Stanley Clarke bummed me out last night

[Dr. Cheese]

I can understand both sides of this:

A. Fans want to hear him play the same songs he's been playing since the 70's.
B. A version of hell might be playing the same small set of songs for 40 years.

Thread. My one suggestion is that if Stanley is focusing on acoustic, he should advertise his concerts as acoustic.

OP, was Clarke playing a bunch of material from his new CD with Hiromi and Lenny White?

 

[woodster]

If you are a bass player,you should learn more about URB.Thats the motherload.

 

[colcifer]

Why do people expect him to play BG? The music he's making now doesn't call for it. I never liked him on either instrument but the point remains the same.

 

[Bernin]

I saw him last year (along with MM and VW) with the Thunder tour, and was extremely pleased with what I saw. Although I never 'grew up' with Stanley's bass, my first bass-oriented album was his "Live in 1977" album with George Duke and all the oldies. To hear him live, still ripping on the BG 30 years later was great, and he even peppered in some Upright as well. I would like to see his upright playing in person more, but I don't know if I would be up for an entirely acoustic show.

 

[BassyBill]

This isn't a new issue, of course. I went to see John McLaughlin at the Rainbow back in 1979 - he was with Billy Cobham, Stu Goldberg and Jack Bruce. What a terrific gig that was.

The following year I went back to see him again and he played an acoustic set with Christian Escoude. Not what I was expecting (the gig was just billed as "John McLaughlin"). It was great musically, but I don't think I would have made the trip to London and paid the ticket price if I'd known beforehand what was going down.

By the way - just as an aside - I saw Stan with RTF a couple of years ago and it was a great night. I thought his solo slot on upright was the best part of the set.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Thread. My one suggestion is that if Stanley is focusing on acoustic, he should advertise his concerts as acoustic.

OP, was Clarke playing a bunch of material from his new CD with Hiromi and Lenny White?

He could narrow down what type of instrument he's going to primarily play... then if he decides to mix things up, someone will likely have a problem with that.

If you really don't want to hear him play one type of thing vs. the other, you probably shouldn't go to a live show. I'd think most people know he plays electric and acoustic by now and that he's very comfortable on both.


I'd probably pay $100 now to see James Brown, Michael Jackson or Elvis... other than that it's more cash than I'm willing to part with for a show.... pretty much any show.

 

[insain]

Dr. Cheese,
I don't have his new album so I couldn't answer that

 

[Rano Bass]

I'd probably pay $100 now to see James Brown, Michael Jackson or Elvis... other than that it's more cash than I'm willing to part with for a show.... pretty much any show.

Me too, tickets are getting way too expensive so i have to be more selective

 

[synaesthesia]

I last saw Stanley with the reformed RTF in London.... it was good.... he played Alembic, his new Sidewinder, and upright..... though his acoustic solo piece I 'd seen before.... when I saw him and his band at Ronnie Scotts. It was the band with Armand Sabal Lecco on a MM Sabre. That was a great show but strange... we saw them for about 35 mins.... they did what they did, Stanley did his upright solo, he played his Alembic, and they took a break.... when they came out again the first tune sounded familiar.... it was the same set....

It was a dinner and drinks sort of show so they had a rotation of customers, but we stayed and saw the same show , same licks, same stage moves, same jokes....

 

[nic salsus]

It was a dinner and drinks sort of show so they had a rotation of customers, but we stayed and saw the same show , same licks, same stage moves, same jokes....

Turbo lame....imagine how the soundman touring with them felt though.

 

[JimmyM]

Turbo lame....imagine how the soundman touring with them felt though.

now imagine how i feel when i do a bowzer show

hey, people want the hits...give 'em the hits. beats getting trashed on the internet for putting on a boring show.

 

[bluewine]

Nobodys worth $100 per ticket

You mean not worth it to you.

The second someone pays the 100.00, their worth it.

Just like atheletes, they are probably undeer paid yet many think they are over paid.

They are worth those huge salaries as soon as someone pays it to them.

 

[nic salsus]

now imagine how i feel when i do a bowzer show

What ya doin right now?
Maybe coming over to wash my Pacer or I email this thread to Bowzer, no?
Bring a six pack too.

 

[JimmyM]

What ya doin right now?
Maybe coming over to wash my Pacer or I email this thread to Bowzer, no?
Bring a six pack too.

i'm not letting any cats out of the bag. wash your own damn pacer!

 

[Jim Campbell]

Let me start by saying I consider Stanley a legend and one of the founding fathers of modern electric bass as a player and also as a bandleader and composer, but I saw his show in Nashville last night and it was disappointing from this fans perspective. First, he played upright the whole show! he strapped on his Alembic for the encore which was a 5 minute School Days theme with some solos in it. Then he quit.
I have looked forward to this for a year since they announced the show and bought two the day they went on sale for $100ea. My seats were first floor balcony dead level center. He had a sweet looking rig and i knew he we smoke because everyone i see here takes it up a notch the same way they do in LA or NYC because they have a lot of industry folks and peers in the room. His band was great, but none of them knocked me out as unique in any way, yet they all took breaks two to three times as long as SC. He did a really nice solo piece on the upright. Listen, the guys blows on an upright, and for the first 45 min i thought how cool this is that he is spending half the show on the "acoustic" part of the set. We needed a bathroom break and I figure he's got 5min on upright then the Electric set starts and we get in your face Funk freak-out Fusion Super bad SC? The usher says he got 10 min left in the show! What?! So we get to some seats and get the short encore. The place was packed, the audience was great and responded the whole time. I don't get it. Am I missing something?

simon and garfunkel were going for 250 bucks each here recently.....add on 12% tax and agency fee.....there seems to be a lot of that lately

 

[Dr McBalders]

Tom Waits= worth $100 (+). Had to say it.

 

[troy mcclure]

Side story 3: topic = "I can play what I want". On a PBS documentary about Neil Young, a band member related a story about a show in England (I think). Neil performed his whole new album straight through (I think it was not even released yet). The audience was bored and perturbed. They were shouting "Southern Man", or whatever. Finally, for the last song of the night, he announced "Here's one you've all heard before". Then the band proceeded to play their first number of the night again.

This is a running joke between me and a few friends...had tickets to see NY in 2003 and he played the entire album with a stage show. It was the 1st show of the tour and no one knew what he was going to play... he called the crowd aholes for shouting southern man during breaks.....

It did teach me to try and find recent setlists online before I buy tickets...

 

[dougjwray]

What ever happened to going to a concert because the artist intrigued you and you wondered what surprises the night could bring?
Too many people confuse performers with expensive jukeboxes, IMO.
Here's the answer: Become tremendously wealthy or a monarch, and hire the artist of your choice for a private concert. You get to write the setlist and specify the instruments to be used.

(Sorry about the rant...)

 

[Colin_D]

This is a running joke between me and a few friends...had tickets to see NY in 2003 and he played the entire album with a stage show. It was the 1st show of the tour and no one knew what he was going to play... he called the crowd aholes for shouting southern man during breaks.....

It did teach me to try and find recent setlists online before I buy tickets...

You would think someone with that much experience would realize what doing an entire set of songs that your audience hasn't ever heard isn't going to be super popular with the average fan. But hey I guess you could always be irritated with the crowd for calling out the names of songs they paid for your carreer with instead.

I get wanting to show the fans the new directions you are going in, and not wanting to be stuck in the past, but hey, c'mon, if it's a good song, and you wrote it, why not play it to get em juiced and when they are excited, hit them with some of the standouts from the new album.


edit:clarity

 

[abstractart06]

I have seen Stanley live in many incarnations of his carreer. He is absolutely brilliant on upright in my opinion. I can see however how it could be dissapointing to expect one thing and get a totally different performance.