YTSEJAM Digest 6388 Today's Topics: 1) Re: Planet X rocked the house- SPOILERS (and more spoilers) by Ilia 2) Re: Planet X rocked the house- SPOILERS (and more spoilers) by Coldfire ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 19:38:33 -0800 (PST) From: Ilia To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Re: Planet X rocked the house- SPOILERS (and more spoilers) Message-ID: I second that notion. I actually got to see them on Monday night at Jaxx in Springfield, VA. Interestingly enough, the place wasn't even half-filled - me and a couple of people who came with me were all the way up front. The opening band was Land of Chocolate, who has some interesting material, but weren't extremely impressive. Their keyboardist could use some piano lessons, for one. Their drummer was pretty good and bass ok, and the guitarist's chops, while technically impressive, were little more than Fretboard Logic lead patterns played at high speeds. Musically, they were more of a trance band than anything else, with elements of prog, like a few polyrhythms, here and there. Except the keyboardist was singing too, which they could've done without. Anyway, enouggh about them. Planet X played quite an impressive set. I won't go through the set list, that's done for me on the web site. I was extremely happy to finally see Tony Macalpine live (my first time seeing him), and he exceeded all my expectations. Granted, towards the end of the show he was running out of ideas in a couple of songs, but for the most part he seemed confident playing with the band (not regarding a few counting errors on his part, here and there). His sweep/tap technique is something to work up towards, for all aspiring shredders out there. The bass player (something like Rick Fierbarraci), who's played with Frank Gambale, and, as I found out after the show, played on On The Virg, was a decent choice for the band to tour with. He seemed to have no problem with the material, and, as was appararent from his solo segment, as well as a few lead breaks, he's got rhythm, groove, and melody - no problem. Derek was definitively Derek. He pulled off a keyboard/guitar duel with Macalpine in the vein of what Petrucci/Rudess have been doing. In his solo, he played, among improv and similar material, segments from Eruption, and the intro from LiTS. He even gave me a look of approval when I indicated that I recognized the riff. :-D I also liked very much the way that his keyboards are angled out, so you can see everything he's doing. Unfortunately, we couldn't *doh* because he was all the way to the left of the stage, and so the two boards on his left side weren't visible. But still, the idea is there. Virgil shone throughout the show. He demonstrated how well he can keep the beat without showing off, and how the show-off parts of his playing are well-placed. After the opening number (Ignotus per Ignotium), someone shouted out "Drum solo!" and he responded with "It was!" I actually got to see him at PASIC this year, and so I've heard his drum solo, but at the show it was probably three times as long as what he played during his clinic. Overall, quite incredible, in all respects of soloing with rhythm. The group I came with When people ask me how the show was, I say "good". Because when I thought about it, if I went to describe any one aspect of the show, I'd say it was "pretty good" or "good" or "really good". So for all of you who want to know, considering seeing them, or are going to see them, I'll tell you this much: the show was good. Worth your while, for sure. - Ilia. ==== Always use the word impossible with the greatest caution. --- Wernher Von Braun __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 22:42:18 -0500 From: Coldfire To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Re: Planet X rocked the house- SPOILERS (and more spoilers) Message-ID: Ilia wrote: > > The opening band was Land of Chocolate, who has some interesting > material, but weren't extremely impressive. Their keyboardist > could use some piano lessons, for one. Their drummer was pretty > good and bass ok, and the guitarist's chops, while technically > impressive, were little more than Fretboard Logic lead patterns > played at high speeds. Musically, they were more of a trance > band than anything else, with elements of prog, like a few > polyrhythms, here and there. Except the keyboardist was singing > too, which they could've done without. Anyway, enouggh about > them. Here's where we play 6 Degrees of Ytsejam Separation... the bass/stick player for Land of Chocolate is none other then John Jens a long time Ytsejammer and Saveur on #ytsejam IRC back in the day. I saw LoC open for The Flower Kings back in April at Jaxx and really liked what they were doing. And the Keyboardist is Jonn Buzby..who's brother is Chris Buzby of Echolyn. LoC when I saw them had some definite funkiness going on in their set. I think now they are adding more songs from their soon to be released new cd. Coldfire ------------------------------ End of YTSEJAM Digest 6388 ************************** === Contributions to ytsejam: ytsejam@torchsong.com === === Send requests to: ytsejam-request@torchsong.com === === Brought by the ghost of ytsejam@arastar.coms past === === Reach the owner of this list at: ytsejam-owner@torchsong.com ===