Concert reviews
 

Um, I tried searching for a thread like this but couldn't find one. Do we have one? If so, mherghe puhlease...(:

I wrote this for another forum so copy/paste:

Antony and the Johnsons - Circus Krone, Munich, Germany, 26.4.2009.

Ok, so this past weekend me and my sister traveled to Munich to see Antony and the Johnsons. It took us some 7 and a half hours to get there and 8 and half to get back so we spent some 16 hours on the road. The gig was at Circus Krone which is a circular sort of building made primarily for circus shows and it's decorated accordingly. The show opened with a dancer which did a routine I didn't particularly understand or get into. They played mostly stuff from The crying light and Another World Ep, but spiced it up with 5 songs from I am a bird now which is by far my favorite album of him/her/theirs...We sat near the front so I was worried that the sound wasn't going to be that good, but shockingly it was probably the best sound setup I've ever heard. It was crisp clean, you could hear every single instrument and the volume was just right (I suppose it's not really the type of music that could or should be played too loudly).

The performance was of course immaculate, I don't exactly remember the set list but it lasted about 2 hours. The highlight for me was Fistful of love which almost had me in tears, as well as You are my sister and Hope there's someone. I haven't really listened to the new album enough, but I loved Aeon the best.

In short, it was amazing and worth all the trouble. Antony is an amazing performer even though he is a little shy so his communication with the audience made them giggle, perhaps inappropriately at times. But he's very good natured and sweet and even chuckled himself when he accidentally missed a note on the piano. His voice of course is out of this world.

Here are some photos I took with my iphone (we forgot to bring a proper camera):
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...IMG_0039-1.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...IMG_0040-1.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...IMG_0044-1.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...G_0045-1-1.jpg

And even though there isn't any actual youtube footage of the gig, for anyone interested in what it sounded like, here's a two year old live rendition of Fistful of love with excellent sound, which basically brought down the house:



Why doesn't it resize the images automatically?

Fantastic thread idea.
Probably could have trimmed the photos a bit, but I like what you got here.

Resized them...(:

This is a great idea! I've just been posting mini-concert reviews in the "What bands have you seen live" thread.

Awesome review BTW...the youtube vid didn't show up for me though...not sure if it's my computer or what. Anyone else having trouble?

I keep meaning to check out those guys. I heard one song ages ago, and it's been nothing since then.

They sound great, from what I keep hearing.

I fixed the video so you can watch it and see if you like it...;)

Cool looking venue, appropriately named. I suppose it is/was a real circus local

you traveled sixteen hours to see Antony and the Johnsons? cripes.

and i thought the three hour trek to Cleveland to see the Church was a bad idea.

B.B. King, Arena Theatre, Houston TX May 29, 2009

B.B. King always puts on a great show, though I have to say he wasn't quite as on point as when I saw him 11 years ago...but the man is 83 years old for Christ sake, so I gotta cut him some slack. The beginning of the show was a bit scary because the band came out and played for a while, which isn't uncommon except that they played for about 40 minutes! I just had this horrible feeling something was wrong with B.B...but he eventually came out and of course everyone went nuts. He came out in a wheel chair surrounded by about 6 HPD officers. Once he got to the stage he got up and walked to the middle where there was a chair waiting, sat down, shook his head, flashed us that big, sweet smile and told us that he’d had a long day with the mayor, and when you get to be as old as he is, sometimes you just need to get that extra hour of sleep. You know, if it were anyone else the crowd would have been pissed. But of course we were all just glad he was there and once he got started it was all good and worth every minute we waited.

The venue itself is a great place to see shows. It’s fairly small, with a circular rotating stage in the center of the building and arena seating all around. I have a picture I took with my crappy cell phone camera, but it kind of gives you some idea of what it looks like.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/ssgyrl/bbking.jpg

His set list didn’t consist of very many songs, as he did quite a bit of talking in between songs. While B.B. King himself if from the Mississippi delta, it turns out he has some family in Houston, in fact his granddaughter lives here and was in the audience. He reminisced about the first performance he did here and spent quite a while introducing his band, half of whom are also from Houston. And he went on and on about how lovely the ladies are in Texas, which is obviously so true. :love:

Among the songs he performed were ‘The Letter’, ‘See That My Grave is Kept Clean’, ‘Let The Good Times Roll’, ‘When Love Comes to Town’, and of course ‘The Thrill is Gone’. Also, after going on a long spiel about how he is ashamed of modern blues and hip hop artists and how they objectify women with their misogynistic lyrics, he dedicated “You Are My Sunshine” to all the ladies in the house. It was fun; he and his band jazzed up a cutesy song and gave it some real soul.

After the show he slowly stood up out of his chair and walked around the small circular stage, shaking people’s hands, signing autographs and handing out guitar picks and what have you.

Now that I think back, he really did talk way too much and he wasn’t really on his game of far as working Lucille. A lot of time he didn’t even make it through an entire song before he stopped to talk some more. But believe me when I tell you, and I think I can safely speak for many other people who were at the show that night, it was still a great experience and I’m so grateful I had the chance to see him again before the inevitable happens. Plus, his band was cracking, on top of their game and helped make the set that much better. I’ve recently been getting into music with horns lately, and his horn section was spot on…simply amazing.
I’d urge anyone who has the chance to see him perform to do it now. You won’t regret it, and it would be a shame to miss out on seeing him live, because who knows how much longer he’s going to be able to keep touring. He’s still the King of Blues in my book!

Very rarely am I envious but I have to say that I am completely jealous that you got to see hi. His most recent album is damn good and 'See that my grave is kept clean' from said album is a great tune. You can forgive a guy who's 83 for not being on top his game but know that you saw him live. I did plan to see John Martyn when he next toured but obviously that cannot happen know which is devastating personally so you have tp grab those opportunities when you can.