Arlo Guthrie – Moore Theater – Seattle Wa : April 16 2016

April 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment

One of the best shows I have seen. Not much more to say other than this music really puts life in perspective… nothing more important than family, friends and the the simple things. It was great that his daughter Sarah Lee opened up the show (and she has an incredible voice) and that his son plays keyboards.. It is just so refreshing that he surrounds him self with the love of his family.

Arlo’s ability to tell stories is obviously what has gotten him to where is is in life, but the genuineness of his stories and the history that he is able to convey was memorable. You just don’t get this type of music these days..and it is so refreshing to get down to the simpler things.

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David Gilmour – The Forum LA : March 27 2016

March 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Another incredible show last night at the Forum. I had a little closer seats than I did at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday, so had a much better view of David and the band, although not as good of view of the stage show. The set list was pretty much the same, but it was amazing on Friday and it was amazing again last night.

Just really can’t get enough of David Gilmour.

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David Gilmour – Hollywood Bowl : March 25 2016

March 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment

An EPIC show last night.

This night was a first for me…my first time at the Hollywood Bowl and my first time seeing David Gilmour. I have been wanting to experience both for a long time, and what could be better than both on the same night.

My seat was fairly close to the stage in the Garden section of promenade 1 which was a small 4 person box. What a cool set-up for seating, and even had a waiter who came around very frequently providing food and drinks so you didn’t have to leave your seat, which was kind of good as the way the chairs are set up in the box, all four people need to get up and move to let you out, but my neighbors were cool and this was no problem at all.

The sound was as incredible as I have always heard the Hollywood Bowl to be. Every note from every instrument was crystal clear.

David Gilmour came on stage a little after 8:00pm and opened up with 5 A.M., followed by the title song from his new album, Rattle That Lock. One of my favorite Pink Floyd song, Wish You Were Here was the fourth song of the night and was a dream come true to see and hear this song live. He played a great set, spanning the multiple decades of his career with Pink Floyd with their 1967 debut album through is current album. Some of the other memorable songs of the night were, What do You Want From Me, from the Division Bell album, Money and Us and Them from the Dark Side of The Moon album and of course Astronomy Domain, Shine on You Crazy Diamond, The Blue and Run Like Hell.He performed two encore songs which were perfect closures on a perfect night, Time and Comfortably Numb.

I can’t wait to see him perform and the Forum in LA tomorrow night.

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Bruce Springsteen – Seattle WA : March 24 2016

March 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Great show at the Key Arena with Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen is one of those artists who is in the iconic category and one which everyone should see in concert at least once. I know that some folks follow him around from city to city and throughout the world, and after seeing him tonight for the first time, I can totally understand why. He puts on such an incredible show. I have to admit that I was never a real hard core Springsteen fan, but did like to hear his music on the radio and many of the songs he played tonight brought me back in time to when I first heard them, reminding me of good time….like all good music should do.

One of the thing that I appreciated about the show was that the stage was not elaborate and neither was the lighting, and there are no unreasonable costume changes…just a basic set-up designed to focus on the music and not the theatrics. This was actually quite refreshing from such a big show such as this.

The setlist was jam packed with material…of course he played the entire The River album, 5 sign request songs including tour premier, Adam Raised a Cain and an additional 10 songs bringing the total for the night up to 35 songs in all. Absolutely amazing!

He came on stages a little after 8:00pm and I don’t think he left the stage until after 12:30….although Toni and I had to leave during Rosalita (Come out Tonight) which was just the forth of his six encore songs. One of the coolest things at the show was his crowd surf from the small stage out on the floor back to the main stage….it was a slow surf, but he made it without getting dropped… that was pretty cool that he trusts his fans so much. It was also super cool that he took signs from people in the audience with song titles on them and then performed those songs… I understand this is common for a Springsteen show and makes each show unique I think.

As customary with concerts in Seattle, there has to be mention of the music culture and scene that is one of things Seattle is most known for, but Bruce took it one level higher and actually brought Eddy Vedder from Pearl Jam out during the first of the encore songs and they performed the song Bobby Jean. Eddy was’t the only local musician at the show, Kim Thayil (lead guitar from Soundgarden) was sitting two rows in front of me.

Great night of fun music.

 

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David Crosby – Seattle : March 15 2016

March 19, 2016 by Leave a Comment

What an incredible night. I have always been a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young fan, and have seen them in their various iterations a half dozen times over the years, but this was the first time seeing David Crosby solo. It was just him, his guitar, his music and his stories. As usual, I wanted to get a good seat close to the stage and as this was a general admission show with only limited reserved seating, I decided to be one of those folks who got a reserved seat…I hate waiting in line and rushing in for the best seat. I bought the VIP, reserved ticket through David Crosby’s web site and relatively speaking, it was fairly inexpensive. When I showed up at the venue, little did I know that I was the ONLY one who had a reserved seat. The person at the ticket booth said “oh, Mr. Ashley, we have been waiting for you, go stand over there and someone will be right with you”. I was promptly met by the venue manager, who let me in the door about 20 minutes before the venue opened and while all of the GA folks were lined up around the corner and down the street in the cold…I have to tell you I felt pretty special. It didn’t end there….The manager, gave me a breif tour of the facility, showing me where the bar was, the merchandise, the restrooms and took me to my seat, which happened to be in the front row center, and it had a sign on it saying “Reserved for Bryon A.”. I went to the merchandise counter to collect my VIP swag, and the merch guy also said, “Oh, Bryon… I have been waiting for you”, and thanked me profusely for being such a big fan. I have been to a lot of shows and have upgraded to the VIP experience, but this was truly the only one where I actually felt like a real VIP.

This was the first time I have been to the Neptune Theater in Seattle and was a bit apprehensive that it was going to be small, dingy and have poor sound. I was very pleasantly surprised when I walked in. It was “vintage” and had a great rustic look and feel. It was very well decorated with the Neptune theme, with stained glass, statues and reliefs on the walls.

David Crosby came on promptly at 8:00pm. He played a great set of songs spanning his career from the Byrds, through all of the versions CSNY, and even a Joni Mitchell song “For Free”. What was great about this show was that before each song he would tell a short story about where he was in his life and what each song meant to him, whether it was his loves of his life in “Guinnever”, the heavy heart he had following the death of his girlfriend at the time of making “Deja Vu” to how he was kicked out of the Byrds by writing the song”Triad”. He also (obviously) had a lot to say about politics, and of course did not care much for the current state of the government or the presidential prospects.

Although, the harmonies of CSN will never be beaten, he is truly the backbone of those harmonies and has a beautiful voice which is still as good today as it was 40 years ago. His guitar style is also so unique in the multitude of tunings and chord structure…something only I can dream of being able to emulate.

This show will go down as one of my favorites not only for the performance, but also the experience at the Neptune Theater.

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