Sunday, September 13, 2009
BOZ SCAGGS & BAND
In Concert
11 September 2009
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania USA
Peering at the stage just prior to the show, Boz Scaggs’ microphone was literally smoking! I watched it for a bit, and realized it was a tube just under the mic that was spewing water vapor; a humidifier for the singer, what a great idea!
Opening to a nearly comfortably full theater, Boz and Band ripped out Jojo, to a rather lackluster audience response. They did it well, but the crowd seemed half-sedated. And sounding tight through a few more numbers, including Hercules, Slow Dancer, Georgia and Harbor Lights, there were polite clap-alongs and a few shout-outs, but still the people in the seats seemed overly mellow. And then, security went crazy.
Don’t get me wrong, nothing annoys me more than dropping serious coin on a concert and having some inconsiderate jerk stand up (enthusiastically or not) in front of me at an inappropriate moment, completely obstructing my view. Security (I don’t know if they were theater based or not), grabbed some young woman and pulled her to the back of the theater at that point, and had dozens of us, including this music lover, turn completely around, ignoring the band temporarily, and booing the goings on.
Scaggs and company had just begun playing Lowdown, almost miraculously at that very moment. Hey, a reasonable time to stand and cheer and clap along, and at the same time protest the heavy handed treatment of this young lady and we stayed fully jazzed for the rest of the show. Singer Ms. Mone’t (no first and/or last name folks, that is what she goes by), said, "Is that what you all do in Wilkes-Barre on a Friday night? You are on fire!"
And we stayed on fire, especially during Ms. Mone’t’s solo spot singing Aretha Franklin’s Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do), and showing off her Mariah Carey vocal range. Don’t let this woman hit a high note near your car; you will need a new windshield.
Then seemingly rather early in the set came the war-horse Lido Shuffle, only slightly drawn out, and of course we were on our collective feet again, and singing along for the first time all night. And then, well well well, they inexplicably said goodnight!
I looked at my timepiece and was astonished to see the band had only been on stage a whopping 65 minutes or so (and that included a bit of chitchat between songs). I was rather flummoxed. Of course they came back on, after a customary amount of shouting more and clapping. Two songs later, it was over at about 90 minutes en toto. And my favorite B.S. song (Breakdown Dead Ahead) was never performed. The extended jam at the end was more than welcome, and the loudest number of the evening, and did feature a scorching guitar run by sideman Drew Zingg, but...
At first I felt a bit ripped off, however by the time we made it to the parking lot, I had reflected on how great a performance we had experienced, and what a genuinely nice guy Scaggs is, and I calmed a bit.
Now, time to nit-pick: the sound mix was great, but there was way too much echo and/or delay on Boz’s voice at times. Ms. Mone’t’s backing vocals, supplemented by the bass player sounded a bit contrived once in a while; I suspect a smattering of digital enhancement. They sounded great, but perhaps a bit too angelic (and that’s admittedly a subatomic nit-pick). And beyond the relatively few people who stood up to dance and clap at odd times, I have to trash the Chatty Cathies sitting a bit behind us. Even if you got your seats gratis, why the hell do people come to a concert to chat and giggle? Raised by wolves, I suspect, and always shop at Rude- Idiots-R-Us! And finally, when I went well out of my way to get the best seats available, I was told I had second row center at the time and yet the Kirby Center pulled its frequent BS (no reference to the singer) and magically installed 2 more rows of pit seats ahead of the first row. This is getting old, friends. You have one of the best and most friendly theaters on earth for music (and I have been all over the world). You can put the pit seats on sale day one, and tell people the truth that the first row is going to be the third row for a show. Admittedly there is no bad seat in this venue, just to be fair.
BOTTOM LINE: 4/5 stars, one point subtracted for the short length and set list. Do get the CD or DVD Greatest Hits Live, and you will enjoy a longer and more complete run through of Boz Scaggs and Band’s best work, featuring many of the players that were in Pennsylvania that efficient evening.
Zeph, out
PS: stay tuned, I took some pictures with a smuggled throw-away camera. If they come out OK, I will post.
In Concert
11 September 2009
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania USA
Peering at the stage just prior to the show, Boz Scaggs’ microphone was literally smoking! I watched it for a bit, and realized it was a tube just under the mic that was spewing water vapor; a humidifier for the singer, what a great idea!
Opening to a nearly comfortably full theater, Boz and Band ripped out Jojo, to a rather lackluster audience response. They did it well, but the crowd seemed half-sedated. And sounding tight through a few more numbers, including Hercules, Slow Dancer, Georgia and Harbor Lights, there were polite clap-alongs and a few shout-outs, but still the people in the seats seemed overly mellow. And then, security went crazy.
Don’t get me wrong, nothing annoys me more than dropping serious coin on a concert and having some inconsiderate jerk stand up (enthusiastically or not) in front of me at an inappropriate moment, completely obstructing my view. Security (I don’t know if they were theater based or not), grabbed some young woman and pulled her to the back of the theater at that point, and had dozens of us, including this music lover, turn completely around, ignoring the band temporarily, and booing the goings on.
Scaggs and company had just begun playing Lowdown, almost miraculously at that very moment. Hey, a reasonable time to stand and cheer and clap along, and at the same time protest the heavy handed treatment of this young lady and we stayed fully jazzed for the rest of the show. Singer Ms. Mone’t (no first and/or last name folks, that is what she goes by), said, "Is that what you all do in Wilkes-Barre on a Friday night? You are on fire!"
And we stayed on fire, especially during Ms. Mone’t’s solo spot singing Aretha Franklin’s Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do), and showing off her Mariah Carey vocal range. Don’t let this woman hit a high note near your car; you will need a new windshield.
Then seemingly rather early in the set came the war-horse Lido Shuffle, only slightly drawn out, and of course we were on our collective feet again, and singing along for the first time all night. And then, well well well, they inexplicably said goodnight!
I looked at my timepiece and was astonished to see the band had only been on stage a whopping 65 minutes or so (and that included a bit of chitchat between songs). I was rather flummoxed. Of course they came back on, after a customary amount of shouting more and clapping. Two songs later, it was over at about 90 minutes en toto. And my favorite B.S. song (Breakdown Dead Ahead) was never performed. The extended jam at the end was more than welcome, and the loudest number of the evening, and did feature a scorching guitar run by sideman Drew Zingg, but...
At first I felt a bit ripped off, however by the time we made it to the parking lot, I had reflected on how great a performance we had experienced, and what a genuinely nice guy Scaggs is, and I calmed a bit.
Now, time to nit-pick: the sound mix was great, but there was way too much echo and/or delay on Boz’s voice at times. Ms. Mone’t’s backing vocals, supplemented by the bass player sounded a bit contrived once in a while; I suspect a smattering of digital enhancement. They sounded great, but perhaps a bit too angelic (and that’s admittedly a subatomic nit-pick). And beyond the relatively few people who stood up to dance and clap at odd times, I have to trash the Chatty Cathies sitting a bit behind us. Even if you got your seats gratis, why the hell do people come to a concert to chat and giggle? Raised by wolves, I suspect, and always shop at Rude- Idiots-R-Us! And finally, when I went well out of my way to get the best seats available, I was told I had second row center at the time and yet the Kirby Center pulled its frequent BS (no reference to the singer) and magically installed 2 more rows of pit seats ahead of the first row. This is getting old, friends. You have one of the best and most friendly theaters on earth for music (and I have been all over the world). You can put the pit seats on sale day one, and tell people the truth that the first row is going to be the third row for a show. Admittedly there is no bad seat in this venue, just to be fair.
BOTTOM LINE: 4/5 stars, one point subtracted for the short length and set list. Do get the CD or DVD Greatest Hits Live, and you will enjoy a longer and more complete run through of Boz Scaggs and Band’s best work, featuring many of the players that were in Pennsylvania that efficient evening.
Zeph, out
PS: stay tuned, I took some pictures with a smuggled throw-away camera. If they come out OK, I will post.
