Boston concert review

[Ritchie200]

For those who were bored enough to read my review of the last Boston "album", you know that I was very critical of Tom Scholz' latest efforts. Being a huge fan and having purchased many a SR&D product to fund Tom's retirement, that was hard to do. Even their concert a fe years ago was ho hum as Tom was fighting with his original singers widow. A local fair has a reputation of spending the big bucks and getting some big names in every year so I was excited to hear that they got Boston back in August. My daughter and I got there about 6 hours before the show and listened to the sound check. Awesome, as tight as can be. Looking up!  When they finally dropped the rope three hours before the show we ran and got front row - behind the vip section for the fair queens and money folks. So as we sat in the sun at 98 degrees I was wondering if my daughter would disown me by nights end...  Couple sitting next to me had seen them 108 times and was going on a Carnival concert cruise the following week to see them in the Bahamas.  Not only that, they knew Tom's guitar tech who came out and gave them a set list and a bag of picks - which they were nice enough to share with me!  They then got backstage passes for the end of the show, which unfortunately they did NOT share with me....  If you have never seen their live setup it is a wall of beautiful, wonderfully blinking Rockman units all tucked into huge racks - plus a little Tom magic that he never marketed.  What a great sight!  Christmas in August!  On to the show. Wow wow wow wow....  I've seen every tour over the years going back to their debut album. This was THE best show I have seen. I was wondering how crowded it would be since only the die-hards were grouped around the stage until about an hour and a half before.  It exploded. Gate count was just shy of 18,000. The place was packed and noisy with people jumping around. The band was smiling and having a good time. They played for almost two and a half hours. Reading up I was seeing two hours average on their shows. Obviously they were having a good time. Vocals, solos, dual solos were all spot on perfect. Gary Pihl was rock solid as always since the third album.  The new singer sounds just like Brad Delp back in the day - spot on.  We had a great time. Due to the crowds we sat and watched them tear down. Everything except mixing board and lights were in the trucks in less than an hour - amazing...   I hope this energy translates into some new material. He has a great support band now so I hope Tom takes advantage of them.  Great night. Will try to post pics and video.

Jim

[Willabe]

Glad you and your daughter had a great time Jim!   



    

[Ritchie200]

Jim

[Willabe]

Nice!   

[Ed_Chambley]

I saw them here in Atlanta about 2 months ago.  Sweltering hot.  I could not believe that Tom was actually playing.  He has to have someone backstage doing it for him because he was using a Les Paul and it sounded in tune.

I would say the did a good, not great show.  They did fill the Amphitheater, but playing in the Dog Days of Summer in Georgia I can understand not being your best.  I actually had a heat stroke once while playing in the summer.

Sounds like it was a great show.  I have to agree the music was spot on, but the new singer IMO could not hold the high notes like Brad Delp could.  Really good vocalist, but again it could have just been the heat.  It is very hard to be at you best when it is so humid and hot.  So I will give him a pass and agree with your judgement.

[Ritchie200]

Yeah the singer Tommy Decarlo is a story in itself.  Lifetime Boston fan.  Worked at Home Depot. He did some home recordings of him singing Boston tunes and posted them on his Myspace account. Never been in a band.  When Brad died, he posted a song he wrote for his hero.  Someone sent it to one of Scholz "people" and Tom saw his volume of work and how close his vocals were to Brad's.  They invited him to sing at Delp's memorial show - that's a heck of a first gig.  Tommy thought that was it, wow, great experience, back to work.  Tom called and hired him to sing full time.  Tommy was most impressed with Tom on their first meeting because he mentioned that his son was a huge fan.  Tom insisted that he bring him along to meet the band telling him that family is everything.  He is 50 so he is no spring chicken.  The girl takes the really high parts.  He did a fine job at our show.  Tom was out on stage after the sound check working on his organ for about 3 hours - soldering iron, DMM and all.  He is still a tinkerer!  All the stuff he has built, all the Rockman stuff....wow.  The guy is brilliant.

Jim