12-22-2016, 12:00 PM
This year for the first time I had the pleasure f seeing both the East and West bands. So I will attempt to review both shows.
We went to the Albany matinee on 11/27. They are renovating the Times Union Center so it was very crowded getting in at the front of the arena. They never opened the doors till 27 minutes before show time. Once inside my wife decided she wanted to do her Christmas shopping at the souvenir table. I think there were only 2 people working so it took for ever for her to get her shopping done. We missed the check presentation. The show started about 15 minutes late, I think they were still getting everything setup.
I loved the new opener to the show, I was just getting tired of "Time and Distance". The "story" was the same as last year but I did like it again. Dustin, Russell, Zak, Georgia, Rob and Lisa were great as always. And Bryan is the best. Joel was back this year and I really think he is a better fit than Bill. Nothing at all against Bill. Chris was up to his usual antics with Dave and Roddy. Me, Derrick and Jeff were also spot on. I wish there was a way to get Natalia and Autumn more involved. I did notice that Autumn seemed really into it this year, maybe because I never noticed her before.
After the singer intros came the rest of the "Christmas" songs. Of course I wish they could have played more but we had 4 carry overs from last year and 1 new song.
After the musician intros came the "non Christmas" songs. "Carmina Burana" is one of my favorites so I was so glad to get to hear it live. We got "Mountain Labyrinth" next which I thought was spectacular. Then came Not the Same, not thrilled with this one. The the rest of the show was the same as last year. I've heard "night Conceives" and "The Mountain" at every show I've been to and although I like them I wish there was something different.
The stage was of course changed up this year. The steps at the front I thought would have gotten more use. The lifts were cool, first time that I had seen them. I think they had something similar before I started going to shows. I got Georgia on a lift right in front of me for "Christmas Jam", I was in heaven.
The catwalk however was a disappoint from where we were. It was literally right over our heads. We could not see any one it.
The pyro and lights were as spectacular as ever.
Overall it was of course a great show.
Then we went to Florida to see the West crew on 12/16 in Sunrise for the evening show.
The first thing I noticed was how much better a venue this was than Albany. Multiple lines formed outside the doors so we weren't packed in like sardines. They opened the doors at 7:02 for an 8:00 show. We had plenty of time before the show to get an idea of where they bathrooms were and where the meet and greet was going to be held. Here we were sitting in the 4th row of the lower bowl on Angus's side which was equivalent to being the same 7th row we sat in at Albany. We got to see the check presentation which puzzled me. It was only for $5983 dollars. It was a damn near sell out! Did they forget the 1 in front of the 5?
We have seen Al, Johnny, Chloe, Andrew, JSS, Linda and Vital when we saw BLN in 2011. The rest of the band was new to us. It was amazing that some little things they did different made such an impression. The things that stood out to me were: Al guitar playing during "Oh Holy Night", again nothing against Joel but this was fantastic. April playing the flute during "Sarajevo" just added an extra touch. Chloe's rendition of "Cannon" was special. Using both JSS and Rosa on "Good King Joy". Asha bending Angus over with her violin. It just made it like a different show.
Those that impressed me here (other than those we had seen before) were, Rosa, she can belt out a song, Angus is a very good guitarist, Asha is just a pleasure to watch, Jodi (did not now she was assistant music director), John and Ashley held her own.
Sitting off the floor made the catwalk better also. Now we could see what was going on up there, at least on our side. We could also see the Pyramid with out turning completely around. Of course I know that these two aspects are for the benefit of those that do not sit close to the stage.
We also did the meet and greet after the show. It was our first since our first show (BLN). We were at the beginning of the line so the wait was not long. We had them sign our program and it went down the line so fast we couldn't keep up. Did get to say a few words to Al, Angus, Jeff and Chloe.
Sorry this was so long. But we had a great time at both shows.
We went to the Albany matinee on 11/27. They are renovating the Times Union Center so it was very crowded getting in at the front of the arena. They never opened the doors till 27 minutes before show time. Once inside my wife decided she wanted to do her Christmas shopping at the souvenir table. I think there were only 2 people working so it took for ever for her to get her shopping done. We missed the check presentation. The show started about 15 minutes late, I think they were still getting everything setup.
I loved the new opener to the show, I was just getting tired of "Time and Distance". The "story" was the same as last year but I did like it again. Dustin, Russell, Zak, Georgia, Rob and Lisa were great as always. And Bryan is the best. Joel was back this year and I really think he is a better fit than Bill. Nothing at all against Bill. Chris was up to his usual antics with Dave and Roddy. Me, Derrick and Jeff were also spot on. I wish there was a way to get Natalia and Autumn more involved. I did notice that Autumn seemed really into it this year, maybe because I never noticed her before.
After the singer intros came the rest of the "Christmas" songs. Of course I wish they could have played more but we had 4 carry overs from last year and 1 new song.
After the musician intros came the "non Christmas" songs. "Carmina Burana" is one of my favorites so I was so glad to get to hear it live. We got "Mountain Labyrinth" next which I thought was spectacular. Then came Not the Same, not thrilled with this one. The the rest of the show was the same as last year. I've heard "night Conceives" and "The Mountain" at every show I've been to and although I like them I wish there was something different.
The stage was of course changed up this year. The steps at the front I thought would have gotten more use. The lifts were cool, first time that I had seen them. I think they had something similar before I started going to shows. I got Georgia on a lift right in front of me for "Christmas Jam", I was in heaven.
The catwalk however was a disappoint from where we were. It was literally right over our heads. We could not see any one it.
The pyro and lights were as spectacular as ever.
Overall it was of course a great show.
Then we went to Florida to see the West crew on 12/16 in Sunrise for the evening show.
The first thing I noticed was how much better a venue this was than Albany. Multiple lines formed outside the doors so we weren't packed in like sardines. They opened the doors at 7:02 for an 8:00 show. We had plenty of time before the show to get an idea of where they bathrooms were and where the meet and greet was going to be held. Here we were sitting in the 4th row of the lower bowl on Angus's side which was equivalent to being the same 7th row we sat in at Albany. We got to see the check presentation which puzzled me. It was only for $5983 dollars. It was a damn near sell out! Did they forget the 1 in front of the 5?
We have seen Al, Johnny, Chloe, Andrew, JSS, Linda and Vital when we saw BLN in 2011. The rest of the band was new to us. It was amazing that some little things they did different made such an impression. The things that stood out to me were: Al guitar playing during "Oh Holy Night", again nothing against Joel but this was fantastic. April playing the flute during "Sarajevo" just added an extra touch. Chloe's rendition of "Cannon" was special. Using both JSS and Rosa on "Good King Joy". Asha bending Angus over with her violin. It just made it like a different show.
Those that impressed me here (other than those we had seen before) were, Rosa, she can belt out a song, Angus is a very good guitarist, Asha is just a pleasure to watch, Jodi (did not now she was assistant music director), John and Ashley held her own.
Sitting off the floor made the catwalk better also. Now we could see what was going on up there, at least on our side. We could also see the Pyramid with out turning completely around. Of course I know that these two aspects are for the benefit of those that do not sit close to the stage.
We also did the meet and greet after the show. It was our first since our first show (BLN). We were at the beginning of the line so the wait was not long. We had them sign our program and it went down the line so fast we couldn't keep up. Did get to say a few words to Al, Angus, Jeff and Chloe.
Sorry this was so long. But we had a great time at both shows.