Gentle Giant play Semi-Reunion Gig-Sussex,UK! - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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Jim Garten View Drop Down

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Posted: April 16 2009 at 03:03

davecigs wrote:

I am absolute gutted not to be going to be honest, consoling myself with the fact that I am going to see Diagonal in Liverpool on Friday night :)

Big jealousy - just got their debut album - you're only a newbie, but I hate you already

Jon Lord 1941 - 2012

davecigs

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Posted: April 16 2009 at 06:22

I'm sure the opportunity will arise Jim! After Diagonal the next band on my list to see is 'Godsticks' marvellous, marvellous, marvellous stuff!!!

BTW I like the pic in your sig Jim, sheds in snow!

kineto_zetetics View Drop Down

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Posted: April 17 2009 at 03:46

The 3 Friends gig (last night) was the best prog gig I have seen for 17 years and I've seen all the greats since 71. Totally amazing.

Dave Gooding

BAD ALCHEMY View Drop Down

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Posted: April 17 2009 at 06:11

I second that Dave!! what a wonderful & amazing band,Gary & Malcom& kerry have put together.the set list was perfect, highlight's for me were 'The House The Street The Room',Three Friends , Prologue & Giant, well pretty much all of it.! I

So good it should or deserve to be going out under 'Gentle Giant'!

I would love to see them at The royal festival hall & record a new album with this line up

Obed Marsh

counterpoint View Drop Down

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Posted: April 17 2009 at 07:04

I am glad to hear it was a great show!

Was it a full house? An enthusiastic crowd?

neilkeys

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Posted: April 17 2009 at 07:33

What can i say,waited 28 years for something like this and i certainely wasnt disappointed,spoke to gary before the show and he said he wanted to offer the fans something different by playing classic tracks that had never been played live before,it was an unbelievable setlist with mister class/three friends,advent of panurge,pentagruels nativity etc stunning.

they had so much enthusiasm and energy and the material sound totally fresh and vibrant,i didnt expect neal morse lookalike singer to fill the shulmans shoes but he was excellent

like dave said,one of the all time great gigs lets hope for more and a new cd

Neil

The Hemulen View Drop Down

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Posted: April 17 2009 at 12:41

It was awesome. I never thought I'd get the chance to hear ANYONE play those tunes live, let alone any actual members of the original band! Hearing Gary Green and Kerry Minnear playing live was... well, quite literally a dream come true.

Malcolm Mortimore did a superb job of drumming on all the material recorded after he'd left GG – he made a very interesting comparison to John Weathers' style. The additional musicians were also fantastic – especially the bassist, who was the only member of the group that didn't seem to make a single slip-up all evening... at least, not that I noticed anyway!

The biggest surprise of the evening was probably Kerry Minnear performing “Think of Me With Kindness” - I'd eversoslightly half-hoped he might sing a bit live but I didn't expect that at all!

Fingers crossed, this is just the beginning, eh?

The set-list, for those who care about that sort of thing:

Prologue
Playing the Game
The Advent of Panurge
Pantagruel's Nativity
Just the Same
Think of Me With Kindness
The House, The Street, The Room
The Boys in the Band
His Last Voyage
In a Glass House
Mister Class and Quality/Three Friends
Free Hand
Giant
Peel the Paint

By the way, for those of you who missed this gig, I've noticed that some mp3s are already doing the rounds...

counterpoint View Drop Down

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Posted: April 17 2009 at 13:24

That's a great set list; some of my favorites that I could only wonder why they were never played live.

And most of Three Friends (4 of 6) was played. How appropriate!

I do hope this lasts. It would be nice if somewhere an official live recording were released.

The Hemulen View Drop Down

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Posted: April 17 2009 at 13:33

counterpoint wrote:

That's a great set list; some of my favorites that I could only wonder why they were never played live.

And most of Three Friends (4 of 6) was played. How appropriate!

I do hope this lasts. It would be nice if somewhere an official live recording were released.

Agreed. One can but hope.

As for why some of them weren't played live back in the day, I think that's largely down to the technological limitations of the time. Whilst they were able to do all kinds of things in the studio, they were always limited with what they could play live.

Man With Hat View Drop Down

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Posted: April 17 2009 at 13:45

Everytime I read that setlist I can't stop salivating. Especially since they played my all time favorite giant song...The boys in the band! Glad to see Peel The Paint in there as well, that guitar solo part must have been orgasmic to see live.

I'll add my name to the list of those that hope this continues.

Dig me...But don't...Bury me
I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive
Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.

counterpoint View Drop Down

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Posted: April 17 2009 at 14:21

One thing GG did back in the 70s, was modify their arrangements somewhat in live versions to get around some of the difficulties. They did do a some of the challenging pieces live in some form (e.g., So Sincere, Knots, On Reflection).

One thing I am especially happy about was that Think of Me With Kindness was played. It was the first GG song I shared with my teenage son, who has grown to enjoy the work of the band.

crimhead

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Posted: April 17 2009 at 23:14

Color me green with envy. I hope that they tour more.

phibes

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Posted: April 19 2009 at 13:24

Hi there!

Great to meet you at the B&B after the amazing Three Friends gig. Myself and Al left soon after you to get up to Liverpool for what I believe will be a monthly prog night at the monochrome club. Diagonal were amazing by the way! Impressed with Balloons and The Laze too at the same show. You mentioned that there are some downloads of the GG gig. Please let me know how to get them.

Paul

phibes

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Posted: April 19 2009 at 15:11

Hi mate

Paul here (Al's cousin). When are Godsticks playing. Just about recovered from all the travelling from Oswestry to Shoreham to Liverpool and back. Worth it though.

Amazing nights

Charlie

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Posted: April 20 2009 at 18:26

When you spoke to Gary green did he mention any more gigs in the U.K??

Nalta Kaffe View Drop Down

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Posted: April 27 2009 at 04:41

I was very pleased when i heard that Three friends would play in my hometown Gothenburg, Sweden saturday 25th of april. It was the third concert ever for the band, and what a marvellous concert!

Me and my two friends (yes, we were three) was totally in agreement: this was one of the best concerts that we ever had visited. It was obviuos that the material had aged well, it was played in a somewhat updated manner with no flutes, strings or trumpets, but it sounded very, very good. The singer Wilson var amazingly good and sang the material sometimes better than Derek Shulman did in the 1970´s.

I hope that this band will continue the tradition of Gentle Giant music in the 21st century.

Kung Bore

rosenbach

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Posted: April 27 2009 at 08:29

I hope they keep touring and cross my fingers to see them live someday.

harmonium.ro View Drop Down

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Posted: April 27 2009 at 10:51

Any youtube videos out there?

Failcore

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Posted: April 27 2009 at 11:18

It would be awesome if they could release at least a Playing the Fool part 2. I liked the original, but they were definitely limited by Tech back then.

However, if they decided to record a new studio album, I sure hope it's not just a rehash of their old work

Edited by Deathrabbit - April 27 2009 at 11:20

Rune2000

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Posted: April 27 2009 at 14:07

Great

Edited by Rune2000 - March 30 2010 at 05:10