So last night we went to see Richard Marx at the Capitol. Yeah…I know what you’re thinking but that’s ok, I’m not afraid to say that I’m a fan and have been for a long time!
Yes it’s true I like his voice and his songs, but what I really like is his production and studio band. He always uses the cream of the session muso pool including;
- Michael Thompson
- Michael Landau
- Bruce Gaitsch
- John Moffet
- Lee Sklar
- Jeff Porcaro
- Steve Lukather
Phew…that’s quite a list! All of those players above (and many more) I LOVE and would travel miles to see at a gig, if they were to come out to Sydney which is unlikely. The great thing about using guys like this is that you get A-grade quality in touch, tone and taste. Truly memorable parts from the guitar/bass to the kit.
Opening the night was local boy Rick Price which was fantastic (yeah I’m a fan of his as well!). Rick hasn’t been around (commercially) in this country for a while and I’ve never seen him live. His performance was pretty special, just him and his acoustic guitar. It must be daunting to be in a situation where you’re an opening act and it’s just you…no loud band to hide behind. I think he really pulled it off, nice one Rick :)
Monsieur Marx’ tour was heralded as the ‘Greatest Hits’ tour, so as to be expected he played pretty much all the songs you’d know from him. Somebody I was with (and I bet a few others) kept saying “I didn’t know he did that!” and the end which was satisfying for me to hear.
The band was quite good although (typically) I would have liked a different guitarist. It didn’t help that the sound guy buried him in the mix for the first few songs :(
I’d give it a 7 out of 10, I really liked it but it just didn’t have that ‘special’ something to give it an 8 or 9.