Mannheim Steamroller Fresh Aire tour disappoints

 

The largest disappointment of this show is that Chip Davis had decided to stay home and sent a surrogate band to perform.  The concert opened with Chip Davis on video stating that he is at home recording his new Christmas Album and he hopes that we enjoy the show.  When the performers took the stage, the only recognizable faces were the bass player and the conductor.  The two regular keyboard players (Jackson Berkey and his wife) were missing and most importantly not in attendance, the composer; Chip Davis. At this point I felt I was about to be listening to a Mannheim Steamroller cover band.  To be fair, the members chosen  to perform seem to have an impressive musical background with impressive music degrees according to the program notes.  They did perform the music very well. Sadly however, for the price of the ticket, one would expect at least the composer to be present in more than just video form.

 

The setlist included a sampling of every Fresh Aire album (8 of them) with significant dominance from albums II and III.  Fortunately, II and III are my favorites and I was glad to see the emphasis there.  The encore included two Christmas album cuts that seemed out of place in late April, but the "Deck The Halls" selection solicited a rousing applause from the audience.  I personally would have preferred something from Davis' other work such as the "Sunday Morning Coffee Series", or another selection from the Fresh Aire series that is not usually played during the Christmas tours .

 

There was obvious pre-recorded sections in the concert.  The lead violin player on a couple occasions pulled out a recorder (flute) and seemed to pretend to play.  There was no microphone or pick-up noticable on the instrument and it seemed pretty obvious it was pre-recorded.  There was also a section from Fresh Aire III that includes a toy piano section.  The pianist pushed the toy piano around on stage on a cart which was entertaining to watch, but again, it seemed pre-recorded. 

 

The performers for the most part seemed enthusiastic to be there and having fun playing the music.  However, the oboe player which is probably a local hire, sat there like someone in a dentist office waiting room.  In fairness, he did play his parts flawlessly, he just looked out of place.

 

The lighting was tasteful. The glittery confetti and disco mirror ball at the end of the show although a bit cliche', worked ok.  The video production was a bit on the cheesy side.  There was one section that had an image of the moon.  The moon looked like it was obviously taken from a low resolution thumbnail image and blown up.  It was pixalated on the screen for those in the front few rows.  This is an amateur's error in video production and editing.  Most of the other images were those of nature and scenery which was approprate for the program.

 

Was the music performed well?  Yes!  Was it really Mannheim Steamroller playing the music?  I'm afraid not.  It's a shame, because to tour the popular Fresh Aire series was really  a great idea.  I've been a fan of the music since the early 80's. I was very enthusiastic about seeing this material performed live.  No matter how good the musicians are in a band, a surrogate band, is still a surrogate band.  I was in fact entertained and enjoyed listening to the Fresh Aire music selections chosen, but since it was not REALLY the Mannheim Steamroller, it was not worth the price of admission (greater than 150.00 for two tickets including service and convenience fees)