nottingham 2nd april (Page 1 of 2)

The Nottingham show

First the good stuff

I am sure the maniacs will know, but I dont know if Joe has a voice coach or whether it's a natural maturity, but there's no way he could have sung like that 7 or 8 years ago. He's still uniquely Joe, but so much more depth and length to the vocal.  Thats a real plus.

His playing was top notch, as expected.  Smooth, refined and  barely missing a note, and thats tough when you play with a tone that can sound quite processed, but is nevertheless very clean.  If you make a mistake, its there for all to hear.  The WUD acoustic set is always a crowd pleaser and this was no exception.

Tal is the new star of the show.   He's given plenty of places to shine and adds a fun element to the show.  Fine drummer but last night, I felt he was a little low in the mix. 

The Rest

Irrespective of the fine playing and an excellent 'Midnight Blues', the 1st 45 minutes were very flat.  Nobody out of their seats and polite ripples of applause after each song.  Sloe Gin got a big reaction, but the crowd only really got going when Joe started talking to them. 

He really shouldn't wait 45 mins to do that.  He's a good communicator and a funny and sympathetic character.   When playing larger venues, I think, maybe he should engage the audience earlier and help build the atmosphere.  I had a similar issue with the Clapton/Winwood shows last year.  Clapton never even said hello for over an hour.

When Joe came out for the encore, we got the '13 albums - No Hits' story etc, but the interaction felt great.  Driving Towards Daylight sounds really good and he made everybody stand for 'Just Got Paid' and it was fantastic. I wanted to stand for the whole show.   Sitting down in straight lines is not Rock and Roll.

Song Of Yesterday and John Henry were both in the BCC shows last year  and if I'm honest, they blew the socks off the versions last night, especially SOY.  It didnt get the crowd reaction I thought it would.  Maybe some of the crowd didn't know the BCC material.

The sound was a little up and down.  We were 9 rows back pretty well central, but the keys were often inaudible and Tal's sound was also a little muddy.

The venue was about half of 10,000 seater Ice stadium.  The organisers for some strange reason had left the upper and lower tiers to the immediate left and right of the stage unused.  That must have looked strange for Joe as it looked like the sides were half empty.

All in All, a great show and well worth travelling the 100 miles each way to see and it was nice of Joe to acknowledge that his rise to success started in the UK.

To coin Joe's latest phrase ..  It was 'A Corker'

up in the gods in the suites
not a place would recommend lost a lot of the sound quality
joe played his heart out as normal
gig didnt seem as good as sheffield but that may be because of being so high up
crowd response not as good either
looking forward to the new album

At this venue when i arrived i honestly had my fears for it is one of those huge type arenas that Ice Hockey is played at and huge arena acts like Lady Gaga Bon Jovi and such like regulary incorporate on their tours, and seeing the even the large curtain backdrop and the bands set up dwarfed in the middle of the largest stage i've ever seen Joe play on, it all looked a little out out place with the multi tiered seating going way up into the roof i felt sort of uneasy.

But ..... when the 2 minutes was up and the lights went down, Joe and the band came out (it don't matter where) and filled this Nottingham arena with their own style of  Rock laced Blues, Joe and the boys made it feel like a larger Blues Club LOL Brandishing with so much power, by the way i love this setlist, i mean starting a show with .....
.....
Slow Train
Last Kiss
Midnight Blues
Dust Bowl  .... yeah i know PHEW!

And for me the sound was one of the best ever too, so much meatier and from where i was sitting, guitar Bass Drums all equal and could hear Rick just a little behind ... perfect Sound, and Joe's singing as mentioned before is now threatening his guitar playing, just sublime and note bending vocals ...

So for me a perfect Joe show in many ways, and others equally agreed it was very high class, the new songs had depth and enjoyable listening pleasure. "Driving Toward The Daylight" to add what Kevin Shirley said is like an extension of "Dust Bowl" and has that Landscape sound, really superb.

Great Sound at this show and "Just Got Paid" had loads of new runs and tricks in it was the heaviest version i've ever heard
Loved It

............. Michael

this was the fourth time for me
rotherham bridlington
sheff and notts arena
must say enjoy the smaller venues more
but its a way of things more folk want to see the guitar
master at work
price of fame

There's a trick to that. The timer will click out your logon if it sees no activity for a bit, thus giving you that page. Hit the back arrow to the text you did, open a new tab and relogon, then back to the old tab with the text and voila. You're in. Sorry you lost that post.

Some interesting points mentioned from this show.

Although I didn’t have this problem this time round I totally agree with “Rocky” about how frustrating it can be to have people getting up and down, moving across the row getting folk up when they’re trying to enjoy the show - for what? A pint of beer! I wish these people would stay away and go to a pub or at least have a drinkers only section where they can spend time with like minded people without bothering those who paid good money to watch and listen to Joe or whoever the artist may be. 
It is for this reason I now refuse to go to the MENA after a Santana show when I was getting up and down so often I resorted to sitting in the aisle on the steps, I was then asked by security to return to my seat, which was on the end of the row. I complained about the policy of the profits from selling alcohol versus the entitlement of others to enjoy the show without being constantly disturbed (I had to get up about twenty times!).
Ranting - sorry!

It appears the views regarding sound quality at these larger venues is wide and varied and although I’m no techie on this it does seem to vary with where you are seated. I thought the sound at Sheffield was much poorer and I was seated on the floor, whereas in Nottingham I was on the first tier up in block 6, second row up left of stage and the sound was great and the view even better. I remember the smaller venues like Cambridge and Rotherham and whilst we were stood (as it should be) there were still differences, whilst the corn exchange was awesome the magna not so! But the larger arena’s are no doubt here to stay so if we want to share the experience of Joe live then we will have to take the risk of where we are seated, I’m sure the sound guys are doing the best they can.

The crowd as “hulldanfan” correctly pointed out appeared somewhat subdued early on and no doubt this was due to many new comers to the scene. But as far as Joe and the band were concerned I thought the guys were well on form and my wife and I heard all our favourites; Midnight Blues, Song of Yesterday (some of us do know it very well, the BCC Wolverhampton gig was awesome!), Sloe Gin, Mountain Time which I thought got one of the best receptions on the night and is certainly still my number 1 and of course the new song Driving Towards The Daylight which appears to be going down well and justly so. The whole band are interacting so well at the moment and Tal, as well as a great drummer, is a real character isn't he!

Thank you Joe, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the show and all that you played, for us it was great sound and great view and better still free! Yes we had two free tickets as part of a meet n greet, I will post a review of that shortly in the appropriate section of the forum

Have a great time any of you going to Glasgow and or Blackpool, I am envious!

Until the next time..............

Your welcome for the assist tcktd. I have done the same. The comments re sound are a recurring theme. It seems very subjective and location in the venue related. I'd suggest getting up and walking around to see if the sound improves. Sometimes docents or ushers will not allow that but worth a try. Even great down front seats sometimes miss some of the mix due to FOH mix going over your head, so to speak. I've sat 20 feet from Rick and never could hear any of the keyboards except in the quietest passages. I've also been near the bass array and had that drown out a lot too.  Mid hall center floor seems like the most consistent, with balcony center front good as well. Don't blame the sound man. It probably sounds perfect where he is.
Rick

http://www.themidlandsrocks.com/joe-bon … 3taWGD3KAt