TM STEVENS & LIVING COLOUR
At the Count Basie Theater - Red Bank, NJ (2/20/04)
(Thanks to Tim
Emgushov for his photo contribution to this review!!)
The super-lethal bassist, TM STEVENS and nasty guitarist P.M. EATON!!
PERSONNEL:
1. TM Stevens - lead vocals, O.O.C. bass
2. P.M. Eaton (of DA PHUNKY MAN) - nasty guitarist,
vocalist
3. Gary Sullivan (of Bernie Worrell & the WOO Warriors)
- power drummer
4. Kirk Douglas - OG guitarist
At 9:20pm, the power of the bass phenom TM Stevens started with the Middle
Eastern vibe of the mid-tempo rocker, "No Good Without the
Bad".....it was a trip to see 2 guitarists onstage, P.M. Eaton **AND**
Kirk Douglas (!!) That was followed by a jam where TM had the audience singing
"We Want The Funk, Gotta Have That Funk", and listening to the
ultra-funky, nastiness of his bass was too much! Raw guitar power was the name
of the game on "Go My Way" (thanks, Kirk and P.M.), which featured
P.M. on the guitar vocoder effect! TM represented his roots well with a James
Brown tribute, "Soul Power/Sex Machine" where he had two women
onstage shaking their asses when fans cried "Shake your moneymaker!"
(Personally, I don't think that they shook that much......I know some girls
that can shake it harder!) The power drum solo by the G-Man (Gary) was
killa.........the G-Man is in effect, as always!!"Maximum Respect",
the reggae-rock experience, was followed by the mellower "The River
Flow". "Shocka Zooloo" was so good that I just had to stand up
and get my groove on (the theater is ALL seats........BAD idea for a funk/rock
show.........ya heard?!) The best part of the show was
"Thumb".......the fast, slap bass workout was enough to give the
average listener permanent brain damage........all the solos (drum, bass &
guitars) were killer solos.......these guys didn't come to play! "Hair/Raw
Like Sushi/Boom" (THE SQUEEZE) was another lesson in "deep, gutbucket
bass riffs/aggressive, in-your-face, take-no-prisoners blend of nasty guitar
rock, heavy bass & drums/strong melodic rock with a punk-rock ending
(respectively, of course)! The set was over at 10:30pm.
Click here for pictures of TM Stevens
LIVING COLOUR: Vernon Reid, Corey Glover, Doug Wimbish & Wil Calhoun!!
PERSONNEL:
1. Vernon Reid - guitar, vocals
2. Corey Glover - lead vocals
3. Doug Wimbish - bass, vocals
4. Wil Calhoun - drums
At 11:15pm, Living Colour started their set with the rockers "Memories
Can't Wait" and "Middle Man". "A ? of When" was some
burning metal shit, thanks to Vernon & Doug! "Operation Mind
Control" and "Funny Vibe" were followed
by............"Glamour Boys" (!) Yes, "Glamour Boys"!! (Why
"Glamour Boys"?? Possibly one of the weakest songs that they have
done.......I guess the guys wanted to try something different to throw the fans
off) "Glamour Boys", the reggae-influenced pop/rock tune sounded
good, but Corey forgot a good bit of the lyrics........Corey later said
(joking/paraphrasing): "How the hell I supposed to remember the words to
that shit?!" "Bi" was full of some nasty, high-pitched guitar
wailing. "In Your Name" was followed by AC/DC's "Back in Black",
where Corey forgot part of the lyrics in the second verse. "Time's
Up" was a great rocker (with moments of punk energy), followed by
"Sacred Ground", where Wil tore down the theater on some wild
drumming!! "Flying" featured some of Doug's funky, make-you-wanna-sweat
bassisms.........that was followed by "Love Rears Its Ugly Head"
(where somebody in the audience shouted out "Wedding March" when
Corey got to that famous lyric). "Ignorance is Bliss" was followed by
"Type". "Type" was da bomb with the guys slowing down the
song a lot for the first bridge "Everything that goes around comes
around". Vernon did some reggae singing (some different lyrics) and Corey
jumped in with some of his reggae-flavored, almost baritone, raspy-sounding
vocals.....then the guys went back into "Type" with the
"Everything that goes around...." part for the rest of the song!
"The Cult of Personality" was the electrifying ending to a wonderful
night. The show was over at 1:00am.
Click here for pictures of Living
Colour
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