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A short review of last night's adrian belew show in Phila:
The venue was a small nightclub. Tables everywhere with a buffet and
bar. I only mention this because some people sought to keep getting up
to grab more food or beer as though they were at a ball game. *Very*
annoying. Nevertheless the stage was great for seeing all that was going
on and the sound was great IMO.
The irresponsibles opejned the show promptly at 8PM (A word of warning -
if you're going to see this show be there early it really does start on
time!). They played an acoustic set (guitar/bass/minimal drum kit) of
entertaining pop songs with plenty of Girl/boy issues and catchy hooks.
Not really my thing but they were entertaining and the playing was
pretty good so this was a nice warmup for the man.
Adrian belew came out onstage at 9PM sharp. At first I didn't even
recognize him as he just strolled on out with no fanfare and I though he
was a stagehand! he then went into a couple minutes of what i can only
describe as wildass noise playing on the electric. After a few minutes
he stopped and looked out in the audience and said something like "Oh
sorry, I forgot you guys were out there." This pretty much set the
comical/freindly tone for the evening.
As stated before he had three guitars onstage. He wore the electric and
woudl occasionally swing it behind him to play the taylor acoustic or
what appeared to be a national steel, both of which were on stands and
he stood behind them to play.
He went thorough a little of everything talking to the audience between
almost every song. He started with some Belewups which to my mind were
simple EDP type tricks with some twists. Some of these were actual
'songs' according to him that would soon have lyrics and appear on an
upcomming solo album. He then played a few songs on the acoustic ("Men
in Helicopters" and "Young Lions" started it out) and then would do some
more instrumentals and guitar pyrotechnics. He even played a new Bears
song. He also did a couple tunes with bass and drum backing tapes doing
what he called a "One man trio". While I'm not a fan of backing tapes,
this went over very well given the atmosphere of the show.
If you've ever seen his instructional video "How to play Electronic
Guitar" then you pretty much know how he explains things. This was more
a showcase for Adrian to explain his new projects than a full fledged
concert and as such it was not only entertaining (the guy's got a lot of
energy and a great sense of humilty) but also interesting. At one point
he smiled and said "The women are probably wondering 'Why is he doing
that?' while the men are wondering, 'How did he say he did that?'".
This was probably true.
Other highlights included a noisefest of loops he called "Madness" which
he ended when the phone that was placed on stage rang and he went over
to pick it up. "That was Governor Tom Ridge, " he said, "he asked me to
stop doing that." A little entertainment never hurt anyone. :) He also
had some heartwarming things to say about Frank Zappa which came up
durring the little Q&A session he did between songs.
He ended the show with a great showcase of what he's all about by
playing the same song (A new tune called "My Inner Man") two times. Once
on acoustic and then once fully bombastic with backing tapes and live
freak guitar. You couldn't even recognize it was the same song except
for the chorus and just goes to show the man can sing and write a damn
fine melody as well as go over the top in playing. All in all a
wonderful evening.
He came out after a few minutes and signed autographs and spoke to the
crowd a bit. Again, he was *very* down to earth and humble (I think he
actually blushed when people complimented him). One geek piece I picked
up was that Adrian still plays a roland GK2 pickup in his guitar but
when you look at it it looks more like a GK1 cable (Flat computer
multipin thing). I asked his engineer about this and he told me they had
the GK2 cable modifed on one side to a 9 Pin computer interface beecause
it kept falling out in performance. Last night he was playing what
appeared to be a standard issue fender start with additional electronics
and the GK2 connection built into the back of it.
If you've ever listened to Belew's solo albums or even been curious of
his playing you owe it to yourself to check out this tour. It's like
getting a personal guide through his history in recording and he even
shows you a few of his tricks.
Concert info can be found at:
http://www.murple.com/adrianbelew/tour.htm
There is also a link here for a petition to rerelease his first two solo
albums. Last night he was asked about this and he jokingly said he's
getting so frustrated that these aren't out he might bootleg his own
records just to make them available.
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