Post by Nonfatman on Oct 15, 2009 23:00:48 GMT -5
Okay, so time for my full Beacon review. It was great to see a second show in a different venue, and from a different seat in the house. In Schenectady I was sitting first row orchestra, but at the Beacon I had front row center in the lower balcony, which is a terrific seat. I felt like I was really able to absorb this show and refine my thoughts about certain aspects of this tour. Anyway, here goes:
MUSICIANSHIP : A- (Schenectady grade: A)
I have taken points off for musicianship because I realized just how often O'Hara played that bloody accordian, and just how ordinary his accordian playing really was. While a little taste of accordian is nice, do I need to hear it prominently featured in 80% of the songs? Don't think so. And the inclusion of Grimimelli's Lament in place of Just Trying to Be, meant that there was one MORE song I had to hear that freakin' accordian. Secondly, for both Griminelli's Lament and Serenade to a Cuckoo, Ian had a special guest female flutist accompanying him, Mary Drummond, I think her name was. She was, of course, hot, but while her flute playing was good, it was not all that great, I think because she was nervous.
ACOUSTICS/SOUND: B+ (Schenectady grade: A)
The Beacon is a beautiful theater, but twice the size of Schenectady's Proctor Theater, and cavernous by comparison. There is more echo and the acoustics were not as warm and rich as at Proctor Theater. Still good, mind you, but, for instance....Meena's viola sounded screechier (it actually drowned out Ian's guitar on Driving Skies, which was not the case at Proctor) and O'Hara's friggin' accordian sounded reedier. Also, Ian's voice on Dun Ringill could not be heard very well over the echoing backing tape of the breaking waves. I saw Elvis Costello and the Attractions there one year, and there was so much reverberation that I had to leave. That was not true of Ian's show....it still sounded quite good, but just not great like the other night in Schenectady, where you could really here each instrument. Also, at the Beacon, Goodier's acoustic bass often got lost in the mix, as it was overpowered by the other instruments. The other thing I noticed was that, unlike Proctors, the band was set up all the way to the rear of the deep Beacon stage....I believe this had something to do with trying to improve the sound.
VOCALS/SINGING: B- (Schenectady grade: B-)
All in all, his singing was about the same as at Schenectady, inconsistent, but pretty damn good in spots and better on certain songs than I've heard in quite some time. He was actually able to belt out My God and Locomotive Breath with some real vocal power, however Skating Away was a vocal mess, and Tea with the Princess barely audible.
SET LIST: C (Schenectady grade: B-)
Griminelli's LAME-ent included and Just Trying to Be left out? Need I say more? Well, actually, yes I do. I was noticing that the re-worked Aqualung is about ten minutes long....it's quite disjointed, and its not a version of Aqualung that anyone really wants to hear. So why play it at all??? Those precious ten minutes could have been used to play three genuinely acoustic songs. I don't see the sense of billing the show as IA plays the Acoustic Jethro Tull, and then playing acoustic versions of songs that are inherently electric. Furthermore, as Tommie pointed out, why do two songs of the guests' material have to be played at all? Their stuff, while good, is not Tull and should not really be played when there are boatloads of beautiful acoustic Tull songs that could have, and should have, been performed instead. And why, oh why, was the third new song, A Child in the Garden, left out again....why can't all three new songs be played at each show? Who really wants to hear the tired old Serenade to a Cuckoo instead of a fresh new Tull piece? The good thing for folks out west (that's you Bernie) is that I believe Griminelli's Lament was only included in this set because of the NYC violinist Ian invited to join him onstage....hopefully for you guys this was a one time thing and the beautiful Just Trying to Be will be justly restored.
STAGE SHOW A- (Schenectady grade: C)
Here is where there was major improvement. The show upstate was very sedate (accidental rhyme there), with little if anything happening on stage, and a lot of old jokes, especially the stupid one about the female violinist getting drunk on the tour bus -- the same exact joke he made about Lucia five years ago. [As an aside, if you check the Tull website, you'll see that Meena was a member of the Calliandra Quartet that toured with Ian in 2007, and even on the site, Ian makes a joke about her supposedly saying back then something like "what happens on the tour bus, stays on the tour bus."] By contrast, this show was much more lively, Ian was far more animated, frequently moving around and across the stage, and his jokes were better (except the same stale Griminelli joke about his girlfriend leaving him for another flutist "with a bigger flute.") Thankfully, though, he did not make the same Lucia/Meena drinking joke again. There was also more variety in the stage show, as Ian allowed Meena to step up to the microphone and introduce her own song, which she did not do in Schenectady, and also because of the presence of the guest female flutist at this show. Ian seemed to feed off the energy of the crowd, and brought his best stage act to NYC.
ENERGY FACTOR A- (Schenectady grade: C)
Here, too, there was a major difference. This was a very cool NYC crowd, younger than Schenectady, where the average age of the audience seemed to be about 60-65, whereas at the Beacon you had a lot of people in their forties, like me. ( I love ya, Dan, but I have to say, that was a pretty dull bunch of people up there, you excluded of course.) The excitement was palpable, building gradually before the band took the stage, almost like in the old days. Well, not quite, let's not go crazy here. But the Beacon crowd loved this show from the very first moment, Ian was very warmly and enthusiastically received, and from what I overheard afterwards, people enjoyed this show immensely.
OVERALL GRADE: B (Schenectady grade: B-)
Jeff
MUSICIANSHIP : A- (Schenectady grade: A)
I have taken points off for musicianship because I realized just how often O'Hara played that bloody accordian, and just how ordinary his accordian playing really was. While a little taste of accordian is nice, do I need to hear it prominently featured in 80% of the songs? Don't think so. And the inclusion of Grimimelli's Lament in place of Just Trying to Be, meant that there was one MORE song I had to hear that freakin' accordian. Secondly, for both Griminelli's Lament and Serenade to a Cuckoo, Ian had a special guest female flutist accompanying him, Mary Drummond, I think her name was. She was, of course, hot, but while her flute playing was good, it was not all that great, I think because she was nervous.
ACOUSTICS/SOUND: B+ (Schenectady grade: A)
The Beacon is a beautiful theater, but twice the size of Schenectady's Proctor Theater, and cavernous by comparison. There is more echo and the acoustics were not as warm and rich as at Proctor Theater. Still good, mind you, but, for instance....Meena's viola sounded screechier (it actually drowned out Ian's guitar on Driving Skies, which was not the case at Proctor) and O'Hara's friggin' accordian sounded reedier. Also, Ian's voice on Dun Ringill could not be heard very well over the echoing backing tape of the breaking waves. I saw Elvis Costello and the Attractions there one year, and there was so much reverberation that I had to leave. That was not true of Ian's show....it still sounded quite good, but just not great like the other night in Schenectady, where you could really here each instrument. Also, at the Beacon, Goodier's acoustic bass often got lost in the mix, as it was overpowered by the other instruments. The other thing I noticed was that, unlike Proctors, the band was set up all the way to the rear of the deep Beacon stage....I believe this had something to do with trying to improve the sound.
VOCALS/SINGING: B- (Schenectady grade: B-)
All in all, his singing was about the same as at Schenectady, inconsistent, but pretty damn good in spots and better on certain songs than I've heard in quite some time. He was actually able to belt out My God and Locomotive Breath with some real vocal power, however Skating Away was a vocal mess, and Tea with the Princess barely audible.
SET LIST: C (Schenectady grade: B-)
Griminelli's LAME-ent included and Just Trying to Be left out? Need I say more? Well, actually, yes I do. I was noticing that the re-worked Aqualung is about ten minutes long....it's quite disjointed, and its not a version of Aqualung that anyone really wants to hear. So why play it at all??? Those precious ten minutes could have been used to play three genuinely acoustic songs. I don't see the sense of billing the show as IA plays the Acoustic Jethro Tull, and then playing acoustic versions of songs that are inherently electric. Furthermore, as Tommie pointed out, why do two songs of the guests' material have to be played at all? Their stuff, while good, is not Tull and should not really be played when there are boatloads of beautiful acoustic Tull songs that could have, and should have, been performed instead. And why, oh why, was the third new song, A Child in the Garden, left out again....why can't all three new songs be played at each show? Who really wants to hear the tired old Serenade to a Cuckoo instead of a fresh new Tull piece? The good thing for folks out west (that's you Bernie) is that I believe Griminelli's Lament was only included in this set because of the NYC violinist Ian invited to join him onstage....hopefully for you guys this was a one time thing and the beautiful Just Trying to Be will be justly restored.
STAGE SHOW A- (Schenectady grade: C)
Here is where there was major improvement. The show upstate was very sedate (accidental rhyme there), with little if anything happening on stage, and a lot of old jokes, especially the stupid one about the female violinist getting drunk on the tour bus -- the same exact joke he made about Lucia five years ago. [As an aside, if you check the Tull website, you'll see that Meena was a member of the Calliandra Quartet that toured with Ian in 2007, and even on the site, Ian makes a joke about her supposedly saying back then something like "what happens on the tour bus, stays on the tour bus."] By contrast, this show was much more lively, Ian was far more animated, frequently moving around and across the stage, and his jokes were better (except the same stale Griminelli joke about his girlfriend leaving him for another flutist "with a bigger flute.") Thankfully, though, he did not make the same Lucia/Meena drinking joke again. There was also more variety in the stage show, as Ian allowed Meena to step up to the microphone and introduce her own song, which she did not do in Schenectady, and also because of the presence of the guest female flutist at this show. Ian seemed to feed off the energy of the crowd, and brought his best stage act to NYC.
ENERGY FACTOR A- (Schenectady grade: C)
Here, too, there was a major difference. This was a very cool NYC crowd, younger than Schenectady, where the average age of the audience seemed to be about 60-65, whereas at the Beacon you had a lot of people in their forties, like me. ( I love ya, Dan, but I have to say, that was a pretty dull bunch of people up there, you excluded of course.) The excitement was palpable, building gradually before the band took the stage, almost like in the old days. Well, not quite, let's not go crazy here. But the Beacon crowd loved this show from the very first moment, Ian was very warmly and enthusiastically received, and from what I overheard afterwards, people enjoyed this show immensely.
OVERALL GRADE: B (Schenectady grade: B-)
Jeff
