|
Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
Live free or die!
----
|
April 19, 2006
Leon Russell Concert Review, 4-14-2006
Leon Russell put on quite a good show on Good Friday, from what you could make out of it. I was glad to see him in action.
Inevitably though, this will be more of a review of the venue and concert experience than of Leon. Overall, this was one of the very worst experiences I've had seeing a show. Indeed, the 8 Seconds Saloon near Washington and Lynhurst on the west side of Indianapolis may be the very worst venue in which I've ever seen a show.
First off however, the scheduling of this was inexcusably screwed. We were sold tickets to see Leon Russell at 7 pm. In fact, Leon didn't play until 9:30. That's 2 1/2 hours of my (and everyone else's) time absolutely wasted in a crappy bar. Now, if there were technical problems or a rain delay for an outside show, that'd just be life in the big city. But they never intended a 7 o'clock show. They put on an unbilled opening act at 8 pm, intending Leon for 9 pm.
That last half hour might be blamed on Leon, but the rest of it goes somewhere else. I don't know whether that should be on Ticketmaster or on the venue itself. I still intend on billing them for my wasted 2 1/2 hours as soon as I figure out to whom I should make the invoice.
One outfit NOT responsible for the bad schedule was the opening act. The Whiskey Brothers were standing on stage with their instruments waiting to play for several minutes before 8 pm. They're a pretty well known band locally. I've heard the name for years.
Frankly though, they suck. In fairness, they can play their instruments (for however good you could make out through the venue acoustics). They played some reasonably athletic licks. They were tight.
But their songs were just crap, compositionally. They lack personality. Basically, they're playing generic electric blues, somewhere in the range of Stevie Ray Vaughn or Lynyrd Skynyrd. But there's nothing whatsoever distinctive about their style or ANY of their songs. There was nothing there that could have even been mistaken for a hook, and I couldn't quite remember how any of those songs went even while I was listening to them. But at least they were on time.
Did I mention that the 8 Seconds Saloon was perhaps the worst place I've ever seen a show? When I say worst, I'm including Holiday Inn bars and ill-maintained college dives. Starting on the minor end of complaints, the place was pretty dirty and stanky. It's supposed to be a country bar, but they had fuzzy dust bunnies instead of tumbleweeds blowing through the air. Also, they were charging $6 for some nasty excuses for margaritas, which were apparently being served out of a fricking slushy machine.
My main bitch, though, was the sound. I'm not that picky about acoustics. I just want to be able to hear the songs. Sometimes I'm dissatisfied with the sound in a big stadium or arena, but rarely would I beef about a little place like this. I'm guessing the maximum capacity here would be maybe 500 people. Yet somehow, they have acoustics so awful as to defy description.
They seem to have bad acoustics, but it's somewhat hard to tell because they just had everything so absolutely stupidly ridiculously loud. If I hadn't been with other people, I would probably have left quickly for my ears' sake. Besides being dangerously loud, the volume and acoustics made such a combination that you could hardly make out what they were playing.
There's certainly no way you could have made out much of what anyone was singing all night. I could barely parse out a few lines of standards such as "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" to which I perfectly well know the familiar words. This might not would be so bad if you had some ham-handed Motley Crue blasting away, but good luck trying to pick out the nuances of Leon's keyboards.
From what I could make out through the fuzz, Leon and his band put on quite an excellent show. This band has skillz. They're individually skillful, but more importantly lock together to make a strong groove-creating whole. I especially appreciated the vital presence of his girl singer Jaime Babbitt, whose innate sensuality and energy kept front and center stage moving while Leon sat quietly in the corner doing his thing.
Now, there were at least a couple of arrangements that I just wasn't buying. I'm to understand that his arrangement of "Wild Horses" is pretty famous, but it sounded to me almost like disco. The thumping beat and cavorting didn't seem to have anything to do with the emotional themes of regret and recrimination in the Stones song. Then again, maybe I caught it on a rough night, and/or I was losing it in the awful venue.
Given the over amplification and bad acoustics, probably the most listenable part was the quiet solo part two-thirds of the way through. Just Leon and the piano doing "A Song for You" rates as a high point.
But he came in for a big finish. He made a fine medley featuring "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" that had 'em dancing in the aisles. I admit to only modest knowledge of Leon Russell, so it was something of an eye-opening experience to see the gospel passion in this climactic segment. He worked up a most impressive Pentecostal fire. The audience seemed to be in on this without even realizing it consciously. The people moving down the aisles like an altar call, waving their arms in the air like they cared very much reminded me distinctly of the impassioned tent-meeting revivals of my childhood.
All in all then, I'm glad I got to see Leon Russell in action. He put on a fine show- for what I could make out of it. Maybe next time he comes through he'll play somewhere decent. Note to self: Never go back to the 8 Seconds Saloon.
posted by Al at 4/19/2006 02:39:00 PM
Link Soup
morethings master
photo gallery index
MP3
new album
releases
lyrics
sammy davis
little richard photos
buddy holly pictures
fats domino images
chuck berry pictures 01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
la
24
lucille ball images
clint eastwood pictures lena
horne images team
america pictures
robert mitchum photos
bruce springsteen pictures
mariah carey pictures
ann coulter photos
george clooney images
loretta lynn pictures
beatles pictures
white stripes pictures
andy griffith pictures
kill bill pictures
beverly hillbillies pictures
robin williams
frank zappa pictures
jerry lee lewis pictures
richard pryor photos
june carter johnny cash pictures
vic mackey shield pictures u2 photos
four seasons images
james cagney images
elvis presley pictures
country music
blog
dolly parton pictures
olsen twins photos
tom petty photos
tori amos pictures
joaquin phoenix images David
Bowie photos
Quills movie images
reese witherspoon pictures rolling
stones photos
fiona apple images kim
novak images ray charles photos marx
brothers pictures
prince rogers nelson pictures blazing
saddles images
sinead o'connor images
eddie murphy photos aretha
franklin photos
south park pictures homer
simpson images
bob dylan pictures elizabeth
taylor photos madonna
images
saturday night live pictures jewel
kilcher photos willie
nelson images hee
haw pictures james
brown images pete
townshend photos
tina turner pictures
dixie chicks photos
elton john
images
emmylou harris images
guns
n roses pictures
paula abdul pictures
jodie foster photos
amy winehouse
eminem
frank sinatra photos
van
halen images
satan
blondie photos
merle haggard
images
rocky horror pictures
monty
python
|
|
