Adrian Belew Power Trio

September 15th, 2005

I saw Adrian Belew for the second time this year last Sunday over in Milwaukee at Shank Hall. (Here’s my Belew show.) Shank Hall is a nice small venue that holds around 300 people and I was right up front. A guy named Drew Something-Or-Other opened. He played solo Chapman Stick.

He was pretty good but I prefer my Stick to accompany or be accompanied by other instruments. Hell, maybe I just need to hear more solo Stick music.

Let me tell ya, the Adrian Belew Power Trio was really fucking loud! The guy to my right, held his hands over his ears for the first three songs before moving to the side of the stage. Belew had Mike Gallaher on bass and Mike Hodges on drums. They were really loose and joked around with one another. Between a couple songs, Gallaher did a great Rodney Dangerfield imitation. I don’t have a setlist but they did a bunch of stuff from one of Belew’s most recent albums, Side One. I know “Ampersand” was played, as was a bunch of older stuff like “Big Electric Cat”. I also think that “I Remember how to Forget” and “Of Bow and Drum” were in there as well. In addition to solo material, they played a few King Crimson songs: “Dinosaur”, “Frame by Frame”, and “Theela Hun Jinjeet”. In the middle of the show, one of Belew’s effects pedals took a digger and he had to power cycle the system. He joked around with the crowd and took it all in stride. It was obvious that they were having fun up there. Here’s a shot of the guys as they get ready to take their bows:

My only complaint about the show was the audience. While there are plenty of progressive rock shows that are perhaps best experienced sitting down and concentrating on the music, an Adrian Belew gig ain’t one of them. What a shame that most of the audience just wanted to sit there instead of getting up and shaking their booties. If anyone had dared to stand up in front of the stage – and there was plenty of space between it and the first row of seats – they would have had a large segment of AARP members throwing beer bottles at them. What a shame. The audience did get on its feet for the encore of “Theela Hun Jinjeet”, though. But it seemed like most people did so because they had to in order to see or felt obliged rather than because they actually felt motivated to move by the music. It was heartening to see a group of several guys in their early 20s sit down on the floor in the open space in front of the stage. Nice to see some younger folk.

I took several video clips during the show and here’s a couple of them with the band doing “Big Electric Cat” strung together.

Clip of “Big Electric Cat”

I will also mention that The Bears, a side project of Belew’s, are the subject of a documentary by a group of Chicago filmmakers. It is called The Bears Out of Hibernation. More info about it can be found at the Film Foetus website. Here’s a list of upcoming screenings:

WORLD PREMIERE!
Wednesday, October 5th
2 shows (5:30 & 7:30 PM)
University of Cincinnati
TUC, MainStreet Cinema
2766 UC Main Street
Cincinnati, OH

CHICAGO PREMIERE!
Sunday, October 9th 5:30 PM
Wednesday, October 13th 8:15 PM
Gene Siskel Film Center
164 N. State Street, Chicago, IL

Saturday, November 26th
Martyrs’
3855 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL
w/ PSYCHODOTS LIVE

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