waters "The Wall" - June 6, 2012 - Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids

Roger Waters - "The Wall Live"
June 6, 2012
Van Andel Arena
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Seats were in second tier, straight back from stage (Section 201, row F, seats 1 and 2)

After having read many rave reviews of the Roger Waters 2011 tour of "The Wall", I jumped at tickets when Grand Rapids managed to get a date on the 2012 tour.   I wanted to  get some in the "reasonable" price range (I'm told some went as high as $200!).    Also, when it comes to the band Pink Floyd, I'm much more of a David Gilmour fan.    But, the reports had made frequent mention of the spectacle of the show, and everyone said it was a "must see".

As an introduction, the performance is of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" release, which was also made into a film around 1982.   The film starred Bob Geldof, before Bob became the founder of the whole "Live Aid" stuff.     The Roger Waters performance was part recreation of the Pink Floyd 1980 tour, along with new technological enhancements, as well as including footage from the film.   There are songs that were part of the original tour, which did not make it on the studio release.   There is no opening act on this tour, and Roger does no play any other music in this performance.

June 6, 2012 arrives and we make our way to the arena.   The venue appears to be almost full (I'm reading 10,000 was the attendance, in a typically 12,000 max facility).    One of the first things I notice is that sound booth area is full of various technicians for both sound and video - not quite U2 scale, but close.     The stage area has the "Wall" partially constructed on the left and right sides, with middle open showing the band area.

At about 8:15pm, lights go down and the performance starts with two of the "soldiers" dragging the "Pink" puppet to middle stage, while an audio clip from Spartacus plays.    They then let the puppet fall on the stage, and leave to the sound of a trumpet playing a melody I'm told is from the song "Outside The Wall".    The band then launches into the opening song "In The Flesh?" with massive lighting and fireworks, all climaxing in a large model airplane coming across the crowd and crashing into the right side of the wall, in a ball of fire.   Roger Waters appears to take the lead vocal, while also playing part ring leader and part actor.    Impressive opening, to say the least.

After the smoke settles, the band continues through the story with "Happiest Days of Our Lives" and "Another Brick In The Wall Part 2", which introduces the giant "Teacher" puppet.    While the puppet does have an ominous look, it really doesn't do much during the song.    Sure, it has lighted eyes and moves up and down, but I wanted to see it actually move across the stage.    Roger had enlisted local children (I'm not sure how they were selected) to help act as school children to the teacher.   The children also had some simple movements choreographed, and sang the school children parts of the song.     It worked out fairly well.

After this, Roger welcomed us to the show and thanked the children for their help.    He then explained a bit about the 1980 performance of "The Wall", and played "Big Brother Is Watching You" to a video clip from the 1980 show.    The video is shown across the partially built wall, and also included the screen behind the band - the entire area was frequently treated as one large screen.     For me, the visuals were more interesting than the song.

The visuals projected on the wall looked fantastic, but were all laced with Roger's particular political positions.     Although some of this is expected, it did seem a bit "insincere" within the backdrop of this massive production.

During the song "Goodbye Blue Sky", Roger had video of animated planes dropping symbols of various political, religious, and corporate establishments.     Although I'm sure this was meant to make some sort of anti-establishment statement, for me it was lost on the fact that Roger probably has more money than most of us (and probably owns a Mercedes Benz).   Not to mention the concert ticket price and $40 T-Shirts for sale don't exactly make Roger look less capitalistic.

As the performance continues through the first act, the wall continues to be "built" by stage persons, block by block.     There was a specific format to how it was assembled, leaving key spots open until the end.    At this point, there was an intermission.

After intermission, the band performs "Hey You" from behind the wall - you could see the lighting being used as if the wall wasn't there, but they never removed a single brick - kind of a cool effect and something I'm sure has always been a highlight of this show.     During the song "Nobody Home", a left section of the wall folds out showing a small hotel room with chair, TV, lamp, and windows.    I'm told Roger is supposed to be in the "Pink" character here, while performing the song "Vera".    Although it looked great, the performance seemed a bit lackluster.    Following "Vera" was video of soldiers reunited with the children, which was another point that seemed disconnected from the rest of the story - when considering the previous visuals during the show, it left me confused about what Roger was trying to say with the "additional" video footage.

Moving on to "Comfortably Numb", Roger is in the middle of the stage in front of the wall, while another vocalist and lead guitar player emerge at the top of the wall for solo parts.    This created more interesting visuals.    I've read glowing reviews of the guitar player doing a good job with capturing the original David Gilmour solo, and he does come close - I still like Gilmour better.

After this, the entire band comes out in front of the wall, performing on a set that came up from under the stage.  "The Show Must Go On" and "In The Flesh" are performed from this smaller setup in front of the wall, while Roger plays the role of Fascist dictator.    We were also treated to the inflatable pig floating around (via remote control), with various symbols and images from earlier, painted on the pig.

During "Waiting For Worms", video sequences of the marching hammers (from "The Wall" film) are used to great effect.    Visually, this was close to the most impressive part of the evening (for me).     At the end of the piece, a sole red spotlight is at the top of the wall where the "Pink" puppet is sitting.    It falls off the wall to the stage.

Next we have Roger performing "The Trial" lead vocal, while the animation from the film was projected.     To me, this is the most "Broadway" part of the entire show, and creates a nice change in musical direction.     Although Roger did a fine job vocally, I wasn't that impressed with his acting - not to mention, I wasn't sure if we were supposed to be watching Roger or the animation - I went with the animation.

This all came to a climax and Roger leaves the stage to the chant of "Tear down the wall".   After a brief moment, the wall falls down starting from middle top.   Smoke and light flashes add to the visuals, while a silhouette of a childish girl with her hands raised, appears in the back video screen.   Here's video I shot of this moment:



After the "smoke" settles, the band comes back out in front of the fallen wall, and performs and acoustic song.    I'm told it is "Outside The Wall".     During the song, red confetti falls from the rafters on the stage and floor audience.     Roger introduced the band afterward.

As sort of an overall summary, I'd say the show was visually stunning and the sound was incredibly clear - probably the best arena sound mix I've ever heard.     The band was good and recreated the music fine.    Roger comes across as a great idea man, but an average musician and vocalist.     His musical performances were fine (although I hear a few songs are played in slightly lower keys), but his attempts at dramatic acting could use some improvement (or let someone else do that stuff).    In my opinion, Roger isn't able to recreate the Pink Floyd experience on his own, but he sure did provide a feast for the eyes and ears.

On another note, I know that this tour is making arena stops as well as baseball stadium stops (the show was going to Chicago's Wrigley Field next).    Having to squeeze all the show into the smaller Van Andel Arena probably had some negative impact on this massive show.    I'm sure it feels a bit more "spread out" and not as "cramped", when in the larger stadiums - this is a show that would benefit from having a bit more room.    But, I'm glad it came to Grand Rapids, and I thought it was worth the time and money.

Rating:  9 out of 10

Total time was about 2hrs with intermission.