tBS in Ithaca

[Ted Jackson jr. 6L6]

Torgo's eloquent review notwithstanding, here are a few of my
observations on Friday's most excellent concert by tBS.

This was the best the band has sounded in my 3 times seeing them.
Last show was great, but the tiny venue made it impossible to hear
anything!  This place was medium sized, but had a decent stage area
for the group to set up, and made the sound that much more spread out
as well.   They were really tight.  These guys are really refining
their craft, and it shows big time.  Overall sound and balance were
excellent.  Peter had a much greater role in this show than the last
one.  He played a lot of lead this time, and played his skinny ass
off.  The new amp is working out very well.  Al, what model Carvin is
that?  Think I'll be ordering one pretty soon.  I know all you guitar
desperadoes are snickering about a Carvin amp, and normally, I'd be
with ya, but believe me, this amp rocks big time.  All I can say is
if you heard one that sucked, it was probably due to the guy playing
through it.  I used to be prejudiced against Peavey amps as well.
But, if they're good enough for EVH, then maybe they ain't so bad
after all.  And I've been using a Classic 30 [pretty much a clone of
Peter's new amp] for over a year now, and liking it very much.  Not
my main amp, but a nice one for certain sounds.

Billy seemed in good form, and really enjoying himself.  Great to see
him up and running.  He even had the good humor to stop a song to
point to our own BOC-Ler Jason, and say:  'This guy ROCKS!'  BTW,
Jason, you really should try to loosen up a bit and throw off your
inhibitions.  This is a rock concert:  it's okay to let loose a
little!  Great meeting Jason, Brian and Torgo, and put faces with the
names I see every day.  You guys can hit off my bong anyday.

As with Elmira, a good selection of tunes spanning the entire tBS
catalog.  Great hearing Needle Gun.  Only bummer was their only
playing one set.  It would have been great to hear more, esp. with
the sound being so good that night.  Al is a wildman on the drums.
Solo was excellent, again playing the whole room.  He's got an extra
bass drum pedal, so he can achieve a double bass effect without
having to haul an double rig.  And this is important:  Al created all
this sound on a compact 4 piece kit.  Amazing!  Most guys with a
mountain of gear can't get half the sound Al gets. [though in the old
BOC days, Al used a lot bigger rig]  BTW, Al, are you using thinner
sticks nowadays?  I seem to remember that during BOC, you favored
really heavy sticks, almost like parade sticks.  Am I imagining
things here?

All in all a great show.  Can't wait to see them again.  What's the
future touring schedule look like?



theo

...................................
"I told you not to be stupid..."
--Ben S.