What was your last concert you went to ?
Posted by: sjust on 18 October 2004
Just returning from one of the Enjoy Jazz Festival concerts currently happening in my area. The old man and the younger lady burnt the house down ! Let's put the cover of forgiving and forgetting over the sound of the P.A. but fortunately you were able to hear both the piano and the saxes through the amplifiers, and that was a pleasure to do ! Shepp (whom I saw before, when he was much younger) still has so much energy that flows directly into his horn (and voice !!!), that it's breath taking. May he still live long and produce music, music, music !
Best regards, freundliche Grüße
Stefan
Crosby Stills & Nash,
Saw Steven Wilson last night at the Albert Hall with Denis A of this forum. Also present were Adrian (Lontano) and his lovely wife.
I was a complete virgin compared to the others. I have only heard a couple of Porcupine Tree albums (I actually own one!) in passing, and have only listened to one Wilson album - the latest one - and that was just the once.
Therefore I went into our box (nice one Denis!) with very few preconceptions and no knowledge.
The first half was a bit disappointing. After an intro film which went on for way too long, Wilson struck up on acoustic and we were off. I was hoping for something a bit "out there" but instead got what I can only describe as Genesis at their most twee-dious with the addition of squalling guitar and some weedy visuals. The best thing about the band was Miles alumnus Adam Holzman, who occasionally (but not enough) provided filfthy-sounding jazzy keyboard solos.
The second half was much better: darker, more Crimson-esque, heavier. There seemed to be more improv going on and Holzman added some lovely "In A Silent Way"-style touches. The sound improved a bit too (although you still couldn't really hear the bass), as did the visuals. The encore, described by Wilson as "space rock", was excellent, and the spacey freak-out in the middle was worthy of the Floyd circa '69.
So, a bit of a curate's egg then, but on balanced one redeemed by the second half.
Thank you, Kev. Never understood the hype.
Paul, the first people to do this were Pink Floyd, way back in May 1967, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (although they may have experimented with quad sound a month earlier at the Commonwealth Institute). Ever since then they have been using surround sound - by 1980 it had got to 64 channels!
Apart from the Floyd, I've also been to surround-sound gigs by Kraftwerk, Mogwai, Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour (who definitely coped with the RAH's acoustics) and the Grateful Dead, but there are probably others.
I thought that the effects at the Wilson gig were pretty primitive - especially compared to Floyd/Waters, where everything, not just the sound effects, is presented in surround - to be honest I'd rather have heard the bass a bit more! 
Paul, with regard to the RAH's acoustics, I assume that by "amazing" you really mean "awful"... Last concert I went to at the RAH in the Summer was Mark Knopfler, and at times it sounded like there were two drum kits playing at each end, but a second or two out of synch.
Maybe I should have used the word 'Interesting' Richard, trouble is I have been to so many out door stadium gigs over the summer that if Steven Wilson was playing in my kitchen it would have sounded amazing, so actually in comparison the RAH did sound pretty good, its all relative I guess, I need to re-tune.
Paul, the first people to do this were Pink Floyd, way back in May 1967, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (although they may have experimented with quad sound a month earlier at the Commonwealth Institute). Ever since then they have been using surround sound - by 1980 it had got to 64 channels!
Apart from the Floyd, I've also been to surround-sound gigs by Kraftwerk, Mogwai, Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour (who definitely coped with the RAH's acoustics) and the Grateful Dead, but there are probably others.
I thought that the effects at the Wilson gig were pretty primitive - especially compared to Floyd/Waters, where everything, not just the sound effects, is presented in surround - to be honest I'd rather have heard the bass a bit more!
Sounds like I've been missing out here then, we ventured up into the gods at the RAH to see if we could watch up there, I just can't stand sitting down at gigs, and came across the speakers and amps that were creating the effects, only to be kindly escorted by security back to our seats, even though it may have been primitive it was still quite some setup.
I don't think Jake Bugg will be trying anything like that tonight, I'm expecting quite a simple and raw set.