Post by Laura--I wuv u all :) on Feb 6, 2006 21:00:23 GMT -5
Well where do I start...Alan Parsons and his band were at the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, MO (not far from where I live in St. Louis County) for 2 shows, and I went to both, and also had a backstage pass! (thanks to the nice people on his mailing list at roadkill.com)
I had a fabulous time!!!! Both concerts were great, and Alan and the guys were all really nice. Most of them take turns singing lead vocals (including Alan himself, who sang "Don't Answer Me" and a few other songs). Anyway, Alan sings and plays guitar & keyboards; then there's P.J. Olsson on vocals, guitar & percussion; Godfrey Townsend on vocals, lead guitar & keyboards; Manny Focorazzo on background vocals and keyboards; John Montagna on vocals and bass; and Steve Murphy on vocals and drums. They really put on a great show--or should I say 2 great shows, since I was there for both! Got their autographs too--I had Alan autograph my copy of "Eye in the Sky", PJ autographed my copy of his solo album "Words for Living", and the rest of the guys autographed a piece of paper that I'm going to put with the live DVD from Madrid when I get it. (They were all at the merchandise table signing stuff after the 2nd show, but I didn't want to brave the loooooooooong line, and besides, I already had all their signatures by then. So I will just order it via the good ol' e-mail.
)
Anyway, here's a setlist--I don't remember the exact order, and some of the songs in the 2nd show were different from the 1st:
-I Robot (1st show); Return to Tunguska (2nd show)
-Damned if I Do
-Don't Answer Me
-Breakdown/The Raven (medley)
-Time
-Psychobabble
-I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You
-Don't Let it Show (1st show); Old and Wise (2nd show)
-We Play the Game
-Prime Time
-Sirius/Eye in the Sky
-Games People Play (this was the 2nd show encore; I don't know if you could really call it an encore during the 1st show because they hadn't left the stage)
During the 2nd show, their versions of "Psychobabble" and "Prime Time" were longer than they had been in the first show. (Since "Psychobabble" happens to be my favorite song of Alan's, that REALLY rocked my world, although the shorter version in the 1st show was great too.) BTW, you may be wondering why the sets were so short--casino shows tend to be like that, I'm told, because the casinos want everyone to go back and lose more money.
I liked the 2nd show a little better than the 1st (although both were great), because of the longer versions of the songs mentioned in above, and because the crowd was more into it. One thing I liked better about the 1st show, though, is that they did "Don't Let it Show" and PJ did an amazing job of singing it. I do wish they had left that in the 2nd show.
Afterwards, I hung out and talked to some of the band and their entourage some more, and I talked to a bunch of people I know from the mailing list. I did spend some time in the casino, but didn't gamble--just hung around and talked to people and walked around (that place is humongous, so I'm sure I got LOTS of exercise).
All in all it was a great evening!
I had a fabulous time!!!! Both concerts were great, and Alan and the guys were all really nice. Most of them take turns singing lead vocals (including Alan himself, who sang "Don't Answer Me" and a few other songs). Anyway, Alan sings and plays guitar & keyboards; then there's P.J. Olsson on vocals, guitar & percussion; Godfrey Townsend on vocals, lead guitar & keyboards; Manny Focorazzo on background vocals and keyboards; John Montagna on vocals and bass; and Steve Murphy on vocals and drums. They really put on a great show--or should I say 2 great shows, since I was there for both! Got their autographs too--I had Alan autograph my copy of "Eye in the Sky", PJ autographed my copy of his solo album "Words for Living", and the rest of the guys autographed a piece of paper that I'm going to put with the live DVD from Madrid when I get it. (They were all at the merchandise table signing stuff after the 2nd show, but I didn't want to brave the loooooooooong line, and besides, I already had all their signatures by then. So I will just order it via the good ol' e-mail.
) Anyway, here's a setlist--I don't remember the exact order, and some of the songs in the 2nd show were different from the 1st:
-I Robot (1st show); Return to Tunguska (2nd show)
-Damned if I Do
-Don't Answer Me
-Breakdown/The Raven (medley)
-Time
-Psychobabble
-I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You
-Don't Let it Show (1st show); Old and Wise (2nd show)
-We Play the Game
-Prime Time
-Sirius/Eye in the Sky
-Games People Play (this was the 2nd show encore; I don't know if you could really call it an encore during the 1st show because they hadn't left the stage)
During the 2nd show, their versions of "Psychobabble" and "Prime Time" were longer than they had been in the first show. (Since "Psychobabble" happens to be my favorite song of Alan's, that REALLY rocked my world, although the shorter version in the 1st show was great too.) BTW, you may be wondering why the sets were so short--casino shows tend to be like that, I'm told, because the casinos want everyone to go back and lose more money.
I liked the 2nd show a little better than the 1st (although both were great), because of the longer versions of the songs mentioned in above, and because the crowd was more into it. One thing I liked better about the 1st show, though, is that they did "Don't Let it Show" and PJ did an amazing job of singing it. I do wish they had left that in the 2nd show.
Afterwards, I hung out and talked to some of the band and their entourage some more, and I talked to a bunch of people I know from the mailing list. I did spend some time in the casino, but didn't gamble--just hung around and talked to people and walked around (that place is humongous, so I'm sure I got LOTS of exercise).
All in all it was a great evening!