Re: Saturday night

[thewho rocks <leb905@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Simon's show on Friday at the Mercury Lounge was *incredible* and I 
> don't see how anybody can compare it to a Who show as being better or
> worse in any way.  They are two completely different animals. 

I've seen a couple or three of Simon's shows now, and I do have some
comments--if everyone will bear with me a moment and consider Simon a
Who-related topic.  This may be a matter of taste, of course, as all
the reviews of Simon's shows that I've seen on these lists are
completely positive, while most folks are completely willing to trash
his performances with The Who.  But, I don't like everything that Simon
does in his shows.  

Simon plays very high energy concerts.  This effort works very well
when he has a dynamic band behind him, but I don't think it works well
when he plays as a solo act.  When he's playing solo acoustic in a
small club, I think he should try for a more intimate style.  All that
energy creates a tension, but there's nowhere for it to go.  


> Simon played a bunch of familiar stuff from Among Us and elsewhere 
> and then moved into dot-bom territory.  The music is very different 
> from his previous stuff.  It's a new direction for him but it works. 
> His 'band in a box' worked PERFECTLY and Simon was completely in sync
> with it, which really surprised me, just because it seemed like there
> was so much opportunity for these machines to go faulty.  Everything 
> was great and when the new CD eventually gets out there, you will be 
> surprised how well Simon has meshed his rock sound with this funky 
> background of drum samples, beats and synths.  Talk about evolving as
> an artist....

The dot bom box is a great idea if Simon wants to continue with the
high-energy thing.  With this pre-recorded material, his voice and his
style had adequate back up.  The box needs some work, though.  It
doesn't seem to be completely reliable.


LB



=====
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