Belew at the Park West

[Guest hectorp2]

I took my son to see Adrian Belew at the Park West in Chicago (very nice venue).

Fortunately the format was a power trio with Mike Hodges on drums and Mike Gallagher on Bass (who looked like a Hells Angels bouncer)...I was afraid he might just come with an acoustic guitar as some people do when they come to the Park West.

It was a great show. He's certainly mastered his own idiom of guitar playing. He has an incredibly appealing cheerful energy when he plays...instead of making tormented guitar faces, he's usually grinning.

He played a rootbeer colored Parker Fly which he held up when someone from the crowd asked what it was. He said: "It's the best guitar on the planet." For the kind of stuff he plays, it probably is.

He was playing through 2 Line6 amps and 2 Johnson modelling amps. Of course his sound was perfect...although I could have stood him being just a shade louder in the mix.

The warm up act was a band from New York called "Rana" ...they were fairly good and energetic.

[tbabinec]

Didn't see this show, but saw Belew with King Crimson at Park West around the time of Construktion of Light. When you consider his body of work with Talking Heads, David Bowie, and KC, all I can say is - WOW.

[BruceM]

I am REALLY hoping that this tour comes to Minneapolis. I've seen him twice, once with the Bears in the 80's, and with KC in the 90's. He never fails to amaze.

Coincidentally, a week or two before the Laura-Belew thread, I was thinking that I hadn't listened to his music in ages so I hit his website and looked him up on allmusic. That resulted in my realization that in spite of the fact that I've not been paying attention (hahahahaha) he's been recording nonstop. I bought his latest Bears album, which I like very much due to the unique Belew style pop-song content, and his new solo album, Side One. It's also very good, but more in the line of his KC stuff with the rhythmic dissonance. It's all VERY interesting, and leaves me scratching my head at his innovation and inventiveness. I'll be keeping my eye on his website with my fingers crossed in the hopes that he makes it to town in the near future.

Next up will be to pull out all his older cd's and listen to them again. I've got much of his solo stuff, as well as the KC and The Bears recordings, and he was everywhere in the late 70's early 80's. Bowie's Lodger, early Talking Heads, Joan Armatradings "The Key," etc...

[tbabinec]

The KC studio and live recordings leave me with one reaction - my

jaw drops and I have to pick it back up again. THAT, and I am

tempted to burn my guitars and call it a day!

Be sure to pick up the recent Rhino 2 CD release of Talking Heads "The Name of This Band is Talking Heads." The entire 2nd CD is the 14-song set done live during the Remain in Light tour.

[hudpucker]

One of my favorite players. I've met him twice--once during a break in a Bears show and the other at a record signing/clinic. Really nice, almost happy-go-lucky personality (at least the one he showed to we fans) who was more than happy to talk gear with me. His talent is just jaw-dropping, IMO.

[Guest hectorp2]

In reference to the "tempted to burn my guitar" comment. I know it's just a colloquial way of saying you were blown away by a performance...but I think it's also a real reaction that guitar players sometimes get when they see people with ridiculously good chops (like that video clip of that little kid with the baseball cap shredding up a storm). Too much facility like that seems to cheapen your hard won vibrato.

I would not say that applies to Adrian Belew...in fact, there's something about the joyous quality of his performance (and this could be part of the illusion that some people describe as "he makes it look easy.") that actually makes a creative approach seem more possible rather than a sealed off world that you, the lowly audience member, can never be a participant in... except as a worshipful spectator.

To me, he'd make me go back to the guitar rather than burn it.

[salem]

That's interesting, both Belew and Reeves Gabrel play Parkers.

[polara]

Absolutely. He makes it look like FUN, like music is this cool new toy he can't get enough of, and this guitar whatchamacallit, if you hold it THIS way and bang on THIS makes an interesting sound, doesn't it?

Saw him with the Bears once and as a solo-electric thing. Loads of fun both times. Funny that he started as a singer and added guitar later. And I forget how he writes really good songs too, even if they aren't burning up the charts.

[bamboohead]

I have a Parker Fly Deluxe and love it. Light, easy to play and tons of fun to watch peoples reaction when you use two amps, one for the magnetic pickups w/distortion and an accoustic amp for the piezo at the same time. It's two, two, two guitars in one!

[Nuclear Wessel]

I've gotta check to see if he's coming to Milwaukee. I've seen him with Crimson, and meant to see him with his own band in about '89, but ended up not going.

He does have a lot of fun when playing. He's like "playing little games, like not looking at it for a few days, and then looking at it to see if I still liked it. I DID!!!"

Interesting that he's playing Parkers now. He'd been playing Str@ts on stage for so long.

[MCChris]

I've gotta check to see if he's coming to Milwaukee. I've seen him with Crimson, and meant to see him with his own band in about '89, but ended up not going.

If it was in '89 I reviewed that show for the Milwaukee Journal where I had a summer internship. I'll have to dig through my clips and see if I still have a copy of it.

[Rockola]

Saw Belew during The Bears stint and it was fantastic. He was still using the Twang Bar King Musicmaster for most of the night.

We got to do The Mormur solo (pawing at strings, trem bar, etc with the amp set to 'stun') as he knelt infront of us, arms agape and grinning madly. The entire show was infectious and memorable...... one of the best.

Steve

So why does she feed me pate'

when she knows what I'm going to say?