Classic Albums Live... "Thriller"

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Classic Albums Live... "Thriller"

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:16 am

So, I took the night off and actually went as a patron to catch this show. I know these things, and typically love most of them. This, however, I expected to be a huge challenge to live up to my expectations.

The 12 piece group not only handled the complex arrangements of the title album, but a diverse selection of Jackson favs for the second set. There was the matter of an obvious miscue at the top of "Billie Jean", but that is just one of those things that happens when you're "live".

I know some people don't "get" these tours, but I think the comparison between this kind of show, and seeing orchestras playing "classics" is pretty accurate. Similar yet different.

Rob Phillips doing McCartney as well as the Vincent Price rap were highlights for me. Always a huge talent to have on stage.

Shelley deftly handled FOH duties, but as much as I've also enjoyed mixing several of these tours, I still wish they would travel with an equally talented tech to tweak in the details that go missing, even with the best and most interested house techs.

Anyone else catch this show or other tours from this company?
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Postby Greg H. » Sat Oct 16, 2010 1:52 am

I really wanted to see the Thriller show, but tickets were a bit pricey for me right now. I was actually hoping someone would post on it!

The only other show I've seen from CAL was a Jimi Hendrix one about a year or so ago. It was well done, but I found the guitarist could have used more guitars and a guitar tech, considering he spent about five minutes tuning after every song.
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Postby macrae11 » Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:32 pm

I'm on my way out the door to catch the show tonight in Freddy. One of the perks of working for a company that's a Playhouse sponser.
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Postby Malcolm Boyce » Fri Oct 22, 2010 9:17 pm

I was hoping we'd hear back from Andrew about his experience on this one.
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Postby macrae11 » Mon Oct 25, 2010 11:49 am

Yeah I meant to chime in on this, but got busy and then totally forgot about it.

Overall the show was great. Was very impressed with "Michael" and the entire cast. Couple of highlights for me was Rob doing McCartney like Malcolm mentioned, and the other guitar player's(whose name I forget) version of Eddie's parts on Beat It. Really spectacular.

Only two major musical miscues that I noticed. Going into Billie Jean I think, the drummer counted in for the wrong song, but laughed it off and moved forward. The other was a near trainwreck during Wanna Be Starting Something, where everything fell apart for some reason I didn't catch, but they pulled themselves together, broke the groove down, solidified it, and then carried on. I'm sure many in the audience didn't even realize it wasn't supposed to happen that way. Very professional.

I wasn't super impressed with the sound that night, which is rare for me at the Playhouse. I don't know who was doing FOH, but there were some issues. I do realize how tough of a mix this is, because I've done them before, but it just wasn't up to their usual standards. Cues missed, vocals not clear, guitars to loud. One small mark on an otherwise great night.
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Postby Malcolm Boyce » Mon Oct 25, 2010 1:16 pm

Yeah... Not only are those tough songs to play, but those are tough shows to mix. If you don't have some gigs under your belt, it could be a real mess.
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