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| From | "Perry R. Stearns" <prstearn@execpc.com> |
| Subject | Berlin/A flock of Seagulls Live in Orlando |
| Date | Thu, 26 Feb 2004 22:57:06 -0500 |
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Work stuff temporarily relocated me to Orlando this week and after the
crap they pay me for ended, I found myself invited to the Hard Rock
Hotel for a Velvet Sessions Rock'n'Roll cocktail party. Apparently,
they sponsor concerts the last Thursday of every month, so lucky me.
This time it was A Flock of Seagulls and Berlin ("a new wave double
header"). On the heels of "their triumphant return on Bands United on
VH1", their tour kicked off in Orlando.
Now, my fondness for 80's "hits" doesn't go very deep. It's probably
one of the biggest reasons I got into prog at that particular time in
my musical life. But I gotta tell ya, I really enjoyed both bands.
The sound guys weren't content to try and replicate any of those aweful
80's production values, but rather updated the sound to a very
respectable level. This seemed to make a big difference in how I
remember those tunes sounding in the day.
FOS was actually the original keyboard/singer/song writer with some
local musicians backing him up (I learned this from standing next to
his buddy, quite by accident). They ripped through a few hits, added
some new guitar-based songs and finished with more hits. In their 40
minutes they were actually very entertaining and should bring a few
smiles as they work through their tour.
Berlin was really quite polished for as long as they've been inactive.
I have no idea who was original, aside from the female vocalist. Her
voice and stage presence were outstanding and again, the sound crew
really did justice to their material. I tried to cop the set list to
make this post reasonably informative but someone beat me to it. They
did many of their hits and a Peter Gabrial tune, all of which should
delight their old fans.
If they come to your town on tour and you were a fan, go see them. You
will not be disappointed unless they decide to somehow blow it and make
a liar out of me. I went in with an open mind, gave them a fair chance
and wasn't sorry I made the effort. I'm not gonna run out and buy
their best-of CD's but I think others on this list can also appreciate
revisiting their musical past when it's a quality effort - just for fun.
btw - Anybody who thinks Howard Stern is worth defending based upon
freedom of speech must be missing the obvious. He's a has-been hack
who needs to resort to the same pathetic stunts that Janet Jackson
does. Get a clue.
...and Bob Mootz, I think it's "Elmore James", not "Elmo".
Pearmeister
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