I just received my tickets for the Spyro concert in Monterey on August 27. Their concert is being opened by Cerro Negro. I have nver heard him (them), can anyone enlighten me.

BTW, this is my first Spyro concert (I have seen the Rippingtons five times, Lee Ritenour twice, the late Grover Washington once) and my wife and I are REALLY looking forward to it.

well Jon, I've seen them 5 times only (last time was back in '97) and every concert was different. Do not expect note-to-note performances or overdubbing (Ripps do this a lot). I'm just going to tell you this. I'll the experts Paul and Phil to give you more input.

Eril.

P.S "Get ready to get mind blowed"

Jon,

I'll just add that you can pretty well expect to find out that the band uses the great studio tracks as blueprints, or jumping off points, so to speak.
The direction the band takes from those jumping off points is different every night--sometimes radically different. The solo's will always change from night to night. Once in a while(this happened a bit more when the vibraphone/marimba player, Dave Samuels was still a full time touring member), they will even change the band member that takes the solo. For example, what might have been a piano solo on record, becomes a guitar solo in concert, or vice versa. A piano solo may become a Scott Ambush bass solo.
Just expect em to "take it out" on the vast majority of the compositions...meaning you will see some incredible and extended solo's that will differ from the studio tracks you've heard. Expect incredible energy and stage presence, and top notch sound.

Enjoy!
Peace!
Paul
Paul

Expect the unexpected. I've seen Ripps 4 times and S/G only once but enjoyed the S/G show more. Ripps a little too mechanical live.

I love the Ripps. Don't get me wrong, they're awesome, but when it comes to live concerts there's no comparison. You will not believe how good Spyro is. Does anyone remember when Dave Samuels used to hit Ambush's strings with his mallets while Scott would finger notes with his left hand.

It took me a while to calculate, but I've seen Spyro 14 times at 10 different venues. Most recently I saw them at a small club in Akron OH called Tangiers. My wife and I sat right next to the stage - I could've reached out and "stomped" Julio's pedals.

Rob, funny you should mention that... The concert I saw Dave doing that on Scott's strings is the concert that inspired me to take up the bass. My first Spyro concert and they were opening for Basia! What a concert! Was the time you saw that on the same tour?

Matt,

I actually remember them doing it in several different concerts and in several different ways. One time Scott just pulled up to the vibes, Dave leaned across and started hammering. The other time Dave stood behind Scott and put both hands over his shoulders. Scott played on the E A D and G strings with his left hand while Dave played on the B string with his left hand and tapped the strings with his mallet in his right hand. It was very cool!

Funny you should bring up that Basia tour. I should preface this by saying that I tend to find redeeming quality in all music and do not disparage people for performing what is in their hearts, especially when they're professional musicians and I'm not. However I am not a Basia fan. At the time I found the idea that Spyro was "opening up" for her laughable, and I still do. I have never seen a more pronounced case of an "opening" band embarassing a headlining group. So much so that when Basia came out and thanked Spyro for opening, she intimated that she felt bad for her band because they had to follow Spyro every night. As I recall they were just smokin' that particular night and closed with probably my favorite tune: South Beach.

Matt, interestingly enough it was after seeing Oscar Cartaya's solo during the Rites of Summer tour that I started playing bass. Cool.

Hey...

All this discussion brings backs some memories....
First, the band HAS had some virtueoso bassists, have they not? I rememeber Oscar doing a backwards shuffle dance while in the midst of a thundering, fleet fingered solo.
And everyone seemed to love it when Dave played the bass with his mallets in tandem with Scott.
I also remember Basia mentioning "what an honor it was to share the same stage with the legendary Spyro Gyra". I saw the tour at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in California. Spyro ended with an incredible take on "South Beach".
Roberto Vally was only with the band for a year or so, but I remember his spotlight portions were excellent too. And before him, we had Kim Stone.
BTW, I am not a huge Basia fan, but she won me over on "Springtime Laughter" off of "Got The Magic"...that one should've received radio airplay!

Peace!
Paul

We just saw the group perform at the Indian Canyons in Palm Springs. They took a short break between sets and played the better part of two hours. Julio was in rare form, and the band sounded great. Looking forward to another show. No question you will really enjoy Spyro Gyra. Check out their concert on hob.com.

Hey Guys, Remember when Tom used to play his "solo" song with the "Moog Liberation" across the crowd ??? That was awsome.

Eril.