Thursday, February 3, 2022. It was an unusually warm afternoon at 68 degrees in Durham, North Carolina. I had just arrived at the historic Carolina Theater to catch the sound check before the show at 8:00 PM later that night. As the small group gathered at the entrance we had our vaccine cards checked and everyone was given the standard talk about mask requirements when in the show. Given the average age of the group I doubted there would be any issue with any of the entrance requirements and I was correct in that assumption as even with the full house later in the evening there was not a bare face present unless they were sipping a beverage. OK I did have some of that fabulous popcorn and a bottle of tea they have there as that popcorn is something to write home about. It is white kernels that is “especially grown” for the theater or something to that effect. The short story is it is worth the $3 American for a medium sized bag.
Soon the door opened for the group to be taken inside and we made our way after a brief wait in the lobby to find a seat to watch the sound check which was getting underway on the stage. I ended up taking a seat on an aisle on the fourth row to watch as there was little point in crowding the stage as the band management had requested no photos be taken of the band at the sound check. I was cool with that as they were not in their stage dress so I understood. They were working on volume levels as they talked to very large mixing console in the back of the theater. Soon most of that was worked out and the band spent some time talking about vocals for a couple of tracks and walked through some song parts. After about 45 minutes the band walked back to the buses outside and Alan signed a few things for anyone who had an album or something being careful to social distance for the most part from the stage. Everyone was given a cool poster he had already signed that afternoon. Before we left a group photo was taken but I haven’t see that in my email yet.
I came to this show for several reasons. One was I had never had the opportunity to see Alan perform with his band and I have to admit I wanted to see one of the figures in music history from my lifetime. Many of you know but for the uninitiated, Alan is an engineer, song-writer, producer, and musician. He was involved with the production of several albums that have sold tens of millions of records. The Beatles “Abby Road” as well as “Let it Be.” In fact as I watched the recent release of the roughly 8 hour Beatles documentary on the Disney channel you can see a young Alan Parsons working at the Abbey Road Studios.
Alan also worked on Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” from 1973 which was played in the background throughout my college years. If you remember the band “Ambrosia” from the 1970’s Alan worked with them as well. He also had been nominated for over a dozen Grammy Awards and has won Grammy Awards for his solo music. He had produced hit after hit with his Alan Parsons Project over time and his music is still played today on satellite radio and FM rock channels that stream to the world. I will leave the history notes there as anyone can google most of these details. My main point is I am impressed with Alan Parsons and I really enjoyed being in a room to watch his band play some of his hits on a live stage.
My short summary for this show is I had a great time. I thought the fan engagement with the sound check being available as an option was great. Alan seemed very nice to everyone even though one can image how it is riding even a million dollar Prevost bus all over the country for a rock tour. I always think about that and understand how hard it can be to travel for even a week or two at a time. It takes a toll on even a young man.
The band is very capable for this tour and several of the band members covered several positions as this music is complex at times and they pulled it all off very well. The sound was excellent although I was in front of the PA stack (thankfully). I would suggest you go see this tour if you get the chance.
If you are not able to get out to see Alan on this tour go check out some of those cd and album packages of music from Alan Parsons. Yeah I know you can stream the music but there is nothing like owning you own copy of music that inspires you. There are some real gems in those album sleeves. Besides, vinyl has cool photos and stuff to read inside!
Until next time I’ll see you, down the road.