Melissa and I, and a few friends from work, went to see the Blue Man Group Friday night. This was part of the How to be a Megastar 2.0 concert tour that is going across the country right now. This was our third time to see the BMG. We saw them first about four years ago when they were touring for the first rock concert. We later saw the show at the Luxor in Las Vegas.
The concert we saw last night was very similar to the concert we saw four years ago. This was good and bad for me. It was good because this time I knew all of the words (from The Complex CD I purchased after the last show), I knew and loved the music, and was able to really enjoy the music because of it. It was bad because, with the exception of new cover songs, they didn’t include any new Blue Man songs. I would have liked to hear at least one.
Tracy Bonham rejoined the band as an opening act, and as an integrated part of the show. When we saw the first rock concert Tracy was part of the show as well as a band called Venus Hum. Venus Hum is now one of my favorite bands, and I would have loved to see them touring along again. The main number of the entire concert is the Blue Man Group rendition of Donna Summers I Feel Love. There is so much energy in the production of this song that I cannot imagine anyone not coming away thinking it is the best song they have ever seen performed live. In fact, it was this song that I was most hoping would still be included in the show. If you have not heard about the production…well I won’t spoil it…but the multi-color dress fits in perfectly with the music, and the rest of the stage. I bring this song up here because Tracy did the vocals last night, and she did a spectacular job. That said, Annette Strean of Venus Hum did a better job when we saw her perform it during the first show. Tracy’s voice was occasionally drown out by the music, and the vocals are very much a part of this number. I vividly remember Annette’s voice echoing above the music last time, and her presence on stage, bouncing in the dress…suffice it to say that the BMG needs to get Annette back for this song. I would travel to see her perform it again.
The concert did include some new Blue Man antics, and didn’t skimp on old favorites. A strong environmentalist message was added in the form of an anti-global warming video. They also had a spot done by everyone’s favorite artist Mono and his guitarist the Side :). Overall, the concert was loud, interactive, and great fun. And now we come to the MOBKASTR part of the show.
Mobkastr? What’s a Mobkastr you ask? BMG decided to try integrating an interactive text messaging experience, related to the show, into the concert. For $2.00 you received about 10 or 15 messages throughout the show. I thought it would have been more informative, but instead it was kind of lame. Links to the website, additional interactivity, and faster response times would have been better. They did encourage the use of cameras during the show though. Blue Man Group has a spot on there tour page to upload the pictures you took during the show.
All in all, this was a great show. And despite my desire for a different vocalist, I Feel Love really did rock (you can see the video featuring Venus Hum on the BMG web site). I can’t wait to see them again, and I only wish I could see them at another stop on this tour.