Re: (TV) Television show tonight in NYC

[Joe Hartley <jh@brainiac.com>]

On Sun, 3 Oct 2004 13:15:54 -0700 (PDT)
"Philip P. Obbard" <pobbard@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I was disappointed. I think Television assumed (correctly, I admit)
> that most of the audience was there to see Patti, not them, and that
> they might as well use it as a rehearsal, hence the high content of
> "unrecorded" material only the diehards would know. 

That might explain his "What the hell" before they went into Persia.

> I agree that Tom
> seemed less involved with the band than usual, and overall I thought
> it was a pretty weak set. Also, Fred was grossly undermixed - I could
> barely hear the bass for most of the set.

He was a bit undermixed, but I could hear him well enough during MM
where it's just Fred & Billy, and I thought his tone was not nearly as
defined as usual.  I was wondering if it was because of a different
bass, since I noticed he wasn't playing the Fender Jazz I've always
seen him play before.  Anyone have info on what that was?  I was over
to the right of the stage and couldn't read the headstock.

> In fairness, almost no-one in the audience sang the chorus to "Prove
> It", as they usually do at Television show. I don't think most people
> were there to see them.

Well, *I* sure sang along!  Agreed, though, the crowd wasn't there to
see Television.  But instead of taking the opportunity to wow 'em, it
ended up being painfully close to Jazz Odyssey!

> > Note to Tom:  Take my $35 and buy a bypass pedal to cut the signal
> > to the amp while you tune!).
> 
> Agreed. Honestly, I am not a musician, but sometime I wonder if it is
> really necessary for Tom to tune constantly? I know the man has
> sensitive ears, and guitars need to be tuned, but I don't see Richard
> constantly fiddling with his peddles, his tuning, etc... they could
> fit a whole other song in most sets if they re-tuned less.

My wife's reaction was that Richard seemed to be rolling his eyes at
all the tuning, though I think that Richard's used to it by now.  As a
guitarist, I can tell you that if a guitar really needs that much retuning,
it's time for a new guitar.  Even when Richard was using his whammy bar
he didn't need as much retuning.  The reaction from my wife again was
that Tom was being a prima donna.

> > Patti's set was absolutely wonderful, and overall, it was a great
> > night.
> 
> I agree - she was fantastic, as was her band (and that's coming from
> someone who has never gone out of his way to see Smith live, and
> wouldn't call himself a fan normally). Everyone on stage exuded
> energy. And Oliver Ray did an impressive job mimicking Tom's guitar
> parts during "Break It Up".

It was a real rock-n-roll band, with all the energy you'd hope would
be there.  I've seen Patti & band 4 times now in the last 5-6 years, and
I'm always amazingly impressed by the energy and joy.  It's clear she 
loved being there last night, as opposed to Tom, whose olny comments
were negative.

Dammit, I really wanted it to be a special, hot-shit kinda night, and
while I had a great time, it certainly didn't live up to the potential.
Oh well...   Off to Roger McGuinn tonight.

-- 
======================================================================
       Joe Hartley - UNIX/network Consultant - jh@brainiac.com
Without deviation from the norm, "progress" is not possible. - FZappa
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