Virgil Donati Band - Tuggerah Lakes Memorial Club

[DavidPartay]

BEST SHOW EVER

Wow... Just, wow. Virgil only soloed for 10 minutes though :(. Seeing all these guys playing live was just crazy though. They played Pyramids on Mars :D :D :D. I was stoked.

I also managed to get one of their set lists which was scribbled on the back of a torn off Krispy Kreme cover thing... and got that signed, along with my Live from OZ CD, Virgil Donati poster and the latest Drumscene magazine ;).

[morgenthaler]

excellent David!! Please tell us more!

[frank]

Sounds great!

Plz share the setlist!! I'm curious!

[MikeTheater]

im quite jeaolus, i would have loved to see virgil's band.

[DavidPartay]

Ahh crap, I just hit ESC and it deleted everything I just wrote :(.

Anyway...

I'm at work now, I don't have the setlist with me but it mostly consisted of a bunch of new songs, as well as Pyramids on Mars and Alien Hip-Hop. They also started with Quantum Factor... at least, I'm pretty sure it's Quantum Factor (the one the "Power Trio" on TUDW 2002 plays?) It was EXCELLENT. They extended Pyramids by about 5 minutes with extra soloing and stuff, as well as making a few changes dynamically and it was just great.

Then when Virgil soloed... Whoa... Just, whoa. He only went for 10 minutes, but the stuff he was doing was just crazy. Near the start he was doing this rather quick three-way hihat pattern and everyone in the crowd was like yelling and screaming and carrying on. Seeing him also do his crossovers and moving between the skytoms as fast as he does right in front of you is just mind blowing. I have no idea how someone can move like that. He doesn't treat them like 'just' show objects either - he used the skytoms like you would if they were mounted in the usual position.

And then... Near the end... He spent a couple of minutes doing those rolls which go like, hand foot hand foot hand foot etc... The main thing being that they were blindingly fast, and he was doing some interesting dynamic effects one hand at a time. Not to mention the amount of volume he was getting out of the bassdrums. My brain nearly exploded that night from trying to comprehend how the hell he was doing everything he was doing as well as the amount of sheer power he gets out of those bassdrums!

Seriously guys... If you've never seen Virgil play live then you have NO idea what you're missing!!!

Unfortunately I can't really give an indepth description of Tony, Rufus and Steve's performances, but they are all incredible musicians. The bassist in my band still just can't understand how Rufus moves around the fretboard the way he does. Tony is definitely my favourite guitarist - I really love his playing. I'm not much of a critic of keyboardists, but to me Steve did an incredible job.

The only gripe of the night was the lighting... The spotlights kept turning off every couple of minutes and it was obvious that it was annoying the guys on stage a bit as well as the audience. They didn't skip a beat though, just kept soldiering on!

I've got a couple of photos on my phone of the stuff I got signed that a friend wants to see, I'll get them off the phone when I get home and post them on here, bahaha!

[morgenthaler]

Great stuff!
BTW The track from the trio on 2002TUDW is NOT Quantum Factor!
Thanks for sharing. Please post the pix soon!

[jimi]

Nice one David, that track is called The User. I'm actually really surprised we've seen no photos from the Oz tour yet!!

[jonberg]

Sounds great!!! I wish I was there!
By the way, isn´t that song called "Mindover" or something, which they play at the TUDW?
Great review, thanks!

[morgenthaler]

I too am surprised not to see any pix...com´on aussies!? No pix at all?

[frank]

The User hmm.. so does this song have any possibility for a release or what? I'd love to hear it!

[jimi]

@jonberg: Actually you're right, thats the one that isn't my favourite :(
btw i sent you an email to your gmail account cos your PM box was full, check it out!

[DavidPartay]

I do have a few photos, I just haven't had time to get them off my phone onto my computer :). They're not heaps good ones but they're ok.

Here's the setlist:

Mind Over
The User
Proto
Pyramids
Trilogy
Kymera
Alien Hip

So I'd say that one is Mind Over. I see.

[chrismcdrums]

I have just added some of the pics from the Central Coast show. Go to www.cmdrumstudios.com/photos . There are still many more to come but this should give you an idea. If anyone has any more photos of the Central Coast show please send them to me at chris@cmdrumstudios.com Thanks!

[morgenthaler]

Awesome pix chrismcdrums!!!
Thanks a bunch for puttin' those up!
It looks great.
Good job!

[latinux]

Hello to all, I am new in the forum and I hope to make me friends, alive in Chile and am fanatical of the progressive rock

I hope that they respond to me, we see ourselves...
We Rock!!! :cool:

[cjcdrums]

Hey man, welcome to the board.

[Dillinger]

Awesome pics! Did you get to play that beast of a set-up? Or was it too sacred to play? haha Thanks again for organising that brilliant show!

[chrismcdrums]

I had a play of the pedals but I didn't want to help myself to his stick bag! His beaters seem to have been set really short, but otherwise it was a pretty comfortable set up. Once we put the rack together the kit set up amazingly fast. Virgil had diagrams and specs on paper for us to follow so we could set up the kit to his liking. Virgil then arrived about 3 hours later, walked in sat down at the kit and began to practice.