A small note about Mike Portnoy: in addition to caring for his fans he really does care about the crew - I worked at a venue during a show with the Neal Morse Band and man he showed us nothing but respect and love. He signed all of our (venue crew) stuff (including my copy of DT’s “Awake”) and always thanked us for the help.
A couple of great bands. Glad to hear so many fans are getting turned on to Sea of Tranquility. You provide quality content that fans of Hard Rock/Heavy Metal/Prog music really appreciate! Great to hear that Tony McAlpine is out there playing live. Just yesterday I was talking with a friend about all the great guitar players that were signed to Shrapnel Records back in the day, Tony being one of them. Bummer that SOA didn't get to finish their set. Burn with Tony would've ripped. Damn unions! Thank for the excellent work you do. You are a lifeline to fans of heavy music that would be lost in the current state of the music industry without you. And, Hey! I wear earplugs these days too! Keep up the good work. Thank you! P.S. You turned me on to Kadavar and I can't thank you enough!
I saw Uli Jon a couple years ago on his Scorpions revisited tour in a club. Loudest show I have been to. My ears never recovered from that show. They still ring.
I saw Deep Purple in 87 at Phoenix Memorial Colosseum..Bad Company came out first and they were not all that loud. Purple come out and made me deaf for three days. Superb quality.Maximum volluum. OMG.
Portnoy tweeted an apology about the excessive sound in NJ last night stating that their regular soundman had just left them to do another tour so they had a last minute replacement sub for him. Sounds - no pun intended - like the substitute sound cat REALLY messed up. MP also apologized for the band not being able to complete their full set. Just wanted to fill all you prog-rocking metalheads in... Slainte Mhath!
Great meeting you Saturday night Pete. I’m Al and had the Rush sweatshirt on. Yeah I def had my earplugs in, but I have really good ones that attenuated the sound but I can still hear the band clearing and not muffled.
My wife and I also thought it was excessively loud, we saw the first show of the tour at the Crest Theater in Sacramento, Ca. on January 23rd... Great show, by the way!!
Awesome show , sound was muddy but still great performances Was great to finally meet after all these years of following the SOT page ( since 2000’s) Also ran into CHRIS Caffery in the lobby and Max Norman
Hi Pete sorry to hear about the excessive volume. Living in London I see bands at the Camden Underworld a lot. Small but pretty famous venue. The drum sound there if they don't get it right in the mix can be excruciating. All bass drum and cymbals and that's all you here...vocals and guitar drowned. Speaking of drums Aquiles Priester the drummer with Tony MacAlpine did an album with Brazilian guitarist Gustavo Carmo a couple of years ago. Brilliant fusion album which featured a great list of guest guitarists including Tony MacAlpine. Nili Brosh. Greg Howe and Vinnie Moore. Check it out if you can
A buddy of mine owns a concert hall and I spent a lot of time there in 2018. I've lost a good 30-35% of my hearing having been there dozens of times within a 6 month period. I know that feeling when your ears are in pain and you realize that you are losing hearing in the process and that it will never come back and sadly for me, it never has. I haven't been to a single concert since then. My ears were so damaged that I have major tinnitus and vertigo spells since the time I spent there in 2018. It sucks big time and especially for someone who LOVES music as I do. I need to crank my volume in my car to 18 now to hear the things I used to when it was at 5 or 6.
I was at the show in NJ.I thought it was the theater,not the guy on the board.SOA were definitely too loud,and the sound was boomy.Like Pete said,the band was still awesome.But the new guy doing the mix was a disaster.I hope they come back around.I need to see Sons of Apollo in a better venue like The Sony Playstation Theater in NYC.I saw them there on their first tour.That was top notch.Cheers Pete.Thanks for your reviews.They're awesome 🤘
All of this musician's are champions in band hopping. Hopefully they stay together for a while. Personally, I liked Soto's voice more in the softer genre. First 'Talisman' and 'Eyes' are classics in my opinion.
Sound is everything. When it isn't dialed correctly in it can really take away from the performance. And I have had plenty of experience with the Union led stuff...it is to the letter ..when they say 11 ..they mean 11.
Hi Pete , When they played the gramercy on Thursday I didn't find them to loud , did not even wear my ear plugs, sounded ok to me Tony Mac was at good volume also Special note Tony's great drummer is Aquiles Priester who was a finalist to replace Mike Portnoy in Dream Theater,
Pete, spot on review of the show! It was too fucking loud, but more importantly the mix was off. Also it seemed to get a little better during the show, then got worse again. To bad they didn't have their usual sound tech, because other than Portnoy's meltdown, it was truly enjoyable metal show with stellar musicianship. The seats at the BPAC were super cramped too. Its probably cheap to play there because it's a non profit, maybe next time they'll pick Mayo PAC in Morristown. Dream Theater played there way back when and they sounded great.
Just finish listening the new album... Some great riffs on few songs, good drumming overall ... I like Goodbye Divinity the most ;) .... Maybe to much aggressive music for my taste ... Great video Pete ;)
Great review, I fully agree with the sound... It was atrocious, very good playing and still a joy to watch but that almost ruined it. I had seen a sheet before the show that had it ending at 11:15, which could have been why portnoy was pissed, thought he had the extra time...I don't blame him one bit Where were you sitting? My wife and i were in row A and think we saw you.
Saw Pete holding court near the bar last night. Go figure. Ha Sound for Tony M was muddy as well. His guitar was very low in the mix SOA were great. Go see them
As much as I enjoy their music, the loud volume makes a concert unenjoyable. Why they feel the need to destroy eardrums is beyond me. Lastly, my issue with Soto is he has to scream "YEAH" about 15 times a song. It seems he feels the need to fill all the blank spaces rather than let the music speak for itself.
An idea for the future. Hidden gems within a bands back catalogue. For example, The Necromancer by Rush on the ignored Caress of Steel, totally brilliant, epic. To my knowledge never played live again after the band toured the album in the 70's. Secondly, Fearless by Pink Floyd on the Meddle. For me in the top 5 tracks they recorded, ignored after Dark Side of the Moon, a travesty. I could go on.
what do ya think attendance was Pete? yeah, i've never dug excessive volume weather it be the band or the sound/mix pit because i want to hear the music right and with todays technology and soundboards etc., it shouldn't be an issue even with smaller acts as far as just volume goes-but it happens:(
Finally i am not the only one who is annoyed about the level of loudness in (some) concerts. I never go without my special made earplugs since many years. But i really wonder why this happens, regarding the modern possibilities of audio engineering. It's so disgusting, that i think about stopping to spend money on tickets.
Yeah yeah Soto is a good front man because he has alot of energy and running all around and hopping and shit. But he's just a good vocalist. In my opinion. I don't believe he's that great a vocalist. I do really like their first album. Their a talented and entertaining group for sure. I believe that they could have found a better vocalist if they have wanted to. I believe that they didn't because they wanted their music to shine more then just a great vocalist. Just my crazy opinion Pete. Love your channel here. I've been watching alot of videos since I first discovered it a couple of weeks ago. I really like your review's and ranking videos. 🙂\m/
Vocals are always so subjective, more than music generally (which is subjective enough already!). I think Soto does his best work in an AOR environment. He's good with SOA but the music is a little too heavy for him to shine the way he does with W.E.T. and on some of his solo albums. I appreciate the fact that he loves getting out there and singing all sorts of stuff though.
Wow. Feel bad. Seemed like you were pumped. A let down. Actually at 945 pm last night I thought of you. I watched them do a rendition of Gates of Babylon they did last week at a show on you tube. Remember you and Jeff Young said KANSAS volume was perfect. I’ve been through that on a few shows/ it’s a letdown. Super good summary PETE. !!!
I gotcha. But your summary. I’ve been through a few of them where that EXACT thing has happened. Tremendous you saw that many fans of SOT in my “ neck of woods”! Thank you
I saw sons of apollo at penns peak,i totally agree with your assessment of the sound,the wall of mud really took away from the total experience, i think it was the bass tone but not certain,i love the band but disappointed with the sound
I saw SoA last Saturday (2/1) at the Music Factory in Battle Creek, MI; a relatively small venue for musicians of that stature - that I’ve personally played a number of times. My experience was also a mixed bag. The setlist, musicianship and entertainment factor were outstanding from both T-Mac and SoA. However, there was a lot of bulls&*t to deal with as well. 1) The doors didn’t open until an hour after advertised; 2) There was an unbilled opening act - I was expecting T-Mac for an hour, and instead, he only got about 30 min; 3) The sound was extremely loud and muddy (echoing Pete’s experience); 4) The venue WAY OVERSOLD general admission tickets to the show, to the point that we were packed like sardines from stagefront to merch table...the cops even poked their heads in for an occupancy safety check. I saw SOA two years ago on their first tour, when they also surprisingly played the same venue - not as packed as this time, but still uncomfortable. Why they don’t go down the road to Kalamazoo and play the State Theatre or Miller Auditorium is beyond me; my guess is someone at the venue knows someone from their management, etc...
Tony McAlpine one of my favs. Did he have Nili Brosh? Amazing! Soto! Journey couldn't have deserved him, ha. Would have loved to see the realness of this show. Techs don't necessarily know what they're doing. Not with the old bands like Tull, Supertramp, Yes, Floyd, why all British bands, hhmm
What happened at the end of the encore? My friend said that in nyc, the first song was supposed to be Burn from Deep purple. But didn’t do it. And Mike Portnoy was irate at the end of show. Smashed his drum set with his seat , threw the mike, kicked over the monitor, flashing his middle finger toward the side of the stage, he was pissed. Pointing to his watch, twirling his finger. I don’t know but something was wrong.
dante falzolgher I was at NYC - none of that happened. It went really well, actually, plus Mikes family was there so he was especially happy that night.
From where I was ("front balcony", which is the top seats way back), there was awful distortion due to sound bouncing off the walls and ceiling. Too much volume for the venue. Bad mix (could not even hear the JS Sotto vocals, etc) and terrible distortion. Love the band, but for the first time ever at Bergen PAC, walked out 3 songs into the set.
@@silverro1 We saw them in 2018 at BEst Buy Theater in NYC and the show was amazing, the sound was amazing...another thing that was disappointing was the light show at PAC it kinda sucked
I’m glad that Portnoy isn’t in DT anymore. This is currently the real deal for Mike. Apart from that, James LaBrie has lost his voice, and also they can’t beat „Scenes from a memory Pt 2“, which was their Magnus Opus imo.
