LondonFlamencoJazz -> Vicente Amigo live in London... (Feb. 10 2012 9:13:08)
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I've been listening to Vicente albums for a few years, my favourite being "Vivencias Imaginadas". So of course I was really looking forward to seeing him play at the Flamenco Festival in Sadlers Wells, London. It was great to see him play, especially his flawless technique... but I must say, parts of the concert were quite boring- I think that's down to several factors, many out of his control. i) The first thing that struck me was, an album of that guitar heavy sound with jazz vibes in the background (and the occassional vocal) sounds great, you can really immerse yourself in that sound. A live gig on the other hand is different, you expect the performance to grab your attention in a different way, and I personally like a variety of sounds to keep my interest going... I think that's why the Paco de Lucia live sound works well, you have flute/saxophone or sometimes harmonica to take you away from the guitar for a bit... and of course the strength of the melodies and arrangement is important. I could feel the audience around me falling asleep in parts of the 90 minute performance... it just felt like... too much guitar!! ii) The second thing that comes to mind is the relationship between performer and audience. You can tell Vicente is shy at nature (as many great instrumentalists are... e.g. Paco!) so you need someone on stage to grab the audience's attention, communicate to them. To be honest, the venue itself, Sadlers Wells, did a terrible job in this respect- there was no announcement of Vicente's arrival, there was no statement such as "we welcome to London's Flamenco Festival..." etc... nothing. The poor guy was forced to try to say a few words in English at the beginning, "I am happy to play for you tonight" which was greatly appreciated. The production team were very neglectful in my opinion, they didn't change the lighting or spotlights throughout the entire gig (just the backdrop occasionally) so there was constantly a bright light on Vicente's face even when the focus was bass, cante or baile. That was tiring to watch, and I'm sure, tiring for his eyes!! iii) I don't know if the theatre environment itself works well with this type of music, it's a bit like jazz, you want that intimate club, people-sitting-at-tables environment, that helps the rapport, you get natural feedback from the audience. iv) The audience itself were predominantly English middle-aged people, many of which I would say were just coming to see "something at the festival", not really familiar with this type of flamenco fusion, and I guess, many were expecting lots of dance and singing. Of course in that case they should find out about an artist before they go and see him, but I'm just creating the dynamic, the atmosphere that made the concert. v) The last point I'd make is that the band looked uncomfortable on stage at times. I play live quite a lot myself and I'm used to seeing expressions on musicians faces, and at times, the bassist looked like he wasn't sure what was going on and a couple of the others looked uneasy. This atmosphere won't have been helped by the dancer's mic stand collapsing early in the gig, and the neglectful Sadlers Wells team doing nothing (was there anyone there?!) so the cajon player went over to help him. Ok I'll stopped moaning now, I've seen Paco and Vicente live and I feel lucky!! A suggestion: perhaps Londonwise, artists like these could try playing at clubs like Ronnie Scotts or Pizza Express Dean Street, established intimate venues... I reckon it'd go down a storm!
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