From: bcalbrid@nyx.cs.du.edu (bob calbridge) Newsgroups: alt.music.monkees Subject: Nez performance review Date: 17 Jul 1994 15:49:13 -0600 Well, as per a request earlier, I decided to review Nez's concert in Dallas last night. I was fortunate enough to have the foresight to arrive early enough to get a good seat, five rows back, center stage. The concert was, get this, folks..... free. It was a part of the annual Taste of Dallas outing which is currently being held in the West End, Dallas' equivalent of the French Quarter. The seating consisted of standard auditorium setup chairs in an outdoors environment. But there was plenty of standing room with a decent view from pretty much anywhere. Appearing with Michael were the Hellecasters, the only other performers being promoted on Pacific Arts Audio. Scheduled to play at 8PM, there was a delay of about ten minutes. Not much in terms of what can usually be expected. The Hellecasters performed a set of their own. Following this set they accompanied Nez to a series of his best songs. Folks, I've got to tell you, I'm not a major concert goer and I don't pick up on most new groups unless they're extraordinary. After having heard the Hellecasters I can see why Nez is promoting these guys. The Hellecasters is basically a guitar band with three featured lead/rhythm guitars, a bass guitar, a set of drums, and John Hobbs on keyboard. The featured guitars were handled by John Jorgenson, Will Ray and Jerry Donahue. From the liner in the CD I get the impression the official make-up of the band are the three main guitars. The bass play (excuse my poor memory,) I believe, played with Three Dog Night. And you should all know who John Hobbs is. There were no vocals. Most, if not all, of the songs they played were from their first CD, oddly enough called "Return of the Hellecasters" (They went to a studio but took their guitars to Hell.) The songs they played that I can name were Peter Gunn, King Arthur's Dream, Menage: The Beak/The Claw, Rockin' the Dog, and a version of the Orange Blossom Special that was distinctly different from the country standard. It had a tremenduous amount of energy above and way beyond that of the standard version play but you have to work at recognizing it. Did I enjoy it? I've only played it six times in a row this morning. This was the last song they played in their set, although, had the one "gentleman" two rows up had his way, they would have played it between each of the other songs. The mix was eclectic but always had the feel of hard_rock/country in it. In other words, mostly Nezesque. But it was sufficiently different enough to distinguish them in their own right. If I had extra hands I'd give them 10 thumbsups. After about a 20 minute break, Nez himself made his appearance, with that usually shy look, like he can't believe that all of these people were there to see him. He opened with "Laugh Kills Lonesome." Thereafter I can't keep the order straight so I'll just try to enumerate in semi-random order. There were three songs in a row with women's names in them, "Joanne" (my favorite), "Some of Shelly's Blues (my favorite), and "Juliana." Also in the mix were "Silver Moon" (in which he didn't endeavor to hit those high notes), "Grand Ennui", "Total Control", "Tanya", "Formosa Diner" (in keeping with the Taste of Dallas setting), "Light", "Rio", "Different Drum" (my favorite) and probably some others which I can't recall. ("Solong, farewell....", I can't think of the title.) He did come back for an encore in which he sang "Brazil" and finished with a reprise of "Laugh Kills Lonesome." Nez, resplendent in slightly baggy white slacks topped with a loose fitting flowery shirt in a yellow motiff, seemed a bit awkward at times. This was during the instrumental riffs in the songs. It was probably due to the fact that Nez let the Hellecasters handle all of the guitar work, leaving his hands with nothing to do. Those of you who know his music also know that many of his songs have unusually long instrumental exhibitions. Nez never lets the recorded version of his songs dictate how he performs them onstage. "Total Control" was made to seem as if each of the choices in the songs were impromptu. "Joanne" had some delays in the lines that tripped me up, as I was singing along under my breath. :-) The audience was as varied as the songs. At the other end of the row in which I sat was a drunk who got up every 15 minutes to go get two more cans of beer. One girl, standing near the front of the stage, off to the side, was exhibiting her involvement by holding up her right arm and waving it around and occasionally dancing with her boyfriend. The age range of the audience was extreme. But I suppose that the three and four year old kids didn't come out of their own desire. The majority of the front row was taken up by young girls probably around 13 or 14 years old. I was caught up by the fact that Michael had such an effect on girls in this age group. They were swaying back and forth in unison during the singing of "Joanne" and I don't think that they were aware that they were doing it. Another young girl (compared to my 45 year old husk) was the first to jump up after every song and applaud with hands raised in the air. I found myself tapping my foot to every tune, singing along with nearly every song, a tribute (some might say not) to the magic woven by Nez himself and the excellent (a word I don't use in the vernacular) accompaniment of the Hellecasters. Folks, if they come to your area, and you miss this enthralling combination, you have done yourselves a great injustice. It's something you may never get to experience again. -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= - Bob Calbridge aka bcalbrid@nyx.cs.du.edu - = Shingle also hung at rac1154.dsc1@pcmail.dcccd.edu = - Patience is a virtue, not a job requirement - From: missy@owlnet.rice.edu (Melissa L. Martinez) Newsgroups: alt.music.monkees Subject: Re: Nez performance review Date: 18 Jul 1994 17:56:27 GMT > In article <30c90p$q8t@nyx.cs.du.edu>, bcalbrid@nyx.cs.du.edu (bob > calbridge) writes: > > >Well, as per a request earlier, I decided to review Nez's concert > in Dallas last night.<...etc. Well, I can't be nearly that thorough, but I was there as well. Very interesting evening. The Hellecasters were absolutely awesome - I really enjoyed them. My boyfriend noted their lack of vocals, and we discovered why when Nez came on stage. But their guitar talents more than make up for their lack of vocal harmony - could be just poor mixing. Nez was amazing, beautiful, and . . . face it, weird. A very strange mix of songs. I enjoyed Total Control, and was held spellbound by Silver Moon. He really shined on the slower "love songs", and it was great to hear Different Drum again. I kept watching his hands - he REALLY didn't know what to do with them. Reminded me of a couple of Monkee clips where he kept making strange hand gestures. I'd say that the most important thing was that everybody looked like they were really enjoying themselves, which is good if we want to convince him to do this again. Missy ******************************************* Melissa Martinez (missy@owlnet.rice.edu) Rice University Marching Owl Band (MOB) "The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play."