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Bill’s Bar,
Boston Review #1 by Sean Audet I attended Nuno's show last night, and I have to say that I was pretty much blown away by what he's done. My immediate reaction was that this is definitely more radio friendly but is not a rip-off of alternative music - it's just simply great music with a lot of strong, strong hooks to it. I was pretty much mezmerized through the whole set. I haven't been this excited and taken by an new ‘album’ in a long long time. I just wish I had it now so I could play it. The songs seems more "power chord like" if you know what I mean, not quite as much of him flying all over the guitar all the time. I would say it's alternative with a mix of pop in there. And there was still that "funk" influence in there too. There was some cool techno-like songs with a different guitar sound, and a few nice melodic songs, but no drippy slow songs, and no acoustic guitar. I'm trying as best as I can to describe this music to you all without pigeon-holing it into any one genre. It's really just great music. And Nuno's voice - surprisingly strong and powerful, he's a great singer. I thought it would be softer (ie his solo in Rise N Shine), but it sounded great. He talked a bit between songs. After the first few he said, "I'm glad that's over with!" He was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a baby on it, like the ones you can have made up at the mall (I assume it was his baby.) He pretty much played the entire new album. It lasted about 1 1/2 hours. It was hard to hear the lyrics cuz of the sound system, but I really liked ‘Confrontation’, ‘Fine By Me’ and ‘I Wonder’, a song he said was special to him. ‘I Wonder’ seemed to be a question-of-faith song. He closed with an interesting cover song: a combination of the Talking Heads "Same as it ever was" (is that the title? [ It’s ‘Once In A Lifetime’ - Alison]) and the Who's ‘Teenage Wasteland’. The Who was just in Boston, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it. The rest of the band was pretty good two. Including Nuno, there's four guitar players up there with a drummer. It's frustrating cuz I tried to remember all I could and keep all the melodies in my head. I wish I could hear it again! He didn't do any Extreme songs, not even a little melody between songs. He did credit Gary with co-writing a song when he introduced it, but that was the only Extreme reference. It's such a different vibe than Extreme. The bar was real small and about 150 people were there. It seemed it was mostly family and friends and a few others (like me). There was no advertising at all and I didn't here anything about it on the radio or in the papers. It wasn't even listed on the bar's own schedule for the week. It only cost $4 to get in. And no, I didn't see anyone from Extreme there. And there was no reference at all to what the name of the band is. Well, I know I only heard it once, but my initial reaction is this is going to be pretty big. I think you're all going to love what he's done. An interesting sidenote: on the way there, I heard a commercial on the radio for a music store ‘More Than Chords’ and I swear it was Paul Geary doing the voice over. There was Extreme music playing in the background. Know anything about this? [Sure do, Sean! You heard right, it’s Paul’s techniques clinic ‘More Than Chords’ - Alison] PS - My ears are still ringing. Review #2 by Leon Perez Wow, what can I say, incredible. Nuno's first gig. The music was amazing, different. I got there at around 9:00p.m., but the concert started at about 11:00p.m. Bill's Bar is somewhat small compared to other venues. By 11:00 it was almost full. It was really weird when I saw them the first few minutes when they got on stage. Nuno in the middle, two other guitarists on each side (one of them was Flesh's vocalist), the bassist on one side to the back, and the drummer on the back. My first thought was "wait a second, there is Nuno, but where is Gary, where is Pat, where is Mike" I had to come back to Earth and accept reality. Nuno introduced the band and talked a few words while they were finishing to set up. Then they started with their first song, ‘Gravity’. I really liked it, it was different from Extreme. I don't know why, but I associated them a lot with a Seatllelesque alternative "today" groups. They had the looks and the music. I can't remember which song had which name, but I do remember that ‘Confrontation’ was amazing. I think it was the one I most liked. Second, came ‘You’. This was written and composed by Nuno and Gary, which was mentioned by Nuno before playing it. You could definitely identify Gary with that song. Almost in every song Nuno played the solos. Only in one or two songs, the other guitarist played the solo. I didn't see the same richness in Nuno's guitar playing as with Extreme. He did much less solos, it was mostly rhythm guitar. Throughout the concert, Nuno thanked a lot the audience. He sarcastically would joke around saying like "hey what great lights and set up we have here" Only two people were helping them. One was tuning the guitars and the other was helping the drummer. The drummer had a few problems during the concert with the setups, he was good, but nothing compared to Mike. To finish things up here, the concert was amazing, the music incredible, and I see a bright future for Nuno. I will definitely buy the album the first day it's on sale, but I have to admit that throughout the concert there were three "things" missing and "they" will always make a difference. I didn't see the same "fun and excitement" that Extreme had on stage in their concerts as in Nuno's band. Nevertheless, best wishes for Nuno. Setlist Gravity/Swollen Princess/Crave/Got To Have You/Fine By Me/FallenAngels/Karmalaa/Confrontation/Note On The Screen Door/I Wonder/ What You Want/2 Weeks In Dizkneeland/You/Once In A Lifetime |
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