Blues Show at Imperial tonight...

[Malcolm Boyce]

I'm going.

Scott's doing monitors and should have some good stories with them doing a video shoot and all that jazz.

[Blake]

ya we had that show up hear last night. it was a great time

[Mathieu Benoit]

I can't wait to hear how it went! Like I said before, Wild-T blew my mind!

[Malcolm Boyce]

Classic awkward show that comes from artists that aren't best at playing a theatre type venue, with a crowd that was small, and obviously heavily comped. Unfortunate situation made worse by the 3 and 1/2 hour long marathon, permiated by several standing "O"s of the variety talked about in that other thread. That second set was some long...

Thom Swift of "Hot Toddy" fame was his usual awesome-ness, and perhaps the most suited to play the venue in question.

Keith Hallet was up next and showed wonderful sound and style for someone barely out of school, and unable to order a beer.

Carson Downey tore up the stage, with his usual powerhouse delivery. Unfortunately, this is more suited to an atmosphere of a party, than a "listening" crowd, which is what we had for an audience... There were several instances of awkward silence as his guitar seemed to fall out of tune with every turn, to which he even commented on it during one pause.

By the time Tony "Wild T" Springer took the stage, folks were too tired to take in the brilliance of his performance. There were some amazingly entertaining moments of his set, sharing the stage with Murray Downey, and John Collier, who provided the rhythm section for the entire night, and a long one that must have been for both of them spending 4/5ths of the entire show on stage playing.

The sound quality improved so much between Carson and the Wild T set, a product, I presume, of Carson being just too loud on stage for the venue to deal with. Interestingly enough, both acts featured the same rhythm section, but the sound change was drastic, and obviously caused by the change of frontman. Vocals became clear and intelligible, and the subtlety of the band was noticeable again.

Scott even got to make a cameo on stage by demand of "Wild T" himself...

[kevin shephard]

All in all a great show. It was cool to see Johnny up there tearing it up with Carson and Wild T.

I was very impressed with Thom Swift. What a great talent. I felt captivated by what he was doing. He proved to me that even if you aren't a huge fan of a certain genre of music, if it's played right you can be moved. He made a fan out of me.

Keith Hallet is an amazing player. He seemed so shy and humble up there, when he wasn't playing or singing. The minute it was his turn, it was as if he'd been doing it for years. Have to keep an eye out for this cat.

The Carson Downey set was interesting. Definitely entertaining, but it seemed a little discombobulated at times. As Malcolm mentioned, there were the long pauses in between songs. Carson's tone and vocals seemed like all the treble had been taken right out. It seemed very muffled. A lot of the songs seemed a little out of control, almost like he was trying too hard. He actually cut himself on the last song thrashing his guitar. Again, very entertaining...but a couple of tweaks could have made it flow better (like a spare TUNED Strat in the wings) and seem more in control (maybe not telling the performers that they are filming a DVD - I think it worked against them). Johnny and Murray were smokin, of course.....

Wild T - wow. This guy is a pro, for sure. Even when things seemed to flail a bit at times (some of the endings were a little, ummm, loose, would you say, Malcolm?), he did well at keeping it light-hearted. His sound was incredible. The sound of the entire band was incredible at that point. It sounded more like a show should sound in a venue like that. I'd definitely go to another Wild T show.

So, all in all, a good show. There was a strange vibe in the house. Almost like many of the people didn't know how to take this whole thing. I admit I actually didn't know how to take some of it. Things seemed confusing at times. But...they all kept my toe tapping throughout pretty much the entire show, and some things actually brought a smile to my face. It was an enjoyable evening. JC rules!

[Alain Benoit]

He proved to me that even if you aren't a huge fan of a certain genre of music, if it's played right you can be moved.

I learned that lesson a LONG time ago. Most people know me as a die hard metal fan but looking through my music collection it's pretty obvious that I am in no way genre limited. So I know exactly what you mean.

Thom is and has always been a class act all the way. Doing sound for him over the years has always been an absolute pleasure.

[kevin shephard]

I hear ya, there, Al....the type of music in my CD collection is ALL OVER the place too. Something to learn and enjoy from all of it....like I said, IF it's done right.