CONCERT: Swing Out Sister, Detroit, 10/27/94
Bengt A. Palsson
10/27/94 8 p.m.
Musicians:
(Note this list is taken from the liner notes of the SOS Live CD,
and as far as I could see the line-up was the same except for a
male and female backup singer instead of two female.
Corinne Drewery Lead Vocals
Andrew Connell Keyboards
Juneroy Johnson Bass
Myke Wilson Drums
Tim Cansfield Guitar
John Thirkell Trumpet & Flugelhorn
Gary Piumbly Saxophone & Flute
Chris Manis Percussion
Sylvia Mason James
OR Erica Harrold Backup vocals
??? Backup Vocals
This concert is part of SOS's first American tour ever, 8 years after their
first hit "Breakout". The concert was sponsored by a local promoter
"Brass Ring" in conjunction with the Detroit radio station WJZZ
(or WJ 'zed' 'zed' as Corinne put it). The theater is pretty small, I'd say
the audience was well below 400 people (but still sold out).
Concert started out at 8 p.m. with a woman playing guitar and piano as the
opening act. Her name escapes me, but she was pretty low key and not the
kind of opening act you would expect at a SOS concert (I guess I expected
something more jazzy). She played for about 40 minutes.
SOS came on around 9:10 p.m. I was far too wrapped up in the concert to
jot down a track list but some things I remember (through a slight Heineken
induced haze) are ...
They opened with the opening track from their new album "Better make it
better". Corinne wore a feather boa that the swung around all night long.
Any looked the same as on the live CD except with no beard and no sunglasses.
He had a constant grin on his face the whole concert and never once (that I
saw) looked out at the audience. Corinne kept saying "...you don't know how
happy we are to be here in Detroit that has been the influence for so many
of us" referring of course to Motown and its artists.
Other songs from the new album included "Don't let yourself down",
"Mama didn't raise no fool" ("Dedicated to all the Mamas in the
audience" - Corinne), "Stop and think it over" and part of "Low down dirty
business" as a sort of transitionary Jam session.
They did pay tribute to Motown by doing "Just my Imagination" by
Smokey Robinson, where one of the backup singers took the lead
(and very well I may add), they also did "Ain't no Mountain High enough"
that they normally do in sound check (according to Corinne). They also did
a short version of "The Windmills of your mind" from some show which escapes
me at the moment, that song is on a CD single recorded at the BBC, it a
solo with Corinne singing to only Andy's piano playing.
The house really got on their feet (althogh somewhat reluctantly) when they
played "Circulate", you could tell that the audience was most enthusiatsic
about songs that had gotten a lot of airplay on WJZZ. Other songs from earlier
albums included "Get in touch with yourself", "Surrender", "Am I the
same girl", and a few others whose name escaped me in the heat of the moment.
During the encore they broke into a dub-reggae style number with the bass
player singing lead and then launching in to one of the fastest "slapping"
and "popping" bass solos I've ever heard, followed by the obligatory drum
solo which lead into "Breakout" the last number for the evening, arranged
exctlty as it appears on the live album.
As far as I remember they didn't play their current single "LA LA (means I
love you)". Maybe they substituted one of the Mowtown numbers for it.
All in all a memorable evening. If you get a chance to see one of the
remaining shows, Do it !!
Tour Dates:
10/20 - Coach House, San Juan Capistrano, CA
10/22 - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco CA
10/23 - House of Blues, Loas Angeles CA
10/25 - First Avenue, Minneapolis MINN
10/26 - Park West, Chicago ILL
10/27 - THE ROYAL OAK MUSIC THEATER, Royal Oak (says Detroit on T-shirt) MI
10/29 - Odeon, Cleveland OH
10/31 - Supper Club, New York, NY
11/03 - Varsity Theatre, Atlanta GA
11/04 - Pleasure Island, Lake Buena Vista FL
11/06 - South Point Park, Miami FL
CD discography (well, at least what I have):
Am I the same girl (CDS) Fontana SWI CD 9
Another non-stop sister Nippon Phonogram PPD-1031
Forever Blue (CDS) Fontana 876 247-2
Get in touch with yourself Fontana 512241-2
It's Better to Travel Polygram 832 213-2 Q-1
Kaleidoscope World Fontana 838 293-2
La La (means I love you) (CDS) Mercury SW1DD 11/858 833-2
La La (means I love you) (CDS) Mercury SW1CD 11/858 881-2
La La (means I love you) (CDS) Mercury 856 199-2
Live at the Jazz Cafe Fontana PHCR-1192
Notgonnachange (CDS) Fontana 866 855-2
Seriously (Promo CDS) Fontana BETCD 2
Splendid Collection - Another non-stop Fontana PHCR-3163
Splendid Collection - It's better to tr Fontana PHCR-3161
Splendid Collection - Keleidoscope worl Fontana PHCR-3162
Splendid Collection - Remixes & others Fontana PHCR-3164
Swing Out Singles Fontana PHCR-1182
Swing3 Fontana PPD-1111
The Living Return Mercury 314 522 650-2
Where in the world (CDS) Fontana 874 633-2
Windmills of your Mind (CDS) Fontana PPDM 1005
Laser Video Discs:
Swing Out Sister - And Why not ? 8" CLV Polygram Music Video
17 minutes 1 080 197-9
Swing Out Sister - Kaleidoscope World CAV VideoArts Japan
22 minutes 1 VAL-3120
Anyone with more discography info or other info please e-mail me.
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