I saw them last night, and they might just be the new inheritors of the phrase "hardest working". They played for an hour and 45 minutes without stopping...even during the transitions between songs, they normally kept a few notes going.
Fantastic musicianship..absolutely outstanding on every instrument. Here's a cell phone pic from the balcony. In this shot the drummer (Robert's cousin) has left the drums and is dancing around behind Robert, whose sister (normally the singer) has taken over the drums. Lead guitar is on the right side of the photo the keyboardist is doubling on guitar on the right side; the bass player is on the left. One remarkable thing was that the bass player was the single LOUDEST part of he mix - he really led the whole band's rhythm.
My one important complaint is that the sound mix at the Ogden Theater was MORE than too loud; it was brutally, outrageously loud. Every drum kick and bass note physically impacted on me 40 yards away...my wife's comment was that you wouldn't need paddles after a hart attack, just stand the victim upright and let the sound waves pound him back to life. My ears are still ringing almost 24 hours later, and that's really bad. The sound guy at that theater should be shot! If I had ANY idea what was going on, I would have brought my musician's ear plugs...and I regret that I didn't. I also wish I had brought my dB meter with me so I could check the volume. I'm afraid that the new ringing is permanent.
I'm quite confident that the sound level was well above that required for permanent damage to hearing over the period of time we were there. It was considerably louder than the ZZ Top concert I went to this summer.
I don't know what the deal is with sound guys who think that they have to use every bit of power their system has. The young people going to these concerts are ignorant of the damage they're doing to their hearing...and the venue is wide open to lawsuits. I had my hearing tested about 60 days ago and I may go back to have it done again and consider whether I should pursue it. No kidding, the sound levels were brutal, and beyond anything I ever have experienced in any musical event.
I know I'm in danger of sounding like an old fart (which I am) yelling "turn that crap down!" But really, as a musician, I understand that this was totally unnecessary. If they're going to run the sound system like that, they ought to tell people to bring hearing protection. I remember when I was working on my master's degree Emerson, Lake and Palmer played the college's performing arts coliseum (took 3 semis to bring in their gear) and their promo materials recommended that the audience bring hearing protection. At least they were up front about it.
