I didn’t know what to expect before entering the venue. I have never seen a contemporary concert at Kleinhans before, especially a classical/rock fusion show. It took my breath away just peering through the doors into the auditorium, seeing such a big musical production. The entire stage was packed to the gills full of musicians. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) conductor, Brent Havens, announced that they would be running the program a bit differently that evening, having the orchestra and band members play three instrumentals, take a 20 minute break, and then run through Lou’s approximately 70 minute set list. The orchestra sounded so incredible it was unreal. The wind instruments blended together nicely and played a dominant roll in the performance that evening. During the classic rock covers, the orchestral instruments and the traditional band instruments worked together as opposed to against. Coming from playing in an advanced string group at school (in which members of the BPO come to teach us once in awhile), it was really mind boggling to imagine sitting in your seat while a rock show drum solo takes place before you. Musical diffusion at it’s finest.
Following the early interlude, Lou took the stage at 8:48 PM wearing all black, just like every single other person on stage. Lou boasted good energy walking around and working the stage during the first vocal piece for the night, “Double Vision.” In the next song “Ready or Not,” the first thing I noticed was the heavy bass. Sure enough, a bass solo was showcased during the number. Lou made eye contact with a standing fan in the center of the venue pointing at him singing, with him pointing back. Those are the memorable moments in performances. At the end of each song, members of the audience chanted “Lou” in a low drawn out tone. Brent took a moment to introduce the orchestra once again having them stand and bow.
The third song was the ever popular “Feels like the First Time.” Lou took out a tambourine and had the audience rocking out and singing along. “Just Between You and Me’s” strong brass and Lou’s lower voice had a single audience member dancing through the aisles, literally. “Cold as Ice” had the audience cheering instantly as the first note was struck, with Lou holding the microphone towards the crowd at various moments for them to sing along. The conductor was even dancing. That’s the power of music. Lou announced that “I Want to Know What Love Is” was Foreigner’s number one song in the world and the entire audience felt the relatable song in their hearts. Lou hit the high notes nicely. The conductor faced the audience for a few seconds and conducted their singing, which I found to be humorous.
There was a musical interlude with guitar and piano solos while Lou took a short vocal rest, shorter than expected really. After “That Was Yesterday,” an audience member yelled a request for “Free Bird” with a smirk and giggle from everybody there. The climax of the night for me was “Urgent.” Lou rocked a cowbell while the strings dominated in conversation style complementing the band, taking the place of the heavy synthesizers used in the song. A few songs later, there was an explosive “almost” ending, with another one of my, needless to say, personal favorites, “Juke Box Hero.”
I have never seen such a large musical production before. This was, by far, the biggest I’ve witnessed. By that I mean the amount of diverse musicians all on the same stage working together in the universal language we all know and love, music.
Setlist:
Buffalo Philharmonic only:
Who Wants to Live Forever? (Queen cover)
Signs of Life (Pink Floyd cover)
Moby Dick (Led Zeppelin cover)
Break
Lou Gramm with the Buffalo Philharmonic:
Double Vision (Foreigner song)
Ready or Not (Foreigner song)
Feels Like the First Time (Foreigner song)
Just Between You and Me (Foreigner song)
Long Long Way Home(Foreigner song)
Cold as Ice (Foreigner song)
I Want to Know What Love Is (Foreigner song)
Yesterday (Foreigner song)
Dirty White Boy (Foreigner song)
Urgent(Foreigner song)
Blue Morning, Blue Day (Foreigner song)
Midnight Blue
Juke Box Hero(Foreigner song)
Encore:
Hot Blooded (Foreigner song)
Photos by Gus Griesinger. We would like to thank Kate Mockler for the credentials to review the show.
