Posts Tagged ‘Classic Albums Live’
Weather Swings
What a remarkable difference a week can make this time of year. Last Sunday, we were being blasted by a blizzard that disrupted much of normal life for a day or two. Elysa was supposed to fly home from Florida on that Sunday, but after her flight was canceled, the next available seat on a plane was the following Thursday. Cyndie and Marie were able to make their scheduled flight on the Monday after the storm, but reported that a fellow who had a first-class seat on a canceled flight ended up sitting behind them in the cramped back of their plane.
Yesterday, we enjoyed record-setting warmth with temperatures in the upper 70s (F) that forced us into T-shirts to cope. Overnight, everything swung back in the other direction, and we bundled up against the wind chill to tend to the horses this morning.
The swift change back to chilly air had the horses a little “hangry” when we showed up at the barn. Even though they most often demonstrate impressive patience with us when we are going through the paces of our feeding routine, there are days when they clearly communicate their wishes for us to deliver with a little more urgency.
Yesterday’s beautiful weather was ideal for our adventure in St. Paul with Barb and Mike. After a short walk around Landmark Plaza and Rice Park, we had burgers at Herbies, where I was able to catch the third period and overtime victory by the Wild over Dallas on their many TV screens.
Our dinner location was strategically chosen because it is right next door to the Ordway, where we had tickets to see Classic Albums Live for the third time since we discovered them.
We were thoroughly wowed by this concept the first two times we saw them performing Abbey Road and Sticky Fingers. Last night’s crew performing the Eagles’ Greatest Hits 1971-1975 came up a little short of the level of perfection we had enjoyed the first two times. Still, the concept is brilliant, and the entertainment value is top-notch.
Now I can switch back to the March Madness basketball games mode. I’ll need to catch up on what I missed yesterday and prepare for the women’s Gopher team playing their second round game today. Staying indoors to watch sports on TV is a lot easier to justify when the weather isn’t so inviting outdoors.
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Doing Nothing
For the most part, I spent yesterday doing nothing but watching college basketball tournament games. Up until this week, I had not watched an entire basketball game yet this season. However, it’s March Madness time, so basketball it was, all day long.
Asher did a good job of helping me do nothing but watch multiple channels of overlapping basketball games on television.
I took a short break from the NCAA Men’s tournament to watch the #4-ranked Minnesota Gophers Women’s team win their first round game over Green Bay. That game was a little shaky until the 4th quarter, when the Gophers took over, ultimately winning strongly.
In two brief excursions into the great outdoors, I enjoyed a short walk with the dog and then some quality time cleaning up around the horses. By afternoon, all the ditches were filled with flowing meltwater. That hefty blanket of snow that fell 6 days ago has disintegrated into just a few residual piles.
Today, we plan to take full advantage of the first full day of spring to meet separately with two couples we haven’t seen in a while. We’re having breakfast with George and Anneliese in Hudson and dinner with Barb and Mike in St. Paul. After dinner, the four of us have tickets to see Classic Albums Live for the third time at the Ordway Theater. Tonight, they will be recreating the Eagles album, “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975).”
Based on the past performances by the Classic Albums Live musicians, I am more than happy to be trading watching some second-round basketball madness for high-quality live rock performances of the music of my youth.
Not that I need reminders that I am getting old.
Watching college basketball today reveals a glaring difference between what referees whistled for traveling or palming the ball violations when I was a kid, compared to the sport these days. This is no longer our daddy’s basketball.
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Classics Live
Oh, what a night! Cyndie and I met our friends, Mike and Barb, in St. Paul last night for dinner at Kinkaid’s and a fabulous performance by Classic Albums Live (CAL) doing the Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers” at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts. I can’t say enough about CAL’s formula of presenting a pristine rendition of classic rock albums live on stage – “note for note, cut for cut.” It is truly exhilarating to experience.
It was a beautiful October night in the Capital city, although getting there was made more complicated by road construction and increased traffic due to simultaneous MN Gopher football Homecoming and MN Wild NHL hockey games happening.
Rice Park downtown was full of life.
Most of the people around us were headed to the hockey game, but at the Ordway, we found a crowd of like-minded album fans all fired up to relive our past by listening to Sticky Fingers together live. It’s like we were teenagers in our bedrooms again, listening to a record until we had every note, every pause, imprinted in our minds for decades to come.
It occurred to me that the CAL musicians are pulling off something that the original artists probably rarely, if ever, have done. When recording albums, the artists were in studios and laying down multiple tracks with a variety of effects to create their masterpieces. After that, the songs get mastered by the Producer to fine-tune output levels and dynamics. The band and the Producer will settle on a track order that won’t necessarily have anything to do with how hits are performed live by the group for the rest of their careers.
Classic Albums Live musicians are so committed to authentically recreating the albums live on stage that their performances more closely resemble a classical music ensemble recital than a rock concert. The musicians dress in black to minimize attention to themselves, and they don’t try to mimic the original artists’ looks or performance styles.
They excel at recreating every note and sound (mistakes included, if there were any on the album), which can get complicated sometimes on multitrack recordings. The CAL performers become adept at quickly grabbing a shaker or cowbell to come in at just the right moment while still playing their other instruments.
One of the more difficult tricks they pull off, which the original artists likely never faced, is rapidly changing instruments in the limited time available during the pause between songs on an album.
We have become such fans of this concept (we previously saw CAL perform The Beatles’ Abbey Road) that we stopped at the Box Office before last night’s show to purchase tickets for the next time CAL will be at the Ordway. They are doing The Eagles – Greatest Hits in March of 2026.
As if Canada needed one more thing to be proud of, they have given the world of album lovers the greatest gift in Classic Albums Live. I tip my tuque to the founder, Craig Martin, for over 20 years of this superb concept.
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CAL Concert
We were out on the town with our friends Barb and Mike in St. Paul last night to see a “Classic Albums Live” performance at the Ordway Theater. Why didn’t I know about this organization that’s been around for more than 20 years? Cyndie found this event when looking for something to do and added a reservation at Kincaid’s Fish, Chop & Steakhouse within walking distance of the theater for dinner before the show.
Irish Whiskey Seared Salmon for me and Prime Rib for Cyndie. Yum!
The classic album that we saw performed was The Beatles’ Abbey Road. The musicians admit to being nerds for the sounds of the albums, note for note, cut for cut. They don’t dress in costumes or strive to imitate the original artists. Instead, they put all their focus on performing live renditions of the recorded songs of classic albums from the period of music I grew up listening to. They don’t talk between cuts but just roll from one song to the next, the way my brain is used to hearing it.
What a trip!
Watching the effort they put into reproducing each effect of the recordings was particularly entertaining. On “Octopus’s Garden,” the horn players appeared on stage for the first time, holding cups with straws, to join the violinist and cellist in blowing bubbles in a way that worked perfectly to replicate the recorded version.
Of course, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” had the violinist striking metal with a hammer. From hand claps to harmonies and impressively precise musicianship, the artists brought the album to life in front of a full theater of passionate fans.
The Abbey Road album is only 47 minutes in length, so the musicians took a break after completing “Her Majesty” and then came out for a second set of Beatles’ songs from a variety of albums.
They closed the show with a rousing performance of “Twist and Shout” that had the audience on its feet, singing and dancing along. A good time was had by all.
On the drive home, Cyndie was checking the Classic Albums Live website for albums we might want to catch in the future. In just two weeks, they will be back at the Ordway to perform U2’s Joshua Tree. The Ordway announced they would be releasing their 2025-26 performance schedule soon, which will include more CAL shows, so we will be watching for that to see if there isn’t another nostalgic opportunity that strikes our fancy.
As I wound down from the excitement last night, I found myself thinking that I should do more listening to my music library by entire album instead of the usual random shuffle of every song in my collection that I most often choose. I think the first one I will pick might be Abbey Road since the live concert version is still fresh in my mind.
Since my library is digital, no flipping of vinyl will need to occur half way through.
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Relative Something 