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2017 Lineup changes
#1
Just wondering what people's thoughts are regarding the lineup changes for 2017.
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#2
Well, Autumn has a chance to do Escape to Margaritaville, which will probably be a nice feature for her. Sorry she won't be on tour, but if she's happy, that's great!

I don't think we need to say any more about David. I don't know the new East bassist, but I believe he was in the backup band.

I've only seen a few West shows. I don't know why John was replaced, whether it was his choice or not. Sorry to see him go. He was a fixture with the Westies.

That's it, right?
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#3
(10-20-2017, 08:16 AM)69RoadRunner Wrote: Well, Autumn has a chance to do Escape to Margaritaville, which will probably be a nice feature for her.  Sorry she won't be on tour, but if she's happy, that's great!

I don't think we need to say any more about David.  I don't know the new East bassist, but I believe he was in the backup band.

I've only seen a few West shows.  I don't know why John was replaced, whether it was his choice or not.  Sorry to see him go.  He was a fixture with the Westies.

That's it, right?

Wow, I can't say I'm not in shock right now. John O.Reilly (I was afraid you were talking about Johnny Lee Middleton at first but heck either one to me!) really HAS been a staple for the west for the past 15 years and one of my favorites. I'm going to miss him so much. He's also one of the oldest in the entire group since he's in his mid-60's already. Possible retirement? Does anyone know if this is a permanent or just temporary thing? This is also the first major member change since Asha Mevlana became lead violinist in 2011. Blas Elias, the new drummer is great, though. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform with the Blue Man Group's Las Vegas rock band last year and they're incredible. Funny enough I met him after the show. Never in a hundred years thought I'd be seeing him yet again with TSO!

Tony Dickinson is the new bassist for the east coast. According to his website he's also worked with Jeff Scott Soto on his band's first two albums so he probably joined the group (if he was in the backup band too) through recommendation from Jeff. It's really strange to see how many changes the band is going through in just this year. The last six years have seemed so steady and consistent albeit with the show-theme changes, which were quite welcomed.
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#4
(10-20-2017, 10:47 AM)sundance7490 Wrote: Tony Dickinson is the new bassist for the east coast. According to his website he's also worked with Jeff Scott Soto on his band's first two albums so he probably joined the group (if he was in the backup band too) through recommendation from Jeff.

He got to know JSS and network with him as he was being groomed by TSO in rehearsals the last few years.

(10-20-2017, 10:47 AM)sundance7490 Wrote: It's really strange to see how many changes the band is going through in just this year. The last six years have seemed so steady and consistent albeit with the show-theme changes, which were quite welcomed.

The West had 4 new singers added just last year...
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#5
(10-20-2017, 11:10 AM)danfromnj Wrote:
(10-20-2017, 10:47 AM)sundance7490 Wrote: Tony Dickinson is the new bassist for the east coast. According to his website he's also worked with Jeff Scott Soto on his band's first two albums so he probably joined the group (if he was in the backup band too) through recommendation from Jeff.

He got to know JSS and network with him as he was being groomed by TSO in rehearsals the last few years.

(10-20-2017, 10:47 AM)sundance7490 Wrote: It's really strange to see how many changes the band is going through in just this year. The last six years have seemed so steady and consistent albeit with the show-theme changes, which were quite welcomed.

The West had 4 new singers added just last year...

Oh the singers are never a surprise. They leave, they come back sometimes, they switch groups... or don't come back at all. It's the band that rarely changes. Except for 2008-2010. The band members were bouncing around like crazy, then over half the east coast group didn't come back in 2010, and the violinists changed four years in a row in the west. The only change in band members between 2011 and 2016 was Luci Butler left the east and Mee Eun Kim came back, and Joel Hoekstra missed one year and Bill Hudson came in.
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#6
I only see 3 changes. 1 is for the worst reason possible and was nobody's choice. 1 is for an unknown reason. 1 appears to be because of a greater opportunity for the singer.

1 West, 2 East.
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#7
As one former TSO performer told me recently..."Everybody's gotta go sometime! It's the TSO way."  Big Grin
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#8
My thoughts, since I started this ...

Of course we knew Dave had to be replaced. I'm still not sure how I'm going to react when I go to the shows this year. He was just an awesome performer and a good guy the few times I met him with TSO or ZO2. I'm not really familiar with his replacement, but really it will take some getting used to for me.

I guess we knew Autumn had a great opportunity, so you can't blame her. She really didn't have a feature role in TSO.

I was really shocked about O. I've never been lucky enough to see the West group, but I know of his reputation. Sometimes I guess it's a hard business. Blas is certainly talented enough. Still it's tough to see the people that the long time fans know and love being replaced.
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#9
(10-21-2017, 04:21 AM)danfromnj Wrote: As one former TSO performer told me recently..."Everybody's gotta go sometime! It's the TSO way."  Big Grin

Ugh!  I know "the vision" was that TSO be about the show and not the individual performers, but I think that is outdated.  You have programs with their pictures, you can meet them personally after the shows, and they have Facebook pages and other projects.  The internet has changed any chance of being anonymous.
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#10
Yeah if they were going to be anonymous they'd have to wear makeup (though not necessarily corpse paint) and all be Nameless Ghouls like Ghost.
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