Great show last night! Here are my brief (or not so brief) thoughts:
Showed up at the Palace Theatre around 5:30, the great thing about the Palace is that its not in downtown Pittsburgh, its in a suburb of Pittsburgh called Greensburg which is, in all actuality, a good 30 minutes away from the actual city of Pittsburgh. The reason this is a great thing is because of parking. Because this venue is in a smaller town, there is free parking in a nice, big parking garage only a block away from the venue. Its been a few years since I've seen a show at the Palace and didn't remember the free, convenient parking from before, so that was a nice surprise.
I met up with my buddy and headed over to the venue to grab our tickets from Will Call. Once we had those in hand we went to a restaurant/bar that was literally right next door to the venue. Good food and good beer, super convenient location! We ate and drank our fill and then got in line, as it was around 7 o'clock and the doors were opening.
We headed inside, the staff at the venue were great about getting everyone in quickly and helping people find their seats. Our seats were up in the top balcony section. The Palace Theatre is set up like most theater-style venues with a first level and a balcony level above it. The place filled up nicely and by the time 8 o'clock rolled around, the balcony section was pretty packed, with only a hand full of empty seats here and there. I didn't have full view of the bottom level, but it looked packed as well and I believe the venue's website had indicated that there were no remaining seats, so it was pretty much a sold out show.
The band kicked on right at 8, led in by that fantastic video from Blob! They hammered straight through the usual set for the tour and everyone was in top form. This show was their 4th night in a row, but everyone in the band, JLB included, were fantastic. Highlights from the first set, for me, included ToT and BAI. All the songs were enjoyable, but those two were jaw-dropping live.
Then intermission hit, with the YouTube videos, which I loved, before entering into the Awake section of the show. I really enjoyed this group of songs, JLB sounded great on all these tunes. SDV worked really well in person, and the ending section was really nice. IT was insanely great, and then the SFAM encore killed as well.
Overall, the show was a great experience. James was in top form, sounding absolutely phenomenal. JP was amazing, every time I watch him play I am in disbelief of his skill and command of his instrument. JR was flawless, as usual and did a great job with SDV. JMX was solid and rocking all night and seemed to be really into it. MM was amazing to watch as well. I really appreciate some of his DT12 drum parts more after seeing them live and his work on MP's original drum parts was perfect. He stayed true to the parts, but still added his own flare. And for the record, his drum kit sounded great. The snare was nice and cutting, the kicks were full, the toms sounded big and the cymbals weren't harsh to the ears at all. Great drum sound at this show.
Which leads me to the end of this long, long post. The sound and production. The sound at the show, from my seat up in the balcony, was beautiful. The mix was good, there were a few things I could nit pick on, but overall, I could hear the parts I needed to hear, when I needed to hear them. Personally, I could have used a hair more kick drum and JMX, but overall the mix was good. The overall volume was also surprisingly comfortable. Again, I was up in the balcony, and I know from experience, the people on the first floor were probably getting a different perspective on the sound, but I didn't wear ear plugs and the volume was comfortable for me. At no point did I feel things were too loud and my ears aren't ringing today. But the volume was still big enough and full enough to lose yourself in the music, so it was great. The lighting on this tour, along with the stage design and video work is the best staging I have ever seen DT with. It simply was amazing.
Thats my story, I'm one happy guy, sorry this post became so long, but there was a lot to tell! Great show, great experience, great band!
Topic: 2014-04-02 - Palace Theatre - Greensburg, PA (Read 8720 times)
