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Eric Clapton – Roger Daltrey – RBC Center – March 2010 – review

retroDan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:22:25 +0000

Eric Clapton stopped by The RBC Center in Raleigh this past monday to rush through his 16-song set and to completely ignore his fans. Yes, I know, Clapton is known for his lack of stage banter but come on, throw us a bone every now and then. The arena was pretty much filled to capacity, the least he could have done was acknowledge that we were there and maybe even say the name of the town he was in. He honestly looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here. Clapton fans would argue that he lets the music speak for itself but the living legend just seemed to be going through the motions, literally on autopilot the whole night. No spark of inspiration nor glimmer of enthusiasm were evident at this particular show. Another tell tale sign was Clapton plowing through song after song without pausing to allow the audience to give him some applause. weird. He was pretty much the same way when I last saw him live back on his Journeyman tour but his disinterest and disengagement seemed more pronounced this time around.

But having said all that, I have to say that the man is a guitar legend and I’m still glad I got to see the show. Clapton has a stellar band with him including Steve Gadd on drums and Willie Weeks on bass. Ya can’t go wrong there. And he also performed one of my all time favorites, “Old Love” that featured a nice extended solo. Other moments during the set that featured some tasty guitar work included “I Shot the Sheriff”, “Little Queen of Spades” and “Before You Accuse Me”.

As for Roger Daltrey, I wasn’t expecting much from him after seeing the poor half-time performance by The Who during this year’s superbowl. But surprisingly, Daltrey did a fantastic job and really got the crowd going. He was the total opposite of Clapton: engaging with the crowd, making a few jokes here and there and he genuinely seemed happy to be on stage. He had a well paced set with highlights like “Who Are You”, “Gimme a Stone”, “Young Man Blues” and of course, “Baba O’Riley”.

retroGrade: C+ (Eric Clapton), A (Roger Daltrey)

Eric Clapton with special guest, Roger Daltrey
venue: RBC Center, Raleigh, NC
date: March 8, 2010

setlist:
Roger Daltrey –
I Can See For Miles
The Real Me
Behind Blue Eyes
Freedom Ride
Give Me A Stone
Days Of Light
Who Are You
Going Mobile
Young Man Blues
Baba O’Riley

Eric Clapton –
Going Down Slow
Key To The Highway
Tell The Truth
Old Love
I Shot The Sheriff
Driftin’ Blues
Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out
Running On Faith
Layla
I’ve Got A Rock N Roll Heart
Badge
Little Queen Of Spades
Before You Accuse Me
Wonderful Tonight
Cocaine
Crossroads

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Eric Clapton – Minnesota Night – April 1987 – CD review

retroDan — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:00:08 +0000

Minnesota Night is a nice little snapshot of Eric Clapton’s tour in support of his 1986 album August which happened to be produced by his ol’ buddy Phil Collins. I’m not sure if Collins felt like he owed Clapton after the album got panned by critics at the time but in any case, Collins played with him for a number of shows during 1986 and 1987.

So what we have here is a fantastic sounding recording of the April 18th Minnesota show which featured a stripped down four piece unit that included Nathan East on bass and Greg Phillinganes on keyboards. It’s a stellar band and it’s also nice to hear Clapton as the sole guitarist in the group since he normally includes one or two extra guitarists in his touring band.

Even though I’m a huge fan of Phil Collins’ drumming, I have to say that his style is a bit too heavy-handed for some of the material featured here. Frankly, at various points in the show, his pounding backbeat overpowers the rest of the band and even ruins “Layla” by setting the tempo way too fast. But I’m a musician and I’m probably being overly critically about the playing captured here. In any case, this is a unique band lineup and I’m glad to have a nice sounding document from this tour.

retroGrade: B+

It’s definitely worth seeking out. In the meantime, here are a couple tracks from the boot.

Holy Mother

Cocaine

Layla

Minnesota Night
artist: Eric Clapton
Date: April 18, 1987
Venue: Civic Centre, St. Paul, MN
Sound quality: excellent soundboard recording

the band:
Eric Clapton: Guitar, vocals
Nathan East: Bass
Greg Phillinganes: Keyboards
Phil Collins: Drums

Tracklist:
Disc 1:
1. Crossroads
2. White Room
3. I Shot the Sheriff
4. Hung Up On Your Love
5. Wonderful Tonight
6. Miss You
7. Same Old Blues

Disc 2:
1. Tearing Us Apart
2. Holy Mother
3. Badge
4. Let it Rain
5. Cocaine
6. Layla
7. Sunshine of Your Love

For those interested in this particular band lineup, check out the following officially released DVDs: Eric Clapton & Friends Live 1986 and Eric Clapton Live in Montreux 1986. Both DVDs feature the same lineup although the Montreux DVD seems to be a more complete representation of the full live show.

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Findlay Brown – Love Will Find You (2010) – album review

retroDan — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:36:42 +0000

Nobody cared what we’d think, what we’d say, what we’d do… – Findlay Brown

Well, if they didn’t care about Findlay Brown before, I’m sure they care for him NOW! Brown’s recent U.S. release titled Love Will Find You is a superb sonic tribute to the classic pop sounds of the early 60’s. The new album is like unearthing a time capsule from that era and finding pop gems that hark back to the sounds of Phil Spector, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley.

From a songwriting point of view, it’s no easy feat to conjure up new and memorable melodies and catchy refrains within the confines of early 60’s pop chord structures. But somehow Brown has come up with ten terrific tunes that successfully capture the feel and mood of that long gone era without overstepping the line into cheesy parody.

At the helm of this project is producer Bernard Butler who is pretty much the “go-to” guy for getting vintage sounds (i.e. Duffy’s 2008 album “Rockferry”). Highlights on the album include the ultra-catchy “Love Will Find You” (complete with Phil Spector’s “Be My Baby” drumbeat), the Roy Orbison-ish “Everybody Needs Love” and the dramatic album closer, “I Had A Dream”.

retroGrade: A

Findlay Brown
Love Will Find You
released in the U.S. January 2010
Record label: Verve
official myspace page

TrackList:
1 Love Will Find You (Brown) 3:18
2 Nobody Cared (Brown) 3:56
3 All That I Have (Brown) 2:40
4 Everybody Needs Love (Brown) 4:33
5 That’s Right (Brown, Hinkley) 2:27
6 Teardrops Lost in the Rain (Brown) 3:23
7 Holding Back the Night (Brown) 4:19
8 If I Could Do It Again (Brown) 2:37
9 I Still Want You (Brown) 2:04
10 I Had a Dream (Brown) 5:34

check out Findlay Brown’s recent performance of “Love will Find You” on David Letterman:

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Hillsong Live – Faith + Hope + Love – CD review

retroDan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:35:22 +0000

I’m so conditioned to expect mediocre releases from Hillsong that I was really taken aback while listening to their latest CD Faith + Hope + Love. This is by far the best Hillsong album in recent memory. I’m not sure what happened between the recording of this release and their previous effort, Across the Earth: Tear Down the Walls but the material is so much stronger this time around. Casual listeners may not notice a difference since the song arrangements and the overall sound mix are pretty typical for a Hillsongs recording. But the well crafted song structures and the depth of the lyrics take this Hillsong release to another level.
And for a change of pace, a Brooke Fraser Ligertwood song isn’t the major highlight of the album. It’s a song by Jill McCloghry titled “We the Redeemed”. The powerful worship anthem will most likely be a congregation favorite for years to come. And there’s plenty more on the album for worship leaders to use with their respective teams. Be sure to check out: “The First and The Last”, “For Your Name”, “Yahweh” and “The Wonder of Your Love”
It’s also great to hear Darlene Zschech’s lovely voice again on “The Wonder of Your Love”. No longer the main worship pastor at Hillsong Church, Zschech has taken a lesser role on recent Hillsong recordings. Even so, there’s no replacing that remarkable voice of hers which will be forever linked as part of that classic “hillsong sound”.

RetroGrade: A

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Hillsong Live – Faith + Hope + Love
released: August 2009
recorded during the month of March 2009
label: Hillsong Music/Integrity

Tracklist:
1 The First and the Last (Houston, Morgan) 05:01
2 For Your Name (Gillies, Houston, Morgan) 03:55
3 Glow (Crocker, Houston) 04:57
4 It’s Your Love (Fieldes) 08:32
5 I Will Exalt You (Ligertwood) 07:42
6 Yahweh (Morgan) 07:17
7 No Reason to Hide (Crocker, Houston) 03:43
8 God One and Only (Douglass, Knock) 03:30
9 The Wonder of Your Love (Mooring, Mooring, Sampson) 04:57
10 His Glory Appears (Sampson, Zschech) 03:19
11 We the Redeemed (McCloghry) 07:31
12 We Will See Him (Fergusson, Morgan) 06:41
13 You Hold Me Now (Crocker, Morgan) 08:16

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LG Chocolate Touch Review – Verizon VX8575

retroDan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:02:29 +0000

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of LG Chocolate Touch. All opinions are 100% mine.

LG Electronics, in conjunction with IZEA, sent a brand new LG Chocolate Touch for me to try out and review. The timing couldn’t be more perfect since my two year contract for my VX8600 (a clamshell version of the LG Chocolate) just ran out and I’ve been looking for a replacement for it. I’ve experienced nothing but great things with the previous version of the LG Chocolate so I was more than happy to try out the VX8575. This version stays true to the other Chocolate phones with its sleek design and superb music capabilities. The most significant update obviously is the gorgeous 3 inch touch screen.

The very minute I received the new phone in the mail, I went online to activate it on my existing Verizon account. I was a bit surprised to find that I wasn’t allowed to complete the activation over the web. It probably had something to do with this being a review phone and not something that I purchased through my personal account. I’m pretty sure if I had purchased the phone through Verizon, activation would have been a whole lot smoother. Anyway, after speaking with Verizon customer service on my other phone, I was up and running within five minutes.

The touch screen interface took a bit of getting used to but once I became more familiar with dragging my finger across the screen, everything fell into place. I think the technique I had the most difficulty with was pushing items upwards in order to scroll down the screen. The 240 by 400 display is crisp and colorful and the touch screen features haptics vibration feedback which helps when typing on the screen. The other nice feature is the internal accelerometer which will rotate the orientation of the screen depending on how the phone is held in your hands. For instance, when you’re creating a new text message, turn the phone to its side and a full QWERTY keyboard appears on the screen.

And now, on to the music capabilities. First of all, thank you LG for including a 3.5 headphone jack on this phone. This basically means you can use your normal set of headphones to listen to music and not have to purchase an additional item designed with a specific sized jack. The phone has a decent-sized 1 GB of internal memory. And if that’s not enough (and for us music fans, it’s never enough), LG included a microSD slot so that you can add up to 16 GB of additional storage. Another big positive about this phone is that LG/Verizon doesn’t require you to use their software to transfer music files onto the phone. You simply have to hook up the phone with the included USB cable. The trick is to go to the music menu on the phone and hit the “sync” button or else you won’t be able to see the “internal memory” folder via windows explorer. Once the phone is in “sync mode”, you can drag and drop your selections into the music folder. The Chocolate Touch recognizes both MP3 and AAC tracks. Once the mp3s are on the phone, you can create customized playlists or simply listen by genre, album or by artist. I’ve listened to the tracks using both my trusty old Sennheiser headphones and my Shure E3C sound isolating earphones. Honestly, the music on the VX8575 sound as good as on my ipod nano. The music player even features Dolby Mobile for enhanced clarity and simulated surround sound.

LG also includes the ability to play along with your music tracks using the virtual drum and piano interface. It’s a bit of a novelty and it’s not something you would use extensively since the touch screen only allows one-input at any given time. In other words, you can’t play more than one note on the keyboard at a time. And on drums, that’s a bit of a hindrance when you want to recreate those big “Phil Collins” drum solos on the phone!!

Another nice added feature is the FM tuner. The radio definitely comes in handy when I want to listen to the news while out on my walks. Oh and don’t worry about missing any calls, even while listening to the radio or the mp3 player, the phone will automatically pause the music and let the call come through.

And thank goodness the LG Chocolate Touch isn’t that restrictive with ringtones. Most wireless companies try to lockdown their phones to try and force their consumers to only purchase ringtones through them. But with this LG phone, all you have to do is transfer your favorites mp3s into the “my ringtones” folder on the microSD card. I simply customized 30-sec snippets of my favorite songs on an audio editor like audacity and then used a SD card reader to transfer the files to phone’s microSD card. When you re-insert the card, the phone automatically recognizes the new ringtones in the folder. sweet! I absolutely love this phone.

To sum up – the LG Chocolate Touch is geared toward people like me that don’t necessarily need the power of a smartphone. The VX8575 is sleek and hip and yet very simple to use. Call quality is excellent and the phone has great signal range. And on top of all the solid phone features is the fantastic music player. LG continues to be a top-notched phone manufacturer and the VX8575 is just another great update on an already well-regarded Chocolate brand.

retroGrade: A

LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 specs:
Service Provider: Verizon Wireless
Screen Size: 3 inches
Screen Details: 240-by-400, 262K-color TFT LCD resistive touch screen
Camera: 3.2 Megapixels, video records at 320 x 240 pixels at 15 frames per second
Network: CDMA
Bands: 850, 1900
High-Speed Data: GPRS, 1xRTT, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, EVDO Rev A
Battery life: 306 minutes of talk time
other features: mp3 player, FM radio, videos, photos, alarm clock, calendar, microSD, 4-band equalizer, bluetooth, web browser

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Motorola Clutch – i465 – Boost Mobile

The Lou Gramm Band – CD review

retroDan — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:54:56 +0000

Lou Gramm is a true rock and roll survivor. The man had grappled with a brain tumor for goodness sakes! Unfortunately after going through all of that, Gramm isn’t the same as he once was. He has gained a bit a weight, lost the recognizable quality in his voice and is now a born-again Christian. In fact, Gramm’s most recent album, The Lou Gramm Band is what you would classify as a “Christian Rock” album. Big props to Gramm for having the balls to go the less commercial route. I mean, can you imagine the meetings he must of had with his business managers pleading with him to release something that could be more marketable to the “Foreigner/classic rock” crowd? In any case, what’s done is done and I’m sure Gramm meant well. But in my opinion, this is not the “comeback” record we’ve all been waiting for. Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with Christian music and I personally listen to a number of different Christian artists like Lincoln Brewster, Israel Houghton and Michael Gungor. The problem here mainly stems from the material. It’s simply not strong enough. Aside from the track, “Baptized by Fire” (which is pretty good), the majority of the songs are filled with generic chord progressions and cliched lyrics. To compound the problem, Gramm makes some cringe-worthy choices on several of the tracks. Take for instance “Single Vision”. It’s a solid rocker with a nice enough hook but he totally ruins it by including a hokie spoken-word interlude pleading to some unknown entity to not take “the Lord from the classrooms”. WTF. Other cheesy moments include “That’s the Way God Planned It” (which sounds like something you’d hear on a local cable access broadcast of a southern baptist worship service), “So Great” (sounds a bit like old-school worship leader Graham Kendrick from the 80’s) and “You Saved Me” (almost a Meat Loaf parody but in a bad way).

So for now, if I’m in need of a Lou Gramm fix, I’ll simply pull out his 1989 classic Long Hard Look.

retroGrade: D+

title: The Lou Gramm Band
label: Spectra Records
released: 2009

TrackList:
Made To Be Broken
Redeemer
Willing To Forgive
That’s The Way God Planned It
Baptized By Fire
(I Wanna) Testify
So Great
Single Vision
Rattle Yer Bones
You Saved Me

The Lou Gramm Band:
Lou Gramm – Vocals
Richard Gramm – Guitar and Bass
Ben Gramm – Drums
Don Mancuso – Guitar and Bass
Andy Knoll – Keyboards

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CD Review – Good Evening New York City marred by auto-tune

retroDan — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:04:51 +0000

I’ve been listening to the newly released two-disc audio CDs of Paul McCartney’s Good Evening New York City this week and I have to say that I’m pretty disappointed by the blatant use of auto-tune (pitch correction software) on Paul’s vocals. yes, I understand that auto-tune is pretty much standard practice nowadays in the pop music industry but for an iconic voice as Paul’s, the tell-tale signs of auto-tune just ruins for me. I personally would have preferred bum-notes and all for this live document of McCartney’s July 2009 gigs at Citi Field in NYC. We all know McCartney is 67 and his voice isn’t what it used to be so we don’t expect his vocals to be perfect. So why try to artificially make it so in post-production? I can accept Sir Paul going back into the studio to overdub vocal parts because that’s the nature of the beast (and he’s done that with past releases like Wings over America and Tripping the Live Fantastic) but to utilize auto-tune (or Melodyne, another pitch correction tool) and make Paul sound like a cyborg, is a big mistake if you ask me. The tell-tale signs vary throughout the performance with some songs being more heavily treated than others. Listen for it on songs like “Got to Get You Into My Life”, “Let it Be”, “I’ve Got a Feeling” and “Paperback Writer”. Again, some folks may not know what to listen for so this may not be a bother to some ears but it sure does bother mine. I’m personally going to seek out the audio of the pay-per-view broadcast of Paul’s show in Halifax (11Jul09). From what I’ve heard, McCartney and band sounded great that night and the BIG PLUS is the fact that it’s a more TRUTHFUL document of his show with NO auto-tune to mar the experience!

But if you can get past the artificial quality of Paul’s vocals, there are some positives. The band sounds tight and it’s great to hear songs like “Mrs. Vandebilt”, “I’m Down”, “Calico Skies” and “Only Mama Knows”. And the “Sgt. Peppers/The End” combo is always a great way to end the show. You can’t go wrong there. Another positive is the fact that the CD isn’t mastered “loud”. No signs of brickwalling here, thank goodness.

Before I end this, I DO have to mention one more thing which has to do with Wix’s synth patches. Wix has been with Paul since the 1989 tour and from the sound of it, he hasn’t updated his keyboard sounds since that time. I assume that sampling technology has progressed during the time since then but his “horn” samples in songs like “Got to Get You Into My Life” and his “sax synth” solo during “Lady Madonna” sound just like it did on the first tour. In other words, the synths sound dated now. ..and a bit cheesy. Weird, since I’m sure Wix can afford all the newest gear. so what gives?

I haven’t had a chance to view the DVD portion of this release in any detail but I suspect the visual aspect will help take the focus off the auto-tuned vocals. Well, at least I hope so, anyway.

RetroGrade: C (for the audio CD)

Good Evening New York City
Released: November 17, 2009 (U.S.)
label: Hear Music/Concord Music Group

Tracklist of the audio CDs:
Disc 1:
1. Drive My Car
2. Jet
3. Only Mama Knows
4. Flaming Pie
5. Got To Get You Into My Life
6. Let Me Roll It
7. Highway
8. The Long And Winding Road
9. My Love
10. Blackbird
11. Here Today
12. Dance Tonight
13. Calico Skies
14. Mrs Vandebilt
15. Eleanor Rigby
16. Sing The Changes
17. Band On The Run

Disc 2:
1. Back In The USSR
2. I’m Down
3. Something
4. I’ve Got A Feeling
5. Paperback Writer
6. A Day In The Life / Give Peace A Chance
7. Let It Be
8. Live And Let Die
9. Hey Jude
10. Day Tripper
11. Lady Madonna
12. I Saw Her Standing There
13. Yesterday
14. Helter Skelter
15. Get Back
16. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band / The End

Here’s the “I’m Down” clip from the DVD. (a strange decision to mix the Beatles’ 1965 Shea performance with Paul’s, in my opinion…)

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Bill Champlin – No Place Left to Fall – review

retroDan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:18:51 +0000

After listening to Bill Champlin’s latest album No Place Left to Fall, I think I now understand why he left Chicago. Champlin sounds so free and alive on this record. Chicago had become creatively stagnant, releasing only two albums worth of new material in the last twenty years. I’m sure the steady income from touring was nice and all but playing the same set year after year probably took its toll on Champlin. The new album is full of energy and ideas and it’s an absolute joy to listen to. It’s Champlin at his finest, running the full gamut of styles from laidback funk/R&B (Total Control, Tugging at your Sleeve) to acoustic pop (Look Away), gospel (Looking for You) to Chicago-esque ballads (Never Been Afraid, All Along).

The musicianship here is top notch with Champlin on keyboards & Hammond B-3, Bruce Gaitsch on guitar, Billy Ward on drums and George Hawkins Jr. on bass. The standout track for me is “No Place Left to Fall”. It’s tastefully restrained with Champlin and band holding back and keeping things at its bare minimum during the whole track. I love that tension that is built during the song and really serves the track well. It takes a truly mature musician to know not to “play out” on every song.

other favorites include: “Total Control”, “The Truth”, “Looking for You” and “All Along”.

retroGrade: A
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Bill Champlin – No Place Left to Fall
released in the U.S.: August 2009
record label: Dreammakers
official website: BillChamplin.net

TRACKLIST:
1 Total Control (Champlin, Graydon) 05:19
2 Tuggin’ on Your Sleeve (Caruso, Champlin, Champlin) 05:53
3 The Truth (Champlin, Gaitsch) 04:16
4 No Place Left to Fall (Caruso, Champlin, Champlin) 04:10
5 Lover Like That (Champlin) 05:39
6 Lookin’ for You (Champlin, Matkosky) 04:24
7 Never Been Afraid (Carlsson, Champlin) 04:56
8 Angelina (Champlin, Gaitsch, Hawkins) 06:16
9 Look Away (Warren) 06:34
10 I Want You to Stay (Burnett, Gaitsch) 04:51
11 Never Let Go (Carlsson, Champlin) 04:25
12 Stone Cold Hollywood (Champlin) 04:41
13 All Along (Champlin, Gaitsch, Hawkins) 06:41

listen to a sample of “Total Control” via Lala.com

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Catch Bill Champlin live in November :
Fri 11/06/09 San Juan Capistrano, CA The Coach House
Sat 11/07/09 San Diego, CA Anthology
Tue 11/10/09 Santa Cruz, CA Moe’s Alley
Wed 11/11/09 Mill Valley, CA Throckmorton Theatre
Thu 11/12/09 Tuolumne, CA Black Oak Casino
Sat 11/14/09 Santa Rosa, CA The Last Day Saloon
Sun 11/15/09 Newcastle, CA Constable Jack’s
Thu 11/19/09 Portland, OR Jimmy Maks
Fri 11/20/09 Langley, WA Mukilteo Coffee Roasters
Sat 11/21/09 Langley, WA Mukilteo Coffee Roasters
Sun 11/22/09 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
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Paramore – brand new eyes – 2009 – review

retroDan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:55:10 +0000

When a band catches that mercurial wave of mainstream popularity, the modus operandi for most is to NOT rock the boat and keep riding the wave. And that basically sums up Paramore’s latest release, brand new eyes. The followup to their hit album Riot! is pretty much more of the same which will please most fans and will most likely continue to broaden their appeal. They’ve got that hook-laden pop/punk formula down pat.

Paramore sounds confident and comfortable in their role as a female-fronted Green Day clone. The one-two punch of album openers “Careful” and “Ignorance” feel like an overeager attempt at proving to their fans that they haven’t gone soft just yet. But things begin to click by the third track “Playing God” which features a great chorus with the memorable lines: Next time you point a finger I might have to bend it back or break it, break it off. Next time you point a finger I’ll point you to the mirror.

It’s a bit unfortunate that producer Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance) and the band chose to master this sucker “loud”. Granted the brick-walled, in-your-face sound is standard for this genre, but man, it’s brutal on the ears. Ear-fatigue is a given when listening to this album for an extended period of time. But even so, the band is poised to widen their already massive fanbase with radio-ready hits like “Where the Lines Overlap”, “Looking Up” and “All I Wanted” which features Hayley Williams channeling her inner-diva (think: Kelly Clarkson).

retroGrade: B+

Paramore – brand new eyes
released: September 2009
record label: Fueled by Ramen
produced by: Rob Cavallo

TrackList:
1 Careful (Farro, Williams) 03:50
2 Ignorance (Farro, Williams) 03:38
3 Playing God (Farro, Williams, York) 03:02
4 Brick by Boring Brick (Farro, Williams) 04:13
5 Turn It Off (Farro, Williams) 04:19
6 The Only Exception (Farro, Williams) 04:27
7 Feeling Sorry (Farro, Williams, York) 03:05
8 Looking Up (Farro, Williams) 03:29
9 Where the Lines Overlap (Farro, Williams) 03:18
10 Misguided Ghosts (Farro, Williams, York) 03:01
11 All I Wanted (Williams, York) 03:45

watch Paramore at the mtvU Ulalume Festival performing “Brick By Boring Brick”:

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Paramore:
Hayley Williams: vocals
Taylor York : guitar
Zac Farro: drums
Josh Farro: guitar
Jeremy Davis: bass

current tour dates:
Tue 11/03/09 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
Wed 11/04/09 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theater
Fri 11/06/09 Saint Paul, MN The Roy Wilkins Auditorium
Sun 11/08/09 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
Tue 11/10/09 San Francisco, CA Warfield Theatre
Wed 11/11/09 Hollywood, CA Hollywood Palladium
Sun 11/29/09 Helsinki, Finland Helsinki Ice Arena
Mon 11/30/09 Stockholm, Sweden Arenan
Tue 12/01/09 Copenhagen, Denmark VEGA House Of Music
Thu 12/03/09 Hamburg, Germany Gruenspan
Fri 12/04/09 Berlin, Germany Huxleys Neue Welt
Sun 12/06/09 Cologne, Germany Palladium
Mon 12/07/09 Paris, France Casino de Paris
Tue 12/08/09 Tilburg, Netherlands 013
Thu 12/10/09 Glasgow, United Kingdom S.E.C.C.
Fri 12/11/09 Birmingham, United Kingdom The NIA
Sat 12/12/09 Dublin, Ireland The O2 Dublin
Mon 12/14/09 Cardiff, United Kingdom Cardiff International Arena
Wed 12/16/09 Manchester, United Kingdom Manchester Evening News Arena
Thu 12/17/09 Brighton, United Kingdom The Brighton Centre
Fri 12/18/09 London, United Kingdom Wembley Arena

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Journey with Night Ranger at the Greensboro Coliseum

retroDan — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:35:54 +0000

On their way down the east coast, Journey made a stop at the Greensboro Coliseum this past friday night. Honestly, I wasn’t that enthused about this show since I saw them last summer on a better bill (Cheap Trick & Heart). When they announced that Night Ranger was opening the show a couple months back, I was very disappointed. But with third row seats, my disappointment in the lineup quickly faded away as the music started to play friday evening. The two pronged lead guitar attack (Night Ranger’s Brad Gillis and Joel Hoekstra) made things fun to watch and Kelly Keagy’s vocals sounded strong throughout the set. Jack Blades on the other hand needs to just shut up and play. His between song ramblings brought the momentum to a screeching halt and not knowing where they were (“It’s great to be here in GreensBURGH, North DAKOTA”) didn’t help things either. But songs like “When You Close Your Eyes”, “Sister Christian” and “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” went over quite well.

As for Journey, I simply had a blast being so close to the stage and having such a great view of the band. Friday night’s setlist was pretty similar to what they had played last summer but it was obvious that Arnel Pineda is now so much more comfortable on stage with the band. I enjoyed his energy, his jumps off the drum riser and his interaction with the audience.

They performed the usual crowd pleasers, with “Open Arms”, “Separate Ways” and “Don’t Stop Believin’” receiving the biggest reactions. I personally enjoyed hearing songs that weren’t played the last time around including “Send Her My Love”, “Keep On Runnin’” and “Still They Ride”. I was also hoping for “Be Good To Yourself” and “Why Can’t This Night Go On Forever” but I guess ya can’t having everything.

From what I saw, “Higher Place” didn’t go over well with the arena-sized crowd along with “Wildest Dream”. I honestly don’t know why they keep “Wildest Dream” on the setlist because it’s not strong melodically and there are better choices off of Revelation, in my opinion, including “Where Did I Lose Your Love” and “Turn Down the World Tonight”.

Another thing they should lose in the set is Jonathan Cain’s harmonica jam. It’s definitely a time waster in my book. Also the “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’” encore is just lame. A good chunk of the crowd headed for the parking lot during that song including yours truly.

But overall, I still enjoyed the show. Pineda is a joy to watch and Deen Castronovo is just a monster on drums. Oh and Castronovo sounded phenomenal singing “Still They Ride”. and of course I could just go on and on about Neal Schon. He’s simply amazing.

I do have to admit though that the band performing these songs a half-step lower is sort of jarring at times. I’m not sure if the general audience notices that they are performing these classic songs in a lower key but it’s definitely noticeable to me. Is this because I’m a musician and I can hear the original notes in my head or do fans also notice this too? I totally understand the need to lower the key to help preserve Pineda’s voice but some of the energy or spark gets lost when things get tuned down. maybe it’s just me?

Not sure if I’d see them again next summer. Will they have new material ready by next summer? and will they go out with a stronger “packaged” tour like they did last year? I’ll be interested in seeing what they decide. …but I can tell you this.. if the setlist stays the same, you can definitely count me out.

**UPDATE: 22Sep09**: According to Neal Schon’s blog – the band will be working on new material in 2010 and won’t be back on the road until 2011!! So, catch Journey live while you still can! There are only a few more dates left on the 2009 tour.
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Journey with Night Ranger
venue: Greensboro Coliseum
date: Sept. 18, 2009
location: Greensboro, NC

retroGrade: B (Journey), C (Night Ranger)

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