Sunday night's show by Van der Graaf Generator and Strawbs at the Nokia Theatre Times Square, recounted through my Twitter posts, and annotated and corrected as necessary.
From one of the
thickest crowds I've ever seen at Town Hall (Emerson Quartet) to the
thinnest I've seen at Nokia (Van der Graaf Generator).
Strawbs playing as acoustic trio, like a Crosby, Stills & Nash from the British Isles. #vandergraaf
Strawbs play "Oh How She Changed," melancholy first single, issued 40 years ago. #vandergraaf
3
@dollarama3k Yes, sir, Reunited in 2005; current U.S. tour is first in nearly three decades. #vandergraaf
4
Strawbs play "The
Hangman and the Papist" from "From the Witchwood," only LP with Rick
Wakeman, replaced here with foot pedal. #vandergraaf
5
Trivia: Strawbs began as bluegrass group, the Strawberry Hill Boys. #vandergraaf
6
Now that I wouldn't have guessed: Just spotted Jim Thirlwell at VdGG show. #vandergraaf
7
Van der Graaf Generator takes the stage with "Intereference Patterns" from last year's CD, "Trisector." #vandergraaf 8
@jgrossnas Hey Jason, use a #vandergraaf hashtag, we can annoy everyone in tandem!
"Scorched Earth" #vandergraaf
Not close enough for iPhone photo. Peter Hammill, singing at electric piano stage right, faces Hugh Banton, organ & synth... #vandergraaf
... with Guy Evans drumming on riser to rear. Sound is strong & clear, and appropriately heavy. #vandergraaf
"Every Bloody Emperor" feels timely: "Imperceptible the change as our votes become mere gestures." #vandergraaf
"Lemmings" is resonating, too: "We have looked upon the High Kings / Found them less than mortals..." #vandergraaf
"...their names are dust before the just march of our young, new law." Hammill on scathing guitar. #vandergraaf
Peter Hammill looks like he could be Nels Cline's dad as he lurches around, spraying notes. #vandergraaf
Hammill announces two more from "Trisector," a wise, profound disc that grew on me slowly. First, "Lifetime." #vandergraaf
Followed by "All That Before." #vandergraaf
Worth noting that audience filled in appreciably; Nokia's probably 75% full, not at all bad for a cult band. #vandergraaf
"Childlike Faith in Childhood's End," apocalyptic sci-fi visions. #vandergraaf
"Over the Hill," from "Trisector." Oblique elegy on obsolesence and breakdown: personal, interpersonal, societal. #vandergraaf
Too bad VdGG has
no merch table. They'd probably sell 100 copies of "Trisector" to old
fans who didn't know it existed... #vandergraaf 18
...which is probably about as many copied as EMI sold through stores in the U.S., period. #vandergraaf
19
"Killer," a
classic from 1970 and the first time tonight I've truly missed
ex-member David Jackson's multiple-sax blasts. #vandergraaf
20
Encore: "The
Sleepwalkers," from 1975 LP "Godbluff." Evans does more with
well-placed thwack than most do with elaborate fills. #vandergraaf
1 Arriving from a packed Free for All at Town Hall performance by the Emerson Quartet, Nokia—a comfortable but too-large space for this kind of show—seemed half-empty at first. (Things improved.)
2 Specifically: founding singer-songwriter and primary vocalist Dave Cousins, guitarist Dave Lambert and guitarist-bassist Chas Cronk.
3 Actually, issued by A&M in the U.K. precisely 31 years earlier—to the day.
4 Colleague and friend Steve Dollar has just learned from my previous tweets that Van der Graaf Generator is back in business. This should indicate how poorly word circulated, especially in the U.S. That this was the band's "first U.S. tour in nearly three decades was an underestimation and then some: its sole previous New York date was at the Beacon Theatre on October 18, 1976.
5 In Yes lore, among the first things you learn about keyboardist Rick Wakeman is that he came from the Strawbs. For this song, the only one played from the only LP Wakeman was on, Chas Cronk played chords on foot pedals.
6 True. Dave Cousins was once renowned as the fastest banjo picker in late-’60s England.
7 Van der Graaf Generator has always enjoyed an odd renown as the one prog-rock band that punks and post-punks truly appreciated; John Lydon and Mark E. Smith are commonly cited. Thirlwell, an industrial-music icon, offers further evidence.
8 Murmurs of "This is a new song" could be heard rippling through the rows behind me. Trisector was issued in March 2008. Way to get the word out, EMI. (I found out about the album via a flyer handed out after Peter Hammill's riveting solo show last summer at the Cutting Room.)
9 My discovery that another friend and colleague, Jason Gross, was present and tweeting—or so I thought. Actually, it later turned out that he'd uncharacteristically sent just one tweet. (It was Jason's partner, @RobinCook, who would be reporting on this show.)
10 From the 1975 album, Godbluff.
11 Self-explanatory. Wondering whether the improved camera in an iPhone 3GS addresses this.
12 The track comes from Van der Graaf Generator's first studio recording after reuniting in 2004, Present.
13 Given that my main use of Twitter is not reviewing concerts but following the developments in Iran, these particular lyrics (from 1971's Pawn Hearts) rang eerily prescient. (At least one friend thought so, too.)
14 Nels Cline is, of course, the tall, gangly, avant-garde jazzer-turned-Wilco guitarist.
15 My first response to Trisector was based on what it wasn't: a clone of the vintage VdGG discs of yore. It's less excessive, more streamlined for the most part. But it grew on me with time, especially as I prepared to write a concert preview for TONY. I now have a tremendous respect for the disc, and the songs they played here in particular.
16 Seemed important to note, given my dire announcement at the start. (Some folks are just going to show up late.)
17 The song I most hoped to hear—from Still Life, the reissue I most wanted to buy directly from the band. But alas…
18 …the band was not selling CDs. In the case of Trisector, the existence of which many people around me were apparently unaware, this was a serious mistake. I don't think this was the type of crowd that would go home and buy the disc on iTunes.
19 I have no figures to substantiate this claim, of course; my statement was based in nothing more than frustration and distaste for the practices of certain corporations.
20 I'm reasonably certain that Hammill announced "Killer," as is my companion of the evening. But the song, as pointed out by @RobinCook and @andyzax, was in fact "Man-Erg." (The first line of that song is, "The killer lives inside me, yes," but that's no excuse.) David Jackson, who used to play two saxes at once à la Rahsaan Roland Kirk, left VdGG in 2005.
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