molan Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 So we went to see Incognito again last night and, as seems to be the case these days, came away vaguely frustrated with them. When they are good they can be just so funky and cool but their overall 'show' just seems to leave me colder each time I see them (I must have been to see them at least once a year for the past 6-7 years). Probably the most irritating thing last night was the bloody sound man! They were playing with a 10 piece string section for much of the gig which meant there was a minimum of 20 people on stage at any time (3 horns & 4 vocalists plus usual core band members). The sound man decided to handle this multi-instrumental environment by jacking everything up to max volume so that it became a complete cacophonous racket The clashing sounds at the higher end of the register like horns / strings / vocals were really fighting for space and the sheer volume of everything made it sound like there was distortion kicking around (I don't think there was, it was just a kind of distorted effect). People all around me were grabbing their ears at various points, it was genuinely hurting a lot on some notes. The crazy thing is that when the strings first came in the sound was fine and everything seemed to fit pretty well. It was just the sound guy decided to turn everything up to 11 & that's when it all fell apart. It really was so bad that we had to retreat to the back of the hall where everything fell back into place again. I know this sounds like a bit of an 'old bloke's whinge but I've seen many a metal band that didn't ahve this sort of effect. It was those high end frequencies at such volume that were killing me! As ever some of Bluey's rambling between song 'chats' to the audience were a bit dull and his attempts at humour weren't particularly funny. I have huge respect for him and everything he's achieved but as each year passes it seems his rambles get longer (and more repetitive). Some of the guests coming and going throughout the night added very little to the sound or show and just gave Bluey an opportunity to tell a story about why it was so important they came on for just one song. Meanwhile there was loads of great stuff going on as well. By the end of the evening the horn section were really kicking and even throwing in some great dance routines, lol. The harmony vocals (when not screeching at max volume) were fabulous and then band were as tight as a very tight thing indeed. It was great to see Jocelyn Brown & Maysa on vocals as well (although it was when JB first came on that the sound guy started whacking the volume up). Francis Hylton was on bass most of the evening and was as cool as ever however the main event of the evening for me was when Randy Hope-Taylor came out for a few songs. They had almost a complete band change for the first song he played on and it kicked off with RHT playing some nice chordal stuff on a Fender Marcus Miller 5. The song moved into a realy nice modern jazzy feel with some great playing from Randy. He probably stayed for 4-5 songs and some of the stuff he was doing was just fantastic. Keeping the core groove going all the time but throwing in little tasteful fills and slides here and there to augment the song. When you consider the number of instruments on stage it was amazing that he could find space to do this without sounding overly intricate. So - there you have it, mostly good, great band but all a bit over the top at times. Not sure I'll be going to see them next year - unless they guarentee RHT will be with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Pete Ray on drums. Sounds like a perfect night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 Forgot to mention. . . There was this guy standing near me who obviously reckoned himself to be a bit of a dancer. Throwing lots of classic northern soul shapes and moves. At certain points he was really going crazy abd dancing like his life depended on it. Problem is - he was really out of time! There were moments when he drifted into the rhythm but pretty much most of the time he was massively out. Drove me barmy I tried to work out what he was doing and in moments when people were clapping in time he was continually a fraction behind the beat. However his overall timing was just 'wrong' during most of each song. Almost like he was dancing to his own personal metronome and it was set to 13/8 or something! I had to forcibly push him out of my eyeline as it felt so strange to have this rhythmic action next to me that was so out of time, God knows what people make of him if he goes to Nothern Soul nights. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Academy Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 I've been an Incognito fan for years but never had the chance to see them live. Pity about the sound...cue 'Sound Engineer' thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Ive been into Incognito since JazzFunk came out, been to see them multiple times, and they have never let me down.. just sounds like a bad soung engineer....Nearly went Sat, too short notice for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 [quote name='Pete Academy' post='578255' date='Aug 23 2009, 03:33 PM']Pity about the sound...cue 'Sound Engineer' thread.[/quote] Yeah, it was a real killer. I'm guessing it sounded perfect from the sound desk and/or the sound man had an expensive set of earplugs fitted. I was standing my 7-8 rows of people from the front and I've never seen so many people visibly wincing from sheer volume from high frequencies. Last time I saw them was at the Jazz Cafe which was very different but I genuinely think they are trading on past glories these days, shame really Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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