Review of Forum Show #2

["Scott Schrade" <schrade@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Repost from Relayers.  Review of Wednesday night's show.

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Subject: The Forum, Wednesday 24th February 2004  (Night 2)

Roger was indeed on the Johnnie Walker radio show, we were listening 
to it on the car radio outside the venue just before we went inside.
He stressed that the idea of the charity shows was really to raise 
the year round profile, not just the money from the RAH shows and 
spinoffs alone that is paying for the units, contrary to popular 
belief. It also encourages the Trusts to cooperate - they have to 
make space for them, and it's not always easy, (as we are finding out 
at Southampton, which he alluded to)!

Same set as Monday.

Good show. Roger is forgetting a lot of cues, (e.g. TKAA, AJ in the 
Tommy section, where Zak taps the band back from a virtual full  
stop, Pete adjusts the rhythm for the rest to bootstrap from), as 
well as the words to Sea and Sand, as noted, but he's laughing a lot, 
and actually is in great voice, his pitching is the best we can 
remember this early in a post 90's tour. These are warm up shows 
after all, so it seem churlish to be overly critical. The 
performances far outweigh any minor blemishes, to keep all this in 
proper perspective. Someone from Cologne faxed the JW radio show and 
asked if he now remembered the words to LROM, he said he did, but
they had not rehearsed again since (Monday)! (Actually he 
said 'yesterday', Pete made the same comment tonight on stage 'Some 
familar faces here tonight, who were here when we played yesterday 
night, we are playing exactly the same songs as last night, and will 
play the same tomorrow, we're officially warming up)!  - they've both 
forgotten it's Wednesday, and they last played Monday!

Pete left the band before ATD - Roger jokingly told him to 'nobody's 
told you yet tonight, get on with it....'  Pete did not smile, gave 
him a quick look, unplugged his pewter Strat and walked off.........

He was almost at the exit door at the very rear left of the stage, 
Roger said 'oh dear, he's left the band, you'd better come back Pete, 
I can't do it without you'! By which time, he was turning round, 
nobody in backstage crew moved an inch as he did so, they just looked 
on! RD 'Right, I'm now going to step back and shut up'!

Several crowd related incidents tonight, trouble in the centre, and 
on the left on the ground floor, someone collapsed on the lower 
balcony and had to be revived.        

Pete's playing is quite superb, and is dovetailing with Simon's parts 
very well, he is nailing his parts with a very evident ease, which 
was not quite the case with the warm up shows in 2002. The lead parts 
sound more worked out to fit the song, rather than just straight 
improv. LROM is a joy in this regard, listen to Rabbit's piano and 
synth touches on this as well. Pete seemed so on top of his game he 
was practicing the various type of attack for windmills, some of the 
stances we can't remember seeing him attempt since the 70's. Roger, 
as noted is singing well, (and gets all the words right), including 
the high part at the very end, his voice still amazes at 60!  

The Hiwatt amp and cab has been pensioned off again, Pete is still 
blending two amps, but it's two Fender Vibro Kings tonight.
 
EF tonight is announced by Pete 'still don't know what that song is 
about'fits in the set well. Roger plays electric at the back of the 
stage while Pete steps forwards for vocals. Before YBYB, he says 'we 
know what this one is about.......'    

Pete thanked everyone for coming, but said, 'when you come tomorrow, 
can you please bring some women, I have only seen about 4 here, so 
let me say to them, you are even more welcome' - he repeated this 
again at the end of the show!     

They are playing BBE each night - that is a mistake on Matt's first 
night set list on the PT web site/Who pages.

Pete tonight explained more about RGLB being based on Elvis's 'I 
Can't Help Falling In Love With You'. 

Pino is playing more of the actual JAE bass lines this time round, 
it's kind of eerie noticing this during the main set, more 
particularly in the Tommy encore segment, possibly a case of absent 
friends, the playing per se is fine. Of course, when Pete and Roger 
hug each other at the end of this section, as the set ends, this 
exacerbates the feeling even more.... The Tommy section is a very 
powerful encore.

The whole band is on top of their game, would have to rate each 
individual performance as excellent. Zak is playing more fluidly as 
ever, Simon is filling out the sound, and in parts allowing Pete to 
solo more effectively, mostly he is either doubling Pete, or they are 
playing different inversions of the same chord, a well known 
mechanism for fattening and harmonically enriching rhythm parts. 
Rabbit is adding more touches, and most effectively in addition to his
normal rhythm layering. 

Pete apologised at the end to the security guard for 'taking the 
piss' by machine gunning him with the guitar neck when one of the 
crowd incidents was taking place, 'I'm still a bit worried at the 
moment, so I'm actually very glad to have them around, they are doing 
a very good job'. 

One more night to go at the Forum.......bring it on.

K+L
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- SCHRADE in Akron

The Council For Secular Humanism
http://www.secularhumanism.org/