| Author | Message | ||
     adam wolf (Adamwolf) Senior Member Username: Adamwolf Post Number: 157 Registered: 7-2002 |
2 requests please -- "Can you Believe" - "inspired" by Mose. Hole - just 'cause I haven't heard it in a while. See you Sat. | ||
| Ewan McNay (Ewan) Senior Member Username: Ewan Post Number: 38 Registered: 7-2002 |
Long-time readers may remember one feature of my commentary: it's generally not what one might describe as laudatory. Just call me Dr. Evil; I'm definitely in the 'pointing out flaws helps them to be fixed' school. So, here I am, after the first concert post-child, the first in several months, when some degree of rust might perhaps be expected, maybe even a loss of focus. Could get painful, right? Well. OK. There *was* a problem: for the first few songs the Viper was undermiked. Next problem... ok, perhaps not. Other than that - this was *great*. I feel almost Charles-like: the image that sat in my mind's eye was that of a cobwebbed giant, emerging from slumber and casually scattering the midgets. Thus were any doubts about the trio dispelled: swiftly, brutally, compellingly. Leviathan has awoken again, nuclear-powered and once again gracing we mortal onlookers with the Presence. [Forgive me as I wax marginally lyrcial here. The sheer joy of GL live is at work.] Trivia: the play list (scrawled on the back of a Midsummer Night's Dream script!) went thusly: Weight of the World Rewind Diva Girl {and yes, even I enjoyed even this} Then the Wheelhouse segment: Open Roads Way to see?? Giving it all away I interrupt myself to note that even above the soaring elsewhere, this section - and especially some of the details of Giving - made me grin. Val has a wawa-like section on the Viper that I love, and in general it's great stuff. I get to be selfishly glad that the estimable Mose* may keep them somewhat more north-east focussed! {*And here I interrupt my interruption. Brendan had pictures of said infant on his pocket camera, complete with his own huge grin at the presence of little man and evidence that Mose is civilised enough to sleep on occasion. More on parenthood anon. The gentle soul in question was home with grandma; I have to say that at 5 weeks this astonished me and presages a very happy and flexible childhood!} Back into the playlist: Live through this Can you believe No room in your bag And intermission, which was a little longer than usual, for reasons at least in part which highly astute observers may be able to deduce. The crowd - about 188, which didn't fill but nicely occupied the auditorium - was largely composed of older folk and young families. The families clearly loved GL, but a few of the older folk were a little surprised at the energy and left at half time. It was kind of amusing to think that this amount of noise was being made in a library  . Where was I? Right, the play list. Second set: Patiently Looking forward to looking back Blessings {this made up for Diva Girl :-) :-)} The S12 segment: Can't go home Got to give the drummer some It's not alright And to close: Try again ALS (see below) I am bummed that we didn't get the planned encore - Coming home, one of my top maybe two favourite GL pieces. But the audience mix was clearly ready to go home, after being very generous with applause throughout the afternoon. Oh well. Rob is going to be annoyed that he missed ALS - this was a very different arrangement, especially the second half, with much Viper plucking; extremely cool, very different, expanding the range. (I had similar thoughts about the beat and vibe to one of the Wheelhouse songs, I'm pretty sure it was Giving where there's a section of hammered double-tap percussive keyboard that I really enjoyed and thought was a widening and elevating of the GL repertoire. I still have no idea what the 'horns' sign Brendan got us all to do was about though) Back to general commentary: the image I invoked above of cobwebs being blown away is valid, I think - there was one verse of 'Can you Believe' that Brendan completely flubbed, much to the amusement of the assorted PPs** - but the gusts of enjoyment and returning majesty with which they were dismissed had huge force. Kinda like Aragorn reclaiming his throne: regal yet at the service of the people. OK, ok, it's only rock music. Milk-and-cookies rock music, as Brendan noted. {**Adam, Pete and Bev had things utterly organised even before I turned up more than an hour in advance. All I did was entertain small children and fold nameslips. Good to meet you guys again; I should have organised a food event afterward - sorry.} So anyway, I have waffled enough here - but the blessing that is a full-throttle and driven-hard live GL experience returned. I note that I've not really mentioned Gene, which is odd because he got more of an equal billing than ever [and a delightful lady friend, although that's probably off track rather]; nor I have I noted the *remarkably* un-gaunt, un-stressed-looking Val. I don't think I've looked that blissed out - Not just Val, Brendan too - at many points during the 3 years of Aidan, but they appear to be permanently in the state. Glorious to behold, even if they did comment that they find it a little difficult to get into the frame of mind for such songs as Looking. When Val can comment in total sincerity that 'the answer to "Are we there yet?" is now "yes"' then it's difficult not to share the happiness. Maybe that was a factor in the enjoyment I felt, too. 'Enough!' cry the readers - if I may be optimistic and use the plural. Welcome back, all 3 (and the influence of GrooveSeed, too, for sure). | ||
| John Nyman (Jenyman) Senior Member Username: Jenyman Post Number: 84 Registered: 7-2002 |
I've not too much to add to Ewan's comments. From the front row in the auditorium, I was (by choice) fairly oblivious to the size and composition of the audience. I'm always forward focused at these events. The show organizer had seen GrooveLily perform twice before and was thus wisely inspired to choose them to kick off this new concert series, taking advantage of a very nice auditorium in a very nice library. It was good to see everyone in good health and clearly still basking in the afterglow of new parenthood (and for Gene "Uncle-hood"). Nice to also touch base with fellow fans Adam, Ewan, Pete, Bev, Jodee+1 and Rich. With the Bose sound system, the band is in total control of their sound amplification. They had to attend to this issue intermittently throughout the performance. I wonder: is this is a burden or a blessing for them? A comment made to me by Pete was that he liked the stage arrangement. The drum kit was in line with the keyboards and violin and not further back on the stage. This may have been in part because of the arrangement of the sound system, or maybe a clue describing the equality in the band. It's hard to imagine GrooveLily without Gene after all: 3 Gene-penned songs in the play-list and several exciting drum solos. A mighty good noise was made in the Greenwich library. After the show, Gene commented that I was so close to him in the front row that I should have been on stage?! No! Why should I sit in the back when the front row is available? My take is that (1) Gene was just joking around, or (2) Gene is not used to being positioned in the front. If that's the case, get used to it Gene! You belong front stage! Hoping that some of the bliss the band is now experiencing fuels their musical creativity. The risk is that feeling blissed-out can be an end in itself rather than acting as a means to an end. It is probably easier to be poetic about the hard times. Yet, life demands balance. GrooveLily creates from their heart, tapping into their personal experience with songs that have universal themes. I would love to hear songs that explore the parenthood experience added to their repertoire. I'm sure that's coming! I can attest to the fact that parenthood, like life in general, can be a trip. John |
