From: djb1@kepler.unh.edu (David J. Blezard)
Subject: Tangerine Dream Concert, Boston
Organization: Zoology Department, University of New Hampshire
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 21:57:27 GMT

The following is a review of last night's (10-8-92) Tangerine Dream
concert at Berklee Performance Center in Boston, MA.  It was written
mostly by Alex Doyle (add@kepler.unh.edu) with additions by myself.
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	Summary: Good concert, 2 encores. Started ok, slowed down by
the end of the first set. Second set was great and the encores were
better. They played in the style of their albums after Optical Race. I
recognized some tracks, which were played differently from the stuff
on the album, and 60% of the music was new to me. (I've got about
20-25 TD albums, all picked up in the US.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
	Tangerine Dream's Rockoon show at the Berklee Performance
Center in Boston went over fairly well, at least for myself and the 3
other people who went with me. They played stuff from Rockoon- at
least 3 tracks, (Rockoon is the only track I can remember by name. I
think they played track 6 (Funky Atlanta ?)  but the name escapes me
at the moment.) They played 2 tracks from Melrose - Melrose being one
and the other being, I think, Three Bikes In the Sky. The only 2 other
tracks I could recognize were Love On A Real Train - from the Risky
Business soundtrack (although this has been recycled in the Miracle
Mile soundtrack and at least one other), and their final encore, which
is at the bottom of this with a spoiler warning. The reason for this
is that it completely took me by surprise and others will probably
want to be surprised as well.
	They played 2 sets with a 15 min intermission. The whole
concert lasted 2.5 - 3 hours. The group was: Edgar and Jerome Froese
along with two others---A woman who played keyboards, flute, alto sax
and saxophone at various points, and an electric guitarist (Doug
Cameron?). Edgar and Jerome stuck to their keyboards, although they
each played guitar once during the concert and Jerome was playing
electric drums for the second encore.
	The special effects consisted of lighting and a fog machine.
The lights flashed and tracked everywhere (sometimes right into the
eyes of the audience, creating a lovely purple afterglow), but were
pretty impressive for being just lights. They changed colors,
projected patterns onto the walls (nothing too complex), and did a few
minor effects like repeatedly tracking along a stretch of wall (sort
of like the electron beam in a TV) . Although I'd been hoping for a
laser show, the lighting wasn't bad and I think it reached the limit
of what can be accomplished with high tech spotlights.
	The first set started out with some energy (one of the tracks
from Rockoon ) but got somewhat lackluster by the intermission. Part
of this was that there didn't seem to be much energy in the group. The
percussion was all sequenced (except for part of the second encore)
and Edgar and Jerome didn't seem to be too animated at their keyboards
- most of the time it seemed that they were holding down a few keys
for a second, then holding down a few other keys and so on. Not the
kind of dynamic playing I was looking for, and I was afraid that it
was going to be like what I'd heard of their Optical Race tour: 'the
sit back and let the computer play our instruments for us tour'.
	About half to 2/3's of the tracks I recognized were played in
the first set. The remainder was completely new to me, although most
of it was in the style of the stuff they've done since Optical Race.
The album tracks they played were definitely different, and in most
cases, longer than the stuff on the album. I probably should have
picked up a program, but after getting the T-shirt ($23) I didn't have
the money ($15).
	The second set was much more animated and ended with Rockoon.
It seemed that they were doing more with their keyboards and their
energy level had jumped.
	The first encore lasted about 10 - 15 minutes. It was good
for the same reasons the second set was, and seemed to have a bit more
energy. So after some misgivings about the first set, I liked it.

 +
+++
 +  -Alex
		
[I just want to add my thoughts in brief.  I agree basically with Alex
that the first half showed off their talent, but was somewhat dull.
The only interesting parts were the guitar and sax because you knew
for sure that they were actually begin played.  The second set,
however, made up for it!  Both the music played and the performance
were greatly improved.  I didn't care anymore about the drums and
repetitive portions begin pre-programmed.  Everything else
overshadowed that.  And it just kept getting better from Love on a
Real Train to Rockoon and on into both encores.

So, was it worth the money, time, and driving in Boston?  Well, if it
had all been like the first half, I'd say no, but overall, it
definitely was.		-DJB]

------SPOILER WARNING------
The 2nd encore, for those of you who don't want to be surprised, is
below.







































	They played a sizziling rendition of Purple Haze, by Jimi
Hendrix. No lyrics, but it ROCKED!
--
  Why???  Because we can!     -------------     David Blezard         
   _                   //     |Div        |     Zoology Department
  / \                 //      |    er     |     University of New Hampshire
 (   )            \\ //       |       Down|     djb1@kepler.unh.edu   
  /_\    Acer      \X/        -------------     d_blezard@unhh.unh.edu