Saw Sons of Apollo this past Saturday night. Fantastic show. As a fun, Saturday night rock show, it doesn't get much better. Granted, I am a fan of their album. But even if I were just lukewarm on it, I would have loved this show.
I echo everything in Samsara's review. He nailed it. And let me also just say that, with no disrespect intended toward Dream Theater at all, Lines in the Sand has not been performed that well in a long, long, LONG time. It may be the best live performance of the song I have ever personally witnessed.
If I were doing a full review of the show, it would be overwhelmingly positive. So let me just focus on the couple of things that I did not like, just to change it up a bit.
-First, the instrumentals/solo spots. I make it no secret that I generally don't care for instrumental songs as much as songs with vocals. I tend to like songs with good instrumental passages. But purely instrumental songs can be harder to relate to and like. Couple that with the fact that I don't like Opus Maximus very much and don't feel it is a strong instrumental at all. So, everybody got a solo spot. Mike's was a fairly shot and sweet drum break that was part of a song (I forget which one now). Its brevity and tastefulness actually served it well. Ron did his Pink Panther thing. That's kinda his thing, so I expected it. But it also wasn't too long, and was fun and not too "out there." Jeff's vocal solo spot with the Save Me cover was interesting and different, and the crowd participation part kept us interested. But after three pretty good solo spots, the show really did NOT need Derek and Billy solo spots. And both of them were VERY long and drawn out. I completely lost interest and just wished they would be over. By the time they finally got to Opus Maximus late in the set, I was done with instrumental stuff and just wanted the next song. It was cool that the band tried to give us our money's worth by playing a long set. But then again, it did feel like it was packed with some filler that I not only could do without, but actively wished they had skipped over.
-Jeff's stage banter was juvenile and profanity laden EVERY. SINGLE. TIME he opened his mouth. It was disappointing to hear him talk with the vocabulary of a 12-year old trying to sound cool and tough. I mean, he was obviously trying to hype up the crowd. And overall, he was successful. But those of us who may be a bit more discerning--or at least, just speaking for this particular fan--I came away severely disappointed with how he presented himself as a front man in that regard.
Those two gripes aside, I again want to come back to what I said initially. This was a fantastic show, and I would HIGHLY recommend seeing these guys given the opportunity. It was one of the most fun shows I have been to in a long time, and the band was super tight and played at a high level.
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Topic: Sons of Apollo (feat. Portnoy & Sherinian) (Read 467899 times)