Bluemen do The Who

[WMDSnyder@xxxxxxx]

Who knew the Blues liked The Who?

Here's the link and article:


http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/overnight/stories/081303dnoveblueman.4
55b63c.html

Review: A new generation of Blue-sy rock stars 
12:59 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 
By TOM MAURSTAD / The Dallas Morning News 
GRAND PRAIRIE - When is a rock concert not a rock concert? As Blue Man Group 
demonstrated Tuesday night with the first of two sold-out shows at NextStage, 
the answer is never. 
Whether you operate in an irony-free, keep-on-rockinb realm like some 
fill-in-the-blank band or in an irony-filled parody of that realm like Blue Man 
Group, the result is a noisy, flashy, audience-manipulating spectacle. In other 
words, a rock concert. 
Maybe from catching its production in Las Vegas or seeing them in that Intel 
ad, the 6,000-plus fans who filled NextStage were primed to see this unlikely 
pop-culture sensation. After warmly receiving the two opening acts - singer 
Tracy Bonham and electronic-pop trio Venus Hum - the audience was eagerly 
cheering adjustments of the house lights and yelling out the phrases that scrolled 
across the message boards on either side of the stage. 
Such directed interaction was a fore-flash of things to come. A recurring 
instruction given to the audience was bPay Attention,b followed by the request 
to bPlease Yell if you are paying attention.b Each time, the request was 
answered by a booming chorus of cheers. That was just one small part of an 
elaborate multimedia production that recast the rock concert as a tutorial on the 
conventions of rock concerts. Each song was introduced by an authoritative voice 
explaining various brock movementsb while a large screen offered visual aids. 
Thus, brock movement #1b was described as bthe basic head-bobb while 
onscreen stick figures demonstrated. 
This satirical premise was the hook on which was hung what might otherwise 
have been just a really cool, cutting-edge production. Of course, there was the 
trio of Blue Men - outfitted in black, with shiny blue heads (and hands). 
Playing the part of blank-faced automatons, they beat on all sorts of odd and 
invented instruments such as PVC tubes. They were backed by an eight-piece band, 
including four drummers. The result - relentlessly percussive, with a seemingly 
spontaneous found-sound energy - was somewhere between a rave and a 
production of Stomp. 
As a parody of rock concerts, the performance was sometimes funny and often 
clever, but never novel. From the rock-star clichC)s to the sardonic 
instructions, this has all been done before by acts who managed the feat of being 
cultural tricksters and great bands - recent examples include R.E.M. and U2. 
But Blue Man Groupbs show made up in inventive fun what it lacked in 
conceptual originality. Whether it was the chorus of cellphone rings that opened 
bPersonab or a confetti-laced rendition of the Who anthem bBaba ObRiley,b Blue 
Man Group proved that when it comes to enjoying big, noisy spectacles, we will - 
happily, willingly - get fooled again.