Review: Marco Benevento solo
(I'll add links and probably some photos shortly, thanks for your patience)
Marco!... Polo!... Marco!...Solo!
About a month and a half ago when Marco told me about his November Tonic residency and mentioned the solo date I asked him if he would just be playing piano or if he'd have some of his other keyboards with him. He kind of hesitated and seemed to honestly not know what he was going to do. "Probably just the piano, but maybe I'll have another rig up there." Somewhere between that night and last night, the decision must have been made with a ne'er-say-die "Fuck it!!" because, in what must have been a Herculean effort to set-up, the entire stage was jam-packed with at least a half-a-dozen different keyed instruments, with the containers they all came in cluttered against the wall it looked like a museum installation. Benevento seemed to be some singularity in the universe Wednesday night, bending space and time such that one man filled the space of a dozen and barely an hour of music seemed to satisfy for much much longer.
The set was comprised pretty much entirely of covers, or 100% of covers if you include Duo songs as covers. The set started off with a very nice cover of Pink Floyd's "Fearless" with Marco using an overly distorted electric piano to simulate the raunchy slide guitar of the original and then dancing his fingers back and forth between that and the grand piano center stage. It was clear from the get-go that the only things limiting him would be his lack of third and fourth limbs and whatever limits our technological advances man, as a race have yet to overcome. Samples, drum machines, bent toy circuits, etc. were all used to varying effect with the best moments coming when Marco was able to cycle and loop his own playing and then layer and layer to generate a nice large, textured, soulful sound.
The set was populated by obvious favorites from the Benevento playlist, hitting Radiohead, Leonard Cohen and Thelonious Monk (a highlight Bye-Ya that was the most straightforward of the evening -- straight up 10-fingered piano jazz). There was genuine emotion in the playing and that great loose vibe in the room that a quarter-filled Tonic can afford. Somewhere in there, I believe there was a semi-acoustic rendition of the Benevento/Russo hit "Welcome Red" which seriously lacked for Russo's absence, but was fun nonetheless.
Midway through the set Scott Metzger hopped on stage with his axe and an amp that seemed little more than a cardboard box with a mouse running on a wheel inside. The sound provided, though, was a perfect, raw, raunchy howl that meshed with Marco perfectly. They played a nice, carnivalesque Combustible Edison tune and then perhaps the best moment which was a Duo "cover" -- Abduction Pose. Here Marco bounded back and forth from the left side of the stage to the right, piling sounds upon sounds with Scotty scratching away at his guitar. The result was nothing short of spectacular intensity that probably lasted 3 minutes but easily felt like 15. A cover of Ween's "Birthday Boy" was a nice touch with Marco asking for a somewhat bizarre rendition of Happy Birthday to be sung in the middle by the audience... we did oblige. I'm sure the complete setlist will surface shortly since I'm sure I'm missing a few more.
Here's hoping I can make the next and final two shows... no doubt they'll be as special as the first couple.
Marco!... Polo!... Marco!...Solo!
About a month and a half ago when Marco told me about his November Tonic residency and mentioned the solo date I asked him if he would just be playing piano or if he'd have some of his other keyboards with him. He kind of hesitated and seemed to honestly not know what he was going to do. "Probably just the piano, but maybe I'll have another rig up there." Somewhere between that night and last night, the decision must have been made with a ne'er-say-die "Fuck it!!" because, in what must have been a Herculean effort to set-up, the entire stage was jam-packed with at least a half-a-dozen different keyed instruments, with the containers they all came in cluttered against the wall it looked like a museum installation. Benevento seemed to be some singularity in the universe Wednesday night, bending space and time such that one man filled the space of a dozen and barely an hour of music seemed to satisfy for much much longer.
The set was comprised pretty much entirely of covers, or 100% of covers if you include Duo songs as covers. The set started off with a very nice cover of Pink Floyd's "Fearless" with Marco using an overly distorted electric piano to simulate the raunchy slide guitar of the original and then dancing his fingers back and forth between that and the grand piano center stage. It was clear from the get-go that the only things limiting him would be his lack of third and fourth limbs and whatever limits our technological advances man, as a race have yet to overcome. Samples, drum machines, bent toy circuits, etc. were all used to varying effect with the best moments coming when Marco was able to cycle and loop his own playing and then layer and layer to generate a nice large, textured, soulful sound.
The set was populated by obvious favorites from the Benevento playlist, hitting Radiohead, Leonard Cohen and Thelonious Monk (a highlight Bye-Ya that was the most straightforward of the evening -- straight up 10-fingered piano jazz). There was genuine emotion in the playing and that great loose vibe in the room that a quarter-filled Tonic can afford. Somewhere in there, I believe there was a semi-acoustic rendition of the Benevento/Russo hit "Welcome Red" which seriously lacked for Russo's absence, but was fun nonetheless.
Midway through the set Scott Metzger hopped on stage with his axe and an amp that seemed little more than a cardboard box with a mouse running on a wheel inside. The sound provided, though, was a perfect, raw, raunchy howl that meshed with Marco perfectly. They played a nice, carnivalesque Combustible Edison tune and then perhaps the best moment which was a Duo "cover" -- Abduction Pose. Here Marco bounded back and forth from the left side of the stage to the right, piling sounds upon sounds with Scotty scratching away at his guitar. The result was nothing short of spectacular intensity that probably lasted 3 minutes but easily felt like 15. A cover of Ween's "Birthday Boy" was a nice touch with Marco asking for a somewhat bizarre rendition of Happy Birthday to be sung in the middle by the audience... we did oblige. I'm sure the complete setlist will surface shortly since I'm sure I'm missing a few more.
Here's hoping I can make the next and final two shows... no doubt they'll be as special as the first couple.
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1 comment:
the 3 cd set is now up for presale at ropeadope...
http://store.ropeadope.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=634
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