When the Angels Make Contact With Chester
Saturday night was the final dress rehearsal for the When the Angels Make Contact tour (the first one having been Friday.) The show was held in Chester at the Playhouse, a really cool little theatre with a capacity of something like 170 people. I'd had my tickets for a while and had planned to go with my health professions sidekick, but at the very last second someone from the forum came up with a free ticket that nobody could use and my brother came, too.
I was off sick on Friday and so didn't have the directions I'd printed off to get to the Playhouse, but my brother knew the way to Chester, and when we got there we spotted signs. And then big Angels posters in the front window of the Playhouse. And then the Night Owl parked up a street and around a corner. So we found a spot for my brother's car and in we went.
We got there about quarter after seven, found our tickets, said thank you to the nice person who found us the spare, and went upstairs to the bar. The band was sound checking at the time and as we walked in one of the Playhouse crew went into the auditorium proper and there was a great blast of sound and flashing lights. Anyone prone to seizures might be advised to skip this tour. Or at least bring someone along you can trust to tell you when it's safe to open your eyes.
The other fun thing about listening to sound check was hearing "Rough and Tumble Comedown" turn into a song about ordering a pizza, which was pretty hilarious. (It might not be quite so funny if some of those lyrics slip out in the middle of a performance, but I'm willing to risk it if Matt is.)
Since my tickets to the finale at the Cohn are right down in front (yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a little scared of me too) I actually thought about sitting in the balcony, but docilely followed my partner in crime (no, really!) and somehow ended up in the front row. My brother actually decided to move a little further back because he was getting vertigo (um, sorry about the February seats... I really didn't have any control over those...) Actually, the strobe light I mentioned earlier might have been harder to handle in the balcony, come to think of it.
Anyway, the Museum Pieces, who I have heard of but not heard, came on first. There are two of them, a guitarist and a really amazing drummer. The guitar player promptly busted a string on his Telecaster and finished the set playing Matt's big Gibson, which naturally changed the tone of the performance somewhat. It was a very short set--the drummer was fabulous, did I mention that?--and then there was an intermission before the main event.
I should note that the stage at the Playhouse is small and there was a lot of gear onstage: two drum kits, keyboards, God knows how many guitars, a gong, some kitchen chairs... the net effect was that the stage looked like it was crammed with whatever the band could salvage from the fall of civilization.
And then they came out onstage, something like nine or ten people, including Matt, both Museum Pieces, Tim, Serge from the Guthries on bass, Dale Murray from the Guthries among others on various instruments, the drummer from Wintersleep (so my partner in crime tells me) on drums and percussion, and a female vocalist I believe to be Alanna Stuart. Matt was wearing this corduroy blazer with black leather lapels, a red-striped tie, dark grey pin-striped trousers, an untucked white shirt, and sunglasses. Tim Jim had on the same white suit he wore in the Angels video (although the jacket and tie eventually came off.) The rest of the group was similarly attired. El Torpedo's signature look could best be described as "dishevelled." This particular band seemed to be aiming for "dissolute," and hitting the mark nicely. They looked like a post-apocalyptic lounge act.
They looked like the sort of band it might be a very bad idea to heckle.
Special mention must be made of Matt's sunglasses, which when lit from below by the footlights threw a shadow up the sides of his face that looked a little like horns. Who knew Satan had so many freckles?
In other words, there was a persona happening onstage, and they almost never broke it, which was weird and cool and a little bit unnerving if you're used to El Torpedo and their friendly onstage interactions. Nobody talked. Not to the audience, not (if they could help it) to each other. I was a little sorry they didn't have a minion to hand up the correct guitar at the right moment because there was something entirely too human about seeing the band members hastily swap out instruments. I mean, I'm not complaining: I could see what the point was and I thought it was really interesting.
Sounded great, too. Given the number of songs and the time frame they had to get it together and everything, plus the visual images, I was impressed as all hell with everybody. The set consisted of the entire album in order, from the taped radio-interview introduction to the end. Therefore, the set list was:
1. Intro
2. Past
3. When the Angels Make Contact
4. 1 for the Motor
5. Spoonful of Sugar
6. Never Saw It Comin'
7. Officer Downe
8. Heroine
9. 850 Commando
10. Dartmouth Soundsystem
11. Midnight Is the Time
12. You'll Never Come Back
13. The Highway Is a Scary Place
14. Under My Senses
15. When the Angels Make Contact (Reprise)
16. Rough N' Tumble Come Down
17. J.J.'s Theme
18. Mornin' Sun
Buck 65 was not present so his part was presented as the portion of the video he appeared in. The rest of the record was pretty much performed live, accompanied by some taped background noises and chaotic images from the unreleased movie (including a skateboarding scene that gave me vertigo) and at one point, my brother assures me, a few scenes from Vanishing Point (I thought that car looked familiar.) Matt backed off the final scream in the title track (it would be silly to blow out your voice in the dress rehearsal) and "Officer Downe" developed a guitar outro that worked extremely well. Some of the other songs have already developed slightly different instrumentation that sounds more like a live band than the "we can't reproduce what we did in the studio" thing you hear sometimes--these tracks have actually gotten a little more complicated live. I think "Officer Downe" was the track that had the strobe light, with the strobe hitting what sounded like every beat from the bass drum. Even sitting more or less under the strobe I had to look away--again, if you're prone to seizures, get someone to tell you when it's safe to look.
Matt's shades finally came off during "Heroine," I think it was, but went back on for "Midnight Is the Time," which provided the only glitch of the night when the vocoder refused to work for the first couple of verses. Instead of a Cylon, the vocals were provided by a human. And okay, I personally thought the vocal effect was pretty cool on the record, but in my mind the vocalist was a little chrome android so I was perfectly fine with having Matt's voice if Matt was actually singing the part in front of me. Alanna was great on the second half of the song and then the vocoder kicked back in (I couldn't see anyone working on it but I presume someone did) for the last verse or so which had to have been a relief for everyone onstage.
Alanna was also really great on "Under My Senses," cool and impersonal as well as drop-dead sexy. She wasn't the vocalist on the record but she was perfect for the part in the show. Very impressive.
Aside from the vocoder, most of the show went unnervingly well if you're into the whole thing about a good dress rehearsal leading to a poor opening night. I'm not so I was relieved and impressed and very taken up with the whole thing. "Mornin' Sun" ended things as a duet between Matt and Alanna--the song is a rare warm note in the second half of the record which makes you think that things are maybe going to work out all right after all for the characters in the story (and please don't tell me if I'm wrong, okay?)--and the performance of the song seems to confirm that.
When the show ended the band broke character slightly to acknowledge the audience (I think there should have been a big Broadway group bow, myself, as well as a program to orient us to all the players in the first place--I'll just throw that one out to the universe) and after a minute of yelling Matt came back out by himself, said thank you to us, and then drew our attention to the fact that the band apparently only had about two days of practice together before playing these shows.
To which the only response I can think of is, "Jesus."
After which Matt played a solo acoustic version of "On the Hood," said thank you again, and ambled offstage. And, feeling slightly post-apocalyptic ourselves, my sidekicks and I headed home. Wow.
Can't wait to see what the show is like by February.
I was off sick on Friday and so didn't have the directions I'd printed off to get to the Playhouse, but my brother knew the way to Chester, and when we got there we spotted signs. And then big Angels posters in the front window of the Playhouse. And then the Night Owl parked up a street and around a corner. So we found a spot for my brother's car and in we went.
We got there about quarter after seven, found our tickets, said thank you to the nice person who found us the spare, and went upstairs to the bar. The band was sound checking at the time and as we walked in one of the Playhouse crew went into the auditorium proper and there was a great blast of sound and flashing lights. Anyone prone to seizures might be advised to skip this tour. Or at least bring someone along you can trust to tell you when it's safe to open your eyes.
The other fun thing about listening to sound check was hearing "Rough and Tumble Comedown" turn into a song about ordering a pizza, which was pretty hilarious. (It might not be quite so funny if some of those lyrics slip out in the middle of a performance, but I'm willing to risk it if Matt is.)
Since my tickets to the finale at the Cohn are right down in front (yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a little scared of me too) I actually thought about sitting in the balcony, but docilely followed my partner in crime (no, really!) and somehow ended up in the front row. My brother actually decided to move a little further back because he was getting vertigo (um, sorry about the February seats... I really didn't have any control over those...) Actually, the strobe light I mentioned earlier might have been harder to handle in the balcony, come to think of it.
Anyway, the Museum Pieces, who I have heard of but not heard, came on first. There are two of them, a guitarist and a really amazing drummer. The guitar player promptly busted a string on his Telecaster and finished the set playing Matt's big Gibson, which naturally changed the tone of the performance somewhat. It was a very short set--the drummer was fabulous, did I mention that?--and then there was an intermission before the main event.
I should note that the stage at the Playhouse is small and there was a lot of gear onstage: two drum kits, keyboards, God knows how many guitars, a gong, some kitchen chairs... the net effect was that the stage looked like it was crammed with whatever the band could salvage from the fall of civilization.
And then they came out onstage, something like nine or ten people, including Matt, both Museum Pieces, Tim, Serge from the Guthries on bass, Dale Murray from the Guthries among others on various instruments, the drummer from Wintersleep (so my partner in crime tells me) on drums and percussion, and a female vocalist I believe to be Alanna Stuart. Matt was wearing this corduroy blazer with black leather lapels, a red-striped tie, dark grey pin-striped trousers, an untucked white shirt, and sunglasses. Tim Jim had on the same white suit he wore in the Angels video (although the jacket and tie eventually came off.) The rest of the group was similarly attired. El Torpedo's signature look could best be described as "dishevelled." This particular band seemed to be aiming for "dissolute," and hitting the mark nicely. They looked like a post-apocalyptic lounge act.
They looked like the sort of band it might be a very bad idea to heckle.
Special mention must be made of Matt's sunglasses, which when lit from below by the footlights threw a shadow up the sides of his face that looked a little like horns. Who knew Satan had so many freckles?
In other words, there was a persona happening onstage, and they almost never broke it, which was weird and cool and a little bit unnerving if you're used to El Torpedo and their friendly onstage interactions. Nobody talked. Not to the audience, not (if they could help it) to each other. I was a little sorry they didn't have a minion to hand up the correct guitar at the right moment because there was something entirely too human about seeing the band members hastily swap out instruments. I mean, I'm not complaining: I could see what the point was and I thought it was really interesting.
Sounded great, too. Given the number of songs and the time frame they had to get it together and everything, plus the visual images, I was impressed as all hell with everybody. The set consisted of the entire album in order, from the taped radio-interview introduction to the end. Therefore, the set list was:
1. Intro
2. Past
3. When the Angels Make Contact
4. 1 for the Motor
5. Spoonful of Sugar
6. Never Saw It Comin'
7. Officer Downe
8. Heroine
9. 850 Commando
10. Dartmouth Soundsystem
11. Midnight Is the Time
12. You'll Never Come Back
13. The Highway Is a Scary Place
14. Under My Senses
15. When the Angels Make Contact (Reprise)
16. Rough N' Tumble Come Down
17. J.J.'s Theme
18. Mornin' Sun
Buck 65 was not present so his part was presented as the portion of the video he appeared in. The rest of the record was pretty much performed live, accompanied by some taped background noises and chaotic images from the unreleased movie (including a skateboarding scene that gave me vertigo) and at one point, my brother assures me, a few scenes from Vanishing Point (I thought that car looked familiar.) Matt backed off the final scream in the title track (it would be silly to blow out your voice in the dress rehearsal) and "Officer Downe" developed a guitar outro that worked extremely well. Some of the other songs have already developed slightly different instrumentation that sounds more like a live band than the "we can't reproduce what we did in the studio" thing you hear sometimes--these tracks have actually gotten a little more complicated live. I think "Officer Downe" was the track that had the strobe light, with the strobe hitting what sounded like every beat from the bass drum. Even sitting more or less under the strobe I had to look away--again, if you're prone to seizures, get someone to tell you when it's safe to look.
Matt's shades finally came off during "Heroine," I think it was, but went back on for "Midnight Is the Time," which provided the only glitch of the night when the vocoder refused to work for the first couple of verses. Instead of a Cylon, the vocals were provided by a human. And okay, I personally thought the vocal effect was pretty cool on the record, but in my mind the vocalist was a little chrome android so I was perfectly fine with having Matt's voice if Matt was actually singing the part in front of me. Alanna was great on the second half of the song and then the vocoder kicked back in (I couldn't see anyone working on it but I presume someone did) for the last verse or so which had to have been a relief for everyone onstage.
Alanna was also really great on "Under My Senses," cool and impersonal as well as drop-dead sexy. She wasn't the vocalist on the record but she was perfect for the part in the show. Very impressive.
Aside from the vocoder, most of the show went unnervingly well if you're into the whole thing about a good dress rehearsal leading to a poor opening night. I'm not so I was relieved and impressed and very taken up with the whole thing. "Mornin' Sun" ended things as a duet between Matt and Alanna--the song is a rare warm note in the second half of the record which makes you think that things are maybe going to work out all right after all for the characters in the story (and please don't tell me if I'm wrong, okay?)--and the performance of the song seems to confirm that.
When the show ended the band broke character slightly to acknowledge the audience (I think there should have been a big Broadway group bow, myself, as well as a program to orient us to all the players in the first place--I'll just throw that one out to the universe) and after a minute of yelling Matt came back out by himself, said thank you to us, and then drew our attention to the fact that the band apparently only had about two days of practice together before playing these shows.
To which the only response I can think of is, "Jesus."
After which Matt played a solo acoustic version of "On the Hood," said thank you again, and ambled offstage. And, feeling slightly post-apocalyptic ourselves, my sidekicks and I headed home. Wow.
Can't wait to see what the show is like by February.