Monday, July 07, 2008

The Tony Levin Band

Europe 2005
Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Russia

SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Kingston, NY    Napoli, Italy    Rome, Italy    Prato, Italy    Schio, Italy    Neuchatel, Switzerland
Prateln, Switzerland    Budapest, Hungary    Moscow, Russia    Saint Petersburg, Russia

This one was a little different.  We had a long, brutal travel day, then ran into the expected tech problems setting up.  Again, perseverance and help from a good local crew got everything up and running well.   Unfortunately, the enthusiastic, responsive crowd was degraded by a few hecklers and drunks - one of whom kept yelling "fuck you" continually throughout the whole show, which is pretty hard to ignore.  None of us think that behavior represents Saint Petersburg audiences, or the Russian people - or any people for that matter - but we weren't ready for it, and it made the show more difficult to pull off.  A shame really, because by Moscow we had really hit our stride and had a good working set in place.  This was our last show of the tour and should have been our best one, but it wasn't.

Tony, Jerry and I had hoped to get in some sightseeing before we left - with lots of photos of course.  Unfortunately it was raining heavily, which kind of squashes taking tourist pics.  We did manage to get to the Hermitage for a couple of hours.  What a place ... even without the Picassos and Cézannes!  It's good to be the king!  (It actually didn't work out well for Czar Nicolas, but he definitely had a nice pad before the axe fell.)

A full house - different vibe from the Moscow audience, but very passionate.
... then there was this schmuck, 5 feet in front of us, who yelled and cursed continually for almost 2 hours, right through the ballads and Tony's and Jerry's efforts to talk to the audience.  It was unsettling.  I think we did a good show, but it could have better.
Jerry working the crowd while Tony was troubleshooting an input from his bass.	Jesse, rocking out on Black Dog
	Tony introduces Mister Synergy

Kingston, NY    Napoli, Italy    Rome, Italy    Prato, Italy    Schio, Italy    Neuchatel, Switzerland
Prateln, Switzerland    Budapest, Hungary    Moscow, Russia    Saint Petersburg, Russia