my area 2 tell-all (that I remember)
"Area 2 Tour," Tweeter Center, 08-03-02
To slash the boring travel details, I got dropped off at my brother Jeff's apartment in Somerville (right in/around Boston), and we drove to the concert together.
We arrived probably around 3:10 or so, a good 40 minutes before the first act (Ash) was to go on the main stage. Luckily enough, debusk and his girlfriend got there at the same time we did, and he found me shortly after I went through the entrance. He was really nice, and has the same humor (that so tickles me) in person as he does here on the board. However, it seems both of us are shy and it was a little strange talking to someone I've posted with on the board but not really chatted with, so to speak. So after a few minutes, we departed, promising to meet up later (we had each others' seats already).
Jeff and I walked around the venue, stopped to watch some chin/pull-up military challenge, and visited the dance tent. Holy god, what powerful bass in there... not exactly my thing, but it was amusing. We left when the dj (or his buddy, or whoever) started trying to rap to his beats. Then we grabbed a highly overpriced pizza and a couple sodas and went to sit down in our seats.
We had fine seats--conveniently on the end of a row, so we didn't have to bother people to get to them throughout the day. We were off to the left, but could see the whole stage... Too far to see faces (for the most part, especially all-blue faces), but close enough to be able to see subtle body movements. Not bad at all.
So, Ash came on... I'll try and be objective... but neither Jeff or I were very impressed. To me they just seemed like yet another punk rock band (but they're Irish!), and apart from the lead singer they were entirely boring to watch (the girl guitarist occasionally hopped up and down, the bassist occasionally changed his stance). Overall, the songs didn't seem to have too much variety... there was one part that had a cool beat/bass going on, but then it went back to a section that sounded like all the rest of their set. but ah well, I wasn't really expecting them to amaze me.
blue man!
finally
non-spoiler section
aftermath
Oh yeah.
I'm done now, are you glad? Well, I'll be impressed if one person reads this whole mess. cheers!
I saw the Area2 show in Mansfield Mass at the Tweeter center, an outdoor venue... I haven't had a really "new" Blue Man experience to babble about for a very long time, so I'm going to take the opportunity to be a silly hyper-active typist and try and tell you guys everything I remember.
I figured that you probably got bored reading the above, so maybe I should highlight the part you might actually be interested in.
While Ash was playing, my brother and I left to go get Matt (Hatter) a t-shirt... while we were standing at the little tent, the three already-costumed blue men walked on by... Chris being the closest, I smiled and said hey. He/they might have known me as a blue man fan because of the shirt and crepe paper in my hair, but he stayed completely in character, only staring at me for a couple extra seconds before walking off with the other two to confuse the public. Kinda cool.
Back at our seats, we were met by Puck and Pete (a blue man, out of makeup) in the time between Ash and Blue Man. We all shook hands and such, and the two guys were nice enough to give us a couple shirts (black, ones that we hadn't seen being sold normally). After asking if I'd seen debusk, they mentioned that Busta Rhymes was a no-show, and so BMG was pushed back a bit (5:00-5:15). Then they had to go and check on things and such, so said goodbye. Puck said he wouldn't be on the board for the next couple days, so asked me to say hi to everyone on there for him.
Shortly after, debusk came over and we chatted a bit before the show started...
I know, I know, I'm writing a book, and I'm not even at the meat of it yet. Anyways, I'm going to try and describe the show a little more detail than has been done, but I know I'm going to have some things mixed up and such because there was so much to take in at once. I'm using the set list to try and help me out... So bear with me, and correct me if you can.
--The show started with the chant heard in Endless Column, followed by a sweet cimbalom solo (yes! live cimbalom, by a blue man! wooo). The other two blue men joined in on PVC and tubulum, and the song ("Dulcimer") got started. At one point, two blue men were playing the paint drums (each had three), using the beat heard in "Mandelgroove"...
--"Drumbone" was next, and though it was a shortened version, it felt kinda homey to a blue man fan, because it was familiar. The version was like the one seen at the theater shows, except with one blue man dancing in the beginning. I missed the vortex machines, however, hehe.
--According to the set list, the next song was "Time to Start" (though I could've sworn the female vocalist was singing those words in the following song...oh well). The blue men played the PVC/tubulum for the most part, but one of them would take breaks to flip the giant poster book... Revealing signs that said (along with a voiceover): "Rock movement #1 (flip) The basic head bob (flip) [diagram]" Each of the four movements (#2- the one-armed fist pump, #3- the jump up and down, #4- the leg behind the head strech) followed this format... and after each diagram, the blue man would demonstrate. At one point, the demonstrating blue man dropped down in front of the stage, hidden, and a crew member threw him up in the air a few times... the last, he was impaled on an amp stand. Ok, so it was a dummy blue man, hehe...
--The next song, "Up to the Roof" must be the one where I thought the female vocalist was singing the words "time to start," but she wasn't apparently. Not surprising that I got it mixed up, because I really couldn't understand any of the words at all.
--If I have things straight, "Persona" was the first song to feature the male vocalist. Other than that, I don't remember much of it... unless that was the song with melodies from "Synaesthetic" blended in... hmm.
--"Rods and Cones" was next, nothing too different except the backpack tubulums were mostly black, and shot streamers at the end.
Here is where I have the real song order all mixed up, but I'm going to go by what the set list says instead of my screwy memory.
--"Your Attention" started out with the speakers on the left and right sides of the stage competing for your attention. Of course, I could only really understand the ones on the left ("please listen only to the speaker on your left"). Throughout the song, a voiceover said "Please yell if you are paying attention," reminiscent of the LED signs at the theater show.
--Next was "White Rabbit," with the female vocalist singing lead... this one got a big applause.
--"Singalong" featured one blue man playing a sword airpole... he went from one side of the stage to the other, hopping around in a rather comedic manner. At first he seemed to be testing vertical fencing skills against the speakers, and later it was more obvious how it fit in to the rest of the music, very cool. This one was lighthearted, with mostly the male vocalist singing. It was a highlight because it seemed mainly to be what saved the blue man character from being lost in the rock elements of the show.
Now the last three I remember as one big blob, so I'm going to guess what laid where.
--"I Feel Love" started out with a tubulum solo... sweetness. That's my favorite instrument, so I was loving (ahah!) this song because of the instrument's prominent part. Throughout the piece, the three blue men switched off playing the tubulum, changing as the chords did. I really loved how the vocals flowed with this one (this and "Singalong" were the most memorable musically for me). The beat was very forward, and with the low pounding of the tubulum, it sounded like one of those train songs... ok, that doesn't make sense, but you know, a steady "chugging" motion.
--I may be wrong, but I believe "The Complex" featured instrumental solos, giving the cimbalom, tubulum, and paint drums some space. Very cool, as individual instruments sometimes blended into the music so well that you couldn't pick it out. Sometime during this song or the last one, the aforementioned blue man dummy ended up in the crowd and got torn to pieces--kind of morbid if you ask me.
--The last song, "Rock Concert Movement #3 (what is rock?)" started out with the words "let's review what we learned today" and proceeded to prompt the audience to do rock movements 1, 2, and 3. Also incorporated was #6 (what happened to #5? I must have missed it)--the yell. the audience seemed to be meshing the yell with the two-arm classic blue man salute, so maybe that was 5.
my comments/opinions on the show.
1) it rocked! I did miss the intimacy and comedy of the theater shows, but the lack of much of those elements was to be expected. However, the audience was brought together somewhat by the rock movements, and general love for the show. It seemed that, while anyone finding their seats during Ash promptly left again, anyone who came to find their seats during BMG sat right down and stayed through the whole set. masses of people got up when Blue Man was definitely finished, it was pretty cool. Here and there, BMG was rewarded with smatterings of standing ovations. The transition made from 'theater show' to 'rock show,' in my opinion, was done very well indeed.
2) I liked the vocals a lot more than I expected. Part of this might have been due to the fact that I couldn't understand them, and so at times the voices blended in as if they were additional instruments. When the female did solos, it gave more of a sassy rock feel, and I found myself enjoying her rocky voice. Especially in her first song and "White Rabbit," it appeared that blue man was accompanying her. The male's voice seemed more subtle, so that in songs like "singalong," it seemed he was accompanying the blue man. Through all of this, the spotlight remained on the blue men plenty, and the vocals fit in quite well.
3) The piano smasher was interesting... a small, sideways piano with the strings showing. It seemed that it produced a different range of notes when different sections were struck--very interesting, considering I've never really known what it looks or sounds like.
4)The crowd was great, probably because Mansfield is so close to a blue man city of Boston. Apparently a lot of the people already knew of blue man and loved them--4 or 5 guys in the front row were doing rock movements all on their own throughout the show. Every song got a huge response at the end, clapping and cheering all around. Very, very cool.
5) BRAVO! I can't WAIT till BMG tours on their own... now THAT will be a thing to see.
After the set was over, I was found by blue@asu, who says he's been reading the boards enough, but hasn't posted recently. I remembered him regardless (hey man!) He was very cool and down-to-earth, and was also impressed with the show. Debusk came back over and the 5 of us (three fans, a girlfriend, and a brother) chatted about the show a bit... and of course there was more awkward "um, now what?" silences, hehe. But all in all in was great getting to meet these two guys, it is too bad that Aldi didn't get in on the action. After a while blue@asu skeedaddled, and then debusk got a picture of him and me...
After goodbyes with debusk and his girlfriend, Jeff and I left the venue. We really weren't too keen on waiting through Bowie to see Moby (especially Jeff, who was nice enough to take me in the first place), with it being so hot, and with it being just the two of us wandering around. Hopefully I'll get to see Moby's show someday, since I've heard he is great live.
Anyways, i had a great day! Thanks to Puck and Pete for taking the time and making the effort to come and say hi, and thanks for the shirts! Hats off, guys, the show rocked every bit as much as you said it would.