My Year In Live Music 2018, Act IV: Thomas Bailey

When I buy a concert ticket, it is usually because I'm a fan of the headliner.  The investment in a ticket something that requires a bit of consideration, given the price of current concert tickets, it can be a significant investment. Recently, I bought tickets to a show because the three acts performed 80s era music. Each of the three had songs that I really enjoyed and that I looked forward to hearing performed live.

Due to various issues, I have not attended as many shows this summer as I did last year. So, when I bought tickets for the show, I splurged and bought good seats – – even though I was stuck playing the seat roulette game of the Ticketmaster monopoly process. With tickets in hand, I set off hopeful for a show that would be both memorable and full of memories.  

The first act of the evening, was Tom Bailey, formerly of the Thompson Twins. Of the many bands that I listen to in the 80s, the Thompson Twins seemed to be omnipresent. When I was researching songs to use for my concert prep playlist, I discovered they performed a lot of songs that I loved. That made Tom’s appearance more anticipated.

Tom’s current band lineup features a trio of dynamite backing musicians. I was surprised when they walked on stage, and I saw an all-female band was backing him.  Being a big fan of Joan Jett, Nina Strauss, and Ann Wilson, I can appreciate talent regardless of gender. But this was the first band I had seen where the male was the solitary minority as opposed to the other way around. Another surprise was that they were all wearing white outfits which gave them a more formal and cohesive look.  Aside from the Temptations, it has been a while since I saw a band have that level of disciplined professionalism.

But I was there for the music, and the performers did not disappoint. Tom deftly moved from one instrument to another back and forth across the stage as the band treated us to a blend of both old songs and new songs from his recently released album. 

Vicky Warkwick provided solid basslines for each song, and if you're familiar with Thompson Twins music that bass is essential to drive the music forward. She also played keyboards from time to time which added to the fullness of the music when one keyboard simply wasn't enough.   

In almost every concert I find myself concentrating on the motions, or antics of one musician in the band. For this act, it was Amanda Kramer who provided background vocals and keyboards. She was fully engaged and having a great time. She had a wonderful smile and invited the audience to join her in clapping along or raising their arms in the air. I always love it when I find that one musician who seems like they are having the best night of their life.  It looked to me like she was. Aside from the spirit she brought to the music, her playing and singing were on point. 

Paulina Szczepaniak kept the rhythm flowing with her work on the drums. I hated the way the stage layout hid her behind other equipment and prevented me from seeing her perform, but the sound of her expert drumming drove the entire performance forward.

As I mentioned, the performance was a blend of both old and new songs. The newer songs came from the album Science Fiction which Tom had recently released. When I go to concerts to hear the older music, I dread it when an artist tries to re-imagine their hits or tries to introduce a new album that lacks the power and vitality of their original music. Tom Bailey broke that paradigm.

While his Science Fiction album has a similar style and feel as his earlier music, it is not a copy or an attempt to recapture the older style. Instead, he somehow manages to allow the original spirit to flow through the new work without it being a copy or cheap duplication.  Yes, it is the first time that I have ever picked up a freshly released album on my way out of the concert venue.

There were two other acts that night, but in my mind, both of them failed to capture the way they were then or the way they should be now. I have been disappointed by concerts in the past, and I've reviewed them here. I'm not doing it this time, because the entire night was not a loss and I would rather concentrate on the good time and enjoyment of Tom Bailey's music over those who failed.  

If the Thompson Twin's Tom Bailey is coming to a venue near you, buy tickets, and go --  Enjoy it for all it is worth. Likewise, any band that includes Vicky Warkwick, Amanda Kramer or Paulina Szczepaniak  Is likely worth seeing – – (Amanda also plays with the Psychedelic Furs).

Long live 80s Rock!

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My Year In Live Music 2018, Act III: The Steve Miller Band with Peter Frampton – Rockin’ Me with a Little Blues Too

Whenever I provide a review or write up, it means that I have bought and paid for the item or admission costs myself.  In the rare instance when items or admission are being provided free of charge or at a discount, I say so.  This site is non-monetized therefore the opinions presented are truly free of influence.

This concert was very different, in that the tickets were provided to me as a result of my being a veteran and by someone other than the act being reviewed.  Therefore, I will explain a little bit about Vet Tix before I talk about the concert itself.

Vet Tix

Vet Tix provides tickets to events which reduce stress, strengthen family bonds, build life-long memories and encourage service members and veterans to stay engaged with local communities and American life. We support our troops by honoring their service and providing positive family and life experiences, during and after their years of service to our country.

There are too many details as to how all this works to get into here, but if you are a veteran, I would recommend you check it out and sign up.    Short version:  They go out and seek donations (and ask that you help), they have a fair way to make sure every Veteran gets a chance at what tickets are available and the manage the administration of the distribution of the tickets very well.

As a Cold War Veteran, it is nice to be included in this recognition, especially since (even though we won) we got no parades, medals, or veteran’s hiring preference.

Peter Frampton

I'm not entirely sure if you would if the performer listed as "with" on a concert poster is considered an opening act or not. But in my mind, if they are the first ones to appear on stage, they are indeed the opening act. I almost saw Peter Frampton two years ago when he was touring with Lynyrd Skynyrd. However, it was the year Skynyrd canceled and rather than attending a concert with just Peter Frampton, I opted to return my tickets. Frampton did the show anyway and I heard he put on an excellent performance and even did covers of several Skynyrd tunes.

Having seen a lot of groups from the 70s and 80s, I've come to except some slight degradations of talents and skills, but I have a feeling the show Frampton put on at this concert was very close to what I would've seen from him in the 70s.

He opened the show with Something's Happening and then immediately moved on to Lying.  It was evident he was having a good time; his face was an expression of pure joy as he performed. His voice was excellent and is playing matched it as well. The temperature in the pavilion was over 90°, and it played against him getting the crowd fired up – – but he wiped the sweat off his face and kept playing to an appreciative audience and brought us all to point when we were ready to rock.

Of course, he played all my favorites:  Lines on My Face, Show Me the Way, Baby, I Love Your Way,  and Do You Feel Like We Do. The tunes brought back great memories and took me back to when I first heard the Frampton Comes Alive album. Frampton indeed came alive and gave one of the best live performances I've ever seen. He is indeed a master, and he enjoys giving the crowd exactly what they want.

Steve Miller Band

Seeing a band perform or than once live, can sometimes be disappointing because you tend to compare one performance to the other. Also, having heard a set list once you really want to listen to it again? If the act is the Steve Miller Band, the answer is Yes you want to hear the setlist again – – every song is a winner. But even with the setlist being the same, they are not identical and Steve the band makes every performance unique, so it is impossible to simply compare two different concerts.

I won't bore you with a list of the tunes he played which I liked, take a look at the song list on their greatest hits album and you know what I heard.

One part of the concert I considered unique, in addition to at least three dynamite solo performances

by Joseph Wooten on keyboards, was a brief lesson Steve Miller gave about the triangle evolution of the blues. His theory was as the performers moved, the blues evolved-- forming a triangle from Mississippi Delta to Chicago (along with Detroit) and finally Texas. Having heard great blues from all those places and following his logic of the way employment drew the performers – – I agree with him. 

After the lesson, Peter Frampton came out, and the two of them performed a Freddie King cover of Same Old Blues which was awesome and only outdone by their duet on an Elmore James tune, Stranger Blues.  I like Steve Miller for the SMB music I have come to love, and I like Peter Frampton for his mouth guitar music and dynamite guitar solos. But now having heard the two of them play the blues together, I want to know when they're going to release a blues album together.

My favorite two songs tonight were The Joker and Fly Like an Eagle. Both songs allowed for featured solos from various members of the band but also took me on a mental journey back to the first time I heard each. The magic of music is when it is at its best when it can take you on an emotional and spiritual journey every single time you listen to it.

The night ended with a two-song encore: Jungle Love and Jet Airliner, which both featured great solos and were a great way to end the night.

The Steve Miller Band will always be one of my favorites, and I will try to see them every time they come to town, but now I have to add Peter Frampton to the list of bands I'm willing to see more than once because once is just not enough. 

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My Year In Live Music 2018, Act II: Paul Simon -- Tell Me That Crazy Story One Last Time

Preface:

In the late 70s, Ann Waggoner, my high school the guitar teacher, selected a grouping of Paul Simon composed music to be presented at the annual spring concert.  That bit of chance caused me to learn how to play half a dozen or so songs made famous by Simon & Garfunkel. These were older songs, but Paul Simon had recently started his second career as a solo act, releasing his Still Crazy After All These Years album (and making a lot of appearances on Saturday Night Live).  Songs from that period served to provide the soundtrack for the last of my high school years as well as my time in college and a few years beyond. 

As time went by, Simon's music changed as he welcomed other musical influences into what he was composing affecting the types of songs and rhythms he produced. It was somewhere between the albums Graceland and The Rhythm of The Saints that Paul and I parted ways. My admiration for him was more as a songwriter than a performer, and I didn't relate to the newer music the same way. It was an amicable breakup because his songs remain a significant part of the soundtrack of my life.  He was and is a great storyteller.

Recently, when he announced his farewell tour, Homeward Bound, my attendance became a must. However, three minutes after tickets went on sale I was utterly heartbroken when I went online to find the better tickets were entirely gone. What upset me wasn’t their prior sale but those choice tickets were already back online for sale at three times the face value. So much for Ticketmaster's goal of making sure fans and not scalpers got a fair shot at tickets. Pissed off, I gave up and closed my laptop after typing up a blistering review of the ticket selling process. A few days later I was contacted by someone who had read what I wrote offering to sell me her tickets for the now all but sold out show.  She wasn’t going to be able to attend and offered me her tickets at the face price – fan to fan. I quickly obliged with much gratitude.

Homeward Bound, The Farewell Tour

This was my first concert of the 2018 season at DTE Energy Music Theatre.  I didn’t notice any massive changes to any of the facilities inside the venue, but this is also the largest crowd I’ve ever been part of at the facility. 15,000 seats is a lot of people.  I didn’t have the best seats, or actually any seat, as the tickets were for the hilltop and not under the pavilion. The hill is not a bad place to see a concert there is generally more room than in the pavilion seats, on the hotter evening’s there’s a cool breeze, and once you get beyond the first 50 or 60 rows, you are watching the big screens and not the stage anyway. I placed my chairs on the last strip of grass the concrete walkway, but before the concert, there were three more rows of folks behind me.  It was a full house.

There was no opening act, but there was no need for one. The crowd was ready to listen, Paul was prepared to play, and the band was tight and ready to be heard. He started with America putting the audience on notice that his voice was better than ever and he was there to give a memorable show. He moved on to 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.  Realistically, both songs could be seen as a low-key way to open a show, but then this was a Paul Simon show, so they were perfect choices.

Paul shifted gears and decades performing The Boy in the Bubble, Dazzling Blue, and That Was Your Mother.  I admit I was unfamiliar with all three songs but found them enjoyable. He played Rewrite next, and in it, as an author, I found some new music and a story I could easily love.

The rhythms picked up as he gave great performances of both Mother and Child Reunion and Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard.  I said before that I thought his voice sounded as strong as ever, and indeed it did throughout the show. He, like many other performers who are getting up in years, has started to morph some of the ways he sings to ensure he does not come off sounding bad.

His song Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War has to have the most unusual title of any, having stolen it from a photograph.  While still in the smaller tableau of musicians, he sang a semi-reggae version of Bridge Over Troubled Water which he said was the first time he had performed the song during the tour.  

I’d heard the story behind Wristband before hearing him perform it live.  Love the story behind the song, I can only imagine what the bouncer feels like being immortalized for having locked the star out of his own concert for lack of a wristband (my man). 

The next four songs were more titles I was not familiar with, having been featured on albums I’d never heard. I really don’t think it’s a bad thing to walk into a concert and not know all the music, it gave me a chance to discover something new some of which I liked some of which I didn’t.  

It was somewhere in here Paul took a moment to talk about Dr. E.O. Wilson, his foundation, and book Half Earth.   He spent all of 30 seconds and suggested people check out the book and its author. As activist statements during the middle of performances become more the norm, I am glad Paul was classy, civilized, and professional enough to keep it minimal and nonconfrontational.  

Paul moved back into more familiar music with the performance of You Can Call Me Al and Graceland.  Many of his songs are favorites but the next two he performed, Still Crazy After All These Years and Late in the Evening, are both part of my life’s soundtrack that accent treasured memories. There can be nothing more satisfying than hearing music like that live for the first time.

The first song of the encore was Homeward Bound, one that any former military member who has deployed can appreciate.  From there he moved on to the only song I’m aware of which is also a trademark for a consumer product: Kodachrome.  The Boxer, American Tune and The Sound of Silence rounded out the rest of the encore for what was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to.

Paul had stated publicly he had mixed emotions about doing his final tour when he was still giving great performances. Having recently retired myself, I understand the feeling. Even though this may be the last live performance we see from the man, I think we will continue to hear new music from him for years to come. I hope so. If this tour comes to your city. GO!

PostScript

In the mid-80s, I was deployed to Egypt working in cargo and passenger operations for the Air Force. Late one night I was sitting out on the flightline with a friend of mine waiting for cargo to be brought out so we could load a plane. I’m still unsure of why, but both of us had our guitars in the government vehicle, and when the loading operation was delayed, rather than going back into the ready area we remained at the darkened aircraft and took advantage of the time.

Taking out our guitars, we sat on the end of the cargo deck of a C141 and started playing songs we usually performed when together. The overall feeling eerie, because most of the lights on the flightline were off for security reasons and with nothing going on, it was very still and quiet. After playing a bit, I asked my friend to teach me to play the instrumental opening to the song Homeward Bound, which I had heard him play before. After we practiced it several times together, he let me take the lead, and after I played those opening notes, we continued to play the rest, singing it in two-part harmony. It was a total blues moment feeling the pain of being away and wishing you were headed home.

When we finished the song and the last note was still ringing -- the silence was broken by the sound of one-person clapping from down the flightline. It was quickly joined by several others and then a few cheers. Even though the flightline was empty of activity, there were still many Security Forces troops out there with us – sitting in the dark and feeling the melancholy of the song. It’s a memory I will always carry with me – – one which was possible only because of the master storyteller and songwriter Paul Simon.

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