Emerson and Lake Review Orpheum Theater LA

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I've seen Emerson Lake and Palmer, and I've seen Emerson Lake and Powell, and now I've seen Emerson and Lake.  I think I may have to rate this as one of my favorite shows of all of them.  Why?  Because they didn't play the stuff you would normally hear at a typical ELP show.  They did break out a couple of the standards: Pirates, and Lucky Man, but they dug down deep in the archives which only a true dedicated fan would appreciate.  There were a couple people who left that didn't seem to know anything that they were playing. This was not a show for the casual fan.   I don't have the whole setlist in my hand, but here are a few highlights for me; King Crimson's "I Talk To the Wind"-- Never in my life did I think I'd see this performed live. "Bitches Crystal"; Keith's left hand work on the keyboard never ceases to amaze me. How does he do it, and keep it up all night? There was a rousing version of "America" from Keith's old band "The Nice".   "The Barbarian" and "Take a Pebble" in it's entirity. Keith broke out the accordian for "C'est La Vie".  Of course Keith brought along the Moog in all it's glory and did a revised version of "Lucky Man" with a really cool Moog intro to the song.  They also had the Moog Cranked in volume.  Keyboardists like myself were in hog heaven taking in the extra fat analogue sounds. 

The stage was designed to be like a recording studio with a recording booth behind them, with someone back there looking like they were recording.  Hopefully they were. Both Keith and Greg alternated telling stories about recording, how they met, and a funny story about Leonard Bernstein who listened to them play Pirates in a studio session.  Keith advised Greg to stop smoking what he was smoking when Mr Bernstein arrived.  They also talked a little bit about Jimmy Hendrix and how they came close to having Jimmy as their guitarist and Mitch Mitchell as their drummer prior to meeting Carl Palmer.  Keith also mentioned that Jimmy Hendrix used to film Keith play with his own personal Super 8mm film camera. He wondered what happened to that footage.  Keith, I think we all are wondering that now too.
The show was divided up into 2 one hour sets.  The second set included a question and answer period where they turned the lights up in the audience and invited anyone that had a question to ask away.  Thankfully the questions weren't bad at all.  While mingling with the crowd prior and during the breaks, I had soon realized that most of the attendees were musicians, and I met some really cool folks, and I felt right at home.  From a Musician's standpoint, this is one for the books and a "not to be missed" for true ELP fans.  My only complaint would be the use of a drum machine on a few of the tunes.  I think  I would have much rather see a live drummer, even if it was a drummer keeping it simple with a 3 or 4 piece kit.

Edited by forte88 - April 26 2010 at 16:19