I've been a fan of RT for years - my first discovery of RT was picking up the End of the Rainbow album which featured R & L doing Hokey Pokey. I picked up most of R & L albums from delete bins which I used to live off of in my student days. I enjoye his acoustic work as well as is electric work, especially the g,v version of Calvary Cross.
I haven't been to a full-blown electric experience for years, I can't recall the last one. But I have been to numerous unplugged-type concerts of late. I've had the pleasure of seeing artists up close and personal. Stephen Fearing in a 400 seat auditorium, or Canada's very own doomer & gloomer, Garnet Rogers in a 250 seat auditorium. I've been to a couple of Garnet's concerts, sitting in a front row, and he's just phenomenal on electric or acoustic guitar, and of course fiddle. (wasn't this list looking for a suggested fiddler for RT recently? It interesting trying to image Garnet's bass vocals, guitar and fiddle work alongside RT). As well, in terms of sound textures, I've seen the Barra McRankins several times. The McNeills offer more fiddle and squeeze-box then the Rankins, but both use a broad range of instruments.
I've seen RT on the big band H of K tour and on the Amnesia solo tour. Both were phenomenal, the textures and range of the band were a delight as was the stunning solo work for Amnesia. I recently found the tape of the radio show of the Amnesia show and it's marvelous. Obviously, RT can be a lot more relaxed and enjoy more audience interaction when he's solo rather than with a band.
So I was really excited to see RT, and it was great to see him. I was amazed at the range of material he selected: Bright Lights, Valerie, Back Street Slide, and of course , Hokey Pokey. Andrew W's list includes Mascara Tears which I don't remember, but that was the only piece from Mirror Blue.
The band was amazing, they worked brilliantly together. Dave and Danny holding the songs together while Pete and Richard went nuts. The highlights for me was the acoustic work, I haven't heard Vincent live, and it was a joy to hear. The old trick of re-tuning the guitar to provide a bass line was marvelous (I'm running out of adverbs/adjectives). I found the acoustic work allowed more of the song textures to come through.
More Canadian content: I've always wondered what Preston Manning would look like on a stage with a guitar and now that I've seen PZ, the question has been answered :-)
As I said at the beginning, I haven't been to a "Rock" concert in years, and I found that the textures were lost with the electric work, I had a hard time hearing PZ's contributions when DT, DM and RT were going full blast. All the fun and wit in Hokey Pokey was lost in the mix as far as I'm concerned, it works better acoustically (with a squeeze box of course).
I also found that, either because of the hall or because of the sound mix, Richard's vocal were lost/muddy/unclear. The impact of PITP and SOTL was lessened because I could not here RT's vocals clearly.
Was it me or was the opening riffs of Bright Lights (I think) from Fast Food?
I look forward to the next time RT & DT tour, hopefully it won't require an 8 hr drive to see them!
So I'd say it was a good concert, the solo's, both with and without the voltage were great.
It was great to meet Andrew W (briefly) before the show, sorry we didn't get to chat longer. After the show, we had to rescue two spaniels that were locked up in our van for several hrs.
Cheers...ROK (Kinsman, Robert)