Musicals in London (December 2007)

I've always forgotten to write this post, shame on me :-)

The Musicals in London goes on!

This time I went to London with my good friends Alessia, Tommaso and Barbara, just for 3 days (two nights). We left on November 30th very early in the morning from the Florence airport, and got to London at about 10 o'clock; so we had the time to get to the hostel (yes, in order to save money for the musicals we chose the youth hostel :-)

Since we arrived from the airport to Victoria station, we could soon see the Wicked wonderful theatre


The musical tour started in the afternoon with our beloved Mamma Mia! Although we were in the very last rows we had a nice visual, and the show is always funny, even from there :-) The evening... Avenue Q! We had quite cheap tickets for the second row! That was the second time I saw Avenue Q, but for my friends it was the first time... we laughed, laughed, laughed til we cried! This show is sooooo funny :-D


Back to the hostel room... well... not so comfortable, but we were tired anyway


The second day! For the matinee we chose the classical Phantom of the Opera! No way I could get tired of that :-) And for the evening, the grand finale. I had seen this musical on August, and I really couldn't wait to see that again: Wicked! The seat was not bad (surely better than my previous time), and the house was full! Unfortunately, Kerry Ellis (Elphaba) was probably having some problems with her voice, but she was wonderful anyway, although she did not sing at her best; Dianne Pilkington (Glinda) was very good and funny as usual. A great show! One of the best currently!


Another night at the hostel, and then on Sunday back to the airport and back to Italy.


Another magical musical tour: 4 musicals in 2 days :-)

hope to get there back soon.

Tommy, thanks for the photos :-)

Trentatre: a new music blog

Together with two friends and colleagues of mine, we opened a new blog, where we talk about the records we could not make without. Take a look: http://itrentatre.blogspot.com :-)

It's in Italian though...

The Roaring Boys - House Of Stone

Uh, look what I found on Youtube.com!

I've always loved this song and also the video! I remember when I used to enjoy this video in the 80s, when I was watching Deejay Television!

I don't know much about this band, and I only know this song of theirs, which reminds of Roxy Music's sound.

This song is so 80s and also its video (which is quite good, considering the age), and I love 80s music :-)

Eagles - Long Road out of Eden

Here's the brand new album by Eagles, after more than 20 years! I've always loved Eagles (and I also have an Eagles cover band: Kings of Hollywood).

Of course, after such a long time, I was kind of skeptical about this new album, by the way, it's a double CD!

Instead, right after the first listening I was really pleased with it, and still I am. I keep on listening to it with much pleasure. Don't expect anything new from it: it's still Eagles, but that's a nice thing to me, since their sound (which is one of the reasons I like them) is basically still the same.

Don Felder is not in the band anymore, and that's a pity, since I loved this guitarist: he has a very nice musical touch; don't get me wrong, I like Joe Walsh too, but I preferred Don :-)

However, the other guitarist in the band, Steuart_Smith, is very very skilled and he has a wonderful touch too.

The sound is still the same, although a little bit more modern; the record is of course played very well, and with lots of country/melody (typical of Eagles).

One of my favorite song of the first CD is probably "I don't wanna hear anymore", which is much closer to a pop ballad, than to a country song, but that's fine, since I like pop too. While, concerning the second CD I have no doubt: the title track "Long Road out of Eden" is my favorite. It's kinda strange actually, and probably not like the Eagles I used to, but it's very interesting and it hit me right from the beginning. I must admit there's one song that I really can't manage to like: "It's your world now"... but in a double cd that's OK :-)

I heard that some critics are against this record, saying "it's nothing new", but I wouldn't expect anything else, after such a long period, if a band produces a new album, that's the least you could expect from the critics, couldn't you? ;-)

Well, I've also heard that probably these songs had already been written so many years ago, and that they were now re-used for a new album... don't know whether that's true... but I like this record anyway :-)

Happy listening!

Queensryche - Mindcrime at the Moore

As soon as I saw this CD on the music store I had no doubt at all: I had to buy it!

A little regression...

I've always liked Queensryche and in particular, the concept album, Operation Mindcrime was one of my favorites ever. The live they recorded during the Empire tour, Operation Livecrime, when they perform the whole album, is even better than the studio version: so rich of sounds and so filled with energy. The video version of Operation Livecrime is a masterpiece and I enjoy seeing it over and over again: the band is sooo cool, and the moment Pamela Moore enters the stage, performing Sister Mary is emotional!

In my opinion, that was the time the band was at its best. Actually, I still prefer Operation Mindcrime, Empire and Promised Land to their previous works (which sounded too heavy metal for me).

I was disappointed by this band when they released, after Promised Land (which was kind of experimental in some sense), Hear in the New Frontier... I still can't listen to that record, I can't stand it... the sound turned to Grunge, which I hate :-) That was not the Queensryche I was used to.

That record is also sad since it represents the last album before Chris De Garmo left the band. Chris was a great guitarist, a great vocalist (his background vocals were great!) and last, but not least, a great composer. Together with the singer Geoff Tate, he wrote the most beautiful songs of Queensryche.

Micheal Wilton & Chris De Garmo in the good ol' days

Then, comes Q2k, which I didn't even buy: I was too disappointed by the previous record, and without Chris... well... it's not Queensryche anymore. I listened to it later... well... it's not that bad, but I didn't like it either.

Then, Tribe, where Chris rejoined the band for some songs... I bought that one, and I didn't mind it; I didn't love it either, but I can listen to it.

Finally, Operation Mindcrime II! It is no competition with the original Operation Mindcrime but it had some nice songs and the concept was still appealing.

Summarizing, I was really curious about hearing the live version of both Operation Mindcrime and Operation Mindcrime II!

Well... I was disappointed again, about the performance of Operation Mindcrime I. Needless to say: I miss Chris... the recording doesn't sound the same... Actually it sounds worse. I definitely don't like the new guitarist, Mike Stone, I don't like his touch, I don't like his sound. Micheal Wilton is still great but without Chris... Geoff doesn't have that voice anymore and in many high parts he changes the melody lowering down. He's still a great singer, though, and his vocals are nice anyway. But, again... without Chris... :-)

Even the way they rearranged some songs does not convince me much.

I must admit, on the contrary, that the performance of Operation Mindcrime II is far better; probably the band is more comfortable with the new material and they do a good job. I also appreciated the songs much more.

The encores: Walk in the Shadows and (one of my favorite, from Empire) Jet City Woman; needless to say, I was disappointed by the version of Jet City Woman... even the intro theme is not played correctly!

Well... I don't regret buying the cd, but I could do without it ;-)

Still, I'd really love to see this band live again! I saw them live in Milan during the Promised Land tour, and at the Gods of Metal, before Tribe was coming out; in the latter live they only played 30 minutes, which was really a pity... if only Chris rejoined the band! :-)

Dream Theater Live, Paladozza, Bologna, 25 October 2007

On 25 October I went to see a concert of one of my favorite band: Dream Theater! I've been following this band since 1992, when, after listening to their second album Images and Words, I got really astonished by their music (I'm not talking about virtuosities and technique).

I actually lost the count of the times I saw Dream Theater in concert... probably 18 times I guess!

Whenever they come to Italy I do my best to reach the nearest place of their concert, and this time it was Bologna.

It's always a great emotion to see them live, and it's still hardly believable the way they play live!

This is the tour after their last record, Systematic Chaos. I cannot say it's one of my favorites, but I don't mind it, apart some too heavy metal songs... unfortunately they played such songs at this concert... too bad... :-)

They only played one entire song from my favorite album, Images and Words, i.e., Take the time, (they also played one short excerpt of Learning to live during the encore medley), but probably they cannot always play songs from that record.

However, it was a great concert, and it was kind of funny to see Jordan Rudess play the keyboard guitar (keytar)! Great concert, great band, great songs! :-)

Musicals in London (August 2007) - Photos

Hi there! The musical tour is over, and I'm already missing it :-)

Here are the photos of the theaters of the musical I saw (in chronological order). Unfortunately, I can't find the one of Mamma Mia!

Mary Poppins

Les Miserables

Grease

Billy Elliot

Avenue Q

The Sound of Music

The Phantom of the Opera

Wicked

What fabulous days! Hope to get back there soon :-)