SPARKS

Sparky Rickmaniac · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 5:15 pm Post subject:

On a sartorial note, wtf??
Hadn't got Russell down as a golfer

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Deano · Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 3:58 am Post subject:

Loving the sound and visual quality of this clip,but not as much as i like the cool threads of Mr Russell Mael,well dressed sir indeed.

Sparky Rickmaniac · Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 6:52 am Post subject:

You east coast types always were a loose crowd, we're a bit more conservative over here in the rhubarb triangle

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hanelma82 · Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:04 am Post subject:

freeke · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 4:16 pm Post subject:

I saw Sparks last night in Helsinki, my fifth Sparks concert and quite possibly the best so far. Didn´t really know what to expect, but figured no backing band equals stripped down songs knowing Ron´s usual minimalist way of playing.

Surprise, surprise, Ron had a massive sound, the kind of woody piano of Li´l Beethoven layered with strings and This Town-style slapback echo ping-ponging between the speakers.He played like I´ve never heard him play before, fully fleshed out fierce accompaniment with some killer low-end rumble.

Russell was amazing. He pretty much nailed every high note, even the ones where he would usually be straining a bit."This town.." was so close to the original version, both in pitch and timbre, it was scary. With fewer instruments in the mix, Russell took more liberties and varied his voice a lot more than usual. His attempts at speaking Finnish were much appreciated by the crowd.

The new song "Two Hands, One Mouth" was excellent, although hearing it on repeat a dozen times before R&R came on stage was a bit much. Then again, when they closed the concert with the song, everybody knew it.

Beat The Clock and TN1SIH employed sequenced synth backing and sounded a bit out of place. I could have done without the former and would have preferred a more lush, "played" version of the latter. The place was packed and Sparks got a great reception from the audience.

Cheers, Fred Ekelund

Sparky Rickmaniac · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 5:06 pm Post subject:

It will be interesting to see what changes have been made to their set from the Bush Hall gig in June.
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Annika · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:43 pm Post subject:

Sparkswede, you must be so excited :) tomorrow is your big day!!!!
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Annika · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:46 pm Post subject:

And off course I hope they will play los angeles :)
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freeke · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 12:14 am Post subject:

Ron intro+Hospitality On Parade from Helsinki gig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jduO2JBT2sg

Russell´s introduction at 3:50. "Moi, ystävät, minä olen Russell, hän on Ron, me olemme Sparks". Translation: "Hello friends, I´m Russell, he´s Ron, we are Sparks".

rwolf'68 · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:44 am Post subject:

rwolf'68 · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:53 am Post subject:

And thank you so much for the links!! Happy, so happy

Sparky Rickmaniac · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 11:04 am Post subject:

Please let them play Southern California 2nd week in January, will be visiting the old trout, aka my 96 year old sainted Mother, for 6 days, need all the help I can get

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parus · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:31 pm Post subject:

Stockholm, first night: brilliant.
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Douglas McIntyre · Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 6:09 pm Post subject:

http://www.lokalkompass.de/bochum/kultur/kontrovers-bissig-ironisch-sparks-sind-zurueck-und-gastieren-am-17-oktober-in-der-zeche-d220064.html

TommyGun · Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:14 pm Post subject:

I just got home from Berlin, my first time seeing sparks(finally) after listening and loving them for 6 or so years.

overall i am happy the show was great, seeing these two old men live was incredible. their performance was awesome, a real presentation of their skills, expecially russells singing was way better than i could have imagined from all the live videos i have seen.
some things have been bothering, especially the lame audience. no one sang along a single word, russell pretty much had to force them to clap.
not the greatest atmosphere.
i really hope it wont take another 6 years to see them again, i think i would have preferred a concert with full band and the on-stage madness of the LB/HYL/ECOTD shows.
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Sparksswede · Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 2:55 pm Post subject:

We're home since rather late wednesday evening from Stockholm.
We weren't able to be on the second night of Sparks at Södra teatern theater wednesday but we were there on tuesday.
The atmosphere at Södra teatern were great (the audiance reaction to Sparks aswell as the atmosphere of the wonderful theater building itself).

I think the show was great with marvelous singing from Russell and aswell from Ron playing.
The songs came out in their pure form but in all I missed the guitar(s), bass and drums in some songs were them instruments add some extra powers.

IMO some songs works better than others in the two hands one mouth form.
Great opening of Ron on keyboard and then came one of my favorite Sparkstrack of all time (that meens one of my favorite tracks all bands/artists included) "Hospitality On Parade" that sounded great there (though the heavy instrumentation in the later part of the song as it is in the original form would have made it even better but it was great anyway).

Other highlights were "NTYBOME" , "Singing In The Shower", "Excerpts from The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman" and the new "Two Hands One Mouth" .

Standing ovations from the audiance (and I think it was no empty seats in the theater and also audiance on balcony) and Ron and Russell seemed moved by the reactions from the audiance and Russell called Stockholm "their second home" and said they will be back soon..I already long for them to come back (hopefully with a band with guitar(s),bass and drums but the main part is ofcourse Ron and Russell anyway and if it's "only" them 2 again with keyboards and vocals it's great anyway and we'll be there again and absorb the fine great lovely extraordinary tunes of Sparks).

A bonus..on wednesday we saw and came close to Russell on the same pavement on "Södermalm" in Stockholm (walking the opposite direction) but I wasn't prepared and it all got so fast (with also other people around and him walking rather fast) so I didn't had time to say "Russell! You were great last night".
We waited around there for a while to perhaps catch him again so that I can say that to him but we didn't see him again then.

TommyGun · Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:11 am Post subject:

we waited outside the vernue too but no luck, they drove past us.

the 10" is a nice souvenir though.

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freeke · Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:27 am Post subject:

Seen any reviews of the shows ?

Cheers, Fred

synsound · Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 4:28 am Post subject:

last night in Frankfurt...

the last ten years a Sparks concert also was a city trip for us (London, Stockholm, Paris, Hamburg, and for my wife even Tokyo at a business trip earlier this year).
This time it was just a 25 km ride form our home, an ugly
venue at an ugly area in Franfort`s north, this time for the
first time with our 8 year old son(who was more than happy with the show)
Yes, the new Sparks live concept does work, the typical Sparks energy is there ( this time based on Ron`s intense , slightly overmodulated keyboard work and Russell`s superb voice).
First embarrased by flashlight users in front of them
the brothers managed to develope a fun and a slapstick scenery out of it. Splendid!
Russells voice is unbelieveable - it seems to grow every year!
Looking forward for a nice weekend (and another Sparks gig) in Scotland, see you in Edinburgh on Sunday!

Billy Stevens · Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 2:02 pm Post subject: