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January 25, 2005
The Classical Mystery Tour, Arlene Schnitzer Hall, January 24th
Oh my God, oh my god. I'm free! Free from editing! Free to express my hyper-wordy soliloquies and scatter grammar! Free to use nine too many exclamation points per entry and most of all... free to write about artists that have already been written about or that DON'T have some new release out that everybody is shitting themselves over. Thank you Team Tinnitus for pulling me into the world of unpaid and lightly read blogging! Okay, enough of that. I'm just so excited to write about the one thing I love doing, and finally it has a purpose for humanity: drinking, showing, and blowing.
Anyway, so last night I saw The Beatles. Yup, every single one of them was there, even the dead ones and best of all they were backed by the masterly Oregon Symphony. Okay, so maybe they weren't the Beatles and they had fake British accents but MAN, I've never seen such a worthy cover band in my life, which is probably why they are being paid upwards of a grand each a night. Not only did they produce a sound that mimicked the best band in rock history but they looked like The Beatles too (facial structure and all), which is just bordering on mind-blow territory. Richard Harrison was acting all shy and slightly turning away from mic, while McCartney held his guitar at exactly the right height and his hair flopped from side to side exactly like the old footage, the only thing I had to hold on to until now. Luckily, being seated in the upper-upper balcony (but tickets were still more than a Modest Mouse show) in conjunction with the ensemble's ephemeral Beatles' era costume and wig changes was enough to tether me to reality land. They went from tight black suits to Sgt. Pepper uniforms, to mature-solo get-ups in pace with the music they were covering.
The first set was much more enjoyable than the second, the highlight being "Eleanor Rigby" and "Hard Day's Night". After intermission, too much Paul McCartney solo snooze territory was covered and the man who was "playing his part" probably had the least convincing vocals of them all due to his generous use of vibrato. Lennon however, was uncomfortably close to his incarnate, even in his speaking. Imagine dedicating your entire life and being to being someone else so much to the point where it became reality. The second set was more than redeemed with a beautiful orchestral rendition of "Imagine". Of course, after two standing ovations and one left to go, the closing "Twist and Shout" encouraged the asses of the entire Oregon Symphony out of their seats in a genuine attempt to twist about and take advantage of the only opportunity to do the Watusi on the Arlene Schnitzer stage... except this one cellist, he wasn't having that shit.
Drinks: 2 Stoli-Sodas 1 Stoli-Tonic --------
Posted by at January 25, 2005 3:39 PM
