I just had the opportunity of seeing them in Springfield IL which was the first date of their new tour with songs from the new CD "Got the Magic". They opened with a new song and played 3 or 4 songs from it. Pretty good stuff- one had a carribean flare to it. The rest of the set included some great songs I always forward to when I listen to Spyro. Ones I can remember...
Pipo's song
Breathless - love S.Ambush bass on this-vibrates your shirt!!
Bob goes to the Store - with intermittent commentary on Kim Stone's dog by Scott during the song - pretty funny
Captain Karma- also one of my favorites
also played a song of Jays solo release- more straight ahead jazzy, dont remember the name.
They did do Morning Dance as their encore. This was my 10th or so time seeing them (11th will be next weekend in St. Louis.) and I feel this tour is their best set mix - just my opinion, I could be wrong!

thanks for the update Chris. It's the first report of stuff from their new release.

Chris,

You lucky dog you!
I have to wait till August 11th and 13th to get my first taste of the bands new material in the live setting.
If anymore of the bands set comes back to you, please post it here!
It's funny, a poster in Spyro's guestbook said that the band did NOT perform Morning Dance when he saw them....leading me to believe that they might be giving it a year off.
But, they did perform it when you saw em.
Captain Karma, Breathless, Pipo's Song, Bob Goes To The Store....sounds like a strong set so far! Best: 3 or 4 new compositions!
Peace!
Paul

again saw the band in St. Louis - Westport playhouse. Great place to see them; a square theatre w/ 1000 seats and a revolving stage in the middle. Some more songs that were played that I forgot to mention in my previous post
Silk and Satin- new one written by Chuck Leob. nice.
Cayo Hueso
Havana Moonlight- the latin/carribean song
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat- Mingus tune which must be on Jay's solo release.
Midnight- from Heart of the Night
Old San Juan
Rockin' a Heart Place -closed with this and still did Morning Dance as encore.

Chris,

My man, you made my day...and thanks for answering my request.
If it was you who said this might be the strongest set list you've seen...well I would have to agree!
And Old San Juan! It's been since the "Love and Other Obsessions" tour since they played that one and that in itself will make the show for me!
Cayo Hueso? Great!
Midnight? One of the best on Heart o da Night!
Just sounds like it's gonna be an incredible set!
Thanks again man! what a band!
Peace!
Paul

Silk and Satin is getting alot of airplay in So Cal.

Saw the fellas outside of Baltimore a few weeks back. No Morning Dance there either. Not a problem for me. Closed the show with 'Got the Magic' with Julio on vocals. Didn't see the 'Tito Puente' stand-up timbale set that someone mentioned. Wish I had heard 'Rockin' a Heart Place.' Did get to hear Captain Kharma. I see the guys a lot and this was not their best day. The festival crowd was very, very small. I've seen them play their faces off to small crowds before. I can't see that making any difference. We'll try it again in Northern Va. in September.

------------------
Gary

Since it's less than a month away till I see the World's Greatest Jazz Band(August 10th, 11th and 13th in Southern California)I was hoping that some more of Spyro Gyra's legion of fans would share their experiences and impressions of the current show. Let us know the highlights...what the set lists are...who stood out for you...even list songs that you wished they'd played but didn't. How did the new material sound?

Peace!
Paul

I will be posting set lists and reviews of the three Spyro Gyra concerts coming up on Aug 10, 11, and 13.

Hopefully more fans than just myself and Chris will share their experiences of Spyro Gyra's current tour.

Peace!
paul

Well I just wrapped up the trio of concerts by Spyro Gyra, as they made their swing through the Southern California.

Tuesday was the gig at the House Of Blues. It was marred only by the fact that the box office had given out misinformation, in that I was told that Spyro Gyra would not be hitting the stage till 10:30 pm. Since there WAS no warm up band, Spyro hit the stage at about 9:30 or 9:40, according to reports. My friend and I stroll up at 10:00 or 10:15, expecting to be 15 to 30 minutes EARLY for Spyro, and they were a third of the way into the set!
Walked in to a great rendition of Tom Schumans's "Midnight", featuring straight ahead bass and drum work from Scott and Joel. Oh...and alot of speed of light piano soloing by Schuu.
Jay intro'd "Havanna Moonlight" by saying he'd written it in Cuba, when expecting to visit and tour, the band ended up holed up at a USO show, the only thing they saw was military barbed wired, service men, and the moon. Hence, "Havanna Moonlight"
Joel did start the song on a small stand up percussion kit center stage...Scott was playing his new toy, a stand up electric bass(which he played pretty frequently throughout the evening). As I had hoped, this one got that Spyro Gyra trademark live treatment...you know the one that takes an already great tune, and makes it even better.
Great acoustic work by Julio, soprano work by Jay, and an extended latin piano solo by Schuu.

"Pipo's Song" followed...featured alot of tasty Julio acoustic work.

Next was "Bob Goes To The Store"...which featured Scott's narrative as to what Kim Stone wrote the song about. Hilarious! Oh, did I mention the bluesy, incredible bass solo?
"Julio's Dream Version" of "Breathless" followed, the re-arrangement coming from a dream that Julio had about the song...Jay said that of course, in the dream, Julio got more stage time! He did in this live version...featured was a scat vocal line that was lifted from "Got The Magic's" "Sierra".
Jay and Tom got down and dirty on that one.
"Got The Magic" was next, and of course, featured Julio on vocals, a couple of great bluesy solo's by same, and an audience participation sing along. I actually enjoyed it!
"Rockin' A Heart Place" closed the main set. Tremendous ensemble work throughout, tight tight tight and jazz/r n b-y. But Julio's guitar work and Jay's sax work were the feature.
Encores were: an electric "Morning Dance"...a song that at one time I was tired of hearing, but now, inexplicably, has been reborn. Great sax by Jay at the coda.
A great, burnin' rendition of "Breakfast At Igor's" ended the concert. Again, tight ensemble work, great sax, a great solo by Julio, topped off by the fleet fingered extended soloing by Schuu.

All in all a great show!
Next up....the concert at Humphrey's in San Diego

Peace!
Paul

Well at Humphrey's by the Bay in San Diego, Chuck Mangione warmed up the crowd with selections from his new, "The Feelin's Back" CD, and a cross section of tune from his long career, which has resumed over the past year after a ten year break due to burnout.
The highlights for me were "Children Of Sanchez", "Feel's So Good", and a song in which the bass player also played a mean harp solo. Very strong set, Graant Geissman, though lacking in the showmanship department, did not lack in the chops department on guitar.
Tome constraints prevent me from commenting on Spyro's headlining set until later.

Peace!
Paul