From: JYOB@aol.com   
      
   ....Because they are back!  Touring again.......   
      
      
   From 2009......   
      
   Well, someone convinced Mein Frau to go & see this group...a most   
   FANTASTIC Experience she was told.  I had heard of them but none of   
   their music.  I just figured they would be like a combination of ELO,   
   Genesis & Tangerine Dream doing rock versions of Xmas & classical   
   music.  Not my idea of a fun evening but how bad could it be?  Spoke   
   to some people where I work who'd seen them & they all said they were   
   great!  So I bought a pair of tickets thru Ticketmaster totaling over   
   $100.00 (which I could ill afford) after all the "fees" (they even   
   charge $2.50 for the "privilege" of printing the ticket out on my own   
   printer) & surcharges.   
      
   Went to the Rochester War Memorial for the first time for a concert   
   since seeing the GD there for two back to back shows back in November   
   1985 & was amazed by the diversity of the crowd there.  Sophisticates   
   wearing sweaters tied around their necks to rednecks wearing NASCAR   
   jackets....Young...OLD..& I mean REAL OLD!!  Wow, I said to myself as   
   I purchased a warm beer for $6.50, this is gonna be something!   
      
   Well, the next 2 1/2 hours were the most excruciatingly painful/boring/   
   exasperating time I've spent on this planet in a long time!   
      
   Talk about over the top, overblown, pretentious BAD 1980's style Hair   
   Band Hard "Rock"......it was Gawd awful!!!  The Xmas music was of   
   their own composition & completely tuneless.  There was an African   
   American "narrator" trying (in his best James Earl Jones voice, but   
   not coming close) to narrate some tale of an angel 's journey around   
   Earth on Xmas Eve which made no sense 'cuz I couldn't understand what   
   he was saying except for a few times when he rhymed "throat" &   
   "coat"  (must have attended the Mark Farner School of Songwriting).   
      
   The "lead" vocalists did their best impressions of Joe Cocker/Dennis   
   Wilson sound alikes while singing the tuneless songs that seemed to go   
   on ad nauseum.  Real bad!!!   
      
   There was some chick in a black dress going ape with this violin/   
   fiddle on stage, all thru the show but I never heard a note she played   
   'cuz she was drowned out by the LOUD,  Seemingly Programmed, SOULESS   
   guitars.   
      
   The laser light show & pyrotecnics were cool for awhile but even that   
   got boring.  I always believed if a band was GOOD they didn't need all   
   that distractions. (ie. GD).   
      
   Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the music stopped.  One of   
   the lead members came out & thanked everyone for attending & then said   
   that they'd be performing selections from their new cd for the *second   
   half* of the concert!!!  My spouse & I both groaned!  "We can leave   
   now if you want" she said but NO!...I was gonna get my $100 worth if   
   it killed me. And it almost did!   
      
   The second half was even worse!  TOO LOUD, bad rip off souless   
   renditions of (as I stated before) 80's style Hair metal bands.  Each   
   song would start off at a crescendo, stay there, then end!  Tuneless.   
   Tuneless. And the crowd was going wild!  I just did not get it!   
      
   The one ....& I mean one....highlight...if you could call it even   
   that...was a note for note remake of a 1962 Dave "Baby Cortez   
   instrumental that I recognized called "Bumble Boogie" or something   
   like that...I know that ain't right but my memory fails me at the   
   moment.   
      
   We couldn't get out of there fast enough after the show was over.   
   Thank gawd there was no encore.   
      
   And to think I passed up a Flo & Eddie/ Peter Noone concert a few   
   weeks back 'cuz the tickets were $50.00 for two!!!   
      
   Picture a Hard Rock Male "Celtic Woman " concert.  Ugh!  The   
   performers were smiling all the time!  Programmed androids playing   
   computer corporate music.   
      
   Worst. Concert. Ever.   
      
   The old geezer   
      
   NP: Don't Let Go - JGB   
   ND: Old Thumper Extra Special Ale   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)