What? I saw another Hall & Oates show again!

Okay, forget what I said about only doing one show on the current leg of Hall & Oates' tour. A very good friend of mine sold me her ticket and I'm extremely grateful for it. So another opportunity presents itself for me to hit the road again this past Sunday, this time to The Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford, CT.

Coming off of 2 nights in New York seeing all 4 original members of ASIA perform brilliantly, normally, I'd be dead tired and would have soon crashed out at home, trying to recover. No way, Jose..while I enjoy rocking to the classic progressive rock of ASIA, I also want to soak in some great Philly soul from Daryl Hall & John Oates. The only catch was to make a 2+ hour drive from NJ all the way to Connecticut. So off I went on through the highways and interstates to my ultimate destination...

First thing I did when I got there was to pre-order my "Shows To Go" CD...heck, who knows what kind of show Hall & Oates will play this time around. Always great to see old friends, especially from the northeast...Michelle, Ed & Karen, Jim, Heather, Doris, Josie, etc. Some conversation between them and me and I head to my Row B seat, which was very close to the stage. The Chevrolet Theatre is a very nice place, with a sleek modern feel to it. Obviously, outside the theatre were different models of Chevrolet vehicles on display.

A local musician with just his guitar took the stage at around 7:30 p.m. and played a 5 song set. Didn't catch his name, but he sounded like Dave Matthews or one of those other artists in the mainstream today. Not bad at all.

A short intermission followed, then the lights go down for MFSB's "The Sound Of Philadelphia" to play over the speakers. The band appears and plays along to the song. Daryl Hall & John Oates are introduced, appear on stage to the excited audience in Wallingford, CT. They continue to play along to the song before we got the following set list:

Maneater
Say It Isn't So
Family Man
Someone Like You
It's A Laugh
I'll Be Around
She's Gone
One On One
Wait For Me
Sara Smile
I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)
What's Going On

1st Encore

Out Of Touch
You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

2nd Encore

You Make My Dreams
Kiss On My List
Private Eyes

3rd Encore

So Close


Terrific performance! The Chevrolet Theatre has a great sound and acoustics which made for a truly excellent show by Daryl & John. They and the band were extremely pleased with the way the show went and a rarity...3 encores! Of course, Hall & Oates took requests from the audience, with songs like "Family Man", "Someone Like You", "It's A Laugh", etc. This show seemed to focus more on the classic blue eyed soul that Daryl & John are so good at and just being there, you can feel how good their brand of soul felt.

Right after the show, I headed up the lobby to pick up my "Shows To Go" double CD for this performance and you can get this CD up at www.hallandoates.com (of course, a free plug for H&O). Left the venue after getting my CD and couldn't wait to pop it into my player for the ride home. Most definitely a wonderful evening for all the Hall & Oates fans that attended this show in Wallingford, CT.

Load of pictures from this show can be found at http://maniacmel.smugmug.com.

Two shows from this leg of the tour for me, making it 3 straight nights of concerts that I've been to. Obviously, when I got home, I was pooped and just wanted to sleep. No more shows for me until around Christmas time in support of Hall & Oates' upcoming album, Home For Christmas, due in stores October 3rd in the U.S.A. Thankfully, I've scheduled some strategic vacation time around the holiday season in anticipation of this eventual tour, especially around the northeast!

ASIA - The band is back together!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing all 4 original members of ASIA. Together on the same stage, the members included keyboardist Geoff Downes, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Carl Palmer and bassist/vocalist John Wetton performing at New York City's Nokia Theatre, both Friday and Saturday night. It's been a long time coming for me personally, as I never got the opportunity to see them perform live back in their heyday of 1982/1983 when I grew up in Cherry Hill, NJ and they were at the Tower Theater and The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Watching these guys perform together for the first time in nearly 23 years before my eyes makes up for it all as back in the early 1980s, I was too young to drive, thus, I was limited as to where I could go...probably a foreshadowing of my many future travels in the coming years. By the time I was able to drive, the members of ASIA had gone through some personnel changes, due to personality conflicts and the dreaded "philisophical differences" in the band's musical direction, most notably between guitarist Steve Howe and bassist/vocalist John Wetton. But things change, people get older and time certainly heals all wounds. It's good to know that these gentlemen were able to work out their differences and not only become friendly to each other again, but play in the same band that many had said would never happen again. Personally, I'm elated about this as it certainly hits close to home and definitely a lesson to be learned here...I, myself went through a similar situation with a friend of many years. One day, when I moved up to the New York metropolitan area in 1998, I just stopped talking to my friend. I gave no reason; just felt I had other things to worry about in my new world at the time. Certainly, it was no excuse for me to do that to him, regardless of my reasons, whether valid or not. To this day, I still regret never having to call my friend from my college days. I had been meaning to get in touch with him over the past few years, but close friends have told me that he would hear none of it, would rather continue to hold a grudge against me and just simply hang up the phone. Hopefully, one day, I would like to sit down with him and hammer out our differences, in the same manner that Steve Howe and John Wetton were able to mend their fences, become good friends again and eventually put the band back together.

Getting back to ASIA performing in New York, certainly I had to get some souvenirs of this momentous occasion, so naturally I got a t-shirt and a few other things. Both nights, ASIA performed brilliantly and focused mainly on the debut album, plus a b-side from those sessions, a few tracks from their second album Alpha, and tracks from previous bands with Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, The Buggles and King Crimson. Even though I attended both nights, they played the same set. Friday night, I went by myself as I got there late in the afternoon to get a good spot in line because it was a General Admission show and on Saturday, I went by myself again and got there early in the afternoon to wait in line. Heck, I had to see them twice...after all, 2 is better than 1! In any event, here's what they played:

Time Again
Wildest Dreams
One Step Closer
Roundabout
Without You
Fanfare For The Common Man
Cutting It Fine w/Geoff Downes Keyboard Solo
Steve Howe Acoustic Guitar Solo - The Clap
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
Don't Cry
In The Court Of The Crimson King
Here Comes The Feeling
Video Killed The Radio Star
The Heat Goes On w/Carl Palmer Drum Solo
Only Time Will Tell
Sole Survivor

Encore

Ride Easy
Heat Of The Moment

I met so many nice people at this show and it was truly an ASIA fan's dream come true to see all original members performing on one stage. Even more mind blowing was that they played songs from their past, including Yes' "Roundabout", Emerson Lake & Palmer's "Fanfare For The Common Man", King Crimson's "In The Court Of The Crimson King" and The Buggles "Video Killed The Radio Star". John Wetton's voice was fantastic...he didn't try to sound like the other bands when performing their songs. The band made those songs sound like ASIA songs.

I took so many pictures over the course of two days...you can view them at the my photo album page directly at the following link: http://maniacmel.smugmug.com/gallery/1874043

Thank you ASIA...two memorable nights of great music from true professionals of rock music.

What a great weekend I've had so far...

Here I go again...another Hall & Oates show!

It's been a while since I've seen my favorite musical act, Daryl Hall & John Oates. In fact, the last time I saw them was back in March of this year, just outside Philadelphia at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA. Most of this past summer, I've kicked back and relaxed a bit as I had purchased a ticket for the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ back in May. Since then, I've waited patiently for this one show on this leg of the tour.

Traffic wasn't that bad, considering the steady rain that fell on my way down the NJ Turnpike. Once I got into New Brunswick, locating the theater proved to be quite daunting. There was so much road construction going on throughout the college town that I wondered if I was actually going to find this place. With only 10 minutes to spare, I found a municipal parking lot and headed up the block to the venue. Got my digital camera and took a photo of the marquee to make sure my camera was in check.

Most of the people were already inside and I headed to the concession stand to pre-order a "Shows To Go" CD...a great concept in concerts, where the musical act records the entire show and 15 minutes after it's over, the double CD is waiting for you. Always great to see old friends again...Lisa, Jen, Ed & Karen, Lisa & Laura, Carol, Jody, Terri, etc. I spend a little time catching up with them before the lights dim and I head to my Row A seat. Don't get too excited...I may have had Row A, but in front of me were two rows of chairs for the pit section, reserved for the VIPs. Didn't matter to me as I still had a great seat from my vantage point, very close to the stage.

Geoff Byrd was the opening act, playing a 5 song acoustic set, which got the crowd excited. A true Hall & Oates fan, Geoff mentioned that it was his last show with them after touring since February of this year. Prior to his final song of the set, a young boy appears and tells Geoff that his dad enjoyed his music during the tour and wished him well. That boy turned out to be none other than Tanner Oates, the son of John Oates. Tom "T-Bone" Wolk came out to play keyboards and Jeff Catania appeared as well to play guitar for his last song.

Intermission didn't last long between sets before the lights dim again and the band fills the stage during MFSB's "The Sound Of Philadelphia". They start playing along to the song and Daryl Hall & John Oates appear to the energetic crowd in New Brunswick, NJ and we get the following set list:

Maneater
Hot Fun In The Summertime
Family Man
Las Vegas Turnaround
Say It Isn't So
I'll Be Around
She's Gone
Want To
Cab Driver
Sara Smile
I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)
Me And Mrs. Jones

1st Encore

Out Of Touch
You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

2nd Encore

You Make My Dreams
Kiss On My List (with Geoff Byrd)
Private Eyes (with Geoff Byrd)


Another fabulous show! The State Theatre rocked and truly appreciated Daryl & John's performance and the happy faces of them and the band definitely showed. As is customary for the better part of the past year and a half, Hall & Oates took requests from the audience. Right after "Maneater", Daryl Hall was looking for requests in the audience and from my close up spot, I had to go for it and take my shot for the old Sly & The Family Stone classic "Hot Fun In The Summertime", since I hadn't heard that one live in a long time. I shouted out that title and much to my surprise, Daryl stopped and looked towards my way with a smile and said, "hey, that's not a bad idea". He turns to John and the band and asks if they all still know the song. So for the first time that I can recall, Daryl Hall & John Oates played "Hot Fun In The Summertime" as the second song of the night, which traditionally, they had played it as a closer to the show. My feeling was ecstatic as I knew that if I didn't go for it and request that one, I'd probably be regretting it. Fantastic job by Hall & Oates and the band, though admittedly, I will say that it sounded a bit rusty, but still great to hear that one again! Whooo! Other notable requests included "Family Man", "Las Vegas Turnaround", "Want To", "Cab Driver" and "Me And Mrs. Jones", all of which sounded spot on.

As soon as the show ended, I waited in line at the lobby to pick up my "Shows To Go" double CD and wouldn't you know it, I can clearly be heard shouting out for "Hot Fun In The Summertime". Ha ha! Defintely pick this CD up at www.hallandoates.com (yes, a free plug, but well deserved). Also ran into keyboardist Eliot Lewis in the lobby and got his autograph. Spoke to him for a bit and told him that I really enjoyed the show. Left the venue in the steady rain and spoke to my friend Terri for a bit about various shows and other things. All in all, a fun night for all the Hall & Oates fans at this show in New Brunswick, NJ.

Took lots of great photos and you can check them out now at http://maniacmel.smugmug.com.

Usually, when I attend one show, another one immediately follows. However, I'm saving up for the next round of Hall & Oates shows when they head on out to tour during the Christmas season in support of their forthcoming album, Home For Christmas, due in stores October 3rd in the U.S.A. Man, I'm full of free shameless plugs and advertisements today...ha ha!