Gojira and Opeth at The Midland

I have a couple of Devin Townsend’s albums and saw he was opening for some band and Opeth (who I also have several albums of) at The Midland, so Angie and I picked up tickets.

The initial set was crowded, they had all three bands set on the stage each in front of the other. From what I could tell from my four-hundreds cheap seats it looked like the opening act (The Devin Townsend Project) only had about six feet of stage:

Here is a shot of Devin doing there thing with their cool backdrop:

After a couple of songs you were reminded that Devin Townsend is a strange fellow making some really odd comments. I think he was trying to be funny but most of it sounded like random thoughts strung together to fill awkward silence. At one point something was wrong with the gear and he literally rambled on saying “and we keep the audience busy to not see the technical problems” (paraphrasing) while crew members scampered about fixing this and that.

Then a set change for Gojira:

I do have “Magma” from these guys but I guess I didn’t remember this was going to be pretty hard set. Pretty simple stage setup but damn their lights where very VERY intense. Several points you just had to close your eyes to prevent some sort of seizure reaction.

 At any rate their music was hard, intense and frankly hard to follow with the volume being so loud it was just mottled loudness. Angie and I always wear earplugs but usually we can make out the music fine, here the double bass and the guitar, well, noise was so dominate all you really heard was a mix of aggression and screaming. Not that it was horrible we were just mostly confused to what was really going on.

That said the Gojira drummer was something to see:

The band clearly recognizes that this guy has some serious drum skills, he had several solos and at multiple points I think I caught myself saying “Damn!” out loud. Yeah, really impressive stuff.

Then the set change for Opeth (note the covered up Gojira stuff in the middle, they didn’t really clear the set just covered up the others, shared the majority of the light bars):

Their backdrop was their signature logo:

Angie and I were hoping Opeth would take a bit of a softer approach as we were kinda still recovering from the onslaught that was Gojira. Opeth didn’t disappoit as several of their songs had more melodic structure and showed off their technical chops.

Opeth took the stage and Mikael Åkerfeldt quickly established he is the man with his stage presence and his ability to both sing and growl:

Opeth played several songs from their “Sorceress” album, which has both beautiful and disgusting imagery on the cover:

For some reasons the tour managers for these groups must think their audience are wee folks, no tour shirts on any of the groups larger than a 1x – I mean seriously. If you guys make most of your tour receipts off of merchandising then bring shirts that fit real people. All together now a collective “GRRRR!”.

Anyhow overall it was an interesting event, I am not sure how I am going to convince Angie to go to the next new to her band that I sell with “oh, ah, they sound like Dream Theater, yeah just like that”.

Me and my Angie (I am wearing my Iron Maiden trooper shirt which to my surprise there were about 5 other Iron Maiden shirts seen at this event):

Garth Brooks at Sprint Center

I have been a fan of Garth since his first album.  Does it mean I am a big country music guy, pfft, far from that I usually really dislike country music but Garth has the talent, passion, and uniqueness for me that makes him stand far above the country music landscape.

His stage setup was a oval stage at the end of Sprint center with huge screens on each side (nice touch), here is a setup shot:

I found it interesting that Amazon was a clear sponsor being printed on his bags and several videos on a rotation before the show on the (I am going to guess) Amazon paid for screens:

The interesting part of his stage setup is his light bars that come out into the crowd. They turned off the house lights and these lightbars were used to light up the center – I suppose allowing the stage crew the ability to control the house lighting. During “The Thunder Rolls” these light bars had (what acted like) dozens of strobe effects that made Sprint center look like a super lightening storm – it was pretty epic.

This was the only concert at Sprint center I have seen that utilizes the lighting around the center, meaning the lighting was synchronized with the show – it was unique and added a neat subversive effect:

This tour was labeled “The Garth Brooks World Tour with Trisha Yearwood“. Sure Trisha came out sang a song with Garth then sang 4 others and back to Garth. Kinda a special guest contribution I thought, but then again she is married to the guy.  Shot of Tricia on stage:

Here is a shot with the drum set cage in the middle lite up, it also rotated and was built with the idea that Garth would climb all over it (as he did several times):

Garth is no doubt a showman. Couple his energy, passion for what he is doing and him genuinely having a good time you just cant help admire the guy and his ability to get 20k people singing 20 year old songs.

We had tickets in section 122, all seats were same price $65 and everyone was limited to 8. This I think is one of the reasons the man sold out 7 shows in a row this time around (13 when Sprint center opened!) This was a Saturday afternoon (15:00) concert, Angie and I think this is a first for us most of our concert outings are nighttime and we get home past midnight.

Really one of the best concerts for energy and passion I have seen in a long time, even if you’re not a fan of the country music scene if you like to see people doing their thing, and sharing it with you, Garth is one to catch.

UPDATE: We returned to Sprint center at a later date and saw this banner which we though was neat because we saw one of the shows (left side banner):

Me and my Angie:

Rick Springfield and Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo at Starlight

For the second time at Starlight Angie and I saw Rick Springfield followed by Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo in concert. This opened up our 2017 concerts, we have like 10 planned (we might have a problem…)

Here is how the very minimal stage was setup:

This was taken about 15 minutes before showtime we noticed the unusually high amount of empty seats, we blamed this on both being May 5th at Starlight (at bit cool) and Garth Brooks having one of his seven 2017 shows at Sprint center on the same night.

Here is Rick on stage doing his thing, the two white blocks on each side were the projection screens which they did use for both sets:

Here is a closer view of the projection screens in use (Starlight up till now hasn’t used these much during concerts):

Pat and Neil played a pretty simple set, four in their band:

I thought she sounded great, her vocals on “We Belong” were impressive and clear. Neil on the other hand was, well, a bit off vocally I thought. There is no doubt the man can shred on his various guitars (including “Pain”):

Overall it was worth doing a second time, however I think if they all come back I might try to talk Angie into a dinner out or something.

Me and my Angie (she is wearing her 35th Benatar concert shirt, we didn’t see any others):

Dream Theater at The Midland

My entire family went to Dream Theater perform their double concept album “The Astonishing“. Besides the moron in the back shouting “Revolution!” every oh 8 minutes this concert was near flawless.

Not many concerts I have been to don’t want you (even hound you a bit) to not take any pictures. The highlight one on this post I had to sneak like a criminal. Kinda weird but  I guess it’s because they put so much into their stage design.

This is my second time to see Dream Theater Sam and I saw them at Starlight on their “A Dramatic Turn of Events” tour in July 2012.

The artistry of the musicians in Dream Theater is hard to beat, from their spot on sound to their inventive scores they really are something to take in if you enjoy music and watching musicians be musicians.

Me, Angie, Molly and Sam:

Ashley Graham Is No Angel

Today I was trolling around on Facebook, both wasting time and looking to see what mischief my internet “friends” are up to. I scroll past a Lane Bryant post that has a video of Ashley Graham doing her thing on a cat walk for some fashion show.  So being the Ashley Graham fan I am of course I clicked on it, you know for research.

So clearly this video separates us into three groups of people:

  1. Those more prudish than I who think this is pornography and I have some sort of questionable moral code by watching a lady prance around in essentially a commercial for underwear.
  2. Those, like myself, who watch this in a loop for an excessive number of times wondering why it has taken the internet so long to deliver things of wonder and beauty to us. What? 300 times is totally normal…
  3. People who think Ashley Graham is “fat”. Please unsubscribe me from your mailing list as I don’t wish to hear your clearly incorrect ramblings. No doubt she is a curvy girl, and she doesn’t give two craps what you think about her and her curves; both of these things make her awesome.

Again 343 times is totally normal…

Rob Thomas and Counting Crows at Starlight Theater

Headed out to Starlight Theater to see Rob Thomas open for Counting Crows on a really great cool night to visit Starlight.

The first act was K Philips & The Concho Pearls I had a hard time getting into them, the lead singer kept giving facts about his life that were super depressing. Father currently in rehab, his wife left him, etc. Rock it man, bring the passion and energy not bring down the vibe – geez.

Rob Thomas came on with a bolt of energy and kept it going belting out his and Matchbox 20 tunes, which my favorite was “Fire On The Mountain” well done sir, well done!

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Rob Thomas on stage
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Set change picture

A 30 minute set change and out comes Counting Crows,  I am excited been looking forward to seeing these guys for several years. I immediately notice the set seems a bit bare, but that maybe is just “artistic”.

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Counting Crows on stage

The lights behind these guys seem to be designed to block out any way to actually see, like blinding mechanisms to distract from the truly awful moans/rambling coming out of Adam Duritz. The band was great good energy and keeping up with Durtiz randomness was impressive to watch. I did like the jam like sessions where Duritz would invite up Rob Thomas and his band, K Philips and The Concho Pearls something like 20 people on stage – was neat to watch.

For the next 70 minutes or so Angie and I sit and wonder what the hell is going on. Duritz is sometimes scating, sometimes just rambling changing words to songs everyone else in the audience is singing. It was truly bizarre we couldn’t tell if he was being “too cool to sing these tired songs” or just inebriated in some way. At this point we are glad we got $20 tickets on Groupon.

Overall Rob Thomas wins this, hands down.

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Me and the misses

Steve Martin and Martin Short at The Midland

Angie and I went to see “An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of our Life” a “concert” I guess of Steven Martin, Martin Short and Steep Canyon Rangers at the Midland theater.

Most of Steve Martin’s jokes were well thought out and took a minute to get. Martin Short danced around with his hand acting like his man parts. So really two different kind of things mushed together. Seemed weird to me but Steep Canyon Rangers were interesting to listen to.

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Midland Stage Setup

 

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Steve Martin, Martin Short, and the Steep Canyon Rangers on stage

 

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Me and the misses:

 

Tesla, Reo Speedwagon and Def Leppard at Sprint Center

Wife and I went and saw a (what I thought anyway) was a strange pairing: Tesla, Reo Speedwagon and Def Leppard.

Tesla

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Was hoping these guys would bring it and show the other two how to do it. Ah, well, Jeff Keith seems like a serious goofy guy and the band well they did play their music – I would not say they brought their A game. A disappointing set of about 40 minutes.

Reo Speedwagon

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Ok, I admit it. I was expecting these guys to be like the Yes experience (old men shuffling around) – color me surprised. These guys were awesome, showed those Tesla whipper snappers how to bring your A game. Well done gentlemen, well done. Their set was just about an hour.

Def Leppard

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I will be the first to admit I am not the biggest Def Leppard fan. I wasn’t expecting much – I was sorely wrong. These guys had great production quality, graphics were excellent, sound was a bit overdriven I thought. Still they did about 80 minutes with a 2 song oncore. Oh and watching the marvel that is Rick Allen is something.

Me and the misses (yes I am wearing my coveted Dream Theater 2012 tour shirt):

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Demi Lovato & Nick Jonas at Sprint Center

Molly and I went to go see “Future Now Tour” last night at Sprint Center which had Mike Posner opening and (I guess?) Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas headlining.

As far as performances Mike Posner should be headlining soon, clear talent passion and stage presence. No doubt Demi can sing but she tends to Christina it up a bit. Nick well I guess he is pretty, the ladies seem to like him.

This concert had several firsts concert wise for me (and I have seen dozens of concerts).

  • So much advertising; Macys, Honda, Guess. Many commercials placed before and during set changes.
  • An actual car for an advertisement down on the GA floor. A Honda Civic which Honda customized for/with Demi was down on the floor behind the mixer board area.
  • Two headliners? I could not tell who the actual headliner was as both Demi and Nick played about equal songs, together and shared the same set.
  • People positioned up in the lighting bars. After Mike Posner a middle section of lights came down and three people crawled up into some harness looking seats to operate spot lights. The lights then went backup and those folks sat in those seats for the duration of the night (nearly 3 hours).

    Spotlight crew sitting in the lights.
    Spotlight crew sitting in the lights.
  • A video wall that spanned the entire arena. The video wall was likely the biggest I have seen in person and certainly the largest I have seen at the Sprint Center.
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Demi Stage Shot

 

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Molly and Me

Ramblings of an often confused opinionated yak shaver.