Hi everyone...this is a review of the Frogg Café/Happy the Man concert that I just found at the Progressive Ears forum. The poster and reviewer is "yanks02".
The NJ Proghouse series continues to be a great success. Close to 300 people (my estimate) were treated to a great night of prog by legendary Happy the Man, and surprising newcomer, Frogg Cafe. Fist I want to thank Jim Robinson & Co. for a fist class show, keep up the great work. Second I want to thank the Sea of Tranquility guys for helping me up when I fell down out side the building before the concert. On to the show...
Frogg Cafe hit the stage with an unusual lineup, -guitar, drums, bass, keys, violin and trombone. The keyboard player, aside from vocals also contributed some fine trumpert playing. Their music seemed all over the place, with symphonic prog as a general reference point. At times they came accross as a jam band, with long instrumental sections where each member could play off each other. They had a great mix of violin and brass. After a long instrumental to start the show, they then proved they could fare equally well with song based prog. Vocals were very strong, in fact I wanted to hear more. I usual live for long winded instrumental breaks with most bands. But with these guys I wanted to hear more vocals. Towards the end of the set we were treated to a nice section of 4 part harmonies. Come on guys, more of this please! I tended to prefer the newer material from a yet to be released album. It incorporated a ton of brass. While they had my attention with their brand of assessable prog, they lost me with a song called "Space Dust" (from their 1st album), but that seemed to make the avant-prog fans happy. All and all a terrific performance from a rising band. They should be a surprise hit at Nearfest.
After a trip up incredibly steep steps to the worlds smallest bathroom stall -well worth it because of that beautiful brunette hanging out upstairs (who was she???)- I made it back to my seat for the main attraction, Happy the Man.
I saw these guys at NF 2000 and was impressed then. But this is the NEW HTM, with a new drummer and new album. They played most of the new album, plus most of Crafty Hands and some of the debut, plus a rare performace of a piece from "Deaths Crown" from their early days. I was amazed how seamlessly they mixed the new songs with the old. They wrote songs in the old style without rehashing a bit, quite an acomplishment. I was lukewarm to the new album at first but not anymore, especially after hearing them mixed in with the classics. These guys were on from the start. I can't say the same about the crowd, who seemed to warm up after about an hour. By the end the crowd were roaring their approval. Stan Whitaker had quite a sense of humor throughout. A funny moment happened when he announce a fan had come all the way from Puerto Rico for this show. The guy responded with something like "Its cold as shit, man". I can't pinpoint a standout player, they were all good. The bass however was buried in the mix, the only possible complaint of otherwise stellar sound. I'm quite familiar with Joe Bergamini's work with 4Front and have seen him live locally many times. He has really gelled with his new bandmates, and had little problem with any of the old material. Joe is half of the HTM New Jersey connection, and unlike Stan, I do know where Whippany NJ is! The other half is keyboard whiz David Rosenthal, from Edison. He quickly makes you forget about Kit Watkins, he's an incredible player. Frank Wyatt added his terrific sax work to the mix along with steady keys. I got a kick out of seeing him stab at the keys while holding his sax. It litteraly looked like he was just slapping at the keyboard almost randomly. Of course it didn't sound like that at all. Just an overall very satisfying performance by one of the greatest Ameri-prog bands in history. And nice to see they can still draw a large crowd.
As for the fans, I only have a small gripe. Can you sit in your seats for a full concert, please? Its up and down all night, some of the same people getting up from their seats a good ten times. There was a woman in a Frogg Cafe shirt who also worked their vendor table. She must have gotten up and ran to the back 7 or 8 times during their 1 hour set. She's attractive so she's forgiven! Oh yeah, the guy in front of me was definitely on something. He couldn't look at the concert for more than a second or two, always looking down or to the side, and of course got up a dozen times. Distracting, but it did not take away from an incredible night of music.
Again, keep up the great work with this concert series, because of successful nights like this, we should see more great concert lineups in the future.
The NJ Proghouse series continues to be a great success. Close to 300 people (my estimate) were treated to a great night of prog by legendary Happy the Man, and surprising newcomer, Frogg Cafe. Fist I want to thank Jim Robinson & Co. for a fist class show, keep up the great work. Second I want to thank the Sea of Tranquility guys for helping me up when I fell down out side the building before the concert. On to the show...
Frogg Cafe hit the stage with an unusual lineup, -guitar, drums, bass, keys, violin and trombone. The keyboard player, aside from vocals also contributed some fine trumpert playing. Their music seemed all over the place, with symphonic prog as a general reference point. At times they came accross as a jam band, with long instrumental sections where each member could play off each other. They had a great mix of violin and brass. After a long instrumental to start the show, they then proved they could fare equally well with song based prog. Vocals were very strong, in fact I wanted to hear more. I usual live for long winded instrumental breaks with most bands. But with these guys I wanted to hear more vocals. Towards the end of the set we were treated to a nice section of 4 part harmonies. Come on guys, more of this please! I tended to prefer the newer material from a yet to be released album. It incorporated a ton of brass. While they had my attention with their brand of assessable prog, they lost me with a song called "Space Dust" (from their 1st album), but that seemed to make the avant-prog fans happy. All and all a terrific performance from a rising band. They should be a surprise hit at Nearfest.
After a trip up incredibly steep steps to the worlds smallest bathroom stall -well worth it because of that beautiful brunette hanging out upstairs (who was she???)- I made it back to my seat for the main attraction, Happy the Man.
I saw these guys at NF 2000 and was impressed then. But this is the NEW HTM, with a new drummer and new album. They played most of the new album, plus most of Crafty Hands and some of the debut, plus a rare performace of a piece from "Deaths Crown" from their early days. I was amazed how seamlessly they mixed the new songs with the old. They wrote songs in the old style without rehashing a bit, quite an acomplishment. I was lukewarm to the new album at first but not anymore, especially after hearing them mixed in with the classics. These guys were on from the start. I can't say the same about the crowd, who seemed to warm up after about an hour. By the end the crowd were roaring their approval. Stan Whitaker had quite a sense of humor throughout. A funny moment happened when he announce a fan had come all the way from Puerto Rico for this show. The guy responded with something like "Its cold as shit, man". I can't pinpoint a standout player, they were all good. The bass however was buried in the mix, the only possible complaint of otherwise stellar sound. I'm quite familiar with Joe Bergamini's work with 4Front and have seen him live locally many times. He has really gelled with his new bandmates, and had little problem with any of the old material. Joe is half of the HTM New Jersey connection, and unlike Stan, I do know where Whippany NJ is! The other half is keyboard whiz David Rosenthal, from Edison. He quickly makes you forget about Kit Watkins, he's an incredible player. Frank Wyatt added his terrific sax work to the mix along with steady keys. I got a kick out of seeing him stab at the keys while holding his sax. It litteraly looked like he was just slapping at the keyboard almost randomly. Of course it didn't sound like that at all. Just an overall very satisfying performance by one of the greatest Ameri-prog bands in history. And nice to see they can still draw a large crowd.
As for the fans, I only have a small gripe. Can you sit in your seats for a full concert, please? Its up and down all night, some of the same people getting up from their seats a good ten times. There was a woman in a Frogg Cafe shirt who also worked their vendor table. She must have gotten up and ran to the back 7 or 8 times during their 1 hour set. She's attractive so she's forgiven! Oh yeah, the guy in front of me was definitely on something. He couldn't look at the concert for more than a second or two, always looking down or to the side, and of course got up a dozen times. Distracting, but it did not take away from an incredible night of music.
Again, keep up the great work with this concert series, because of successful nights like this, we should see more great concert lineups in the future.