mtlfan

Midnuit Chretiens. (O Holy Night in French). Try that for fun!!

There are some echos of Dennis in his voice but he still has some way to go before he gets the timbre down ....

Broadway artist James Barbour has released a CD of Broadway classics, titled Bring Me Giants. This compilation includes "Who Will Love This Child" from Dennis DeYoung's Hunchback of Notre Dame.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Me-Giants-James-Barbour/dp/B0065LZWSI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324631932&sr=8-1

From the little song bite they provide, he seems to do a good job with it.

Amanda

Pics and vids are now up on the board! When I look at the pics, Dennis' shirt and tie look blue, when it was really purple. Like Dennis says, "How can we believe our eyes?!?"

I still miss Tommy's clear, crisp, studio-quality notes. August and Jimmy are better showmen, of course, but I still miss Tommy's sound ....

One more thing - if you take a good look at Jimmy with that whisper of a goatee and mustache, who is he beginning to look like to you? It's almost spooky.

Dennis' voice was 98% back. A couple of times he seemed out of breath but that could have been because he never stopped moving all night! The undertones and timbre we've gotten used to from Dennis were all there; I was so glad to see him feeling well after getting that flu from heck. His ol' corny jokes and bombastic arm movements leading the band were front and center and he gave it his all tonight. He was really looking good in a shirt and tie and jean jacket.

That would be a LEATHER jacket, not jean jacket. Sigh. Next time I'm going to write notes on paper before I got to bed and then write it out properly the next day when I'm awake! As a matter of fact, Dennis told the old joke that they had planned a longer concert but that Fonzie had called and wanted his jacket back. Can you tell Dennis was in Milwaukee recently? LOL!

Okay, pics and vids uploaded to my Facebook page. If anyone wants to see them and isn't a friend, just send a friend request. I'll approve you if you promise to behave, LOL!

Uploading pics and vids to Facebook first and then I'll put them up here. The venue was mostly sold out. There were a few empty seats here and there, but I would think those are people who couldn't make it to the show (sick, work, etc.) rather than unsold seats. The place was pretty well packed. Good crowd? DDY in Montreal? Are you kidding? Absolutely!! You'll see the reaction of the crowd during SMB when I get the vid up. The crowd was on their feet before the song was over.

I'm officially having problems uploading pics onto the board. Ron already knows about it so I'll wait until he gets that worked out before doing the uploads.

It was great seeing you too. Been too long. Was very happy to meet Geof too. Am so happy for both of you...As for the concert--Holy Crap!!! (lol) You said it all...awesome show and yes Dennis was in fine form. My ears are still buzzing!!!

It took me at least two hours to wind down to get to sleep. Can't complain though, I only had to drive 10 minutes to get home rather than 7 hours!

Thanks, Amanda. What a nice little pre-wedding gift to you and Geof to get to see this concert.

 

Did they have a good crowd? I know this venue has been kind to him before with several sold out concerts.

 

Looking forward to the pics and vids, of course.

Uploading pics and vids to Facebook first and then I'll put them up here. The venue was mostly sold out. There were a few empty seats here and there, but I would think those are people who couldn't make it to the show (sick, work, etc.) rather than unsold seats. The place was pretty well packed. Good crowd? DDY in Montreal? Are you kidding? Absolutely!! You'll see the reaction of the crowd during SMB when I get the vid up. The crowd was on their feet before the song was over.

Amanda said that DDY had some spring in his step up in maple leaf land... It's those Canadians... He loves them, and they love him... it must be a french thing... I must say, I'm glad Canada is our neighbor. Just a wonderful culture of folks... even though they border the 800lb gorilla to the south they have always been thier own peeps... Rock on Canada!!

You know .... You might be on to something. Maybe someone hepped up DDY on Maple Sugar!!! Pure speculation, of course ....

We love our visitors/neighbours too. :-)

AND it was so great to see Zoltan again! I was finally able to introduce him to Geof.

A few things came to me while I was sleeping.

After a particularly lively song (Rockin' the Paradise, I think) Dennis put his hand up to his mouth to look like he was breathing from an oxygen mask. I'm telling you, he never stopped bouncing!! You'll see in the vids later.

During the guitar duel, Jimmy grabbed the mic stand and slid it across his guitar strings up the fretboard rather than use his pick. It works!

I mentioned this to Tom after the show, but every once in a while, I would notice a round reflection moving across the left wall and I couldn't figure out what it was. During the encore, I realized it was the reflection off of Tom's cymbals! I have no idea how he manages to keep up - he says it's pure adrenaline. He works hard for his art - I'm exhausted just watching him!

Both August and Craig mentioned after the show what a nice venue the PDA was. Other than the new hall being built for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, it's one of the best. Musicians certainly appreciate it. Usually the PDA staff usher everyone out right away, but because of two intrepid staffers who stayed behind, we got to talk to the guys afterward. I gave them a nice French thank you as we were leaving and they almost seemed embarrassed. Does no one say thank you anymore??? (Sorry, that was my MOM side coming out!)

Oh, and August was wearing a very nice scarf done in the French style. Dennis pointed it out at the show. LOL! That boy gets such a workout at a concert if you see him when the show is over, he's trembling from the exertion. He was tucking into a bottle of water and a chocolate chip cookie when he came out. My kind of post concert meal!!!

Gotta run, but if I can think of anything else, well, you know.

Ta!

Yes, he did slip in Sing for the Day into Fooling Yourself and gave us a whopper of an intro to Too Much Time on My Hands.

Sorry! That would be the intro to Blue Collar Man. My bad.

Now THAT was a show!!!!! Like Zoltan says, HOLY CRAP!!!

Dennis is definitely feeling up to his old self again. He was bouncing so much I was wondering if he had installed springs in his shoes. The top notch show that we know and love is BACK and with a vengeance! They ROCKED the PDA tonight and have all earned a good night's sleep.

Dennis' voice was 98% back. A couple of times he seemed out of breath but that could have been because he never stopped moving all night! The undertones and timbre we've gotten used to from Dennis were all there; I was so glad to see him feeling well after getting that flu from heck. His ol' corny jokes and bombastic arm movements leading the band were front and center and he gave it his all tonight. He was really looking good in a shirt and tie and jean jacket.

Let's see what I can remember that was funny/interesting. We got the extra treat of the bilingual 100 Years from Now with Jean Ravel. Yes, he did slip in Sing for the Day into Fooling Yourself and gave us a whopper of an intro to Too Much Time on My Hands. During Rockin' the Paradise, he goes over to John, who is busy with foot pedals (I think) and pushes the bottom of John's jeans up to his knee! Maybe so John can see his foot better??? John managed to not miss a beat despite being fairly amused!! I think I got a few shots of him still smiling.

After Babe, Dennis introduced Suzanne and gave her the customary hug and she gave him the customary "bottom" squeeze, and I hope that Suzanne doesn't understand French because he alluded to her age to the audience! Yikes! Dangerous stuff Dennis!!! He then reached for his water bottle, which was empty and Suzanne immediately got him another one to which the audience said, "Awwwww ...."

During the August/Jimmy guitar duel, it looked all he world like August playfully ran up to Jimmy's guitar footpedals and pressed a random one just to get Jimmy's guitar to do something unexpected and get his attention and win the duel. But nope, I found out later from August that one of the footpedal boards was kaput so they had to share one!!! I certainly couldn't tell.

Craig's backup vocals are amazing. He must now be wearing the tight thong that Dennis always jokes about.

They did have a few audio problems that were quickly looked after. It didn't take long for a roadie to fix whatever needed to be done. I did find that Dennis' concerts are louder than they used to be. But, I would expect that considering the chemistry between Jimmy and August. I thought it was just me at first but the same thing was said to me by someone else. Or maybe I'm just getting old ...

Anyway! I'll have some pics to upload for y'all later this weekend. I've got some vids too, in particular the audience reaction to Suite Madame Blue (Yes, Ron, I know!!!!). It didn't take long for the audience to get on it's feet and he received a standing ovation, of course.

Oh yeah, after the show, I finally got to meet Craig! He gave me his setlist and I got his autograph, as well as Tom, John and August. Geof and I got to talk to Craig, August, Tom, Jimmy and John. Tom wanted to know when the "big day" was and after I told him, Geof asked him if the band was busy that day. LOL!

Bedtime, it's almost 1 a.m. But I wanted to get this all down before it leaked out of my brain. If I remember anything else, I'll add later!

Amanda

Okay, in an attempt to have this board at least look like it's active, and after hearing a similar discussion on talk radio today, I present the following challenge:

Name your top 5 Styx songs:

Suite Madame Blue

Suite Madame Blue

Suite Madame Blue

Suite Madame Blue

Suite Madame Blue

That pretty well wraps it up!

Yes, I know I'm a pest!

Amanda

Amanda I remember now Sing for the Day was in the middle of Fooling Yourself, and I couldn't agree more that August and Jimmy are awesome on Suite Madame Blue

Oh yeah right! Fooling Yourself! Switching songs like that confuses us old folks, you know.

Yes, there were some cool moments to the show. I finally got to see Carrie Ann for the first time singing backup (it was her birthday present, how COOL is that??) BUT the theater wouldn't allow photos so I couldn't get a picture. Bummer. (NICE theater though). The part where both August and Jimmy do the bridge to Suite Madam Blue was fantastic. I've always loved that song anyway, they can play it standing on their heads and I'd be happy. Oh, and Craig's vocals are amazing! I couldn't really isolate his voice at the outdoor concert in Quebec last year.

However.

After driving 7 hours for a concert, I would have preferred to see the top quality show I'm used to seeing but, in my opinion, this wasn't it. That being said, I don't think there was much choice and DDY and band did the best they could do with the cards they were given. The concert was rescheduled, probably thinking that DDY would be over his flu by then, but from what I could tell, he wasn't ready yet. Dennis was visibly tired; he wasn't doing all his usual grand arm gestures and his shoulders even drooped at times. It seemed to me that part of his voice wasn't back and he couldn't get a full breath. The tone, pitch and strength were there, but that subtle beautiful timbre undertone that we're used to hearing that appeared after his stint at the stage was absent. Ballads like Lady with the long lingering notes were not possible that night. So, the tempo was increased to allow for shorter notes. For me though, there were times when everything was going so fast it felt as if I was watching a circus.

There were audio problems too. During Lady, Carrie Ann obviously could not hear herself; she was off. She went offstage after the song and came back a minute later; everything was fine for her after that. John had a problem with his microphone in the beginning of Mr. Roboto and there were a few moments of rumbling feedback, I think from Craig' bass, not sure. The sound was definitely an issue.

I admit I gave poor Ron the wide eyed incredulous look a couple of times. To their credit, everyone tried their best, really tried, which just goes to show what professionals they are. I'm hoping Dennis has a chance to rest for a few days. A hot toddy does wonders!!

That being said, those present who hadn't seen DDY at least 20 times like Ron and I have probably would NOT have noticed and the audience response was positive and in the end, that's what counts.

Now we wait for the April 8th show in Montreal! Suite Madame Blue again, yipee!!!!

If you look it up, you'll recognize it) Also, one song (and I forget which one, maybe Amanda will remember) Dennis included a few bars from Sing for the Day into the keyboard solo.

Good God, I can't even remember my name right now! So pooped.

Once I get some sleep, I'll natter on some more.

Can't wait!

You were in Montreal last night? I drove past Club Soda last night on my way out to dinner!

Hee Hee! Too many syllables per note .....

Thanks, Amanda! Haven't listened yet, but will soon. DDY always makes for an interesting interview.

My pleasure. :-)

Dennis was talking with the CHOM DJ today about his upcoming show in Montreal in April. I've uploaded an edited version of the interview in the downloads section. Enjoy!

You just have to subscribe to the "PLACE DES ARTS" newsletter to have the heads-up and promo-code to pre-order.

Unfortunately, you get informed of every single show that plays there! Well worth it for getting a seating advantage for a DDY show.

 

My colleagues at work purchased 3rd row tickets, lefthand side, in front of Dennis. Lucky them! (One of them is happy with this selection because he gets to admire Suzanne a little closer than the last concert).

 

Unfortunately, I will be out of town that week and my plane lands after the concert starts. Hopefully, this show will sell-out and they will add another one the next evening!

I'm actually already registered to the infoletter from PDA, it's just that the sale had started before I read my email. If they add another show, I'll buy tickets for that one too!! LOL!

Now is your time to get front row tickets! Limited time offer until Jan. 20.......HURRY

Just got my tickets! If I had gotten up earlier this morning, I would have gotten closer to the stage. :-(

I had no idea this was in the works! Normally the rumours fly before the tickets are actually available ...

They're playing between the 2nd and 3rd periods at the Hockey Winter Classic between Pittsburgh and Washington in Pittsburgh's Football Stadium. (Yes, I'm watching hockey on a Saturday night. I'm in Canada!!!)