Adrian Belew Power Trio: Phoenix, AZ

Wow, it was like Christmas and my birthday this morning waking up to these wonderful photographs, which Joel Klein sent to me at 2:30 a.m. after seeing the Adrian Belew Power Trio at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix last night. Joel met my family last year when they were on tour in Phoenix -- he's a professional photographer -- and he snail mailed me some amazing shots from their prior concert which are totally awesome. He showed up at sound check last night and took a whole new bunch of pics -- here's just a few which I absolutely adore:






And here's what he had to say about the show itself:

"I just got home and I am really beat...........was up Weds morning at 4am to get on a 6am flight to Las Vegas (building a Walgreens up there) and now it Thursday night, er, well Friday morning. I got to tell you how proud you must be of Eric and Julie. I just want to squish them. They are such nice people..........apples never fall far from the trees. What pleasures they are. They remind me of our kids, just so sweet to be around and polite, happy, humble!! Wow! As I type I am downloading 320 pictures I shot tonight. If I can I will send a couple over as I am not going to view them as I am wiped. Adrian and Martha are really good people too. I am fortunate to meet such wonderful folks, huh? As for the playing, what can I say other than, as usual was superb! Eric and Julie continue to blossom into really talented Musicians. I think the world of AB to have recognized and given such a great opportunity to them. Okay so I will send you shots in a different email so you can wake up to seeing your wonderful children. Send my very best to Gary and tell him we missed him (and you).............."

Thanks, Joel - that's amazing. And I look forward seeing more of your photos!

From the Planet Crimson forum board:

"I've read too many gushing reviews of this band to want to contribute another one. But I can't deny that it was a pretty great performance last night at the packed Rhythm Room in Phoenix. The set...was pretty much the same as before, Side Four with a couple of additions, most notably a crimsonesque new song Adrian said was only being played for the second time. But familiarity with the set didn't really detract at all from my enjoyment; it seemed fresh to me. I don't know if it was because they were playing differently or I was just swept up in the joy, energy, and enthusiasm of it all. For sure they sounded tighter than before. Like last year the Slicks impressed and moved me from the get-go; honestly more so than Adrian for the first few songs. Consider yourself lucky if they're coming to your town on this tour."



I have to giggle - the Julie Slick/Tal Wilkenfeld comparisons/confusion continues to percolate over at the Bass Player Magazine forum board.

And such nice things are being said over at the YES forum board:

"I have Side Four, and it's excellent! Just got it the other day . . ."

"They look like they're having a blast, man."

"I saw them almost two years ago at Double Door, which is quite a dive. They were great then. Julie Slick is a fantastic bassist and I remembered she played that night in bare feet--I believe she does that all the time."

"Saw them last summer here in Nashville and they were AMAZING!! I had concert high for DAYS!"

There's also a bunch of excellent comments over at the Adrian Belew Power Trio MySpace site - don't forget to friend them! It's hilarious to me that I've had a MySpace site for two years and have like 2,000 profile views -- the trio has had their site for six weeks and have close to 7,000. Actually, it's not hilarious, it's way cool, and I confess to still being utterly confounded by MySpace and therefore doing nothing to promote myself there...this blog takes a big enough chunk out of my writing time but oh how I enjoy it.

Continuing on, two days ago I posted that great pic of Julie wearing shades taken by Burton Lo and here's what he has to say in his blog, which includes a link to his fantastic photographs:

"I had the chance to spend an afternoon and evening at the Coach House ending with a raucous concert by several amazing musicians. The lineup included Tom Griesgraber on the Chapman Stick at 8p, Saul Zonana at 9-ish, then the Power Trio at around 10pm. Talk about a full night of music, and what incredible music it was!

I've almost always enjoyed progressive rock, though I found some of my early exposures to Gentle Giant and early Genesis to be not as exciting to me. When I found King Crimson in the 80s, though, I was hooked for a lot of reasons, one of the primary being Adrian Belew.

Learning about him after the fact turned up the fact that he'd been involved in several of my favorite bands including Frank Zappa, David Bowie, and other. He was, and still is, my favorite front man for a band and this current group of his is pretty much perfection for all involved.

I had the true pleasure to meet his band members, Eric and Julie Slick. I briefly met them a year and a half ago, but I got to see more of them on Sunday and I'm so looking forward to many years of beautiful music from these two. And, if he chooses, I think Eric's got a second career in slapstick because, you know, timing is everything...

Anyway, there are some shots from my afternoon watching setup all the way through the end of the show and after. Here's the link on Flickr..."

Okay, I've got my eye on a couple of people who aren't awake yet in Arizona who were at the show last night so as usual, if anything interesting pops up, I'll be back.

But if you are reading this now and are anywhere near Santa Fe, New Mexico, you can catch them tonight right here!

Later,
xo