12.16.07 alexandria

wow- this tour was a blast of volume and fun. most of what i said before about pgh would apply here. it was a bit more "notey" and a bit more loose than pittsburgh but that was mostly a good thing. there was a screw up in slut that was a short derailment (MU went to the 2x time too quickly) but most of the corners were tighter (save the early accents in mammon)..it did occur to me how fitting the the 11 t shirt is..the only contrast to the loud was istl, t demons, hawking and no 1 lowest (most)...still this sets the man up nicely for his 2008 arena rock jaunt - lots of momentum...the dynamics were a bit more lax at alex...MU played out a bit more...you know these things always happen towards the end of tours....they get tired of playing the stock part and next thing you know notes are flying all over the place....as for todds solo notes, he went ever further out on a limb than pitts..he really is playing lead gtr as well as ive heard...and yes, better than 95 tour...there is just more tricks in his book...in 95 it was the riffs we knew mostly and love but todd has taken a newer approach to lead gtr and is definitely closer to pure improv than before..yes he will follow the arc of the solo if it feels right but he is not just copping the same riffs on these arcs each nite and there are parts of the extended solos like on bd and b that he just dances completely without a net..that is totally off the top of his head, his emotions straight to the gtr neck...the more of this, the better for me..ive heard some riffs on this tour that made my jaw drop and i saw more of those at the birchmere even than pittsburgh...hes headed in the direction of a bullseye (like his shirt) and i have a sneaky suspicion this gtr slinging attitude foreshadows a rocking 2008...and thanks to all the east coasters, there is plenty of evidence from this tour to pass around and buzz on for a good while..........great tour..and please keep mr urbano's number handy........have a great holiday all-and love to find you all...