I will begin this review with a couple of gripes and you know what?
I don't care.
Gripe #1 - I would like to go and personally punch the sound guy who worked
last nights show. This was by far the WORST sounding show I have ever
witnessed in my entire concert going life. The acoustics at the Pavilion are
fairly good for an outside venue, and having witnessed a number of acts
there before, this time I will say that the soundman just flat out sucked
donkey balls. It was muddy, overly loud and all the more unlistenable with
the speakers on stage right breaking apart, and this is with plugs (I know,
lot of people will call me the pussy for wearing plugs, but I like my
hearing and believe me, you hear more of the show with plugs).
GRIPE #2 - Why is it that there have to be so many sub-moronic, beer
swilling shitheads in the crowd
who feel the need to scream and yell, jump over seats and spill beer on
everyone in attendance and then
AIR guitar/drum parts and yell in your ear saying "This guy is GOD
man".....uggggggggggh.
On with the review...
King's X sounded bloody awful, simply put, this was not a pleasant sight to
see. These guys are tighter
than a nuns ass and they just sounded muddy, distorted and unaudible. These
guys are a fabulous live
act and I have witnessed them 3 times before but this was just flat out bad.
Guitarist/Vocalist Ty Tabor was out of key half the time due to poor stage
monitors and he looked pissed throughout the performance.
The band played tight as always, but the sonic quality was dreadful and
diminished any possible redeaming qualities to this bands performance. Too
bad, because they are force to be reckoned with in both live and studio
contexts.
Next up was Joe Satriani. My only two words for Mr. Satriani are "STOP IT".
He hasn't changed his
played out shtick for so long and his recent live performances are dull and
completely uninspiring. He
says the same shit to the crowd at every show and does the same 'guitar god'
poses from 3 tours ago. Plus the fact that he plays his songs the same way,
everytime without one hint of improv or variance from the original studio
recordings. This was complaint at last years G3 tour and he hasn't changed a
thing. To
make matters worse, he had some sort of androginous rhythm guitarist who's
tone was dreadful and having
IT there was unnecessary. Why would you have a rhythm guitarist who does
nothing but double and fill in
little chord passages during your long-winded noodley solos. The new
material from the dreadful "Strange
Beautiful Music" CD dulled the crowd to where everyone pretty much sat down.
The pathetic portion of this
show was when Satriani and band pulled out bar stools in attempt to create
and 'intimate' jam session setting. AWFUL. Seriously, this guy is a huge
influence of mine, and I love his music to death, but lately
his perfomances and CD's have been very disapointing. Buy the Live from San
Fransisco DVD/CD and don't bother wasting time for this live show.
Now, Dream Theater was another story completely. They sounded AMAZING but
still experienced some poor sound problems. One of the tightest live acts
around Dream Theater's musical chops are simply unmatched. Lead vocalist
James Labrie was in terrific form and this coming from a guy who sounds
like nails on a chalk board on live recordings. I don't know what they did,
but it worked and his vocals were impressive, on key and dynamic. The rest
of the band was simply astounding. I cannot throw enough praise to at guys
and do them justice as to how good they played. Guitarist John Petrucci (who
could play rings around anyone out there) really played to his best
abilities despite a few technical issues and his unison lines with bassist
John Myung simply boggled the mind. They played some of the most wicked and
intense lines in perfect unison at blazing speed with effortless precision.
Drummer Mike Portnoy was in top form and filled the space with some intense
rhythmic structure and showmanship (the highlight of the night was when he
broke his stick and waited for his tech to get him one, all the while
playing a very complex part with ONE hand and then the tech tosses a stick
at him from 30 feet away and Portnoy catches it and continues the part
without missing one beat - simply amazing)
Dream Theater's set was short compaired to their usual headlining pace, but
that is something you have to expect with package tours. Their set was a
variety from all of their studio discs with tons of medleys and parts of
other songs thrown in for good measure. The set was well paced and never
lost momentum or fire. The highlight being the ten minute instrumental
medley where they simply leveled the place with their sick, almost
impossible arrangements and precision. Simply untouchable and one of the
MUST see live acts of the last ten years. I wish they had done more off of
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance (their latest masterpiece), but forgivible
due to the shortened set list. Well done gentlemen.
Their perfomance saved the evening and I only wish I could give this show a
better rating but the previous events brought this down to a low level. Next
time, take King's X, drop Satch and headline with a longer set.
