Mannheim Steamroller - A Review

[lilmsprelude]

Last night my family got together to go see Mannheim Steamroller at the Morrison Center in Boise.

I have seen this concert before; I make sure I go every year they come to town. And as expected, I wasn't dissapointed at all.

Last time they played at BSU, and while visually it was entertaining, with the interactive christmas village on the floor in front of the stage, and the GIANT retractable I-Max screen, this year it was in a smaller venue that was better designed for Live music, and not basketball/sporting events.

For one, the sound was Loud, CLean, and Pure to the varied instruments and effects they played. You could make out every single musician, and it Blended so well with limited reflections keeping the "action" on stage. As a matter of fact, some of it was so remarkable, I let myself wander to the false impression that some of the sounds MUST HAVE BEEN recorded. I assure you, this group is SO talented, and Chip's music is so pure, dubbing music over a live performance would be blaringly obvious.


Knowing the music by heart didn't distract from the enjoyment or beauty of it either. They always seem to come up with something new, and they did it again with some enveloping effects that put you right in the middle of the music. As mentioned earlier, they have a Giant I-Max style screen that comes down infront of the stage, they use this to project video and lights on, all the while lighting the Orchestra/band behind the screen and the "video Wall" BEHIND the stage and in so doing all of this it creates a wonderfully 3D interactive environment.

Knowing this is what they do, I look around at the light towers and visual/audio arrangements before they start. Of special interest to me where the two GINOURMOUS video projectors on either side of the auditorium. They were not pointed at the stage at all, and it didnt dawn on me until the second half of the show, what they were going to do with em.

I dont want to ruin it for any of you that might go see Mannheim, but it was visually fullfilling as far 'round as the eye could see... SOOO Immersive!

Ok.. I have to tell you about one part.... toward the end, they play Silent night, one of my favorite songs, and their version is so pure and angelic. Well, this year, the front stage screen came down, the music started, and just the band was lit up, behind the screen, with soft blue and white lights..as the music plays, you start seeing snowflakes that work there way forward to front stage, then they start "moving" like you are driving into the snow on a dark, moonless night. pretty soon, these largish, almost fluffy snow figures start showing up way way back..as they come forward you realize they are the most beautiful angels... Once they come into full view and onto the giant main screen, they float to the sides of the auditorium and rest on the walls to join in the chorus of the song.

I had chills a mile high on my arms..... it was so beautiful.

If you see ONE CONCERT this Christmas season, I SOOOOO recomend going to Mannheim Steamroller. You will NOT be dissapointed.

[Oliver]

Nice Nae

[TREETOP]

I've been wanting to see them again but keep missing it every year. They're playing here in Indy tomorrow night but tickets are $90+ each and I'd want my wife and stepdaughter to go too. Not in the cards right now, gonna miss it this year too.

Thanks for the review!

[W8 a minute]

Sorta off topic but I have tickets for the Trans Siberian Orchestra. I hope they're good. I love big productions.

[MidnightCE]

I heard TSO was a lot of poetry

[Oliver]

"Tis better to have loved and lost than never seen the TSO at all"

[chad]

Did their soundguy have really long gray hair? That's Randy, he's a cool guy. knows his shit too.

[lilmsprelude]

I coulndt make out the sound guy.... they had him pretty well hidden...

TSO is on my list to see this year... that reminds me, I need to go look at their schedule.. I THINK they are coming to the Treasure valley again this year.

[chad]

Originally Posted by lilmsprelude

I coulndt make out the sound guy.... they had him pretty well hidden...

Back in the day when I worked with them they did stints other than the Christmas thing, the Christmas season they hit it hard but the summer stuff is more laid back. They would go to different colleges and have the school orchestra play, then they would be in there with them, pretty cool. I mixed the orchestra down and gave Randy 4-5 stereo mixes (8-10 channel submix) and he would then mix that in with Mannheim on a Soundcraft ghost IIRC (broadcast console, abundant stereo channels).

This was before the days of large format digital consoles, digital mixing was in it's infancy, remember this. There was a grand piano on the stage, gutted, under the hood was 3, yes 3 Yamaha 03D's tied together data wise and a metric assload of MIDI modules. The original keyboard assembly was replaced with a Kurtzweil 88 Weighted MIDI controller, there may have been even a set of organ pedals there too, keep in mind I'm digging in the way-back machine for this. That piano was a metric assload of instruments submixed. Most everything was submixed on stage and those submixes changed when MIDI patches were changed. Those submixes got shot up to Randy also. Farking INNOVATIVE for it's time, it even ran smooth too, unbelievably.

[TREETOP]

Originally Posted by chad

Did their soundguy have really long gray hair? That's Randy, he's a cool guy. knows his shit too.

That's like saying "Did the policeman have a mustache?"
Don't all sound guys have long gray hair, except in front where it's missing?

[chad]

I toured like we look now honestly, I had long hair then but when I hit it hard I shaved it off. I was in training in Chicago this week and as Big Bill said, "there was enough soundguys in that room to tell ANYBODY no." Only 2 guys were sporting long hair, even longish, and one was in my party of 3

[lilmsprelude]

Originally Posted by chad

Back in the day when I worked with them they did stints other than the Christmas thing, the Christmas season they hit it hard but the summer stuff is more laid back. They would go to different colleges and have the school orchestra play, then they would be in there with them, pretty cool. I mixed the orchestra down and gave Randy 4-5 stereo mixes (8-10 channel submix) and he would then mix that in with Mannheim on a Soundcraft ghost IIRC (broadcast console, abundant stereo channels).

This was before the days of large format digital consoles, digital mixing was in it's infancy, remember this. There was a grand piano on the stage, gutted, under the hood was 3, yes 3 Yamaha 03D's tied together data wise and a metric assload of MIDI modules. The original keyboard assembly was replaced with a Kurtzweil 88 Weighted MIDI controller, there may have been even a set of organ pedals there too, keep in mind I'm digging in the way-back machine for this. That piano was a metric assload of instruments submixed. Most everything was submixed on stage and those submixes changed when MIDI patches were changed. Those submixes got shot up to Randy also. Farking INNOVATIVE for it's time, it even ran smooth too, unbelievably.

I Swear to GOD they are still using this "piano."

I have NEVER heard so Many sounds coming out of a "keyboard." It was Stage right, and the guy playing it is a 35 year Veteran of the group.

That is SOOOO KEWL to know you have had that kind of experience with one of my favorite Musicians! That just sounds like Chip... I bet you were with em back in the days of the earlier Fresh Aire Albums... which, BTW, #4 is my Absolute FAVORITE!

[chad]

Shit I'm not that old! This was 96-98 I believe, Fresh Aire IV came out in the 80's I remember listening to V rolling thru the grand tetons when I was 13-14 years old!

Time flies schnookums.

[BigAl205]

This is not a proper review without measurements and graphs and stuff

[chad]

Originally Posted by BigAl205

This is not a proper review without measurements and graphs and stuff

Dude I have some in HEX!... somewhere, on an old external SCSI drive

[BigAl205]

Originally Posted by chad

Dude I have some in HEX!... somewhere, on an old external SCSI drive

DUDE! Can you load it onto a 5 1/4" floppy for me?

[chad]

Lost that ability merely 5 years ago... but I may be able to put it on a cassette or 1/4" R-R if you wanna load it up that way.

[BigAl205]

Originally Posted by chad

Lost that ability merely 5 years ago... but I may be able to put it on a cassette or 1/4" R-R if you wanna load it up that way.

I think the cassette reader still works on my Commodore64. I'll have to run a head cleaner, though.






Renee's gonna be so mad...

[Oliver]

Originally Posted by TREETOP

That's like saying "Did the policeman have a mustache?"
Don't all sound guys have long gray hair, except in front where it's missing?

Originally Posted by chad

I toured like we look now honestly, I had long hair then but when I hit it hard I shaved it off. I was in training in Chicago this week and as Big Bill said, "there was enough soundguys in that room to tell ANYBODY no." Only 2 guys were sporting long hair, even longish, and one was in my party of 3

[chad]

Think of it this way, your hair holds smells, so waking up smelling of a bourbon bar, smoke, and stripper perfume may sound cool... but it gets old.

The fukin glitter is a bitch to get out too.

[Oliver]

Originally Posted by chad

Think of it this way, your hair holds smells, so waking up smelling of a bourbon bar, smoke, and stripper perfume may sound cool... but it gets old.

The fukin glitter is a bitch to get out too.

I would always just shower each time I was with someone different, never thought about shaving my body [ suppose that would have speeded things up a bit ]

Prolly why my steady threw her ring at me {damn , scent of another woman }

[Catman]

I have seen TSO several times (and they are AWESOME) but have never been at the right place at the right time to catch Mannheim Steamroller.

>^..^<