Joined: 16 Jul 2003 Posts: 534 Location: SF Bay area
Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 1:52 am Post subject: Robben - Day 3
Well, it just keeps getting better. Patrick came for the first show, although I just got to see him as he was leaving. Both shows were SOLD OUT, and this crowd was primed for something tasty. They were NOT disappointed!
John R. Burr played the B3 again tonight...after Cannonball Shuffle, I heard him remark, "Why can't ALL shuffles be like that?" (Answer: Robben, Robben, Robben!)
Mark played the hell out of the harp, and he and Robben got into some sensational jams throughout the entire evening. There is something so fantastic about watching those brothers perform together, but I am a sucker for family people!
The encore number was a fiery "Start It Up" with some guitar lines I have never heard before...clearly, Robben was having a great time, smiling and looking like a man doing something he loves. Magic.
I don't know what they are really called, but I call them "Auditory puns," where a musician weaves the lead hook of a different song into a jam; Robben has always been known for those, but tonight, he and Mark kept trading them back and forth. I think someone else mentioned it in a post about last night...it is such a delight to listen for them!
Hilary, or Buffy, as Robben calls her, is outstanding, and she plays like a house on fire. (People were yelling out, "Buffy" after her solos!...she does an outrageous job with those brush things....LOVE IT.)
The guys at the door know me now (You here again?) I told them I would be back tomorrow night...can't wait! One of the things I love about being a grown up (or pretending to be) is that I can go see him every night he plays, without someone's permission!
And so to bed...sweet dreams everyone...
Come on little guy...let's go now...Max?... _________________ www.elizabethgage.com
Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 7:08 am Post subject: talk with Robben ?
Hallo Lizzz,
Elisabeth, did you have the opportunity to talk with Robben after the show ? How was he ? Every day I see that nice review on this board I dream about the concerts I've seen in Europe.
So, Lizz, if you talk to Robben, give him our best regards and tell him that there are two fans (me and my wife) in Europe (Brussels-capitol) that support him for his American tour also !
Thanx Lizz...........Je pense que vous etes tres symphatique !
Fill from Brussels. _________________ Filmore
Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 886 Location: SF Bay Area
Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 10:54 am Post subject:
Elizabeth, it's too bad you didn't get to hear Pat play. On a strange kit (which I think is harder for drummers than guitarists) he sounded as great as I've ever heard him and looked like he was enjoying the hell out of himself. They played 'Prison of Love' and it was like the resurection of CFBB with Dewayne filling in for Stan. Since Dewayne had played with Pat for years, they locked together straight away. Mark also took this amazing solo on 'You Can't Make Peace'. He had some big rack full of stuff and a switchboard out front and was using a volume pedal like Robben with all this repeating delay, and just playing these atmospheric things with Robben like note selection. It's a pity he doesn't play more often, he plays much more than "blues" harp. Oh, and Dewayne used a volume pedal on the beginning of his "Help The Poor" solo. Ernie Ball should give these guys something.
The band just keeps getting better and better. We are so fortunate to have enough of a fan base and a venue that allows Robben and company to settle in and really play their hearts out. I remember some years ago Robben saying "Five nights in one place, this is unheard of". Sad but true. This is Robben at his best. Several nights in a row, in front of an enthusiastic crowd, with family in the audience, just letting it all hang out and playing to the fire in his heart. These are the same twelve notes we all have to play with, but there is something special in the way he connects with them and gives them back to us.
Ever the consumate professional and great guy, the little glitches didn't phase him at all. The sound man kept muting his mike and when he went to sing the first song, I think it was 'You're Gonna be Sorry', it was dead, some folks in the audience were singing along (yours truly included) and after a couple of lines they stopped. Then the mike went on, Robben smiled, Hil did a pick up que, and off they went as if nothing had ever happened. Later in the night I did hear Robben say "come on man" under his breath while glancing back at the booth. I didn't recognize the guy there but gee, if you're going to mute the lead singers mike, put a big bright sticker on that channel strip so you can find it in a hurry. Later in the night some yahoo yelled out "Hey Robben, hows the record business". Robben just glanced that way and said "what a question". A few chuckles from the cognizant crowd and it was history. I was chatting with Daved before the show (nice to meet you guy, thanks for taking the time) about how Robben's audience was mostly aware and respectful of the music. And the yahoos were few and far between. Too often you have to wonder what people are doing there. Why pay a cover or a $25 ticket if you're going to talk with your buddy about your new car. Robben's fans are there to listen to great music, they respect the effort and genius they are fortunate to have before them, and they show their appreciation in the right ways, clapping and cheering the great musical moments but not being obtrusive to the folks creating them. How lucky we are to still have live music, and great artists like Robben, Bob, Dwayne, Hillary, Mark, Pat, J.R. and the rest, to bring it to us. And all the folks on this board who get out there and keep it going in the trenches. _________________ There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com
Joined: 16 Jul 2003 Posts: 534 Location: SF Bay area
Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 1:18 pm Post subject: We are so lucky, but since YOU mentioned it...
Am I the only one who gets really annoyed at people who talk during Robben's (and everyone's) songs? And pray tell, it is a coincidence that they seem to be the very SAME people who think their cell phones are powered by shouting into them??? I apologize, but after three late nights (and having to work the following days...IMAGINE!) I get a little cranky. I slept until noon today, so I am ready for tonight. But come on people, didn't your mothers (or your teachers) ever teach you performance etiquette? I am offering a mini-course if anyone seeks edification of their comportment. (Vocabulary and grammar are free perks with the lesson!)
Aeolian, I am so sorry I did not get to hear Patrick with them. I don't mean to sound greedy (yes I do!) but when it comes to hearing my absolutely favorite musician, I want it all! I feel like those seagulls in "Finding Nemo" with their refrain of, "Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine!"(Oh MY, a hungry, greedy woman, who is quite accustomed to giving detention when students talk during a test...why not do that for talking during a Robben performance as well? Hey, let's make it a standard for sound people who are "out to lunch" instead of doing their jobs, too? Send them to me; I will give them a lecture they will NEVER forget!)
Speaking of Nemo, (I love that movie and I so relate to Dory when trying to find some of these venues!) my daughter was horrified when, on Thursday night, our sushi arrived and I proclaimed, "Oh LOOK, sweetie! They FOUND Nemo!" (Her reply: "MOTH-ER!!!") Yet another reason I chose NOT to become a stand up comedian! (I thought it was funny, but of course I crack myself up...you gotta let me tell you my Panda bear joke one of these days! I think it is my best!)
Oooooh 1 P.M. and I still haven't had coffee...whoa! I'm baaad. and my face hurts SO GOOD from smiling three nights in a row!
Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 886 Location: SF Bay Area
Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 4:41 pm Post subject: Re: Robben - Day 3
elizabeth wrote:
I don't know what they are really called, but I call them "Auditory puns," where a musician weaves the lead hook of a different song into a jam;
There are usually just called "quotes". Bob has been doing this all week. My brain is mush or I could remember what Dewayne was quoting at the start of his solo last night but it was really out there and had Robben and Bob grinning off to the side. As you said Robben digs doing this. Remember, Robben and Mark used to quote Coltrane heads together back in the CFBB days.
The trading fours (or dueling banjos if you will) can be a lot of fun. Robben and Bob were getting into it during the first set on a couple of songs. A common progression is to start out nice, leading each other into things and responding to the others ideas. After awhile it needs to take a new direction. Usually it escalates into either getting harmonically wilder, more chops, or trading obscure quotes. Sometimes it degenerates into sillyness and weird noises. Sometimes it goes through each of these phases. You never know. That's what I call real jamming. Playing off each other and you all have no idea where it's headed. To listen to folks of this calibre take off is such a thrill. Three more nights and the thrill is gone, see, you can do it even in posts _________________ There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com
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and my face hurts SO GOOD from smiling three nights in a row!
see, you can do it even in posts 