The Alan Parsons Live Project

Cafe Society
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Scroll down here: http://www.paccleveland.com/event/545103-alan-parsons-live-project-cleveland/

I’ve been a fan of the Alan Parsons Project since the late Seventies. It was a great show last night at the Masonic Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio. Parsons has put on weight and doesn’t move around too much but can still sing; overall he played the guitar more than the keyboards.

Parsons had six in his band, including a younger, very energetic and wiry singer, two other guitarists, a guy who alternated between guitar, sax and maracas, plus a keyboardist and a drummer.

Great light show and some smoke effects.

The set list:

“I Robot” - the crowd went nuts when we heard the synth intro
“Damned If I Do” - very high-energy and fun
“Don’t Answer Me” - quieter; almost winsome
“Breakdown” - not a favorite of mine, but they did well
“The Raven” (excerpt) - they used the Orson Welles soundbite to start it; Parsons then sang
“Time” - sweeping and lush
“La Sagrada Familia” - Parsons sang again
“Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You” - one of my favorites, and they knocked it out of the park
“Turn of a Friendly Card” - Parsons introduced it by saying this and the following four songs were intended to be heard together, as part of a coherent whole in an album, and not broken up as singles “the way most people listen to music nowadays”
“Snake Eyes” - well done
“The Ace of Swords” - ditto
“Nothing Left to Lose” - Parsons sang; did a good job
“Turn of a Friendly Card (reprise)” - somewhat different from what I remember, with more guitar

After a 20-min. intermission, they returned with a vengeance:

“Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” - high-energy and cool
“Fragile” - a new song, now available on iTunes. Not a rocker - not bad, but nothing special, I’d say. They had digital cards with the song for sale for $20 in the lobby afterwards, but I didn’t get one.
“What Goes Up” - also not a favorite of mine
“Prime Time” - well done, with extended guitar and keyboard solos
“Sirius” - everyone loved it!
“Eye in the Sky” - ditto

After long and loud applause, the encores were “Old and Wise” (the saxophonist wore goofy angel wings for his solo) and “Games People Play” (also with a sax solo). Both were well done.

It was about a two-hour concert, incl. intermission. All good stuff, most of it sounding as I remembered it.

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How is Parsons as a singer? He never sang lead on any of the original Project recordings.

I was going to ask whether he had any of the original personnel with him, but I saw that the band members were listed in the linked article and didn’t recognize any of the names (aside from Parsons himself, of course).

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He sang all right. Not a lot of vocal power there, but he didn’t embarrass himself.

Should’ve said earlier, this was the first time I’d ever seen APP live.

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Would’ve been awesome to have Eric Woolfson sing his original vocals, but unfortunately he’s umm, kinda dead.

Twenty dollars for one song?!? That’s insane!

Sounds like it was an awesome show, though. Would be great if they recorded it for DVD/Blu-Ray. I didn’t know that APP even performed live, they never did in the early days.

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I’m jealous! I found out about the tour too late to go when it was around here, but I sure would have liked to. I guess I’ll have to start paying more attention again–for awhile they weren’t touring much (and most of what they were doing was in Europe IIRC).

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Aw nuts! They’re in Orlando this weekend, and no way I can make it. I’m jealous of EH too!

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They started touring in 1994. They released several live albums. I have this one, released in 1995. If you want a DVD, they have Live in Madrid.

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Alas, it looks like they’ll be nowhere near Charlotte. That’s a concert I would have gladly talked my wife into paying to see (her sister regularly gets us tickets to things for free, so she’s a tough sell).

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Yeah, disappointed they’re not doing more dates. I saw them in St.Paul when they released The Time Machine. We were in the second row.

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I picked up their 2-CD album LiveSpan after the show, and it’s the next best thing to hearing them live. It has all the same musicians as appeared here, as near as I can tell. Check it out: http://www.alanparsonsmusic.com/livespan.html

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Just came across this - a 2011 Rolling Stone interview with Parsons about his engineering work on Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon: Alan Parsons on ‘Dark Side’: ‘Roger Knew Something Great Was in the Making’ – Rolling Stone

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And here it is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekO_9sm9pVA. A very similar concert to the one here.

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APLP’s touring again: http://alanparsonsmusic.com/events/

They’ll be at the Hard Rock Rocksino (hate that word!) near Cleveland, Ohio on June 2, and I hope to hear them again: http://www.wmji.com/calendar/june-02-2016/the-alan-parsons-project-498252/

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Awesome news!

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I wonder when they’ll file the cease-and-desist order against the Trump campaign for their use of “Sirius”.

:dubious:

My mother wants “Time” played at her funeral.

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Saw the band again last night at the Hard Rock Rocksino in Northfield, Ohio. Very cramped seating, but good sound, lights and two big screens for closeups. The audience was about twice the size it was in 2014. My friend John and I didn’t think we saw anyone under age 50!

The first part of the set list the same as two years ago (see the OP):

“I Robot”
“Damned If I Do”
“Don’t Answer Me”
“Breakdown”
“The Raven” (excerpt)
“Time”

Good stuff, although lead vocalist P.J. Olsson was flat a couple of time. They skipped “La Sagrada Familia” and went on with:

“Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You” - included an odd wawa-guitar solo
“Turn of a Friendly Card” - no comment by Parsons, unfortunately, as to the irony of performing this and the next four songs in a casino auditorium!
“Snake Eyes”
“The Ace of Swords”
“Nothing Left to Lose”
“Turn of a Friendly Card (reprise)” - nice extended sax solo at the end

Unlike in 2014, there was no intermission, and the band just kept going with:

“Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether”
“Old and Wise” - another great sax solo
“Psychobabble” - not a favorite of mine, and a so-so performance, including a meh interlude of electronica chirps and feedback
“Days are Numbers” - very well done, including more good sax
“Limelight” - ditto
“Prime Time” - ended with a nifty, Gershwinesque piano/synth bit
“Sirius”
“Eye in the Sky”

The band left the stage and the crowd really went nuts, cheering and calling, before Parsons et al. returned for two songs as an encore:

“Don’t Let It Show” - included a very fast-paced finish
“Games People Play”

A great concert, all in all, and just different enough from what I’d heard two years ago that I was never bored.

Parsons announced near the end that the band’s next album will be released on June 24 - a live album from a performance in Colombia with a 70-piece orchestra: http://www.amazon.com/Live-Colombia-Parsons-Symphonic-Project/dp/B01D5KI7ME/ref=pd_bxgy_74_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0KGGN73H2J757QPXC2X8

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Does anybody know how much Alan Parsons weighs? He looks very unhealthy. I am trying to compute his** Body Mass Index** (BMI). While I know that he is 6’ 2", I need to know his current weight in order to calculate his** BMI** (BMI = [weight/inches x inches] x 703.5); BMI > 30 = Obese; BMI > 40 = Morbidly Obese). Once I calculate it, I want somehow to email this information to him.

I feel that he is at major risk for a cardiovascular event, in addition to diabetes. Being a big fan of The Alan Parsons Project (I’m traveling to Atlantic City, New Jersey to see them on Saturday, July 16), I want him to keep on producing music, and to not die prematurely.

Also, does anybody know how I can directly email him?

Thanks.

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Here is the contact page from the official Alan Parsons Project site…although I’m pretty sure his own physician will have a better handle on his health than someone calculating his BMI from afar.

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I also think Alan is taller than 6’2". I’ve stood next to him and he struck me as being really tall. I think he’s at least 6’4", possibly taller (unless he’s shrunk in the intervening years, which I guess is possible).

ETA: I was right, but not enough. According to this article, he’s quoted as saying he’s 6’5".

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While you’re in the mood for chiding prog rock musicians about the dangers of obesity, how 'bout dropping a line to Greg Lake.