LA2

2nd October, 1999

Manchester Academy (Dream Theater support)

3rd April, 2000

Troubadour Club, West Hollywood, CA.

31st August, 2000

LA2

28th October, 2000

Astoria, London

16th June, 2001

Go to Spock's Beard Gig Reviews (page 2)

Venue: LA2                                       Date: 2nd October, 1999

Set list: Day For Night; In The Mouth Of Madness; Skin; Gibberish;
Go The Way You Go; June; Healing Colours Of Sound Medley; Ryo's solo; The Doorway.
Encores: The Light; Squonk; Waste Away.

"Hello", shouts Neal Morse as the stage light go on, revealing the band already in position, on the stage. They launch, immediately, into 'Day For Night' from the new album of the same name.  Right from the start, it's clear that Spock's Beard want the audience to be able to hear the music. The sound is really well balanced so that every nuance can be heard. There's no thumping bass used to hide error's for these guys - they know that they don't need it - they can really play well live.

Next up, comes 'In The Mouth Of Madness', from 'The Kindness Of Strangers' album, during which Neal, Alan Morse and Ryo Okumoto - getting well into the swing of things - start head banging!

"My brother, Al, is going to lead us out on this one", Neal says introducing 'Skin' (Day4Night).  I must admit that I was not keen on this song on the CD, but this comes over brilliantly live - I'm going to have to revise my opinions on this one.  The Beard's are obviously determined to enjoy themselves tonight and they sing their hearts out.

They follow on with 'Gibberish' (also from D4N). This song, with its complicated vocal harmonies, comes over with great clarity and I'm really impressed with their ability to perform live to such high standards.

I was so pleased when Neal introduced the next number as 'Go The Way You Go' (The Light) as this is one of my favourite tracks. Again the wonderfully clear notes ring out - I can't emphasise enough how pure and clean the music sounds.  Towards the end of the piece the audience was treated to a clever little interaction as, in the pauses between the music, Neal throws his hands into the air and becomes silhouetted against the brilliant backlights.  Appreciation was shown for this gem by rapturous applause.

The brothers, Neal and Alan, then stand to face each other while playing the gentle guitar intro the 'June' (The Kindness Of Strangers) as Nick D'Virgilio emerges from behind his drum kit to sing along to this beautiful tune.

"As it's the last night of the tour", announces Neal, "we're gonna do the long show for you - and talking of long - here's something called 'The Healing Colours Of Sound'".  This is, in actual fact, the last five tracks off of D4N. First of all the sing-along 'My Shoes'.  Then some blindingly sexy piano takes us into the harder edged 'Mommy Comes Back'. The quieter, evocative 'Lay It Down' follows and blends into 'The Healing Colours Of Sound' itself.  The totally fabulous culmination of this twenty-odd minute medley is 'My Shoes (Revisited)'.  Ecstatic applause and prolonged cheering was the band's reward for their playing of this epic piece.

"Ryo Okumoto on the Keyboards" introduces Neal as the rest of the band exit.  Purple lights swirl around the stage as the man makes some incredible stormy noises, on a portable keyboard, as he crouches at the front of the stage. The rest of the band returns to the stage, Neal joining Nick D'Virgilio at the drum kit, as Ryo explores the stage, seemingly covering every inch, whilst playing.  This is one incredible showman, and the sound he achieves beggars belief - and he earns a huge response from the audience.

A total change of pace and mood with the last number of the set, 'The Doorway' (Beware Of Darkness). During the acoustic parts Nick, again, moves to the front of the stage strutting, clapping and jumping up and down. "Ladies and gentlemen, he doesn't just play drums. Nick D'Virgilio here on guitar!" introduces Neal as the three guitarists line up together.

Ryo spits on his hands and rubs them together in anticipation of the intense culmination of the number, and he poses - one hand in the air the other playing the keyboards. The song draws to a close and the band stand together, fists held high in the air to acknowledge the delighted applause.

Neal returns to the stage and thanks all of the road crew before introducing 'The Light'. For a brief period the whole auditorium is brightly lit by bubbles circulating around all of the walls. This fifteen minute epic is extraordinarily well played. The highlights were Neal standing alone, in a single spotlight, singing and playing piano and 'Senor Valasco ...' when Nick played bongos and Neal played the drums. Towards the song's culmination, Neal introduces the rest of the band, and they finish to loads of enthusiastic applause before leaving the stage again.

When the Beards reappear, Neal takes a seat at the drums while Nick takes centre stage to sing the Genesis song 'Squonk'.  After a very creditable performance he returns to the drums and Neal takes up his guitar for 'Waste Away' from the 'Beware Of Darkness' album. "See you again next year" shouts Neal as the band finally leave the stage some two and a quarter hours after they had first arrived.

A good night was had by all. Spock's Beard played an incredible set in a truly professional manner. Special mention must be made for the fantastic light show provided by Laurence Dyer.  I, for one, certainly look forward to their return ...

Marisa

Venue: Manchester Academy (Dream Theater support) Date: 3rd April 2000

Setlist: Day For Night, Gibberish, The Doorway, June, The Light.

The doors opened barely 15 minutes before the Beard were due on stage which meant that the venue was gradually filling up while they were on stage, nevertheless, one cannot help but be carried away with the band's enthusiasm.  Neal Morse's energy and engaging personality demands that you get involved - and the Manchester audience certainly responded - with foot tapping and mouthing of words illustrating the fact that a good number were already familiar with some of the band's material. Even more were drawn in by the sense of fun as proved by the cheers they received at the end of the set.

Given the wealth and length of the band's material, a 45 minute support slot was never going to be enough to satisfy the real Beard fanatics and could only give a glimpse of the pearls to be found amongst their recorded material.  They took their places on stage and opened with two cuts from their most recent Studio album - 'Day For Night'- the title track and 'Gibberish' - a number which comes over very well in the live setting. Neal then teased the crowd and the rest of the band by playing the opening chords of 'The Doorway' faster and faster until he had to stop and start all over again.  The fun side of the band continued to come through as Al Morse messed about on acoustic guitar, but the larking about didn't detract at all from the awesome reproduction of the music.

As Nick De Virgilio vacated the drum stool we knew that the next tune was going to be 'June'; but with only two acoustic guitars it didn't quite touch the perfection of last autumn's rendition at the LA2 in London.  Part way through the song a hairy figure with a Kiss mask covering his face took up a position on the drum stool and picked up the beat - continuing to the end of the number before revealing himself to be none other than Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater - to huge laughs and cheers from the crowd.  "What can we do to top that?" asked Neal ".... obviously 'The Light'" and so it proved, Neal bringing real life to the characters while Ryo, Al, Dave and Nick performed note-perfectly.

It was all over too soon.  The support slot left little time for Ryo to dazzle us with a keyboard solo or for Neal to play much other than keys, but their musical competency was clear for all to see, with that added sense of humour which makes them unique. Yes, I think they definitely won themselves a few more fans after tonight's performance.

Charlie

Venue: Troubadour Club, West Hollywood, CA.  Date: August 31st, 2000

Setlist: The Good Don't Last, Thoughts, At the End of the Day, Revelation, Thoughts II, Lay it Down, Healing Colors of Sound, Ryo's solo, The Great Nothing, The Water (The Water & When it all Goes to Hell), The Doorway (excerpt), The Light, June, Go The Way You Go.
Encore: Squonk, Waste Away, Fire

It was mentioned to me after this gig that, like a good wine, Spock's Beard seem to be getting better with age ... truer words were never spoken ...

The Troubadour Club is not a huge place, but it's been around a long time. It's actually the place where the USA 'discovered' Elton John ... apparently.  Anyway, tonight (after a brief, but engaging set by The Rocket Scientists with Lana Lane) Spock's Beard were up to see if they could tread in Elton's foot steps!!  The - just arrived from the airport before the upcoming Progfest - 'Banco' were all in attendance along with a packed crowd so the Beard definitely had their backs to the wall ... they didn't disappoint.

The show started quietly with just Ryo and Alan (Al playing the cello) doing the intro to 'The Good Don't Last', a surprising but very welcome opener.  As the organ kicked in the rest of the band joined them and they went into high gear ... and never stopped!! The energy was intense, but I would say that my only complaint about this entire gig was wholly evident on the opening songs - the mix. The bass (even though it sounded AMAZING!!) was just WAY too loud, drowning out almost everything for the first two numbers, very sad.  It improved, but it made us circumnavigate the venue to find a 'comfortable' place to watch the show.

The band opted out of the last part of the opener and went straight into 'Thoughts'.  Like all the songs tonight, this one seemed an awful lot more energetic than I remember before!!

Up next was one of the songs I was waiting for, 'At The End Of The Day' is the tremendous first song on the new CD and it was played perfectly, with all the audience singing along to a song that had only been released a matter of days earlier!! A wonderful sixteen minutes.

They carried on with the album, playing the next two tracks in order; 'Revelation' and 'Thoughts II', both well executed, with the band and crowd all head banging through the grunge-like sections of the two songs - it's amazing how this band goes from insane heaviness to complicated harmony and instrumental interplay.  I guess that's their trademark really.

Neal rapped with the audience a bit before introducing 'Lay It Down' (segueing into 'The Healing Colors..') as the band's selections off 'Day For Night' - I was happy since these great songs (in my opinion) are the strongest on that CD.  The superb harmonies once again came into play during these numbers as they dissolved into 'The Ryo show'. We were treated to one Ryo Okumoto going insane and running all over the place with his strapped on synth playing crazy solos against the bass and drum backing, this time though it was, oddly, preceded by an almost 'Tangerine Dream like' ethereal section he played on analog synths ... very weird, but good!

Up next was the big one!!  Neal introduced it as "the epic to end all epic's", they then begun the huge song 'The Great Nothing', from the new CD.  This song has really grown on me (as I was a little uncertain of it at first) and I truly loved hearing it.  Nick's drumming was the most over the top I've seen him in this song, I noticed a guy on the balcony with the full 16 track digital recording going, hopefully you'll get a chance to hear it yourself.  When I first heard this song, it (of all their 'epic's') sounded the most 'bitty' and 'disjointed' - but live it sounded much more 'together' and fluid and it all seemed to make sense!! A true emotional ride, a 'great something'!! ... I think.

The show was already pretty far in by this point and I know the band wanted to play as much of the new CD as possible  (thankfully - 'cause its great!) so with little time for 'oldies' they resorted to what Dream theater has done on their recent tour (probably inspired, since they have done a lot of support slots for them) and they did a HUGE medley of songs, I was a little wary when Neal introduced the idea, but boy was I wrong - they seemed to pick all the best bits!!

It kicked off with the seldom heard 'The Water' from the first CD and, after the first 4 or 5 minutes went into the middle section of 'The Doorway', with that wonderful middle section where Neal and Al battle it out on acoustic guitars. As the song got going again it slipped into the 'One Man' section of 'The Light' - another great choice, I love this song, but I'm glad to see the band only playing part of it rather than feeling 'obliged' to play all of it, in favor of more new stuff. As the song became mellower, it slipped into 'June' the perennial 'sing-along. Nick, once again, stepped out from behind the kit to sing along with Neal before rushing back just before the end as the music suddenly went into the intro to 'Go The Way You Go'. A good portion of this popular song was played  - with a drum solo in the middle!! - and the beautiful end section of the song served as both the medley's and the set's end ... rightfully so!!

After much screaming from the relentless crowd the band returned and gave us the familiar 'Squonk', with Neal on drums - as usual - and Nick singing up front, the 'Waste Away'/'Fire' (end) encore 'treatment' is always a fitting end to a Beard show!!

So, once again they proved how much like red wine they are, and how the aging process can truly serve certain things well ... don't miss them. The two long new songs are well worth the ticket price alone!! Vintage 2000 Spock's Beard ... sounds good to me!

Fred Hunter

Venue: LA2 , London                       Date: Saturday 28th October 2000

Set List: The Good Don't Last, Thoughts, At The End Of The Day, Skin, The Distance To The Sun, The Healing Colors of Sound, Thoughts Part II, Ryo's solo, Chataqua, The Great Nothing,
Encores: Medley: The Water, The Doorway, The Light, June, Alan's solo, Nick's solo, Go The Way You Go , Whole Lotta Love, Waste Away.

Personnel: Neal Morse - vocals, keyboards, guitars & drums; Ryo Okumoto - keyboards; Alan Morse - guitars & cello; Nick D'virgilio - drums, vocals & guitar; Dave Meros - bass guitar & vocals.

Saturday night at the LA2 was the last gig of the Beard's short euro tour and the only one in the UK.  The venue was packed to the rafters and gave our Californian heroes a rapturous welcome.  The hyperactive and ever smiling Neal Morse and co played like demons for about two and a half hours with the emphasis on total entertainment.

Ok, let's get the minor moans out of the way first. The sound was not perfect; it was a bit over loud, whilst you could hear most of the instruments most of the time, the mix sometimes decended into a wall of sound where you were wondering what the hell they were playing. That may have been due to where I was standing of course, but that leads me to the other problem.  The LA2 is a lousy venue, especially when (over) crowded. I spent much of the gig looking at the backs of taller people's heads and I'm 5'10" - many short people probably never saw the band once! As Ryo said at one point, "next time we play here, we play upstairs!" Or better still - a proper theatre?

Here goes for a few highlights of the show; one of the most memorable parts was Ryo's solo or 'extravaganza' would probably be a more apt description. Strapping on a 'walkabout' keyboard in completely over the top fashion he pulled some amazing sounds out of the box and at one point was sitting on the shoulders of a fan being walked through the audience to much hilarity all round. Then Nick and Dave joined in and Ryo led us through some great keyboard led jazz rock - totally breathtaking - you really had to be there !

'Thoughts' parts one and two with their complex vocal sections were incredible, and the three part vocal harmonies from Alan, Nick and Neal on 'The Distance To The Sun' really made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.  Neal Morse was the total entertainer all evening; his boundless energy and musical virtuosity is quite unique. When he played the beautiful solo acoustic piece 'Chataqua' he didn't even look at the guitar once; he is a man possessed by music.  At one point Neal explained that when he and his brother Alan were teenagers they both played guitar but only had one instrument between them. They both then proceeded play a boggling instrumental on the same guitar, it's a pity that only those near the front could actually see what was going on.

Alan played an amazing solo section including some blues and a bit of 'Heart of The Sunrise'. Dave Meros' bass playing is as good live as it is on disc, the man is a superb player and he reproduced that 'talking bass' section near the end of 'At The End of The Day' perfectly.  The twenty eight minutes of 'The Great Nothing' flew by, proving what a superb piece of music that is, it's length being somewhat irrelevent.  The audience sung along (unaccompanied at times) to 'June', 'The Healing Colors of Sound' and 'Go The Way You Go' with great gusto and everyone was in high spirits, no more so than Neal Morse himself.

The penultimate encore was a roaring version of Led Zep's 'Whole Lotta Love' with Neal on drums, Nick on lead vocals and Alan providing some scorching guitar riffery which nearly brought the house down.  Members of the audience were often shaking their heads with disbelief at the band's playing and antics on stage, indeed I don't think I have ever seen a band give such a 'full on' performance as this.

At the very end of the concert after the massive roars of the crowd had died down a little, Neal was serious for a moment and said "I would have given up long ago had it not been for people like you - thank you very much". If there's any justice in this world then surely Spock's Beard must be destined for greater success, their combination of prog with more contemporary sounds is unique and, I'm sure, would be huge if more people heard it.

Steve  29/10/00

Venue: London Astoria                      Date: Saturday June 16th, 2001

Hey! Guess what?  Another Spock's Beard concert in London - and another downpour! It really does not rain here all the time, guys ... Honest!

Anyway, what can I say?  They played a blinder as usual. Nice to see them in the main hall for a change, rather than the dingy old LA2 and, at least to my eyes, it looked almost full. Hopefully this means that next time the band might decide to do a gig up North also...

A couple of changes to the set from last time. They kicked off with 'Beware of Darkness', which I have never heard them play live before.  Not my favorite SB track, but does have the distinction of being the first song of theirs I ever heard.  But ... they did play one of my all time favorites - 'In Harms Way'.  This is an exceptional track, with a powerful instrumental intro, some lovely tinkling organ in the mid section, leading in to a full-on, no holds barred climax ... Stunning.

We also got cracking renditions of 'At The End of The Day' and 'The Great Nothing'.  Indeed, these two epics seem to have slotted into the set quite neatly in place of 'Go The Way You Go' and 'The Light' - sections of which are incorporated into a medley later in the set. This time we also got the new single, 'All On A Sunday', which went down very well and had a lot of the crowd dancing ... well almost. Bad marks for not having it on sale at the merch stand though.

On the down side, we still had to suffer Ryo's interminable solo - this time with the brief addition of his young son on drums ... nice, but unnecessary. Neil and Alan also get an acoustic guitar interlude. Please guys, drop these solos and give us proper songs!

All that aside, it was a great gig, and I was mightily pleased that they decided to play 'Distance To The Sun' and 'June' in their entirety this time.  Great crowd sing along stuff.  And yes, they did finish off with 'Waste Away'. As far as the crowd were concerned, they could have played all night.

We had a couple of kids (10-12 maybe) behind us, near the back, and initially it looked like they had been reluctantly dragged along by their parents. But they were actually singing along to all the songs - word for word. An extremely encouraging sign.  Spocks Beard in teenybopper appeal shocker! No problem with that, as long as they are not tempted to cover any of Hear'say's songs....

John Morley

Go to Spock's Beard Gig Reviews (page 2)