They even brought back Andy Hamilton!
Feb. 12th, 2005 10:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhI hadn't had that experience of being in a car with a friend driving to a concert in so long! Not that I don't see concerts, but you know, New York and all. I think the last time was in the summer of 2001 when S and I saw U2 in Jersey. Anyway, just the drive itself brought to mind all those high school drives into town to see bands, particularly that very first time in the spring of 1984, when I was just 14 and seeing my very first rock concert: Duran Duran.
As we walked into the auditorium I looked at my fellow concert-goers and reassured myself that no, we were not indistinguishable from your average Faith Hill concert, thank you very much. Sure, as Heidi pointed out, there were plenty of minivans in the parking lot and while they may have been "Mom's car", Mom was at the concert. Still, we weren't hopelessly middle aged. Honest! There were even, as you saw from Heidi's at-the-time post, plenty of ladies in plunging sparkly tops, some ill-advised. (For those of you familiar with my wardrobe, I was wearing the green dress with the mesh overlay from Torrid and my black hoodie.)
What was interesting is that with the passage of time the boys could admit to liking the band, too, so I'd say the audience was almost evenly divided and not because the ladies dragged their men with them. In front of us, three Hispanic couples where the boys seemed to be bigger fans than the girls (though Heidi noted that at least one of the gf's was a bit younger). Behind us, a completely cute gay boy who kept shouting "I love you Nick!"
They walked out, the five of them, and stood at the front of the dark stage for a moment with everyone cheering like mad. Then they opened with Sunrise, as they should, and then I realized how much of a true-fan crowd it was when everyone cheered the opening synth riff from Hold Back the Rain. So much singing! So much dancing! So tragic for Heidi and me that Roger's head was hidden behind a cymbal! But I could see his little head moving and that was enough. Roger's drums and Nick's equipment were next to each other on the stage, with John in front of Roger, Andy in front of Nick and Simon in between, so Roger and Nick were really quite close to the action. There were also side stages and some lucky fans that got to sit right next to the stage! John looked very dapper in a black suit and white shirt, jacket buttoned and all; Andy wore a black suit as well though there was no shirt underneath, and his ubiquitous sunglasses; Roger had on a white shirt and black trousers and Nick a black suit and white shirt. Simon had the only flash of color, wearing a red shirt with his black suit, the jacket unbuttoned, and he looked trimmer than during the Tiger tour, actually.
Nick had a bit of an issue, and then we heard Come Undone, which introduced their lone backup singer, and then Hungry Like the Wolf. What followed set a bit of the tone of the evening: a stripped down "remixed" version of I Don't Want Your Love that had plenty of guitar. In general they had rearranged a lot of the old songs to very subtly include more guitar and a little less keyboard, which was definitely to their benefit live. Also, rather than Simon taking the high part and the backup singer taking the lower one, they switched.
Union of the Snake was next, including a shock of recognition that they had Andy Hamilton, the sax player featured on Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger, along for the ride as well. Some songs from the new record, including the new single (and how great must it be for them to be able to say, "This is the new single they're playing on the radio right now"?). Heidi asked, "Should I do a phone post for The Reflex or View to a Kill?" and I replied, "Whichever comes first" which turned out to be The Reflex. Funnily enough, Simon is still doing a little spin right after he sings "But they won't slow down the roundabout" which made me laugh out loud.
A guitar was brought out and Simon chipped in to play "Astronaut" after a bit of technical difficulty. Then he introduced Andy Hamilton and toddled off to change and rest his voice while the rest of the band played Tiger Tiger. Roger stood up, yay! Simon appeared stage right with a search light in his hand and a new pleated frock coat that was rather unflattering unfortunately for him, to sing Night Boat which similarly got the die-hards cheering. They slowed things down for a bit with Ordinary World and Save a Prayer (we all had our phones in our hands and were waving them to and fro).
Notorious got the crowd rocking again, particularly in the middle when it suddenly turned to We Are Family. I think Careless Memory followed, with a completely amazing anime playing on the screen behind them that made them into heroes fighting off foes with their instruments. Roger was slaying with his cymbals which he threw like lethal frisbees, Simon with his mike stand that he used like one of those judo sticks, Nick had two ninja babes, John's bass shot electric current, and Andy ran through his foes with his guitar. So cool! They ended the set with Planet Earth.
After a bit of crowd chanting, they came back for their encore, starting with their cover of White Lines. Girls on Film followed (and turned into Groove Is in the Heart for a moment in the middle). Then the Patrick Nagel cover flashed up on the screen behind them and the entire place went NUTS. Rio was the very fitting final song.
They sounded great: as C would say, loose and tight in all the right places. But most of all, they were having fun. They seemed just really happy to be there and have all of us screaming for them. I like Astronaut and the four or five songs they played from it didn't slow the crowd down at all, but gave everyone a second to sit down, shut up and listen. Best of all, they didn't sound like some other band. They picked just the right songs from the post-Tiger era, too, and reminded me that I need to get Notorious on cd like, now. (Big Thing and Liberty I inherited from my college radio station; the first three of course I own, along with the Wedding Album and Astronaut; and the rest is frankly skippable.) While I personally could have done without the White Lines cover, there wasn't much missing. Oh, perhaps A View to a Kill was conspicuous in its absence, or New Moon on Monday, but being a fan I think I would have asked them to play Last Chance on the Stairway or Lonely in Your Nightmare if I'd had a request.
It was so much fun and I really do encourage all of you to go see them when they come to your town. And if anyone can get me that anime that played behind Careless Memories (bats eyes at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ali_wildgoose) I would be massively, massively grateful, as I want an icon of anime-red-eyed-fang-toothed!Roger nownownow!
As we walked into the auditorium I looked at my fellow concert-goers and reassured myself that no, we were not indistinguishable from your average Faith Hill concert, thank you very much. Sure, as Heidi pointed out, there were plenty of minivans in the parking lot and while they may have been "Mom's car", Mom was at the concert. Still, we weren't hopelessly middle aged. Honest! There were even, as you saw from Heidi's at-the-time post, plenty of ladies in plunging sparkly tops, some ill-advised. (For those of you familiar with my wardrobe, I was wearing the green dress with the mesh overlay from Torrid and my black hoodie.)
What was interesting is that with the passage of time the boys could admit to liking the band, too, so I'd say the audience was almost evenly divided and not because the ladies dragged their men with them. In front of us, three Hispanic couples where the boys seemed to be bigger fans than the girls (though Heidi noted that at least one of the gf's was a bit younger). Behind us, a completely cute gay boy who kept shouting "I love you Nick!"
They walked out, the five of them, and stood at the front of the dark stage for a moment with everyone cheering like mad. Then they opened with Sunrise, as they should, and then I realized how much of a true-fan crowd it was when everyone cheered the opening synth riff from Hold Back the Rain. So much singing! So much dancing! So tragic for Heidi and me that Roger's head was hidden behind a cymbal! But I could see his little head moving and that was enough. Roger's drums and Nick's equipment were next to each other on the stage, with John in front of Roger, Andy in front of Nick and Simon in between, so Roger and Nick were really quite close to the action. There were also side stages and some lucky fans that got to sit right next to the stage! John looked very dapper in a black suit and white shirt, jacket buttoned and all; Andy wore a black suit as well though there was no shirt underneath, and his ubiquitous sunglasses; Roger had on a white shirt and black trousers and Nick a black suit and white shirt. Simon had the only flash of color, wearing a red shirt with his black suit, the jacket unbuttoned, and he looked trimmer than during the Tiger tour, actually.
Nick had a bit of an issue, and then we heard Come Undone, which introduced their lone backup singer, and then Hungry Like the Wolf. What followed set a bit of the tone of the evening: a stripped down "remixed" version of I Don't Want Your Love that had plenty of guitar. In general they had rearranged a lot of the old songs to very subtly include more guitar and a little less keyboard, which was definitely to their benefit live. Also, rather than Simon taking the high part and the backup singer taking the lower one, they switched.
Union of the Snake was next, including a shock of recognition that they had Andy Hamilton, the sax player featured on Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger, along for the ride as well. Some songs from the new record, including the new single (and how great must it be for them to be able to say, "This is the new single they're playing on the radio right now"?). Heidi asked, "Should I do a phone post for The Reflex or View to a Kill?" and I replied, "Whichever comes first" which turned out to be The Reflex. Funnily enough, Simon is still doing a little spin right after he sings "But they won't slow down the roundabout" which made me laugh out loud.
A guitar was brought out and Simon chipped in to play "Astronaut" after a bit of technical difficulty. Then he introduced Andy Hamilton and toddled off to change and rest his voice while the rest of the band played Tiger Tiger. Roger stood up, yay! Simon appeared stage right with a search light in his hand and a new pleated frock coat that was rather unflattering unfortunately for him, to sing Night Boat which similarly got the die-hards cheering. They slowed things down for a bit with Ordinary World and Save a Prayer (we all had our phones in our hands and were waving them to and fro).
Notorious got the crowd rocking again, particularly in the middle when it suddenly turned to We Are Family. I think Careless Memory followed, with a completely amazing anime playing on the screen behind them that made them into heroes fighting off foes with their instruments. Roger was slaying with his cymbals which he threw like lethal frisbees, Simon with his mike stand that he used like one of those judo sticks, Nick had two ninja babes, John's bass shot electric current, and Andy ran through his foes with his guitar. So cool! They ended the set with Planet Earth.
After a bit of crowd chanting, they came back for their encore, starting with their cover of White Lines. Girls on Film followed (and turned into Groove Is in the Heart for a moment in the middle). Then the Patrick Nagel cover flashed up on the screen behind them and the entire place went NUTS. Rio was the very fitting final song.
They sounded great: as C would say, loose and tight in all the right places. But most of all, they were having fun. They seemed just really happy to be there and have all of us screaming for them. I like Astronaut and the four or five songs they played from it didn't slow the crowd down at all, but gave everyone a second to sit down, shut up and listen. Best of all, they didn't sound like some other band. They picked just the right songs from the post-Tiger era, too, and reminded me that I need to get Notorious on cd like, now. (Big Thing and Liberty I inherited from my college radio station; the first three of course I own, along with the Wedding Album and Astronaut; and the rest is frankly skippable.) While I personally could have done without the White Lines cover, there wasn't much missing. Oh, perhaps A View to a Kill was conspicuous in its absence, or New Moon on Monday, but being a fan I think I would have asked them to play Last Chance on the Stairway or Lonely in Your Nightmare if I'd had a request.
It was so much fun and I really do encourage all of you to go see them when they come to your town. And if anyone can get me that anime that played behind Careless Memories (bats eyes at
ali_wildgoose) I would be massively, massively grateful, as I want an icon of anime-red-eyed-fang-toothed!Roger nownownow!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-02-13 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-14 06:33 pm (UTC)I'm lost and I'm found, and I'm hungry like the wolf
Don't say a prayer for me now, save it til the morning after
The Reflex is in charge of finding treasure in the dark
I would be rather surprised if you had never heard the first two, actually. And thanks, we had a great time.