What do you guys think of Weckl these days?

[mja61]

Hey Everyone,

I saw Weckl here in Chicago last week. Now that the board is back online, I thought I'd throw my two cents in and see if we can get another debate going. What do you guys think of DWB lately?

As far as the performance goes, I felt, dare I say, a little let down compared to times I've seen him in the past. They all played great, but the band seemed almost bored with the material. They've been playing the "Transition" stuff for almost two years, so maybe it's getting stale. Plus, it seems like every other tune has this painfully decorative extraneous intro/outro attached to it. I'm all for tunes evolving and being developed on the road, but some of these add-ons bordered on being corny. I think Vital Info pulls it off way better, where they just play the heads and let everyone stretch out in the middle of the tune. It seems to stay much more fresh that way.

Dave announced that Tom Kennedy had to have an operation, and taking a while off to recover. A guy by the name of Hussain Jiffry filled in (and will finish up this leg of the tour). I was impressed with how well he picked up the charts, but Tom Kennedy is pretty tough to top in my book.

I was also surprised at how bad his cymbals sounded. I've tried the Evolutions in a couple of stores, and I thought they sounded great, but in an actual live situation, I thought Dave's cymbals sounded "weak"--they didn't project or cut, and I couldn't hear any articulation on the ride or hi-hats. His splashes seemed to cut through a little bit, but that was all. His Zildjians were much better in my opinion.

One last comment...they played the obligatory ballad ("Oasis" in this case) about four tunes into the set. I thought it was a nice song, but the crowd took this opportunity to talk, head for the john, order drinks and move around. Dave didn't yell at anyone this time though :-)

I took about a roll's worth of pictures. If any turn out nice, I'll try to post them if I can get them scanned in.

Later,
-Mike

[jonthibault]

I'm of the opinion that, while his playing is technically great, he doesn't play with enough emotion. He doesn't kick *** . Same thing with Steve Smith. Their playing seems to be so measured that it lacks passion.

[Nikk]

Vinnie does, though. He plays with the intensity of a sixteen year old kid in a metal band.

[Pewit]

I tend to like Weckl's new, more relaxed feel more than his former machine-like playing. I also think his new music is much better (musically wise) than the 80's influenced stuff. Especially Synergy kicks *** .

Sorry! [img]redface.gif[/img]

[jonthibault]

Hey, why won't they print "*** "? That's lame. Censorship can kiss my *** !

[arin]

Well, I like Synergy much more that Transition. On Transition there are some nice drum solos but musically I prefer Synergy. And, by the way, censorship can kiss my A S S as well. :-)

[Steve Holmes]

test:
ASS!

Should work now. <strike> Happy now children?</strike>
heh, j/k