STONE-COLD SOLID GROOVE: Fri 13 March 1998
"I felt so far removed....... and the venue was not so kind to the
sounds......."
Every concert is a different flavor. This was the "Crystal Planet Over
21 Only at the Roseland Theatre" flavor. Last time it was "G3 All Ages
at the River Queen Showplace" flavor. Each one is unique. I hadn't
given much thought to what it would be like *for*me* this second time
around, seeing Joe Satriani perform. There will always be a "first-
time", and then there comes the "next-time". This much is obvious.
The young man on the phone at the FasTixx 800 number described the
venue accurately: maximum capacity is about 1200, there is a balcony
with seats, and a main floor in front of the stage where people can
dance ("or just stand up close and watch the performance" I thought to
myself - there will NOT be room for dancing, I knew that much!)
Based on this info, I knew I would have a choice: stand close to the
stage, or sit up high. I knew this in advance, and I'd theoretically
resigned myself to the implications of sitting in the balcony (and
it's true the reality was not so different than what I'd imagined) but
in the end, there was really no way (for *me, emotionally) to be
reconciled with my own fate: it is quite simply NOT THE SAME in terms
of one's perceptions and experience, being that far away. I had a
perfect view of everything..... but I was not CLOSE. It was not
possible.
As for the acoustics, the preparatory period of waiting for the show
to start and attempting conversation was not encouraging. Lindsay
found two seats together by politely suggesting to a young man sitting
alone if he'd move over one seat there would be room for us. This
done, he and Lindsay chatted prior to the show. I could barely hear
what Lindsay said to him, let alone hear his responses. From what I
gathered, this was a *first live concert for the young man, who
claimed to have been a fan since before |The Extremist|. He indicated
|Time Machine| was the first Satriani cd he purchased.
Lindsay begs me to point out we were situated near the center balcony,
stage-left, several rows back from the (stage-left) spotlight. We had
an *excellent view of the *entire stage.
Crowd noise - lots of it. Way too much. Perhaps I'm spoiled, having
attended an outdoor show, and having within the past year attended
another rock concert in a proper CONCERT HALL. I was less than pleased
at the ambient noise levels; difficulty communicating with someone
sitting only one seat over.
The first sounds from Joe's guitar grew into an electric moment as the
show began - always a thrill to see and hear him, right there (well,
right *down there all that ways away anyway.....)
Of the three opening numbers, the first and third begin with what can
certainly be described as high-end delicate finesse riffs - "Up in the
Sky" and "Crystal Planet", both high-energy, relentless and just
basically KICK-A$$ tunes. Both start with rapid high-end treble flair.
Unfortunately it was this upper area of the audio spectrum that
suffered from the venue's acoustics. The second song, "House Full of
Bullets" lent itself perfectly to the venue's strengths - that one
played really well, and right away.
A potential three-way equilibrium/ truce finally emerged - between
Joe's playing, possible tweaking at the sound-board, and maybe some
mental adjustments in my own perceptions of the sounds (ie, my ears
got "used" to what sorts of sounds they would and could hear, and thus
became accustomed where to "find" the high-end sounds.)
These first tunes had me pulling my ear plugs in and out repeatedly,
fishing awkwardly for the best possible sound, finally acquiescing to
what seemed better, more clearly defined sound with minimum insertion
- albeit with the loss of some high-end distortion (including what I
sometimes call the "teeth" on the guitar - it's a quality I've come to
appreciate, over time). Also, the pace of any and all songs in concert
tends to be faster than the studio versions, which can add up in a
hurry on high-energy dynamos like these little devils. I was racing to
get my ears up to speed. The underlying rhythms/riffs came through
quite well even though the finesse (at least to start) was harder to
grasp.
In spite of audio adjustments and fine-tuning, I enjoyed the opening
set. "House Full of Bullets" put a wonderfully solid groove to the
evening, straightaway. In fact, it was a truly delightful moment to
see Joe's shiny little bald head bobbing up and down from side to side
as he grooved to the riff at the start of the song. This is part of
the joy of watching him play - to see him enjoy his own music. This is
what you don't get, listening to the cd at home.
I was thrilled to have the opportunity to experience "Crystal Planet"
played LIVE - awesome tune! Fun for all, terrific drumming by Jeff,
and a welcome treat to conclude the introductory set. Joe handed the
chrome-boy off to a roadie and spread his hands out to his fans, in
acceptance and recognition of this warm welcome by the Portland crowd.
He introduced the next song, "Time", slung on the chrome-boy handed to
him, and proceeded to turn in a rock-solid rendition of this and every
subsequent song.
Joe is a consummate performer - he never disappoints - his guitar
responds with alacrity to every nuance of his technical command, and
the resulting emotional rEsOnAnCe is often breath-taking, and *always
Right There inside the song - that performance moment. At several
points in the show I remember sitting in awe, quietly staring, wishing
to soak the visual/audio image into every pore, hoping to somehow
preserve that special space as a mental photograph. I couldn't help
but notice: if only I could be closer to that "liquid moment". I could
see it, but I felt the distance quite strongly at times, knowing from
past experience what it's like to be CLOSE and therefore unable to
avoid the awareness of the separation - the ocean of empty air awash
with the venue's sometimes muddy sounds - and yet saying to myself
even then, I'm here, this is it - there he is, I can see him and I can
hear him and it's right now. Yes. I took it all in..... from a
distance.
Following "Time" - a wonderfully inventive song - came another
relentless high-energy opportunity for Joe to shine: "raspberry jam
delta-v". By this time the opening finesse riff was firmly, squarely
in place - the song came straight through with no trouble at all. This
number presented a unique opportunity for Joe to play with the
feedback, during the slower section in the middle of the song. His
mastery of the technique, his skill at obtaining the sounds and
working the situation to produce a feedback symphony was a true audio
delight. That stage had all the feedback you could ask for with plenty
to spare (including some the players could maybe have done without).
These professionals handled it perfectly - every song, every nuance.
When the tune called for a fractal feedback frenzy, like "raspberry
jam...", they milked it to good effect.
Lindsay remarked he enjoyed "A Train of Angels" - something about the
melody - and then it was time to give everyone a rest, a breather, and
an emotional treat, with "Love Thing". I predict this song will soon
be considered a new Satriani "classic", and will stand very close to
his other works of a similar nature in emotional tone. This one
*breathes... that "Wah" just *sends my soul aflutter...
There was appreciative applause from a good portion of the crowd as
Joe finished the song and left the stage to *STU HAMM*
...8-O...
...do I miss my guess, or was that "Liebestraum" by Franz Liszt? Stu
did his Country Thang (if you hear this and fail to have the urge to
start clapping along in time then you must be either tone-deaf or
*Dead), Peanuts - all the usual incredible noises from Stu's bass.
What A Guy! He is so amazing! After he finished, Joe came back onstage
and said, "Who WAS that man on bass?" [[a clear reference to the Lone
Ranger - something us 40-something's will remember, but the college
crowd might not]] and Stu received a well-deserved round of
enthusiastic applause from the crowd.
Next came "Ceremony". I'm pleased to report this song is every bit as
much fun on stage LIVE as it is on the cd. For the next song they
skipped the ethereal introduction and slammed directly into the
rockin-rhythm-riff that is "Lights of Heaven". Within the confines of
this live performance, it worked PERFECTLY to start right in on the
underlying pounding riff. It was a welcome deviation - it fit the
moment and sounded GREAT.
And So....... after blasting through a majority of the new material
from |Crystal Planet|, a series of drum-stick-clicks by Jeff kicked
off the semi-finale: the crowd roared with delight as Joe delivered a
solid and ripping rendition of "Satch Boogie", capping the first
portion of the show to tantalizing effect.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
~Doing~The~Wave~
It was sometime about "mid-show"... [[wow, so specific]] I'm not sure
what song Joe was playing, but I recall being overcome with excitement
and spontaneously raised my arm in response to the music, and then, as
if in response, Joe appeared to wave back as he played. It flowed so
naturally, it seemed very real. I have no way to
know, and logic tells me it may be *unlikely or even *impossible for
him to see a fan up in the balcony behind the spotlight, but in the end it doesn't matter. If only for one single moment the
illusion was intact and I *experienced* it as real. I will *not put
percentages on the probability of either reality but instead simply
recognize both possibilities. Real or not, it will be a memory I will
always treasure.
After a short break, the three- piece- powerhouse returned to the
stage and proceeded to ROCK THE HOUSE with a mini-set of Satriani
concert standards: Ice 9, SWTA, Always..., FIABD, TMPHGT, and Summer
Song. Joe was in fine form, obviously having a good time. He turned-in
a thoroughly solid performance. The crowd was joyful, responsive,
excited, and equally experiencing all the delight right along with
Joe.
[[There was some decidedly "extra" exuberance during SWTA, when a fan
on Stu's side of the stage shook up a bottle of beer and gave everyone
on that side a foam shower, I mean, it was flyin way up in the air and
everywhere within 20 feet of that guy. This was the *only time during
the show I was *glad to be up where I was: high and dry!...8-)...]]
The emotional high-point of the evening came at the very end, when
those three guys took the stage for the last time and gave *All of the
rest of it up in one single, riveting, jaw-dropping, intense, and
loving performance of "Rubina". I sat there amazed at how things had
come full circle, in the eternal cosmic spiral of my own experience -
awed by the beauty of this song, and the toneful, masterful, soulful
delivery by Joe. My heart vibrated with wonder as he carefully and
surely ascended each flight of musical stairs leading to the final
note of the song, and the concert. Around the second or third level,
Lindsay (who can barely recognize Joe's concert standards by name, and
wouldn't know the name of *this song if it hit him over the head)
moved in close to me and put his arm tenderly around my shoulder - I
melted with quiet joy at the perfection of the moment, and nestled in
closely beside him, drinking up all the love, and the peace, and the
deep feelings that flowed in and out and up and down and permeated
every inch of that space. For this it didn't matter how far the
distance - this was so close and present it was inescapable, even from
the balcony, because I was NEXT TO HIM, my Lindsay - my dear sweet
true love - the only place I could be, the only place I could ever
want to be. [["No Separation" - that's my new motto]]
in summary, here is the setlist:
= = = = =
up in the sky
house full of bullets
crystal planet
*TIME
rasberry jam delta-v
a train of angels
love thing
Stu Hamm bass solo
*CEREMONY
lights of heaven
Satch Boogie
[[short break]]
ice 9
surfing with the alien
always with me, always with you
flying in a blue dream
the mystical potato head groove thing
summer song
[["encore":...]] Rubina
= = = = =
All things end, and the used-up flavor subsides into the past as the
present flavor takes over - the ever-blossoming lotus - the lights
came up and we all moved in our separate ways toward the next thing.
Now it was (finally) time to mingle with the fans. We both got
comments on the T-shirts. I managed to hand out a few flyers to
interested passersby. I finally felt somewhat redeemed: the fan-
connection- thing had not been a total failure after all. A handful of
flyers made their way into the larger JoeFanUniverse, and the rest
will find their fate in time.
Full Moon - Live in Concert - Friday, March 13th, 1998 - the Crystal
Planet tour plays the Roseland Theatre in Portland Oregon. I was
there. It was GOOD. Everyone involved deserves a sincere Thank You,
especially that so-called alien holding the chrome guitar: Joe
Satriani.
...peace...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
my post to the Comments page ("Talk to Joe!")
= = = = =
Date: Sat Mar 14 13:44
Faye (fayemc@juno.com):
...can't get enough of that "Love Thing" on the "Crystal Planet"! (no
pun, it's true!) I was so far away (((hidden in the darkness))) but I
was there with the light streaming into your alien shades - the
spotlight on your left - that was me, Lindsay, and a young man we met
who'd never before seen you perform live - we were all there in the
balcony - The Watchers - I took many mental photographs, letting the
sight and sound of you - that liquid moment - burn an image into the
screen of perception I call myself =I was there= thanks to *you and
*Jeff and *Stu for a great show, thanks for Being There at the
Roseland Theatre....... I send a smile to you today ...8-)...peace...
= = = = =
(2460)