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My Review of the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert


rushfan4life

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Well, I got to the show at about 715pm, took the train into the city and kinda took a chance taking my camera and Im so happy I did. I got inside and was told that the second deck, where my seat was, it was closed off, due to the the fact that I can imagine they didnt sell enough tickets in the middle section. I thought that was very nice of them to upgrade our seats. When the show started, the floor seemed to be half filled and didnt look too good. I personally thought that it didnt sell too well because A. lack of publicity and B. tickets were too much money. But, it all work out.

 

Any who, Tommy Igoe started the show and killed. Im a drummer and Ive never heard of him, but I have all intentions on seeing him and his band at the Birdland in NYC because he was truly amazing. The songs he played were

 

Little Train

Preach and Teach

La Fiesta

 

He was really great. Then following him was John Blackwell. I was looking forward to him because I saw a concert he played with Justin Timberlake on TV and he impressed the hell out of me. Well, he came on stage and BLEW everyone away. He was a very hard hitter but was just amazing. He put out 2 solos. The songs he played were

 

No Jive

Nutville

Mind of Jay

 

He got a standing ovation and was the star of the first half of the show. Then was the Guitar Center 07 drum off winner. Nothing too impressive and quite frankly, he really shouldnt have been on the bill. All he he did was a solo. Nobody in the audience really seemed too impressed.

 

The Terry Bozzio featuring Efrain Toro came on. I was looking forward to seeing Terry as well because of all the praise he recieved but he just didnt seem to fit in. He kinda semed like the odd man out. Dont get me wrong, I thought the Adult Swim Medly was cool, but it just didnt work for him. He played

 

Some Skunk Funk

Venture Brothers Medley w/ Cowboy BeBop

Machine

 

Then the intermission where I picked up my black tshirt and sitting in the audience, there were an abundance of drummers. I just didnt know any of them. I know Carmine Appice was there. And I think I saw Portnoy in the audience as well. But during intermission, John Blackwell was signing autographs and taking pictures to which I told him he stole the show and he signed my program and I took a picture. Really nice guy. Then the second half began.

 

Tommy Igoe came back out again and played The Chicken which was awesome. Tommy also played another song but its not listed in the program so im not sure which one it was. But Tommy was impressive once again.

 

Then Nick Rich came on and you just knew that he didnt fit in but he was trying his best. His tongue hanging out of his mouth was annoying, but I enjyoed his rendition of Mercy Mercy Mercy. Nothing really too impressive but I know this isnt the type of music he plays. He played

 

Beulah Witch

Mercy Mercy Mercy

 

Then a special guest was announced as Peter Erskine came out and played a piece. I dont know what it was, but it wasnt anything special in my opinion.

 

Then Chad "Will Ferrall" Smith came on. His video was by far the best of the night. He came on and said "Well, I was contacted by some canadian drummer whos in a band of his own call Rush and I think if they stick together, they can go places." He was great. Chad never seems to amaze me and put on a great set of his own. He played

 

Dani California

Hocus Pocus (which was awesome)

Birdland (which chad just destroyed and got a standing ovation"

 

Then, the man that everyone waited for, Neil Peart came on stage. Without even touching a stick, he got a standing ovation. He was cracking smiles left and right. At first I thought it wasnt Neil, but when he started to play, everyone knew who it was. Neil started off with Love for Sale which i can see him using in his next solo. Then went to Time Will Tell which was nice, nothing to write home about in my opinion. Then he went into Cottontail/Solo/One O'Clock Jump. He just blew everyone away showing why he is one of the best, if not the greatest drummer alive. He then went into YYZ which was so cool hearing the big band play along with him to this classic. I was kinda hoping that Geddy and Alex might show up, but it was Neils time to shine on his own, so I understand. The final set for Neil goes

 

Love for Sale

Time Will Tell

Cottontail/Solo/One O'Clock Jump

YYZ

 

Then, it was all over. Neil must have sprinted outta there because he wasnt with the bow of all the other drummers. I got real close to the stage. Snapped a couple pictures of the set. Then Nick Rich was throwing pairs of his sticks out and he tossed me one. Which he later signed for me. The sticks are nice with the show printed on them. In all, the show was amazing and I really hope they do it again here next year. Just truly amazing seeing all these fine drummers together. Hope you guys enjoy the videos and pictures.

 

Se they had in the lobby that would be auctioned off

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v674/dadbuyaeboy/Buddy%20Rich%20Memorial%20Show/DSCF0039.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v674/dadbuyaeboy/Buddy%20Rich%20Memorial%20Show/DSCF0062.jpg

 

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v674/dadbuyaeboy/Buddy%20Rich%20Memorial%20Show/DSCF0230.jpg

 

Nick Rich

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DXtjivXcm4

 

Terry Bozzio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNSRSFqPSkA

 

Dani California

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwHEStENrSs

 

Neils Solo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEmDurICcRw

 

YYZ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXhfxHKkM-0

 

Birdland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArAej31Yq98

 

The Chicken

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XfgOc-8IfI

 

John Blackwell Solo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOq714X0yeQ

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Thanks so much for the pics and links! Glad you took the chance and took the camera.

It certainly was a Rush crowd there, wasn't it??

 

And I saw the feed from the Drum Channel when Terry Bozzio left the stage. He was NOT happy with his performance. He said he "choked", and "forgot half of the stuff". He said "I OFFICIALLY SUCK!" But he was laughing, although clearly frustrated.

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smile.gif Thanks so much for the links and those fantastic pics. trink39.gif
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Cool pics and video...isn't that Neil off to the right in the "final bow" pic?....I can't wait to get the DVD of this....Looks like Bozzio used his "sick jazz kit".....I'd take him saying he 'sucked' with a grain of salt....looks like a nice variety of players overall.

 

How was Skunk Funk? The heavy metal Be Bop Brecker version is ridiculous. I still ahve that on vinyl

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QUOTE (rushfan4life @ Oct 19 2008, 02:13 PM)
The Terry Bozzio featuring Efrain Toro came on. I was looking forward to seeing Terry as well because of all the praise he recieved but he just didnt seem to fit in. He kinda semed like the odd man out. Dont get me wrong, I thought the Adult Swim Medly was cool, but it just didnt work for him. He played

Some Skunk Funk
Venture Brothers Medley w/ Cowboy BeBop
Machine

RF4L - Thank you so much for your review and uploading those pics. That was fantastic!!

 

I would have loved to have heard the Cowboy Bebop song played. I love that tune.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to do all that. Wow. smile.gif

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QUOTE
Any who, Tommy Igoe started the show and killed. Im a drummer and Ive never heard of him, but I have all intentions on seeing him and his band at the Birdland in NYC because he was truly amazing.

 

Tommy is one of the most incredible drummers I've ever seen and I've been a fan of his for a long time. I highly recommend his instructional DVD 'Groove Essentials'.. Not only is it chock-full of great lessons, it's also highly entertaining, as Igoe is a natural teacher with an easy conversational style and a pretty good sense of humor. Here's one of my favorite clips:Tommy on the Brazilian groove.

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QUOTE (rushfr:CP @ Oct 20 2008, 08:54 AM)
Neil must have sprinted outta there because he wasnt with the bow of all the other drummers



I would have been disappointed if this were true but you can see him in the picture, far right.

yea, youre right. i didnt even notice him there. i must have missed him. the final bow seemed kinda last second because duringYYZ john blackwell had to run from the audience and onstage. thanks for pointing that out to me

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I went to ths show and blindly scrolled to the bottom of this thread to post my "review". It contains some good & some bad, but I don't want anyone to think of this as being a "fanboi" or "flamer" for posting my opinions. Some of these may be the same as what was already read, and some might be completely different. I didn't read the posts here or any reviews so I could post my 0.02 for anyone who might think of buying the DVD or attnd a future show.

 

The show overall was pretty good with some fine drumming , great and intriguing solos, and some great performances by the band.

 

The first drummer Tommy Igoe (sp?) who I believe plays with this orchestra or some version of it on a regular basis, seemed comfortable in his surroundings and knew the material well. He had the benefit of working with these arrangements and musicians for quite some time, and it was apparent as he and the band played off each other quite well. His jazz techniques were refined, and was a drummer that any one of us would be impressed with if we stumbled across in any musical setting.

 

Mr Blackwell followed and the sound turned funky to play to his strengths. It was still "Jazzy" but definitely a more modern sound. His flamboyance intrigued the crowd, and his speed and chops were definitely impressive. He supplied us with an original composition giving the orchestra (Most of it) a break which relied on Electric guitar, electric bass, Keyboards playing through a funk song. The soloing was over a difficult to count staccato repeating pattern (At least difficult to the keyboard player) resembling a simplified "My Old School" Steely Dan type outro, but more busy on the drums obviously. Mr. Blackwell ended with a nice touch, dedicating his performance to his deceased daughter, and gave proper respect to Buddy Rich, showing his genuine humility, seconds after an attention-getting spotlight on himself during his solo. He seemed nervous at times with the band, but he carried himself more than well enough to earn the applause he received.

 

A 21 year old winner of a drum contest played a blistering and entertaining solo without the band, while people set up Bozzios trimmed down, but still monstrous set. I don't know if the still unknown drummer (Not for long, I think though ) will make the DVD, but it was a delight to watch.

 

Bozzio came on next and even with good seats and video screens, I couldn't get a good view of him playing. His muted cymbals lacked the attack, and the added bongo percussion player made it difficult to hear what he was playing half the time and what busy-ness was attributable to his co-percussionist. He played compositions which seemed less big band than I expected, but I waited to see the "master of his domain" play his massive (yet stripped down by about 75%) set and experience his trademark interjections of melody into a drum solo, a medium usually tied to exclusively rhythm. It didn't come. Bozzio rarely played by his lonesome without the other percussionist (from what I recall) and only had a few breaks which wowed the people. He did have by far the fastest double bass rolls of the night. Overall, I was underwhelmed, but chalked it up to someone being outside of his normal genre, even though he arranged the songs, and we went into intermission on a high energy level.

 

After the break ,we saw Tommy Igoe play again, and it dawned on me: He is the only jazz drummer here tonight. He is the only one who plays this stuff for a living and the only one who we are going to see tonight. (I was wrong, as Peter Erskine sat in for a song later, effectively keeping time mostly). The band was in full swing and I actually said to my fellow traveller "Wow. I want to go to Birdland and see this guy actually play again." He was that good and the band was in great form. Unfortunately, and I didn't know it at the time, but that was as high as the room would get.

 

Nick Rich followed with his Scott Evil impersonation, and knowing he could never fill the biggest shoes in the room (who could?), he tried to put his Generation Y Drumming spin on it, and it was fine. Great? No. Good enough? Yes. The Flamboyance (the gold sparkly "Born Rich" rap style shirt) seemed a little out of place in a room full of people being reverent, but maybe I am just getting old.

 

Chad Smith followed and threw what remained of anything "Jazz" out the window. I was not a fan going in but my fellow traveller was, so I anticipated to see what brought him to this show tonight. A Muzak version of Dani California, and an underperforming of "Hocus Pocus" ( I joked to the person in the seat next to me beforehand upon inspecting the program, if he was going to be playing the song "Hocus Focus" by "Focus" which generated a laugh, and then proved true, as he actually did the Focus song.) Apparently having Will Lee's Late Show arrangements available made for some interesting choices. Chad didn;t even outplay the fills on the record, which made me wonder if we should have been paying to see the drummer from Focus instead. Chad was funny, flamboyant, which may or not make its way onto the DVD and seemed happy, if not nervous and out of his element, which made him completely in the norm of the drummers tonight. He ended with a 9th grade jazz band staple of Birdland, meaning all songs he played were straight 8th notes rock feels and no shuffles, further throwing the big band jazz feel to the backburner.

 

Neil led off with a ramble to the crowd via video, as many others did beforehand, and then played. He pretty much kept time for the first half, and did a nice solo. He switched bass players, bringing out Jeff Berlin for Will Lee and Jeff gave us a different feel for the second song, which differed completely from Will's style. Neil still seemed a bit passive - keeping time mostly, his snare was mostly grace notes with no real snare cracks or rimshots accenting too much. He had a few smiles, but it was business as usual for him. We recognized most of his solo, but it was still quite impressive. Was he the best of the night? No, Not by far, but not the worst either. In my head, I was waiting to see the new Neil, the one who previously underwhelmed at the show over a decade ago in NYC. The one who studied with Freddie, the one who incorporated jazz in his solos - but he mostly played pretty limply and passively. It could be seen to a superfan as "respectful" of the band, but in my opinion, they were laying low for him, and he seemed underprepared and nervous to, or gulp, unable to turn it up a notch. Even the songs that Neil plays with Rush to the pre recorded big band parts were played more passive then he plays every night to a tape. He could have added a little bit of drama or flare to the moment, but opted to lay back. Thankfully there were no drum battles this time but they did have YYZ listed in the program, so many were on the edge of their seats. Well, I appreciate Rush more now, as some of the musicians had some trouble with it. The guitarist was non existant, rendering himself to playing a Long train running type of sixteenth notes later throughout. When it worked, it was Really , really cool, but some flubs made me angry that the band seemed underprepared for the finale of a 3 hour show. What should have been a showstopper wound up being passable, muted effort by the band.

 

Overall, it was worth the price of admission, but I wuld have liked more jazz drummers to do justice to the music and legacy of Buddy Rich. An outro video reminded us how energetic Buddy was, and how his bands cynergy seemed to raise the energy in the room. This rarely got to the "stompin" level but it was still worth the trip to see my (aging) hero perform live.

 

As for the theater, it was OK. My first row dead center first mezzanine seats were not there, as the massive projector was set up where my seats shoue have been. A call to the usher led her to tell me to "Sit anywhere, its not sold out." I only bring this up in case someone goes to this show next year or any and thinks to pay for good seats - they might not be there.

 

Sorry if this seems like one big complaint. It was not meant to be. I assume many saw the show online, so listing songs would be worthless. It was a nice evening and the mood was one of happiness. Everyone seemed relatively satisfied and I look forward to his next show in another 15 to 20 years. smile.gif

 

 

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Bozzio...? Wanker?.....I don't think so. And honestly I can't believe anyone would complain about his kit ...after all Gregg Bissonette had a similar sized kit during the original BR Concert...no one complained then? Unlike ALOT of players with large kits at least Bozzio USEs the stuff he has....with an actual purpose other than roundhouse fills.... He appeared to have about 5-6 toms a snare ...and whoops two bass drums ( which I suspect is where everyone thinks it's so big)....well I'd bet more then 50% of the other guys played a double pedal which is the same thing.

 

Believe me I understand the idea of guys putting up tons of s*it to look impressive but Bozzio is NOT one the guys I would ever accuse of doing so. Mike Portnoy...?? but I digress.

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QUOTE (theredtamasrule @ Oct 21 2008, 04:09 PM)
I think it would be more fun if all the drummers used the same kit, like the one Buddy used. Would make more sense at, you know, a Buddy Rich Memorial...

A drum battle would be cool too.

I don't think there was a drum battle this time because of what happened at the last show with Will Calhoun and Neil. The agreement was to trade 3's and 4's, and Will made it his mission to blow Neil away with his much larger kit.

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QUOTE (Marathonist @ Oct 21 2008, 04:14 PM)
QUOTE (theredtamasrule @ Oct 21 2008, 04:09 PM)
I think it would be more fun if all the drummers used the same kit, like the one Buddy used. Would make more sense at, you know, a Buddy Rich Memorial...

A drum battle would be cool too.

I don't think there was a drum battle this time because of what happened at the last show with Will Calhoun and Neil. The agreement was to trade 3's and 4's, and Will made it his mission to blow Neil away with his much larger kit.

What is the real story behind this?..

 

Did Neil just have a bad night or did Calhoun just smoke him outright?

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QUOTE (Lamneth08 @ Oct 21 2008, 04:18 PM)
QUOTE (Marathonist @ Oct 21 2008, 04:14 PM)
QUOTE (theredtamasrule @ Oct 21 2008, 04:09 PM)
I think it would be more fun if all the drummers used the same kit, like the one Buddy used. Would make more sense at, you know, a Buddy Rich Memorial...

A drum battle would be cool too.

I don't think there was a drum battle this time because of what happened at the last show with Will Calhoun and Neil. The agreement was to trade 3's and 4's, and Will made it his mission to blow Neil away with his much larger kit.

What is the real story behind this?..

 

Did Neil just have a bad night or did Calhoun just smoke him outright?

Yea, what is the story about this drum battle I hear about. Ive never actually heard it before. Anyone care to share?

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I didn't see it, and it's not on the Burning For Buddy DVD. Some say Neil got crushed, and others here have said no, Neil was the real victor in what turned out to be a battle of class (Neil) and poor sportsmanship (Calhoun). Neil had the smaller kit, much like the one he used Saturday night, and Calhoun had his much larger concert kit. It depends on who's giving the review.
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