Over the course of the evening the band would let loose more than 20 songs, from all their albums as well as covers from artists as varied as Eno/Cale, Kraftwerk, and Byron Stingily.
|
Poi Dog Pondering kicked off their East coast mini-tour with a sold-out three night run at Chicago's Park West Theater. Frank Orrall and Mel Hammond opened the shows spinning their varied vinyl 'neath the Park West's discoball. Over the course of the evening the band would let loose more than 20 songs, from all their albums as well as covers from artists as varied as Eno/Cale, Kraftwerk, and Byron Stingily. |
|
The stage was bathed in lights, and pounded by House-O-Matic. What started out as subdued blue spots, holding on a kneeling Frank during Pomegranate, moved through the spectrum to red and built to a white-light climax during Complicated, Plate Tectonic and God's Galipoli. |
|
|
Meanwhile Luke Savisky, all the way from Austin, layered his film loops of swinging children, sea turtles, and diving horses onto the screen in the background. The montages added that extra dimention that you can only find when Poi Dog Pondering is in your city. |
| On your left, Dave Crawford and Paul Mertens kept the keys and horns going, playing more instruments than you can count. Susan Voelz added her violin and sang "Step off the Roof" from her own album, Summer Crashing. |  |
| In the back, Steve Goulding on Drum Kit and Leddie Garcia kept the beats. Leddie took longer-than-usual solos during Lackluster, and Steve shifted a rhythm here and there with his subtle style... |  |
| To the right was the power vocal section with Robert Cornelius, Arlene Newson and Kornell Hargrove. More than in previous shows, Kornell eased up to the spotlight, especially on the Ten City cover of That's the Way Love Is. Robert, the evercool, let us have the pimp sign one more time lest we forget who wears the good shoes in this band. |  |
| Never content to stay in one place, Dag Juhlin was out all over the stage, jammin with his ax at the gig. But did hold court over in the corner on the far right as well, digging into his solo on Big Constellation. He and Eddie laid down the guitar parts. Eddie crept out toward mid-stage (sometimes pushed by Frank) and even made a rare vocal appearance. |  |
 Frank Orrall, changing outfits, changing styles, changing instruments, and changing music. | |
Images and text copyright 1997 by Matt Carmichael for Poi NRG Inc.