I know there were a few forum folks who attended over the weekend. Following are my ramblings on the performance on Saturday -- Id love to hear what everyone else thought as well. If anyone is part of the TSO d-group on Yahoo!, I posted similar comments there.
I was actually prepared for this performance to be a bit of a letdown partly because I knew it wouldnt feature all the original players, and partly because this is *such* a great CD that I figured it would be quite a challenge to reproduce it in a live setting.
As it turned out, the performance way exceeded my expectations! VHC did Occulus Infernum from start to finish, with Dee doing the narration. Instead of getting O.I. Lite, which I was afraid of, the music took on a whole extra dimension in a live setting. Dee brought in a whole host of top-notch musicians -- including a 5-piece rock band, a 6-person choir, and Mark Wood (one of my favorite musicians) with his Nest of Vipers.
If anyone hasnt seen a Viper, its an electric violin specially designed by Mark himself. The nest featured 4 performers on Viper and one on a new contraption called a Cobra (a Viperized cello).
Mark has created a contraption that allows the Viper to be self-supporting, so the musician isnt required to keep one hand on the instrument. The first look at the Nest of Vipers made quite an impression: they were all decked out in a Dracula / Bride of Frankenstein sort of motif
with instruments at shoulder level that appeared to be suspended in the air horizontally. Very cool.
The rest of the band members were decked out with wild hair and makeup that definitely fit the Halloween theme. The keyboard player was sitting at a grand piano draped in black, with a cobweb-filled candelabra sitting on top. (I didnt think from the sound that it was a real grand
although it sure looked cool).
The sound was excellent, and I was impressed with every single one of the musicians. The one odd thing was that after Occulus Infernum closed, they went right into Cry Little Sister from the Lost Boys Soundtrack. The performance was fantastic, but it seemed strange that they wouldnt stop, take a bow, and let the crowd react after finishing Occulus Infernum. They also had some weird side show going on during this song with a woman on stage being strapped to a pair of wooden beams. If this had some significance, it was completely lost on me. Maybe they just figured the show needed some gratuitous sex and violence.
After Cry Little Sister, they did two additional songs: one number from Mark Wood and his Nest of Vipers and an extended version of In the Hall of the Mountain King. Both were excellent.
Overall, the crowd didnt seem to be as appreciative as I would have liked. They only got about half the house on their feet at the conclusion of the show.
Maybe folks were waiting to hear some old Dee Snider material, and were disappointed when it didnt pan out. Hard to say.
Afterwards, the group took a page from TSO and stuck around to sign autographs, which was much appreciated. Dee and his wife were also scheduled to renew their wedding vows later that night at the Hard Rock Hotel, but it was already far past my usual bedtime, so I took a cab back to the Tropicana. (*Not* my favorite hotel in Vegas, but unfortunately, rooms were really hard to come by that weekend.)
Bottom line
if this show comes *anywhere* near you next year, dont miss out!
Oh, well...that's good info to have lesson learned for next time!
