Return to Forever - IndigO2, London 21st July 2008.
 

Pam and I went to see RTF last night and I'm still coming down from a REAL High.

For the time being the only review I can give is:

WOW!!!!!!

I'll update this later I promise but suffice to say it was rather a good gig. Pam, who is not really a Jazz fan was really impressed too.

It was Al di Meola's 54th Birthday too and the crowd sang to him which was sort of nice.

Re: Return to Forever - IndigO2, London 21st July 2008.
 

Will be waiting....I like the red lettering..I think I'm blind!

I see them on Aug 4th, then Tull two days later. Last week was Rush, and Steve Miller/Joe Cocker two days before. With all of that, Nearfest, Crack the Sky, Morglbl, and Iron Maiden in a five week period, I'm going to be jello by
3RP. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Will expect to be regaled by Mr. Waye's tales of fusion and imagination.

Re: Return to Forever - IndigO2, London 21st July 2008.
 

Here's a little more info about the gig.

Setlist:
Part 1
Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy
Vulcan Worlds
Sorceress
Song To the Pharoah King (A good choice as the O2 is hosting an exhibition of some of the artefacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun.)

Part 2
Happy Birthday to Al (with the crowd singing. Al looked very happy)
Guitar Solo
No Mystery
Keyboard Solo
Romantic Warrior / Bass Solo / Drum Solo / Romantic Warrior

Encore:
Duel of the Jester and The Tyrant

All the songs played were brilliantly executed. The musicianship of EVERY member of the band is unbelievable.

One odd point (to me at least) was that Lenny White had his Drum Kit set up looking sideways on. I'm guessing that this is because the band play off one another so much that by doing this he can catch what's going on visually as well as aurally. Whatever the reason it worked.

The second half, as you see, was made up of only two songs and was mainly acoustic. Pam didn't enjoy this part as much as there were a lot of solos. I, on the other hand, loved it because the guys are so brilliant that you just marvel at their technique. Lenny White and Al D in particular were awesome and Stanley Clarke got some sounds out of his stand up bass that I didn't know existed.

The set finished at about 11:10pm and a lot of people had to leave to get transport home. Sorry to say but they all missed an incredible encore. Al D came on stage wearing an Arsenal Football shirt that someone had bought him. It had his name on the back and 54 which was how old he was...bloody gooners!!!!

Needless to say we stayed and were lucky enough to get the last train back...yay!

The only downside to the evening was that when we got back to Rayners Lane we found that our car had been given a parking ticket with a £50 fine....D'oh! An expensive night out but, in all honesty, worth every penny.

Re: Return to Forever - IndigO2, London 21st July 2008.
 

Keithie,

EXCELLENT review. Thank you so much. I agree - an AWESOME show!!

Any pics?

Regards from Texas,
Ted

Re: Return to Forever - IndigO2, London 21st July 2008.
 

Sadly no. I had the camera ready to take with me but left it at home in the rush to get to work......D'oh!!!!!!

Re: Return to Forever - IndigO2, London 21st July 2008.
 

I'm seeing them next week in Philly at the Mann. If anyone is going and wants to meet up let me know. Anyway, I'm really not all that familar with their stuff but I'm going based mostly on reputation. I don't consider them jazz I consider them prog(fusion is a branch of prog in my book ;)). However, I suspect a lot of people there will be jazz fans and wouldn't know who Robert Fripp is if they bumped into him at a grocery store.

Re: Return to Forever - IndigO2, London 21st July 2008.
 

I think Toyah does the shopping. :hrm:

Hope you enjoy it, just go in expecting a great show whatever you like to call it. I'm sure Chick has touched many "genres".

I'll be seeing them Aug 4.

Re: Return to Forever - IndigO2, London 21st July 2008.
 

OK. How about Walmart then. Does Toyah buy his pants and shirts too? ;)


Yeah, it should be a great show. I'm looking forward to it. I get the feeling they will do some solo material as well since this particular lineup only did three albums together(four if you count hymn of the seventh galaxy).