From: lizzit@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Lizzette Xixxo)
Subject: Re: FREE TRIBE CONCERT B^) .....WAY COOL!!!!
Keywords: FREE FREE FREE
Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 17:12:00 GMT

In article <dchou.713923060@husc8> dchou@husc8.harvard.edu (David Chou) writes:
>So folx around Boston, what did you think of the concert?
>I thought that the Cliffs were pretty darn good.  

i'm biased (cause i like cliffs alot), but they were okay.  i also saw them
@ avalon 2 wks ago, and they played the same set plus a few more tunes.  the
new tunes show alot of influence from braindance, more specifically soundman
ross humphreys.  the guitars are trying to get hardrock/psychedelic and the
drums are trying to move out of that one special cliffs beat.  they r also 
trying to not sound so much like u2.  the result is sort of mishy-mashy.  my
suspician is that the cd they are recording (3 wks starting tomorrow in
memphis with ross) will allow them 2 fully explore the new songs and hone them
to NEAR perfection (3 wks isn't long enuf).  the best time 2 hear the new 
songs will probably be november's live shows.  ross did an excellent job 
mixing the concert.  eric (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) was nervous --
there were at least 500 people in the audience -- and overworked himself,
occassionally running out of breath and thus singing offkey hear and there.
for the most part, it was an excellent performance with work needed primarily
on the songs.

>Of course, I really
>came to see Tribe, who were rocking at first; however, it was hard to 
>concentrate on the band when I had to watch my head to make sure that 
>some body surfing dude didn't land on my head :)  Nonetheless, a great 
>show, with Janet in that black outfit dancing her slo-motion dervishes.

i've seen the the ladies' outfits a year ago at last summer's avalon shows.
it pleased me to see them wearing the same things rather than trying to outdo
themselves.  the black outfit is well-suited to show off her stagemotions for
those of us in the back row.  large, billowing white sleeves emphasize languid
artful hand sweeps, while the black vest and pants help shape her silhouette.
all very effective.  the keyboardist's dress is quirky, matching her stage 
persona.

as for the music, the mix was terrible to begin with -- no vocals, and lousy
eq for everything else.  by the 3rd song it was mostly straightened out as
far as relative volumes, but the eq was never quite perfect.  of course, the
rain sleeting down on the soundman/soundboard mite have something 2 do w/it.
the soundman worked under a tarp which was laid out over the board, with a 
second man holding it up high enuf 4 him to work underneath.  i don't think
this is a good enuf excuse for the poor opening sound, as he should have 
written down the board positions from the soundcheck.  i was less impressed
w/tribe than i was at last summers avalon show, but i am fairly sure the
rain beating down on my friends and me had something 2 do w/it.  janet lavalley
(lead vocals/rhythm guitar) and the keyboardist were/are better performers
than the rest of their band.  there were not too many times that a player did
a riff or groove that impressed me.  their cd has excellent versions of many
of the songs they played yesterday.

on the whole, i find cds/albums often better than live bands due to the 
freedom to multi-track, overdub, and punch-in/retake.  the polished productions
become unattainable for most bands to reproduce live.  few bands have the
balls &/or the creative skills to then re-write the music for live instrument-
ation.  

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