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Post by Greg B on Aug 31, 2014 11:13:24 GMT -5
Yep, I saw him. Wish I could have heard him. The house PA system was so incredibly bad that all you could hear was Donati's drums, an overwhelming bass from Haslip and a crackling, muddy, distorted representation of Allan's guitar. At one point even Allan had to say to the sound man "Is there some weird reverb or something patched into the mix? It's dry as a bone up here but the PA sounds like crap. It's pissing me off." The sound was actually better after I made some impromptu earplugs from my beer napkin.
Allan did not look like he even wanted to be on stage. And quite honestly, if I hadn't carpooled to get there I would have walked out after the 2nd song. I didn't want to be there either.
Also, Allan has been going through something in his life in the past year or so. Last year his Facebook page said he'd be taking some time off to deal with some life issues. When he walked onstage I almost didn't recognize him. He'd put on a lot of weight and was moving kind of slowly and carefully. He still played well. At least it looked like he was playing well, I couldn't really make out the notes.
The set was sparingly short. Only 90 minutes (and this after waiting 3 hours for them to go on stage) And in that 90 minutes there were 5 extended drum solos. Virgil Donati is an amazing drummer and he was the only one who's instrument could be heard clearly, although overwhelmingly loud. But the show ended up sounding like "Virgil Donati and Friends" rather than an Allan Holdsworth concert.
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Post by RickW on Aug 31, 2014 12:34:56 GMT -5
Got to hate that. Especially when it's someone you really wanted to see. Sad thing is, there is no excuse. Even venues that we used to go to that had terrible sound can now get quite good sound. We saw James Taylor a couple of years ago in our hockey arena. He had his usual cast of great players with him, and it sounded fantastic.
When we to see Alt-J last year, there sound was excellent. But the backup band was pretty much what you described there. If there was anyone in that audience who might have decided they liked them and picked up an album to check them out further, I'd be surprised, because it pretty much sounded like mud.
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Post by theevan on Aug 31, 2014 14:21:40 GMT -5
Pity. Sorry about that. These days that should not happen with sound.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2014 9:21:54 GMT -5
I have seen him twice. First time was his first solo tour of the US. It was a club in San Francisco. Carlos Santana and Neal Schon were sitting nearby. Carlos rubbed as chin and focused on every note. Neal talked to gorgeous groupies the entire time. Allan's playing was so out there I couldn't make any sense of it. He had come a long way from Bruford's band.
The second time was with Wackerman on drums and Pasqua on keys . They played all the tunes from the Tony Williams first LP with Allan. Great sound and very tight. Thirty years after the first performance, I could kinda sorta figure it out.
One of my friends was playing guitar with a Celtic group at the Harp in Costa Mesa. While having a beer at break, he looked at the guy next to him ans said," I know you. Allan Holdsworth." Alan smiled and told them they sounded great.
Holdsworth likes his pints. He even thanked Coors on one of his albums.
Just checked the tour page. Had I known, I would have taken the train from Bakersfield to Fresno.
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Post by Greg B on Sept 1, 2014 10:28:17 GMT -5
I think Allan use to live in Costa Mesa or Irvine. He was an Orange County guy for a long time. He use to be quite the bicyclist as well. But as you said, he like his pints. The "thanks" to Coors is an ongoing joke. He thinks Coors is the worse beer on the planet. In his book "Search for the uncommon chord" there's a picture of him and his mates "saluting Coors". They're all flipping off a Coors beer sign.
I saw on another forum some reference to the health problems he's having. Apparently it's related to all the beer and alcohol he's consumed in his life. He certainly looks tired and quite overweight.
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Post by Lonnie on Sept 1, 2014 11:16:17 GMT -5
It's a shame to pay good money for bad sound. I saw David Bowie at a small venue in St. Paul some years back, the only thing I could hear clearly was his guitarist, easily 30%louder than the rest of the band. The keyboard player might as well have stayed home. On the other side of the coin, the sound at Mark Knopfler's show at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis was as clean and clear and dynamic as his albums.
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