It has been a busy week with live music around Dallas for me this week! I have written reviews for all of the artists I went to see in the past, so I’ll try to give the Cliff’s Notes version of the shows.
First up was Guy Forsyth at Bend Studio, with Manya and Blue Petal opening. This show was a lot of fun to see. Manya has a really unique and beautiful voice and vocal style that make for a very entertaining show. While they have only really just started to play live shows around town pretty regularly, their performance is very good, and has improved even since the last time I saw them just a few weeks ago. Manya seemed very excited and a little bit nervous to be playing at Bend, but that didn’t detract from her performance. For my last review on her, click here .
I saw Guy a year or so ago at the same venue, when he played a solo show one evening. This time he had a drummer and a bass player along with him to add to the music. These two additions really helped accelerate the show and keep the energy levels high. When Guy sings, he has so much power he almost always has a vien popping out on the side of his head, and when you add with 3 other instruments (that also sometimes included a full sized classic tuba, and a wood saw…) it was a pretty intense show. Guy played for about an hour and a half and the sound and the music were fantastic for the whole show. For my last review of Guy, check this out .
Next came Bob Schneider’s show Sat. night at the Son’s of Herman Hall. I think this is the third time that I’ve seen Bob play this year, and I can say definitively that there are two things to see at a Bob show. First there is the music. His style is very unusual and hard to describe. Most of it is very light, and lyrically extremely well written. Second there is Bob’s stage show. To me, a lot of the fun in a Bob show is just seeing him on stage because he is so unpredictable and so funny. He’s witty , crude, funny and very interactive with the crowd. To me, this is every bit as entertaining as his music.
This show was a little different for me because his last two shows were solo shows, and this show he was playing with “Strings Attached”. Strings attached is a group of string (with a drummer) musicians who play along with other artists. It was also a different show because, per the show bill, this was an all ages, or family friendly show. Strings Attached is clearly a very skilled group of musicians who really added to the music. I think I saw a violin, viola, trumpet, cello, drums, electric bass, stand up bass and a few other instruments during various times of the show. The music itself, was top notch.
Overall, I think I like the solo shows more than I did this show. First of all the show was very short. There was no opening act, and show only lasted a little over an hour. I might conjecture that the set length was limited to the number of songs that Strings had time to learn of Bob’s. Second, I think I perfer the solo shows and the non-family friendly shows a lot more. The songs were more entertaining, and Bob’s stage humor/presence really stands out. I found this quote from one of my other reviews:
The lyrics are very vivid and paint pictures easily seen in the mind’s eye. Just as soon as you have painted a nice pretty picture in your mind, you might be surprised to see what it is. I almost sprayed my beer through my nose when I took a step back to look at the picture old Bob drew in my mind, and found it was God with a big dick and bag of good cocaine.
This show was more toned down, and God and his mule were nowhere to be found. The show was still a good show, but I think I prefer the solo shows. To read some of my other reviews of Mr. Bob, see here for a short one and to read more about God’s Mule, click here.
Since the Bob show ended so early I had a chance to head over to South Side Lamar and catch some live music at Opening Bell. I didn’t make it in time to see Fishing For Comets (but I will soon!), but I did make it in time to see most of Salim Nourallah’s set. Man, Pascale must be doing great business! The place was PACKED when I got there, and the crowd was very into Salim’s show. They were singing, clapping and really being active in the show. At one point everyone took out their keys and used them as makeshift tambourines during a song that otherwise would have just been Salim and his voice. The show was entertaining and I heard several of his songs that I had not heard before and really enjoyed. Salim has a great connection with his audience, and you could really get a sense of how much his fans enjoyed the show by how involved so many people in this little coffee shop were! For more on Salim : click here
Bend’s Myspace
Opening Bell
Salim’s Myspace
Bob’s Myspace
Manya
Guy Forsyth’s Myspace
I’m in such a burning mode right now I think I’m going to keep going with it for the rest of the time and see if I can get down around 155. Over the next week or so I’ll start doing more weights, and also focus on more protein in my diet to build a little mass.