Chicago - Park West Options

[brett]

1. Just In Time
2. The Great Beyond
3. The Distance
4. All Over You
5. Selling The Drama
6. Zion
7. Drive
8. The Dolphins Cry
9. Soul Whispers
10. Drink (Everlasting Love)
11. Stand
12. Heaven
13. I Alone

Encore

14. Fire On The Mountain
15. Grace
16. Lightning Crashes
17. Dance With You

Got there too late to hear The Miggs. Heard the last couple of songs by Thriving Ivory.
I'd say the place was about half full. Maybe 400 people. 50/50 male/female. Wish he would have stayed at original venue which was Lincoln Hall which is smaller. Had never been there and was looking forward to checking it out. Crowd energy was good. As was Ed's. If I was blind and you told me I was going to see Live (which I have 20 times) I couldn't tell much difference in the music although from time to time you could tell it was a new band playing Live music if that makes sense. But for the most part very tight. Ramy looks like he's just having a good time. Smiling a lot. Kinda funny.
I like The Great Beyond but it sounded better on the cd. Seemed to be lacking some power.
The two slow songs Soul Whispers and Fire On The Mountain came across better than on the cd.
Zion was just about the same. Stand also. Grace everybody was singing along like it was an old song. Just In Time, Drive and Drink were okay. Nothing that stood out good or bad.
Dance With You seemed to have a little more edge to it like the Overcome video that was out on YouTube.
I've seen Ed three times solo now and this was the first time I'd seen him without CCP. So that was a little odd at first. Of course Adam was there. Took awhile for it to sink in that while the music to the songs (Live one's) were being played, the original members weren't there playing it. While I love Lakini's Juice it's such a Ed/Chad song that I'm glad it wasn't played. And I'm sure I'd say the same thing if I saw TGF and they played it.
My date had never seen Live and was excited to see Ed. She is a music teacher and thought his voice was great and showed a lot of range. She loves coffee so I made her get a bag which they had for sale. After she grinds the beans I'll have some and give my review. : )
The pendant looked cool and I was tempted to get it. Got a tour t-shirt and sponsored a child.
Went outside and Adam was outside by the bus and Ed was getting back on and I said hey and he said he'd be right back. He was going to get his camera to take a picture of a girl that had a tattoo on her side with lyrics to a Live song. Which one I don't know because I wasn't close enough to see. He saw the papers I had for World Vision and thought that was cool and said thanks and we chatted a bit. Got a picture with him as did my date and he signed my shirt and cd booklet that I brought and the one I got for free for sponsoring a child. All in all a good night.
After this many times seeing Ed and meeting him it's just like seeing an old friend. The newness and excitement has worn off a bit but it's still good to see him. At least for me. Peace.

[Hoodstock]

A little disappointing to hear you thought The Great Beyond was better on the album than it was live. I really like the song on the album and would have thought that it would actually sound way better in concert.

I know there is a lot of hate for Ed but I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, had a good time, and got to actually meet Adam and Ed. I thought it was really cool when I got to meet the entire band and Adam.

[T.B.D]

I was there, and I have to say I disagree with your take.

Don't get me wrong, Ed's voice was awesome. His enthusiasm was awesome. I mean, it was like seeing Ed perform 10 years ago. He was great. I just can not accept his backing band - for two reasons.

One, to me, they do not AT ALL sound the same as Live. Not even close. The big three (LC, I Alone and Dolphin's Cry) sounded nothing like I have ever heard live. And it wasn't like they were trying to change the sound of the song. It sounded like a crappy cover band.

Two, there was ZERO chemistry between Ed and the band. Yeah, he walked up to them and smiled and or put his hand on their shoulder. But, that was it. Ed's guitarist and bassist look like 20 year old kids out there playing in a garage band. It was brutal to watch Ed try and act like it was Chad, Chad and Pat.

I will say this, Ramy is actually pretty good. Fun to watch too. Like you said, the guy never stopped smiling. But he's not as good as Gracey, and you could hear a difference too.

I have to admit, although I wouldn't have publicly before, I was more looking forward to seeing Ed versus TGF. Now, I don't think I will see Ed again live if the tickets were free. It's not the same. It's like watching your hero slowly decline. I don't want to remember Ed like this. Struggling to fill a small venue, with a crappy band.

In 2009, I saw an Ed acoustic show at Shuba's. That was way better. Just Ed singing.

If Ed wants to have succsess, for me anyway, he needs to stick to acoustic Live songs or get the band back together.

TGF will be at the Double Door in Chi-town in November. I hope they can rock it !!

[+Ed+]

Thanks a lot for your honesty

[Nobody Knows]

T.B.D, how did Adam do, then?

[livefan1999]

Adam had a good night. I was there, too. At some point, I might write a review, but I'm still trying to get my head together on all that came down that night. I had wanted to be ready to write an enthusiastic review about the night, but at this point it would be more like me pointing out some good, some bad. I'm not ready for it yet.

On Adam, however, he really did have a good night. He was much looser than I've seen at some eight to ten shows I've seen him perform in. His microphone was up much higher than at past shows and his backing vocals were coming through loud and clear. He had good harmony with Ed and I was actually surprised at how good he sounded. I hadn't been able to hear him much at past shows as his mic was turned more at a lower level just to be a light background for Ed. Could have been where I was standing, too, that I could hear him better. Not sure.

Adam got thumbs up from all who went in our group.

This post has been edited by livefan1999: Sep 26 2010, 2:39 pm