Originally published in Jordan Rudess.com · June 2008
diary posts (Liquid Tension Experiment)
Article5 min read
06/22/2008
First LTE Show!
Yesterday was the first Liquid Tension Experiment show at Nearfest in PA.
We had a day and a half of rehearsal before the show. The people at Nearfest are fantastic as they allowed us to come up to the festival early and set us up in a great little hall to have our practice time. It's been ten years since we playe as LTE but we jumped right in and started playing the tunes!
The most challenging part of the experience was arranging Rhapsody in Blue in the alloted time and getting it ready for the shows. It was pretty fun though and we actually pulled it off last night! (As if there was a choice right?)
The concert went well. We were all excited and some of us dare I say were even a bit nervous! Funny because you would think that after playing all around the world that that kind of thing wouldn't happen to us! I guess the human being rules come into effect even in this circumstance!
It was a great venue. I'm impressed with the whole Nearfest thing. If you don't know about it and you're a fan of progressive rock, you must check it out. The sound in the hall was amazing, the hall is beautiful and the people were all very accomodating and pleasant to work with!
In addition my time at Nearfest was made even more special by my meeting (and hearing) some of my idols! It was amazing to meet Peter Hammil of the band Van der Graff Generator. I remember seeing them play at the Beacon theater in 1974 and it was one of the most awesome shows I had seen! Peter at one point pretended (in his very dramatic way) to drop dead on the stage. When he played last night he sounded just as strong as ever! It was a solo show with him and a guitar and a piano. Here is a picture of us together after the show.
After LTE played and we signed what felt like a trillion autographs to a VERY patient line of people, I journeyed back to the hotel and had a beer at the bar...
Much to my delight somebody mentioned to me that Gary Green of Gentle Giant was hanging out in the bar as well. Wasting no time, I wandered over there and introduced myself. Of course you all know that I am a HUGE GG fan and it was a thrill to say hi to Gary.
We had a cool talk. It was really fun for me to hook up with one of the guys from a band that had such an impact on my life! Here is a pic of me a Gary.
Today I drove home and then tomorrow it's off to show number 2 and 3 in NYC at BB Kings before heading west to Chicago, LA and San Francisco!
06/26/2008
Half Step Hell and a Guitar Blow Out!
Last night in Chicago started out flowing very smoothly. Another day at the office until some guitarist or bass player decided to start playing in direct half steps to the rest of the band, or so I thought until it was a keyboard solo moment and that same horrendous sound continued!
It was me!
I moved the pitch joy stick...pushed and pulled all of the controllers...reset the mode and finally in desperation did a complete factory reset on my beloved Roland G 88. Nothing worked and after the reset the problem still remained. It was like every fourth key would play half a dissonant half step when I hit the key a little hard.
Wow! it really sucked. Was a terrible sounding problem! A lot of things would have been better then the instrument deciding to play half step intervals! After I realized I couldn't do anything about this problem I left the stage and started calling all my friends from Roland trying to get someone on the phone. I emailed an urgent message to Japan as well.
Minutes later I got a call from my buddy Scott Tibbs in the US. He called Japan and then I was on the phone with the head engineer there discussing the problem outside on the street while Tony Mike and John were shredding it up inside keeping the show alive. Thank god that LTE is very much about jamming as well because it seemed like they were having a good time! This was surreal for me because I was amazed to have this problem! In 10 years of touring with Dream Theater I have never had anything as bad as that happen! In Dream Theater I always have a backup keyboard with me. I pretty much have a backup of everything I use for that. For the LTE shows obviously it is not the same type of budget so I figured for 6 shows we could do it with my one monster Roland Fantom keyboard.
Guess not...Lesson learned. I will probably never not have a backup again no matter what. That was too weird for me! Anyway after a while of dealing with the Japanese and realizing nothing could be done in the allotted time, I figured I would do a little guitar bit. With Eric's (my tech for LTE) encouragement I went over to JP and asked if I good borrow his axe for a bit. This led to a rare but very fun yours truly guitar feature. God, how I wish I had been in shape for that! I haven't played guitar in so many months! Anyway, had a good work out until my hand was very tired at which point I gratefully handed the guitar back to it's rightful owner.
After the show and the next morning I spent a good deal of time talking with my friends at Roland and figuring out a plan to make sure that I was covered for the rest of the shows. Yes folks...I WILL have a working keyboard (or two!) for the remaining shows and even a little surprise in Downey...
The Roland guys were all very cool and helpful to make sure they did everything they could given the situation. Ya know, with technology, shit can happen, and unfortunately it does on occassion (just not to me...wrong!).
Here I am tonight in Downey CA with a brand spanking new Roland Fantom G8 on my couch and it has be tried and tested. It sounds awesome. Apologies to those who did not see a full LTE show that they expected. On the other hand I think the band played even loooonger then we would have and it turned out to be a very unique evening indeed. I'm definitely gonna practice more guitar now so if it ever happens again I can be more prepared!