Deep Purple @ The Wang?
By Suldog - 6/7/11 - 2:40 pm
Yes, I'm Going
3% (6 votes)
Yes, I'm Going - To See Ernie & The Automatics!
2% (3 votes)
No, I'm Not Going, But I Wish I Could...
13% (25 votes)
No, I'm Not Going, And You Couldn't Get Me In There At Gunpoint
26% (51 votes)
What In The HELL Are You Talking About?
58% (115 votes)
Total votes: 200
Comments
huh huh wang
huh huh wang
I'll Be There
Unfortunately, I don't have the ticket yet, so can't tell you where I'm sitting. Knowing the way some of you feel about me, maybe I shouldn't tell anyway.
Nah, just kidding. If you see a fairly inebriated guy dressed in black with a green shamrock baseball cap, it's not me. It's some other dude. Feel free to buy him a beer, though.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Woah
For a second there I thought someone released an even more graphic Anthony Weiner pic.
At The Wang?
Things that work at The Wang: comedy, theater, small music acts that are not rock-and-roll.
Things that do not work at The Wang: rock-and-roll, acts that you want to groove to.
Seriously, the seats in The Wang are far too confining to even toe-tap.
Last Time I Was There...
... was for a movie, when they had a series of 'classic' films shown on the big screen. That was four or five years ago, I believe. I don't recall it being particularly close quarters, but I also can't recall what the damn movie was, so maybe I just have a general memory malfunction.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Was there recently for Conan and Bill Maher
The balcony seats force you to get to know your neighbors and you feel like the people in front of you are laying on your knees the whole time.
The mezzanine seats are actually worse for more money.
Never paid to sit in the orchestra, but it's not like you're gonna get your groove on in the aisle to one of the hardest rocking bands out there...it's just not that kind of space. It seems like they would have been better off playing the HoB or something.
Orchestra
Prob is they have a 34-piece orchestra in tow for this tour. Can't accommodate that at HOB (unless you seated them at various places around the bar, in the restrooms, etc.) :-)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Ah, I see
Yeah, probably needed the stage size more than anything else.
Too bad they didn't organize with Fenway or the Hatch Shell, either would have been a killer outdoor orchestra environment for something like that.
I actually liked Metallica's S&M album (Symphony & Metallica), so it sounds like it'll be a cool concert.
well I must be the oldest one here because...
I worked at the Wang - we are talking about the old Music Hall, right? at rock shows for almost five years (I got the job because I showed up for Sammy Davis, Jr. when they couldn't get anyone and I thought he was awesome & that sure paid off).
Of course this was the seventies but there was the Who for four nights and Alice Cooper and Yes and Jethro Tull and the Allman Brothers and Quicksilver Messenger Service and just about anyone else you could name - except maybe for the Stones, they were at the Garden.
Maybe the crowds were made up of skinnier people then because there was an awful lot of 'rocking out' at the Music Hall.
I saw Rolling Thunder Revue (Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, et al)
at the Music Hall in 1975. Camped out all night to buy the tickets. Great show at a great venue.
I envy you for the shows you
I envy you for the shows you saw, Scollay, and the wisdom of your years. I'm not far behind.
But the Wang/Citi/Music Hall was restored ~ 1990 and is a fully seated Broadway-type theatre.
But they've been having shows there and I bet they sound great. Hopefully the usher will let you move a bit in the aisles.
I'd be happy to stay seated and just bang my head. We make a lot of compromises as we get older.
Enjoy the show anyone who is going.
It was the 70s
Between the weed, ludes and smack, "rocking out" meant your eyes were all the way open.
Saw Queen There...
... among others, back when it was what it used to be.
The Deep Purple show was good. I wouldn't say that the orchestra added much, to most of the tunes, other than some background body (and Purple are among the most accomplished metal/hard rock musicians alive, so it's not like they need filler.) A couple of the songs benefited nicely. "Smoke On The Water" was interesting with the accompaniment. Especially nice was the somewhat obscure "When A Blind Man Cries", a wonderful treatment with lilting strings.
Interesting, in many ways, were opening act Ernie & The Automatics. Prior to the show, there were 10 or 12 picketers outside. Signs said, "Negotiate, Don't Dictate" (or something to that effect) and they were aimed at Mr. Boch, Jr.
(I wasn't in any sort of shape to delve into matters in depth, so I didn't ask what exactly it was about. I opted, instead, to lean against a handy parking meter and enjoy a smoke while watching both they and an evangelical dude hand out literature to mostly disinterested old stoners like myself.)
Anyway, Boch's band was pretty tight. Barry Goudreau and Sib Hashian, ex of Boston, were on guitar and drums, respectively, and that heightened the appeal. Fantastic sax player; wish I caught his name. Short set of bluesy rock, finishing with a medley of Boston's greatest hits (which brought the crowd alive.) Boch plays mostly rhythm guitar - he traded lead licks with Goudreau once or twice - mostly hovering at the far right edge of the stage, out of the spotlight. Interesting enough, this wasn't their only date on DP's tour. They started the tour with them, in Canada, and will continue for a few more dates in CT and NY. Boch is living the RnR lifestyle. He's let his hair grow out and sports a couple weeks of beard on stage.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com