BRAIN. Brain Surgeon's Gig at Mamakin (Review)

[Rich Hamel]

Ok, here's the long awaited review of the 'Surgeons gig on Friday, Dec. 22 at
Mamakin:

The Club:
--------
This was the first time I had made it to Mamakin. It's a nice club with
a stage that is significantly raised so that those in the back can see. The
stage is pretty big, so a 5 piece band fits nicely. In the all important
beer category, they are so-so. I chose Hieneken.

The Sound:
---------
Apparently the band had a rough time getting up North due to the bad weather,
so there was no sound check. Considering that, the sound was great! The
bass was perhaps a little low in the mix, but I'm a bassist so I'm biased.
Vocals were loud and clear.

The Gig:
-------
With the weather hassles, this could have been a flat gig, but it wasn't.
The band was really energetic and loose. Al and Deb in particular were
very animated. My first surprise was that Al is really short! (sorry, Al):^)
Al's energy really drove the gig. One thing that impressed me was that Deb's
voice sounds as good live as it does in the studio. I always hate seeing
bands live that can't vocally reproduce the studio quality because their
voices were mixed and massaged into computer oblivion. Not the case here
though. If there was any downside, it was that the music got a little sloppy
here and there, but the energy more than made up for it. Actually, I kind
of got the impression that the bassist didn't really know the BOC covers.
All in all, I had a really good time, and I'll be there the next time they
are in town. The show lasted a little over an hour.

The Songs: Disclaimer: I'm doing this from memory, so I'll probably leave
something out, or worse still put something in that they didn't do! These
are not in order.
------
Language of Love (intro suffered a tad from the lack of the mysterious Albertron
Name Your Monster (opened with this)
Soul Jive
Gimme' Nothin'
A Kiss is a Promise
Sally
Sisters of the Precious Blood (this is the one I THINK they played, but maybe
not).
Baby Ice Dog
Career of Evil
Cities on Flame / Night of 1000 Guitars, Spanish Version. This was the last
tune and featured a  "5 guitars" ending.
Top-Secret-BOC-Tune that Al sang. Don't know if this is still a surprise or
not so I won't let the cat out of the bag!

        I probably missed one or two. Maybe others who were there can fill
in the blanks if there are any.

        Until next time......
--

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!  Rich Hamel                     !                                       !
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