From: David

To: giovanni.pollastri@libero.it

Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2013 1:57 AM

Subject: Re: [Police] Circa Zero tonight!

I Stood Too Close.
A Review of the Circa Zero Show.

the pics: the guy with his eyes closed in one of the last pics? that's me. Not the fellow with his mouth open in the pic of Andy.

Remind me to never, ever, ever, ever stand right at the edge of the stage again.

First, let me say that it must be really tough to take a seasoned veteran like Andy, put him on stage with a young'un like Rob Giles, and have everything go smoothly. I respect this risk.
Also, let me say that I do not play in bands, so I don't really know how these things should go or should be fixed, it's all just impressions and I in no way claim to have allt he answers.

That said...

The songs are probably good, but all I am is deaf now. I *did* stand right at the edge of the stage, and I know they needed to project the sound, but I could barely understand what Rob Giles was singing.

Aside: In this era of technology, why don't they just broadcast what's coming out of the monitors or the board right to people wearing wireless headsets? I wouldn't go deaf, I could enjoy the music, and actually hear what is happening, and still move about or dance. Bluntly: it's stupid, and I do not ever want to pay for the "privilege" of slowly going deaf and also not understanding what is happening on stage.

If they're a new band, shouldn't they play the music so people can hear, understand, and ultimately enjoy it? Instead, the vocals were drowned out by the instruments (at least from where I was standing), Andy's guitar was SO LOUD that you couldn't really hear its nuance, and the drummer (while insanely hot and full of smiles and vigor) had to bang the hell out of her drums (har) to keep up. I could hear the beats of the song, but it was too often just a wall of sound...
Again, maybe I was just too close to the stage, and the show sounded astounding farther back. This is a reasonable possibility.

The singer seemed pretty awesome, i'd go see another of his shows, very "into" the vocals. Very emotive. It's just... I couldn't discern most of the words.

They DID play "Behind My Camel" which was astounding-and-I-could-have-died-right-then-and-been-happy. Those 2 minutes were worth the $37 ($12 ticketbastard "convenience" fee!!!).

I was told that the songs they played on the radio, the single they played on-air and an acoustic set too, were really good, though after hearing it live I couldn't say... because I couldn't understand much of it and I am partly deaf just now (even with a little earplug help).

There were some very pretty moments when they got out of each other's way and I could hear some space between the instruments.

The opening act was quite good. Just one guy, could HEAR wtf he was saying and playing, and boy was it emotional and enjoyable. I don't recall his name, but I wanna seek this dude out. Album was called "trails", only played 5 or 6 songs, but the crowd seemed to like him. Because people were waiting for Circa Zero perhaps they were a little toned down, but this guy def. one-upped Circa Zero on sound quality.

I met another Police fan, John! We geeked out, and I am sending him some rarer stuff like Truth Hits '83 and other things he hasn't heard/seen. Woo!

Andy seemed... frowny? He loosened up a couple times and I could see the "fun guy" start to come out, that was magical, but then he'd sort of lose his way on a solo or not quite get what was he was going for(?) on a guitar part and GrumpyPants Andy seemed back again. Maybe that's how he is on stage??? It was really disheartening because I kinda don't care if it sounds perfect or not, I just want to hear him and the band *go for it*, that's what rock IS; this is not a jazz set or classical concert. Just do it, Andy! We love your work, you've earned your stripes!

I don't begrudge Andy the solos he had, and he definitely had time to shine. There were a couple times when he stopped short and seemed frustrated, like he'd run out of notes to play, and I just felt bad. Maybe it was jitters. Turns out he lives in LA (I found out) and I'd say about 1/4 or 1/3 of the people at the show were at reserved seats (friends/relatives of the band) so he might have just gotten nervous wanting to please them (??).
There were times when he really started to rock, it felt like he wanted to go somewhere but couldn't quite get the engine revved, if that makes sense?

A couple suggestions (if I ran the world and knew all the Rigth Things ha ha):

1) Rehearse more. (?) not sure this was an issue, but had the feelign it might be. Maybe it was jitters.

2) Don't use ticketmaster, they charge far too much money for the crappy service they provide.

3) Most importantly, either have a meet and greet with the fans (the place was not even close to full, it was not a "mob scene") or at least come up to the front of the stage and shake a hand or even say hello! The singer/bassist, Rob Giles (who some may know), basically just said "thanks for the support, goodnight", they waited for the applause, Andy whipped off his guitar, left the stage, and they SLAMMED those curtains closed. The guy who was next to me is a VERY big Andy fan, and had a pick guard he waved around for Andy to sign, trying to get his attention, but got totally denied by the bloke; it was disheartening. I felt as though I'd heard Andy was really nice and pretty fun toward his fans, and this left a bad taste in my mouth that I'm sorry to report. Not even a few guitar picks throw out!

OTOH, maybe it was our fault? Maybe we weren't excited enough to let them know we loved the music? I guess you could blame the crowd, I didn't look behind us to see if peopel were really into it or not.

4) Security. They zoomed in and almost bodily PUSHED US away from the stage as the curtains zapped shut. It was really disconcerting, and if they were looking for good vibes for the band before the release of the album it was the worst way for the show to end for those of us who stood around for HOURS to be sure to get at the front of the stage just waiting to watch Rob and/or Andy play.

I thought my first Andy experience was going to be really special, and it was... just not in the way I ever could have possibly expected.

I will consider going to another one of their shows if they tour and IF the album is pretty amazing, but honestly, this band needs to get a better sound guy (or just check to make sure the speakers aren't set to STUN) and to recognize that they're in the entertainment biz. They have established reputations, and that's why I'm there: If they flub a few things I don't care, but I paid money to have fun. Why aren't they having fun too? We're all supposed to be enjoying the music. They have as much time as they want to rehearse their music before going on stage, so how is there any excuse? Also, if it doesn't go perfectly I don't care; we're here to have fun, not play Beethoven. If it's this early in the cycle (the very beginning) and they aren't having fun then what's the point? IMHO, the opening act far outstripped Circa Zero in terms of earning my goodwill and interest in seeing more.

This is not the review I expected to write, but I think they will get better!

-David [Man in a Suitcase]