David Gray Playlist and Song List – The Orpheum, Los Angeles (partial)
Sail Away
First Chance
Babylon (acoustic)
The One I Love (unforgettable alto peaks)
Be Mine
This Years Love
You’re The World To Me (World To Me)
Alibi
Shine
Flame Turns Blue
Destroyer
Kathleen
Nemesis
Ain’t No Love
Other Side
Jackdaw (think so)
Draw The Line (think so)
Fugitive (think so)
David Gray Live at The Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles, 11-09-09
David Gray @ The Orpheum Los Angeles – One of the Best Ever
I always come away from a concert I like thinking that perhaps it may have been the best concert I’ve ever been witness to. After a few hours of discerning sobriety (not from alcohol but from the plateau to which I inevitably ascend while listening to good live music), I realize that that performer or group, while good in concert and certainly an experience to remember, does not belong on the “best that I’ve ever seen” mantel. Snow Patrol at The Wiltern in October was excellent but they were better a couple of years ago when they played The Hollywood Bowl. But, if you attend enough live concert events, you get a feel for what is average and enjoyable versus superior and unforgettable. David Gray in Concert at The Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles on November 9th, therefore, can be described as one of the best all-around concerts I’ve ever seen.
David Gray came on stage at about 9pm dressed in an off-gray, European straight cut suit. He was accompanied by 4 band members: guitarist/vocals, electric pianist, bassist and drummer. He appeared shy as well as driven to perform the music ahead of him – meaning there was a quick “Hello Los Angeles” and then he went right at it. There were the perfunctory “thank yous” upon the conclusion of most songs and that was it until the last song in the encore when he let loose a bit and began engaging the crowd to keep beat to the song. I believe the concert may have been recorded. The subtle communication with the crowd did not jeopardize his rapport with them. In fact, it kept them wanting. He would smile here and there, engage his band members in a smile or quick discussion. As he played, he clearly enjoyed his songs – whether he was on his acoustic guitar or trusting piano – as was often jumping or keeping an emphatic beat with his left leg. He seemed just like a perfectionist intent on delivering the best music he was capable of producing. He did.
There are a number of reasons to support my feeling that David Gray at The Orpheum Theater was one of the best concerts I’ve seen:
Every song was authentically similar to the song versions on his CDs – and then some
David Gray sounded like David Gray. Even his alto solos reached pitches that should only be reserved for 20-something’s. He would extend songs or deliver subtle nuances to the harmony or chord structures just so that you could tell it apart from a recorded version. He wasted no time in between songs.
His musicianship is superior
Listen to the sound emanating from his acoustic guitar as his fingers smoothly and quickly assume positions not even the best “Twister” player can assume. David Gray is a true master guitar player as well as singer/songwriter and to understand this you must see and hear him live in concert.
His band
The band was professional, dressed in suits to begin the evening. Their sound was tight, perfectly in sync with each beat and note to create the most superior sound
The acoustics of The Orpheum Theater
The acoustics of the Colosseum at Caesars Palace is superior. The acoustics at the Hollywood Bowl are superior for an outdoor venue. The acoustics at The Orpheum in Los Angeles are just a notch below superior which means they were quite enjoyable. And considering that The Orpheum opened in 1926, one would have to rate the acoustics superb The Colosseum at Caesars Palace opened in 2003. While the upper mezzanine at The Orpheum still has the old seats of the 20’s, the orchestra has been fitted with stadium seats. I was fortunate to sit in the orchestra 10 rows from the stage.
The adoring crowd
One of the first things I remember about the night when I arrived was that thsoe purchasing their tickets from DavidGray.com must have been issued the 10th row. The venue was packed, sold out. The only row with vacancies was our row. The second thing I remember is that the crowd was really into David Gray. But, it was mroe than that. They seemed to know him, to follow him, to adore him. This was not akin to the fanaticism associated with a Mick Jagger or Bono. It was deeper, more knowing and definitely more civil. Our crowd gave David Gray 6 standing ovations throughout the night.
Snow Patrol Winter Tour 2009 - The Wiltern, Los Angeles, 10-09
Snow Patrol is one of the fastest growing brands in rock music today. A few days before they came on at The Wiltern, they opened for U2 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. They’re big and getting bigger. I had seen them before, about 3-4 years ago at The Hollywood Bowl. That concert was an awakening. I had never heard of Snow Patrol before that night. Sitting a level up from the right side of the stage, I didn’t realize I was witnessing one of the best and unique concerts I’ll see. Snow Patrol at the time was young and not well known. Their music had just been introduced to America (from Belfast and Scotland). Their music was excellent, the sound tight, the production pure Hollywood. The rapport established with the crowd at The Hollywood Bowl was phenomenal. Just alot of bantering and funny stories coming from a shy kid and lead singer named Gary Lightbody who seemed awestruck and giddy that he was getting paid to sing his songs. One read of their early struggles and it was no wonder. Combining the acoustics of The Hollywood Bowl made this a night I would never forget.
While I enjoy The Wiltern and will always pay to see a performer I enjoy, its acoustics are not on par with The Orpheum and needless to say, The Hollywood Bowl. And, unfortunately, the boys in Snow Patrol have grown up. They’re not as silly or awestruck so the luster has sort of worn off. However, and thankfully, their music survives because of its brilliant composing, truthful beat, hopeful, spiritual and retrospective lyrics, group harmony and genuineness. The production level did not approximate that of the Hollywood Bowl but it was still Snow Patrol and it was still magnificent.
Snow Patrol Playlist and Song List – The Wiltern, Los Angeles (partial)
Chasing Cars
Run
Chocolate
Hands Open
Open Your Eyes
Grazed Knees
Set The Fire To The Third Bar
Shut Your Eyes
How To Be Dead
Wow
Gleaming Auction
Whatever’s Left
Spitting Games
Ways & Means
Tiny Little Fractures
Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking
Same
Make This Go On Forever
Headlights On Dark Roads
The Finish Line
You’re All I Have
If There’s A Rocket Tie Me To It
Take Back The City
The Lightning Strike
Current Snow Patrol Members
Gary Lightbody – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano
On a beautiful, sunny and pleasant Sunday afternoon at Polliwog Park Amphitheater in Manhattan Beach Beach (August 9, 2009), Fantastic Diamond put on a show for the ages, playing for almost two hours with a 15 minute intermission. Fantastic Diamond was just another star entry to perform at the Manhattan Beach Concerts in the Park Series held at Polliwog.
Kevin Hogan as Neil Diamond, Lead for Fantastic Diamond
Fantastic Diamond Concert Review
Kevin Hogan, playing Neil Diamond, was spot-on in his impersonation of the pop superstar, speaking and singing voice equally. His intonation was guttural but not kitschy and he never jeopardized the song melodies in doing so. Fantastic Diamond, like any tribute band worth its salt, remained true to the beat, the song composition, lyrics, and lyrical license that is Neil Diamond. The greatest accolade a tribute band can receive is when an audience member can close his/her eyes and think that it’s the real band performing. In this case, you’d think Fantastic Diamond was Neil Diamond – albeit Neil Diamond playing in a park.
Hogan, like Neil Diamond, was dressed in sparkling Vegas shirt attire (with blue jeans, of course) and established an immediate and longlasting rapport with his audience of 5,000 people. The musicianship of his band was also impressive despite the challenging acoustics of playing in a park (Polliwog Park Amphitheater is not an amphitheater like the Hollywood Bowl or Greek Theater – it is a park). The piano playing of Alex Caselli was good – her riffs suggesting jazz training. Her keyboard was not a first rate one and the song compositions often made her playing seem a bit choppy but nonetheless she was a pleasure to listen to. Frank Browne’s acoustic guitar was consistent and often the glue that of the song but the show-stopper at times was the saxophone mastery of Rich Tyznik who was aggressive, confident, and like Hogan (Diamond), established his own rapport with the audience.
ABBA The Music with Super Diamond at The Hollywood Bowl
On Saturday, June 27, 2009, ABBA The Music performed at The Hollywood Bowl. Another Neil Diamond tribute band called Super Diamond was the opening act.
If Fantastic Diamond had played at the Hollywood Bowl backing up ABBA The Music instead of Super Diamond, the experience would have been better. I don’t like criticizing in a negative way but I feel I must, especially after listening to Fantastic Diamond perform in Manhattan Beach. The lead singer of Super Diamond over-emphasized the guttural tones of Neil Diamond to the point that it seemed as if he were doing stomach crunches while singing. The guttural miscues also served, I believe, to hide the fact that his singing voice was a half note or so below pitch so the end result was too much yelling and audience-grimacing on notes he couldn’t reach. Oh, and he over-acted his part trying to be way too cool.
Now, if Fantastic Diamond had played that night with ABBA The Music, the experience, I’m sure, would have been entirely different. That is to say, it might have been one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended. Fantastic Diamond would have benefitted from a professional stage with professional acoustics, back up singers to smooth the sound and equipment (a better piano) to simulate the real Neil Diamond show.
ABBA The Music was absolutely phenomenal as they had the audience shaking their heads continually because of how perfect they matched the beat, musicianship and singing quality of the authentic ABBA. ABBA The Music even flew in the original guitarist and saxophone player from Sweden for the event. It was truly ABBA redux.
If you are presented with the opportunity to see ABBA The Music, buy the tickets and go. Same for Fantastic Diamond. Buy the tickets and go see them. It’ll make you happy; you’ll reminisce and the musicianship will impress you.
Note to The Hollywood Bowl – book Fantastic Diamond with ABBA The Music in 2010.
Fantastic Diamond at Manhattan Beach Concerts in the Park
Fantastic Diamond Song List
(not in order)
Longfellow Serenade
Cracklin’ Rosie
Beautiful Noise
Brooklyn Roads
Cherry, Cherry
Love On The Rocks
You Don’t Bring Me Flowers
Brother Love’s Travelin’ Salvation Show
Holly Holy
Song Sung Blue
I’m A Believer (performed famously by the Monkees)
Solitary Man
Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon
Thank The Lord For The Night Time
Kentucky Woman
I Am I Said
You Got To Me
Forever In Blue Jeans
If You Know What I Mean
Shilo
Hello Again
Play Me
Desiree
September Morn
Encores
Sweet Caroline
America
About Fantastic Diamond
Fantastic Diamond is a Neil Diamond tribute band that includes Kevin Hogan (playing Neil Diamond) on lead vocals and acoustic guitar; Frank Browne on acoustic and electric guitar; Rich Tyznik on keyboards, saxophone, back up vocals; Alex Caselli on keyboards and back up vocals; Anthony Sileccio on bass guitar and back up vocals, and Dieter Weinzettl on drums, everything percussion and back up vocals.
Fantastic Diamond, Polliwog Park Amphitheater at Manhattan Beach
Postcards From Far Away (Chris Martin piano instrumental)
Viva La Vida
Lost!
Green Eyes
Sitting on the Dock of the Bay / Death Will Never Conquer (Acoustic, sung by Will Champion)
Billie Jean
Viva La Vida (remix interlude)
Politik
Lovers In Japan
Death And All His Friends
The Scientist
Life in Technicolor II
The Escapist (outro)
Coldplay at The Home Depot Center
This was our first visit to The Home Depot Center. We’d never seen a concert there nor had we seen a Los Angeles Galaxy MLS soccer game with the venerables David Beckham or Landon Donovan. When we first arrived, The Home Depot Center appeared like a very well thought out venue: wide concourses, well placed concession stands and plenty of room to mill about. Upon entering the stadium area, it was apparent that it was not a football or baseball stadium retrofitted as an afterthought into a soccer stadium. The field was wide but still close to the stands – which is not the case in a football stadium. The promoters smartly placed the stage on the field itself a good many feet from the back of the stadium. Two parallel ramps jutted from the stage extending into the audience bringing Coldplay’s music even closer to its fans. Little did we know that at the other end of the stadium, a smaller elevated stage atop the loge seats was set up for Coldplay to perform a few songs in the middle of the show.
There were two back up groups and with our first listen we thought that The Home Depot Center would not be an enjoyable acoustic event. I’m sure that they sound great on a CD but this was not to be their night. The sound was tinny and jumbled, made worse when some of the musicians tried to get the crowd more excited with shouts of “I can’t hear you” or ‘How you doin’ LA?”. Frankly, we couldn’t wait for the first acts to leave the stage. Again, it was not that we didn’t enjoy their music. It was how their music was transmitted that made for an uneasy experience.
But, then Coldplay appeared on stage at about 9:30pm (the concert began at 7:30pm). While the acoustics did not equal those of The Wiltern in Los Angeles or The Colloseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, it was still impressive. From far away, the low setting of on-stage lighting precluded us from making out the figures of Chris Martin (lead vocals, keyboards, guitar), Jonny Buckland (lead guitar), Guy Berryman (bass guitar), and Will Champion (drums, backing vocals, other instruments).
The concert ended up as a brilliant experience. Chris Martin has an easy way about him and is quite comfortable talking with the crowd. He is honest in his singing and musicianship. He will admit when a song is not performed as planned as he did at the end of the song “42″ when he fumbled the timing and the lyrics. During the mishap, he inserted some fun lines of banter and rhyme relating to Los Angeles but then quickly admitted why he was doing so.
Chris Martin seemed to get sronger with each song and the fun he was having infected the crowd, even those of us laying on the grass “12 miles away”, as he remarked.
My brother’s favorite Coldplay song of the evening was Lovers in Japan because of the melody and lyrics but also because he got to witness Chris Martin’s mastery of the keyboards. My favorite tune is 42 and although the end was miscued a bit, the soft beginning, melodramatic middle and rousing end were stunning and moving. The song of the night, however, and as expected, was Viva La Vida, which gave the crowd an instant rise after the more laid back Postcards From Far Away was performed. We also must mention the tribute to Michael Jackson. Coldplay sung their version of Billie Jean – an acoustic rendition. Although the tonalities between Jackson and Martin are different, Martin hit every high and low note with utter dexterity and perfection. The song was performed at the other end of the stadium, up on a makeshift stage directly in front of the grass area where we were sitting. It was one of the highlights of the evening.
All in all, the experience was wonderful. I was introduced to The Home Depot Center, its decent acoustics, the reality that it is not so far away from the San Fernando Valley, and the reality that I need to go see a Galaxy game soon… and more concerts. Most importantly, I was able to witness the musicianship of the second coming of U2 – that is, if Coldplay can continue to record albums with the same quality of lyric and melody as Viva la Vida, X&Y and Parachutes. Studio albums are packaged for the masses. Live concerts let the audience in on a groups’ true interpretation of a song – lyrics and instrumentation included. In this regard, Coldplay did not disappoint.
The first four photographs of Celine Dion at The Staples Center on December 2, 2008 were taken with the LG Dare cellphone. The Taking Chances Tour set list sang at the Honda Center in Anaheim and at The Staples Center in Los Angeles is also posted.
Celine Dion Taking Chances Tour at Staples Center, December 2, 2008
I Drove All Night / The Power of Love / Taking Chances / It’s All Coming Back to Me Now > Because You Loved Me / To Love You More / Eyes on Me / All by Myself / I’m Alive / Shadow of Love / Fade Away / I’m Your Angel / Alone / Pour Que Tu M’Aimes Encore / My Love / The Prayer / Soul Medley (Sex Machine > Soul Man > Lady Marmalade > Respect > I Got the Feelin’) / It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World / Love Can Move Mountains
Encore 1: River Deep, Mountain High
Encore 2: My Heart Will Go On
Celine Dion Taking Chances Tour at Staples Center, December 2, 2008
Celine Dion Taking Chances Tour at Staples Center, December 2, 2008
Celine Dion Taking Chances Tour at Staples Center, December 2, 2008
Celine Dion Taking Chances Tour, courtesy of Buzzine.com
Celine Dion Taking Chances Tour, courtesy of LATimes.com
Celine Dion Taking Chances Tour, courtesy of Buzzine.com
Seems a new star is born … in France. Alizee is the new French pop singing sensation who is quickly becoming known internationally, thanks in part to the Internet. Her voice range is wide and her stage presence is Madonna-esque. Dressed in short dresses of soft colors, typically light blue or pink, she prances across the stage perfectly in sync with her supporting cast of dancers. She is young and pretty so exudes that energy that tantalizes and titillates audiences. Alizee is the protege of Mylene “Farmer” Gautier, a well-known, established and famed Quebec-born French singer. (more…)
It’s good news whenever anyone tells you they’re having a baby – especially as winter approaches. As we get the snow suits out of the closet, watch the leaves turn to gold, red and orange then drop to their original birthplace and cut that last knot of wood, it’s nice to know that re-birth, like spring, is just a few short weeks away.
To my friend Kevin, a poem from Bernie Taupin that was made famous when put to music by Elton John:
Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Peering out of tiny eyes
The grubby hands that gripped the rail
Wiped the window clean of frost
As the morning air laid on the latch
A whistle awakened someone there
Next door to the nursery just down the hall
A strange new sound you never heard before
A strange new sound that makes boys explore
Tread neat so small those little feet
Amid the morning his small heart beats
So much excitement yesterday
That must be rewarded must be displayed
Large hands lift him through the air
Excited eyes contain him there
The eyes of those he loves and knows
But what’s this extra bed just here
His puzzled head tipped to one side
Amazement swims in those bright green eyes
Glancing down upon this thing
That make strange sounds, strange sounds that sing
In those silent happy seconds
That surround the sound of this event
A parent smile is made in moments
They have made for you a friend
And all you ever learned from them
Until you grew much older
Did not compare with when they said
This is your brand new brother
This is your brand new brother
This is your brand new brother
