Latest concerts you've been to

Hee...I got back in time from my holiday to go this awesome group's show over the weekend. They flew into Trinidad from Norway I believe...Evanescence



Had VIP tix...got drunk, got laid in the car (I think it was my husband, he thinks so too) :face:

Amy Lee is one sexy lady indeed.

I saw their Open Door tour in early 2007. Great show. Amy can sure sing and the band makes lots of good crunching heavy guitar noise. The new album released this year, sounds a lot like The Open Door, so I am expecting more of the same, when they launch a North American tour.Speaking of more of the same, I'm sure I will be surrounded by armies of angst ridden-screaming girls again, so I may pass out some, "angst-therapy-consultant" business cards, in case anyone needs to talk.8)

It's not recent, but the last two concerts I attended, which were in 2010, were Foreigner and Styx, both at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Great shows!

I most recently saw the New York Oratorio Society performing Britten's WAR REQUIEM.

My wife adored it. I'm considerably less fond of Britten than she is, and in keeping with that, I enjoyed the concert much less than she did.

Personally I much prefer Britten's earlier SINFONIA DE REQUIEM. Would love to see it performed live.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Personally I much prefer Britten's earlier SINFONIA DE REQUIEM. Would love to see it performed live.

I've never heard it. Is there a recording you'd recommend?

Harmsway wrote:

Largo's Shark wrote:

Personally I much prefer Britten's earlier SINFONIA DE REQUIEM. Would love to see it performed live.

I've never heard it. Is there a recording you'd recommend?

I'd recommend this one, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox.

SINFONIA DA REQUIEM was commissioned in 1940 to commemorate the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese Empire, but Britten's approach to it was subversive.

On composing the piece, Britten wrote: "I'm making it just as anti-war as possible ... I don't believe you can express social or political or economic theories in music, but by coupling new music with well known musical phrases, I think it's possible to get over certain ideas ... all I'm sure of is my own anti-war conviction as I write it."

BTW, the Lacrymosa has been ripped-off by James Horner a number of times, but most famously in BRAINSTORM.

It seems strange to me that the Japanese government would solicit compositions from Western composers.

Harmsway wrote:

It seems strange to me that the Japanese government would solicit compositions from Western composers.

Hakkō ichiu - "all the world under one roof." That was the Japanese political slogan of the day, popularised by a speech from Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe in 1940. It started off as supposedly benign and humanitarian, but eventually showed its true colours as a call for world domination.

FWIW, Jacques Ibert's pour célébrer le 26e centenaire de la fondation de l'empire Nippon, Ildebrando Pizzetti's Symphony In Celebrazione dell XXVIo Centenario della Fondazione dell'Impero Giapponese, Sándor Veress's first symphony Hungarian Greetings on the 2600th Anniversary of the Japanese Dynasty and Richard Strauss's Japanische Festmusik - were all accepted. Britten's Sinfonia was rejected by the Japanese foreign ministry as an insult.

As an aside - one of my favourite Britten works is his most intimate. His 1954 song cycle Winter Words - a setting of 8 poems by Thomas Hardy.

Kudos to Britten for refusing to play along.

I do like Britten's A CEREMONY OF CAROLS. But I can't stand his operas.

Harmsway wrote:

Kudos to Britten for refusing to play along.

I do like Britten's A CEREMONY OF CAROLS. But I can't stand his operas.

I like Peter Grimes, though I love the Four Sea Interludes.

Haven't been to a concert for a long while but looking forward to the Go Go's, Pat Benatar, Stones and reformed Black Sabbath (minus drummer) this summer.
Maybe Rush and Heart too. Do I have the all the necessary cash and free time is the question.
Should have been a rock critic.

Bob Seger.

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

Had VIP tix...got drunk, got laid in the car (I think it was my husband, he thinks so too) :face:

Well done, ma'am.

Have caught The Killers and the Stereophonics so far this year, and have tickets for The Who and Suede in June and August respectively.

The Who were absolutely terrific last night ... Quadrophenia played in full, and then a 'hits set' afterwards.

Not sure it counts as a concert per se, but am off to We Will Rock You with Mum tomorrow night.

The Stone Roses, Finsbury Park, supported by Public Image Ltd, Johnny Marr and Miles Kane.

Was it everything you hoped it would be?

The next concert I'll be attending is in September: Steely Dan's MOOD SWINGS: EIGHT MILES TO PANCAKE DAY tour.

Loomis wrote:

The Stone Roses, Finsbury Park, supported by Public Image Ltd, Johnny Marr and Miles Kane.

How was John Lydon and the gang?

Harmsway wrote:

Was it everything you hoped it would be?

It certainly was.

Harmsway wrote:

The next concert I'll be attending is in September: Steely Dan's MOOD SWINGS: EIGHT MILES TO PANCAKE DAY tour.

I didn't know those guys were touring again. Looking forward to your post-gig report.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Loomis wrote:

The Stone Roses, Finsbury Park, supported by Public Image Ltd, Johnny Marr and Miles Kane.

How was John Lydon and the gang?

(Sorry, can't figure out how to do multiple quotes within a single post under this new system.)

Lydon was on fine old pantomime form, while guitarist Lu Edmonds was very interesting to watch - I think he played some kind of traditional Asian instrument (the saz, maybe). I wasn't familiar with PiL before and to be honest hadn't been interested prior to the day - I found Lydon's schtick offputting, while what little I'd heard of their music struck me as - to put it mildly - an acquired taste. I was also disappointed that Jah Wobble wasn't part of the current lineup.

However, I did enjoy their set at Finsbury Park and subsequently had a listen to their recent album This Is PiL, which is very good stuff. Like, say, The Fall, PiL take a bit of getting into, but the rewards are there for the adventurous/patient.

On the day, Johnny Marr was the big supporting act for me (I didn't pay any attention to Miles Kane, although I noted that he seemed good at what he does) - as a fan of his (mostly for his work with The Smiths [well, duh!], Electronic and Pet Shop Boys) it was a huge thrill to catch him live for the first time. He went down very well with the crowd, playing four rapturously-received Smiths classics as well as some songs from The Messenger that to my mind work much better live than on record. I enjoyed Marr's set every bit as much as I enjoyed that of the Roses.

The Roses were superb, of course. Reni stole the show to the point that I found myself barely noticing or hearing the other three guys. Quite how this guy does what he does is utterly beyond me.

I don't think I'll ever again go to an event with such an impressive cast of characters: two iconic frontmen (Lydon and Brown), two iconic guitarists (Marr and Squire), an iconic bassist (Mani) and the best drummer of his generation (Reni).

I'm going to see The Roots on Tuesday.

I don't know shit about The Roots, so you can expect me to be nice and wasted.

Loomis wrote:

Harmsway wrote:

The next concert I'll be attending is in September: Steely Dan's MOOD SWINGS: EIGHT MILES TO PANCAKE DAY tour.

I didn't know those guys were touring again. Looking forward to your post-gig report.

They were great. Steely Dan's touring band is always full of first-rate musicians, and this group was as fine a set of musicians as they've ever had (in particular, Jon Herington's guitar work is jaw-droppingly awesome). What is pleasing about their shows is the sheer generosity on the part of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen: their concerts are truly ensemble efforts.

The setlist was skewed heavily toward the albums COUNTDOWN TO ECSTASY and AJA. AJA has gotten a lot of play in their tours in recent years, but it was more surprising to hear the COUNTDOWN TO ECSTASY material (including a performance of "Razor Boy," which, to the best of my knowledge, has never been performed live before this tour). I was delighted to hear that Steely Dan has moved back toward the original arrangements of the early songs (in previous tours, they updated their earlier, rockier material with jazzy arrangements more in keeping with their later style). The highlight was their performance of "Godwhacker," the only song they selected from their recent albums, which boasted a new, brassier arrangement.