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Kermit
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 Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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| What an opener! Amazing! Firstly, thanks to everyone for making it to the Edward for drinks before the show. It's great to meet so many lovely people from all over, Honolulu, LA and ..Crawley! ...and I'm just down the road. I'm so lucky. I never thought I would ever hear these songs live but tonight was a dream come true. Russell in his red suit just looked great and he was so excited getting the whole thing started. "Fletcher Honorama" was fantastic. "Slowboat" had everyone singing along. Russells complaining about Boots bad hairspray was just so funny and should be made in to a song itself. "(No More) Mr nice guy" was just such a perfect ending. We always get a major good ending to our Sparks albums and this first last ending was just storming! So many people were singing along with every word and it sounded great. Fantastic evening and then when I get home I get to play "Islington N1". Nice toon about my town. This town is surely big enough for all of us! I do kinda feel like all my xmas's have come at once but there's more tomorrow. See you all at the Eddie!! |
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Sod R. Celebrity
Fan-in-Training
Joined: 15 Feb 2008
Posts: 27
Location: Atlanta
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| Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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The Halfnelson show was was brilliant and intense! Just like every other time I've been lucky enough to see Sparks, this was a high point of my life!
Russell joked to the audience about what Sparks had gotten themselves into by signing up to do this spectacular. Yes, a lot of trouble, but oh how he and Ron enjoyed their talented selves!
Russell approached Biology 2 with trepidation, but came through beautifully, hitting every strange little high note perfectly. As someone else mentioned, he thanked us for coming and especially praised us for our good taste in coming to the early shows!
Until tonight, I had only ever (since 1974!) been in the company of one other person who knew all (or even any) of the lyrics to Halfnelson. To be in a room where hundreds of people were singing these lyrics reverently and at the top of their lungs was something wonderful beyond belief! |
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MarkRae
Groupie
Joined: 11 Mar 2008
Posts: 199
Location: London
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| Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Kermit wrote: | | and then when I get home I get to play "Islington N1". Nice toon! |
Yeah, it's instantly likeable, and *VERY* Sparks. Sounds like a cross between Propaganda and Li'l Beethoven - deliberate, I'm certain.
I must admit to having had one or two worries that they might not be able to pull this 21-gig spectacular off - after tonight, I have no doubts whatever!
OK, quick straw poll - what rarity are they going to play after Woofer tomorrow...? |
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sparkette
Sparkologist
Joined: 05 Aug 2003
Posts: 748
Location: Atlanta
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| Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 8:58 pm Post subject: Encore x 20 |
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A fullnelson performance.
Thanks for making it live.  |
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Kermit
Guest
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| Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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| .....a little birdie told me it's gonna be "Arts & Craft Spectacular" tomorrow. Shhhh...... |
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Charlie Bucket
Certified Fan
Joined: 11 Dec 2007
Posts: 54
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| Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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| I dont think I should go tomorrow, if its even just a tiny bit better than tonight I'll explode with joy and that'll be me over with. As I mentioned to a friend, it was the best party Ive ever been to! and thats exactly what it felt like, it didnt feel like a gig at all, it was an obscene amount of fun! I couldnt believe the number of people singing along to every word, the band were having a fantastic time which brought the best out in the audience too. God knows how I didnt burst into tears of joy, it was very emotional. Shame about the choice of sound engineer but Im not even going to begin to dwell on that, the atmosphere more than made up for it. No.1 In Heaven will definitely finish me off, Im sure of it! |
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Robin Davies
Certified Fan
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 64
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 3:33 am Post subject: |
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| Charlie Bucket wrote: |
Shame about the choice of sound engineer but Im not even going to begin to dwell on that, the atmosphere more than made up for it. |
Good point! I agree that the band were on fine form but the bass was way too boomy for my taste and often drowned out the guitar. I really hope they improve the sound mix on subsequent shows. This whole epic extravaganza deserves to be heard in the highest quality. |
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12stringbassist
Certified Fan
Joined: 16 Feb 2006
Posts: 65
Location: Here in Heaven / Manchester, UK
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 4:43 am Post subject: |
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I watched online and have to say that the performance was pretty much
faultless. They have really set themselves a truly daunting task and the
whole band must still be doing their homework whenever they aren't
playing.
All this for a one-off performance!
Slowboat was the highlight of the album in the first place and of the whole
show for me too.
Shame there was only one song after the album, but Russell is going to
have to take care of his voice to get through the whole run.
A great start to a unique set of shows!
_________________
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"Life isn't much but there's nothing else to do...." |
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raphph
Newbie
Joined: 21 May 2006
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 4:59 am Post subject: |
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| What time did they come on - what time was the main album and what time did they finish? |
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Noisy Boy
Power Groupie
Joined: 20 Feb 2006
Posts: 292
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 5:28 am Post subject: |
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| raphph wrote: | | What time did they come on - what time was the main album and what time did they finish? |
They must've been on about 9.15, finished at 10ish.
Here's my review (I'll try and post one of these for evey gig I go to):
Setlist:
Wonder Girl
Fa La Fa Lee
Roger
High C
Fletcher Honorama
Simple Ballet
Slowboat
Biology 2
Saccharin & The War
(No More) Mr. Nice Guys
England
Band:
Ron
Russell
Steve MacDonald (Bass, Acoustic guitar on Roger)
Steve Nister (Drums)
Jim Wilson (Guitar, Backing vocals)
Marcus Blake (Introduced as 'Marcus of Hollywood') (Backing vocals on Biology, Guitar on England)
Support:
Rod Thompson
First night! All the pieces finally fit into place after a frankly interminable wait, when Sparks came on to massive applause and didn’t disappoint, running through the album with gusto. Russell, resplendent in an all red suit, and black shirt had absolutely no trouble remembering the words or hitting High C as it were. There were a couple of fumbles, but nothing that made the whole thing crash into flames (Steve M’s acoustic guitar being inaudible at the start of Roger was the only real blopper that stood out). Once they hit their stride, roughly around the middle of Simple Ballet, it was all absolutely marvellous. That’s not to say the earlier stuff was particularly bad, more that they’d relaxed by the time they got to Simple Ballet. Biology was pretty faithful, though Russell made a big show of warming up his voice beforehand, to much applause. By the time they hit No More Mr. Nice Guy, they were absolutely rocking, and that was possibly the best performance of the night (though it tied with Fletcher Honorama for the most applause received).
The band left the stage for a couple of minutes after the set and explained how they were playing an extra obscure song each night, presenting the first-night audience with England. We thought there’d be more, but no, they left the stage and the lights went up.
If I have one criticism it’s that the sound mix was never quite perfect, and a lot of the gig sounded like people playing instruments but not as a band, if you know what I mean. Plus, on occasion, it was kind of bass-heavy, and both Russell’s vocals and Ron’s keys were low in the mix. But that might have been more to do with my position (down the front, in front of Ron/ Steve and the big speaker stack).
In short, a fabulous start to an adventurous concept.
Last edited by Noisy Boy on Sun May 18, 2008 6:24 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Kermit
Guest
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 5:49 am Post subject: |
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I was just wondering if Russells red suit was to match the red Brick of the Sparks album cover? If so this could be a leaning of things to come. Could it be Geishas for Kimono? Tied up in sweaters for Propaganda? Shirts off for Big Beat and maybe Russell will come in on that horse for Indiscreet? They better watch out then on Outer Space!! And as for Angst....well...they did say there were gonna be surprises!
Further on from last night though. Rons keys were definately too low in the mix and needs to be higher and the bass was too bassy at points but i'm sure these things will be tweeked for Tweeter tonight. |
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themightybishop
Certified Fan
Joined: 04 Dec 2007
Posts: 73
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 6:58 am Post subject: |
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re. the time on/ off. i'm certain the boys came on at 9pm and that's the intention each night. finished just after 10 by my reckoning.
spending the day listening to woofer. quite surprised how much better i know sparks / half nelson compared to woofer. i won't be singing a long as much tonight then! |
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MarkRae
Groupie
Joined: 11 Mar 2008
Posts: 199
Location: London
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 7:03 am Post subject: |
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| themightybishop wrote: | | spending the day listening to woofer. quite surprised how much better i know sparks / half nelson compared to woofer. i won't be singing a long as much tonight then! |
Spooky! Same here, on all counts...
I really can't recall when I last listened to Woofer all the way through, but it's all coming back to me bit by bit so I should be word-perfect by 9pm... :-)
At the very end of Whippings and Apologies, I keep finding myself wanting to sing "Amateur hour goes on and on..." |
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No Tony Perkins
Power Groupie
Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Posts: 255
Location: HULL
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Raoul
Sparks Guru
Joined: 08 Oct 2006
Posts: 2603
Location: Ophemert
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 9:36 am Post subject: |
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| I heard you all singing in the crowd!!! That made it more special to me,online as I was,Hering you all singing the texts of these songs,Oh let's do it!!!!!(again )tonight!!! |
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straightlookingenie
Groupie
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Posts: 128
Location: Pluto
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 5:18 pm Post subject: |
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Hey! Would you want your reviews included in the Popshifter feature with reviews of each show? If so, let me know. I'll give you full credit, of course.
Less Lee
| Noisy Boy wrote: | | raphph wrote: | | What time did they come on - what time was the main album and what time did they finish? |
They must've been on about 9.15, finished at 10ish.
Here's my review (I'll try and post one of these for evey gig I go to):
Setlist:
Wonder Girl
Fa La Fa Lee
Roger
High C
Fletcher Honorama
Simple Ballet
Slowboat
Biology 2
Saccharin & The War
(No More) Mr. Nice Guys
England
Band:
Ron
Russell
Steve MacDonald (Bass, Acoustic guitar on Roger)
Steve Nister (Drums)
Jim Wilson (Guitar, Backing vocals)
Marcus Of Hollywood (Backing vocals on Biology, Guitar on England)
Support:
Rod Thompson
First night! All the pieces finally fit into place after a frankly interminable set from Rod Thompson (one chap and his guitar, plus his sampler used to layer beats and harmonies, not very interesting, went on a bit), then an even more interminable wait once he’d finished. Sparks came on to massive applause and didn’t disappoint, running through the album with gusto. Russell, resplendent in an all red suit, and black shirt had absolutely no trouble remembering the words or hitting High C as it were. There were a couple of fumbles, but nothing that made the whole thing crash into flames (Steve M’s acoustic guitar being inaudible at the start of Roger was the only real blopper that stood out). Once they hit their stride, roughly around the middle of Simple Ballet, it was all absolutely marvellous. That’s not to say the earlier stuff was particularly bad, more that they’d relaxed by the time they got to Simple Ballet. Biology was pretty faithful, though Russell made a big show of warming up his voice beforehand, to much applause. By the time they hit No More Mr. Nice Guy, they were absolutely rocking, and that was possibly the best performance of the night (though it tied with Fletcher Honorama for the most applause received).
The band left the stage for a couple of minutes after the set and explained how they were playing an extra obscure song each night, presenting the first-night audience with England. We thought there’d be more, but no, they left the stage and the lights went up.
If I have one criticism it’s that the sound mix was never quite perfect, and a lot of the gig sounded like people playing instruments but not as a band, if you know what I mean. Plus, on occasion, it was kind of bass-heavy, and both Russell’s vocals and Ron’s keys were low in the mix. But that might have been more to do with my position (down the front, in front of Ron/ Steve and the big speaker stack).
In short, a fabulous start to an adventurous concept. |
_________________
Popshifter.com: One Giant Leap For Fankind
http://popshifter.com |
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Alex Robertson
Sparks Guru
Joined: 11 Jan 2002
Posts: 41347
Location: Crawley,West Sussex
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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| I think Rod Thomas did an admirable act opening on what was obviously the most nerve-wracking of nights for all concerned. |
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Brightonian
Sub-Deity
Joined: 22 Mar 2003
Posts: 860
Location: Brighton, UK
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| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah - I thought Rod Thomas was pretty good - pretty clever, too, the way he was laying his voice and instrumentation. |
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Hornetpinata
Junior Groupie
Joined: 31 Oct 2002
Posts: 45
Location: Chicago, IL
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| Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 6:39 am Post subject: Review up on my blog |
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| I have a review of the first night's show up at http://habloennui.blogspot.com. It was superb. |
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allydodd
Sub-Deity
Joined: 12 Dec 2004
Posts: 771
Location: Scotland
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| Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 12:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Stunned I was with the sheer brilliance of Russell's performance throughout the show. Great atmosphere too. Everyone knew we were at the start of something very very special, which made it a gig like no other before. The boys seemed to detect that swelling feeling of awe and appreciation below, which may have propelled such an electric performance. Thanks guys. |
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