Dad-and-daughter date, The Pretty Reckless show, Friday evening, October 17, 2014, at the Fillmore Auditorium. We had never before been to the Fillmore; the venue itself is spacious, organized and pretty well laid out. Staff was professional, courteous, and getting in was a smooth process. Parking anywhere on Colfax Ave. is a challenge, especially in this very congested area.
The show began promptly at 7pm with an opening set by Boston-area band Crash Midnight [http://www.crashmidnight.com/]. As will be discussed later, this promising group suffered from a bad sound mix. Overall the sound was muddy, and the vocals and lead guitar were buried too deeply in the mix. Musicianship was strong, and the singer Shaun Soho had decent stage presence. The only things lacking were good sound engineering and better songs. Their original tunes showed promise, however the best audience reaction was from a good rendition of Mr. Brownstone by Guns N Roses. If these guys continue to get good support from their label, and continue to improve their song-writing, we can expect more and better from them in the future.
After the typical intermission for set teardown, the audience was treated to an absolutely inspired performance by Adelitas Way [http://www.adelitaswaymusic.com/], blissfully unhampered by sound problems. I am not clear on the identities of the current lineup, as their website does not provide member bios that I could find. Currently the guitar work is being done by Robert Zakaryan, and may he continue as their guitarist. His performance was blistering, so much so that they will never need to add a second guitar. The rhythm section, consisting of drummer Trevor Stafford and bassist Andrew Cushing, was rock solid, and seemed to work well as a team. The song-list demonstrated excellent writing, and the delivery was air-tight.
The icing on that cake was their singer, Rick DeJesus. I cannot give enough praise; not only does he have good vocal ability, he has mastered stage presence, and was completely in command of the crowd, having gained rapport before the end of their opening song. His interaction was also very conscientious, and on several occasions throughout their lengthy set, admonished the crowd to be kind, courteous and gentle with the many instances of crowd surfing. At one point he even pulled a woman and young boy up on stage because he observed them being a bit overwhelmed by the crush of the crowd. And then the headliner, The Pretty Reckless [http://goingtohell.me/hell/] almost hit the stage. I say almost, because they began with a far too long overdubbed audio intro and light display, before launching into several songs that I admittedly had never heard before. (As an aside, when I went to their website in support of writing this article, I received a malware alert, which only adds to the discouragement.) The theme continued throughout their disappointingly short set: openings with long voiceovers and lackluster performance, with their hit songs Make Me Wanna Die, Heaven Knows and Messed Up World held to the end of the set. The engineering gremlin also returned with a vengeance, completely ruining a promising sound. The bass was way too loud, overpowering both the vocals and guitar. I thought for sure someone in the engineering booth would realize it and compensate, yet it never happened.
As powerful as Rick DeJesus was in his performance, so weak was that of Taylor Momson, who I have now come to learn has had a film career that included appearing in Jim Carey's The Grinch as Cindy Lou Who! While on recordings Taylor has displayed an impressive range and tone, at least in this particular live show, she fell woefully short. She never really grabbed the crowd, and just seemed to be going through the motions. The guitar work was also relatively flat, which was unfortunate, because Ben Philips strongly reminded me of the great Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath fame. As with Adelitas Way, the
rhythm section handled their responsibilities well, and drummer Jamie Perkins treated the crowd to a great drum solo.
In the end, Crash Midnight showed promise, Adelitas Way demonstrated they are on their way to greatness, and The Pretty Reckless needed to rest and reassess their show. I don't know if the same sound engineer worked on all three bands' setup, but it seemed to have significantly affected two of three performances. The Fillmore seems to attract many good bands, and I look forward to more shows there in the future.
The show began promptly at 7pm with an opening set by Boston-area band Crash Midnight [http://www.crashmidnight.com/]. As will be discussed later, this promising group suffered from a bad sound mix. Overall the sound was muddy, and the vocals and lead guitar were buried too deeply in the mix. Musicianship was strong, and the singer Shaun Soho had decent stage presence. The only things lacking were good sound engineering and better songs. Their original tunes showed promise, however the best audience reaction was from a good rendition of Mr. Brownstone by Guns N Roses. If these guys continue to get good support from their label, and continue to improve their song-writing, we can expect more and better from them in the future.
After the typical intermission for set teardown, the audience was treated to an absolutely inspired performance by Adelitas Way [http://www.adelitaswaymusic.com/], blissfully unhampered by sound problems. I am not clear on the identities of the current lineup, as their website does not provide member bios that I could find. Currently the guitar work is being done by Robert Zakaryan, and may he continue as their guitarist. His performance was blistering, so much so that they will never need to add a second guitar. The rhythm section, consisting of drummer Trevor Stafford and bassist Andrew Cushing, was rock solid, and seemed to work well as a team. The song-list demonstrated excellent writing, and the delivery was air-tight.
The icing on that cake was their singer, Rick DeJesus. I cannot give enough praise; not only does he have good vocal ability, he has mastered stage presence, and was completely in command of the crowd, having gained rapport before the end of their opening song. His interaction was also very conscientious, and on several occasions throughout their lengthy set, admonished the crowd to be kind, courteous and gentle with the many instances of crowd surfing. At one point he even pulled a woman and young boy up on stage because he observed them being a bit overwhelmed by the crush of the crowd. And then the headliner, The Pretty Reckless [http://goingtohell.me/hell/] almost hit the stage. I say almost, because they began with a far too long overdubbed audio intro and light display, before launching into several songs that I admittedly had never heard before. (As an aside, when I went to their website in support of writing this article, I received a malware alert, which only adds to the discouragement.) The theme continued throughout their disappointingly short set: openings with long voiceovers and lackluster performance, with their hit songs Make Me Wanna Die, Heaven Knows and Messed Up World held to the end of the set. The engineering gremlin also returned with a vengeance, completely ruining a promising sound. The bass was way too loud, overpowering both the vocals and guitar. I thought for sure someone in the engineering booth would realize it and compensate, yet it never happened.
As powerful as Rick DeJesus was in his performance, so weak was that of Taylor Momson, who I have now come to learn has had a film career that included appearing in Jim Carey's The Grinch as Cindy Lou Who! While on recordings Taylor has displayed an impressive range and tone, at least in this particular live show, she fell woefully short. She never really grabbed the crowd, and just seemed to be going through the motions. The guitar work was also relatively flat, which was unfortunate, because Ben Philips strongly reminded me of the great Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath fame. As with Adelitas Way, the
rhythm section handled their responsibilities well, and drummer Jamie Perkins treated the crowd to a great drum solo.
In the end, Crash Midnight showed promise, Adelitas Way demonstrated they are on their way to greatness, and The Pretty Reckless needed to rest and reassess their show. I don't know if the same sound engineer worked on all three bands' setup, but it seemed to have significantly affected two of three performances. The Fillmore seems to attract many good bands, and I look forward to more shows there in the future.