Day Forty-five - Roy Orbison: Black & White Night, or "Bruce... stop trying to hog the spotlight, Bruce. No, Bruce, Stahp!"

I felt in the mood for some music today. Unfortunately, Rattle and Hum isn't on Netflix, or I would've gone straight to that.

I was able to find Roy Orbison's live concert in 1988 that featured plenty of guest stars, some whom I loved (Tom Waits and Elvis Costello) and some who should've SAT THE HELL DOWN AND PLAYED instead of grandstanding like they always do (I'm looking at you, Bruce).

That's sacrilege, I know, saying anything negative about The Boss. I'm sure if Jon Stewart were standing in front of me right now, he'd kick me in the nuts... in a very erudite and witty fashion. Still, I was not impressed early on when Bruce was crowding Roy on the mic. Sure, he calmed down as the night wore on, but... first impressions had me fuming.

It's a pretty good concert, though. Some pretty fine guitar work on the part of so many greats, a little harp action courtesy of both Roy and Elvis Costello, and some lovely key stroking by Waits.

I think my main complaints come in two parts, one that is just his style and the other that seemed a little old fashioned.

First, there wasn't much in the way of stage presence going on. Sure, while I was just chastising Bruce for gettin' all up in dat face, I felt like it was all just so much standing around from pretty much everybody. What theatrics that were there bugged (Bruce) and what could've been disappointed me when nothing ever showed (Tom, KD, Bonnie, Elvis, etc.).

But really, that was just Roy's style. I shouldn't fault him at all for that, I just felt that, personally, it would've appealed to me more if the staging was more dynamic.

Just can't please me, can you?

Second, I didn't like that Bonnie (love her), kd (and her), and Jennifer Warnes (who I respect, but am not a fan of) were relegated to Backup Singer duty while all the boys were allowed up front and given feature status. That really bugs the hell out of me.

Sure, I get that Roy basically gave kd her start, but both her and Bonnie Raitt can play and deserved better than Backup.

Hrm.

Still... it wasn't bad, but it wasn't really 80's enough (as the songs all predate the decade even if the concert was filmed in '88). I just wish I could've watched/listened to Rattle and Hum instead. I'm really jonesing for With or Without You. Now THAT was classic 80's.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~