Nearfest 2006

[progdirjim(Admin)]

Originally Posted by Rick and Roll

Karn Evil 9 # 1 Part Two was just ok

My brother and I ALMOST walked out after Karn Evil 9. Bonilla's voice wasn't quite warmed up, he fumbled the outro on one of the leads, and there was a timing glitch from the drummer at one point. Subtle mistakes, but I've seen ELP a bunch of times. Iwas quite dissappointed. Fortunately, as Rick says, they got much better quickly. I too was pleased with the song selection (some gems I've never seen live) and new arrangements.

Did a Marc Bonilla solo number that has just killer guitar work. Bonilla told a funny story of when Emerson saw Bonilla in a club, watched him play and approached him to collaborate on his song he was playing. So Bonilla got a big laugh when he said "I took him under my wing"...

I liked the line, after Emerson said "I'd like to play on it" when Bonilla said "So what have you done - is this your first gig?"

Emerson his repartee between songs was funny.

This was perhaps the best part of not having Greg Lake - Keith spoke more than I've ever seen him, and while he can be a bit arrogant, he's mostly pretty engaging. Also, Bonilla is a better guitarist than Lake. The vocals weren't bad, but Greg has the edge there.

He was so good. And how do you play standing on the other side of the keyboard? (He did that on a part of one song).

Too bad you haven't seen the whole routine with the hammond, where he stands it on edge, spins the damn thing, and ends up laying on stage, with the Hammond on TOP of him, and he's playing over the top/back of it. I'll have to see if I can find a video of that somewhere - it made what he did at NF seem like child's play!

[Rick and Roll]

Originally Posted by progdirjim

Too bad you haven't seen the whole routine with the hammond, where he stands it on edge, spins the damn thing, and ends up laying on stage, with the Hammond on TOP of him, and he's playing over the top/back of it. I'll have to see if I can find a video of that somewhere - it made what he did at NF seem like child's play!

I have seen that. But I have to give him a pass this time given his age and prior health issues.

Good point about Lake - he's one of my favorite singers. There were signs held up of "Greg who" which wasn't fair to either one of them. Again, the advantage of guitar and bass came through.