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| Ridiculously Detailed Analysis of The Complex Tour Show (2nd Leg) |
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| WARNING: RIDICULOUSLY DETAILED COMPLEX TOUR SPOILERS AHEAD This is a detailed, blow-by-blow description of the Blue Man portion of the Complex Tour, including changes for the 2nd leg. DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE CONCERT! The Dueling LED boards are the same, and act as the pre-show during the intermission after Tracy Bonham and Venus hum. Then... the E Chant rumbles to get your attention, and Rock Concert Movement #8 flashes onto the screens: THE BLACKOUT. The theatre plunges into darkness...and away we go. Above: This hasn’t changed from the first leg of the tour. Still the same TV Song-style visuals with the strobe lighting from behind the Complex drop. Still the same heart-stopping song that sets the blood humming and whets your appetite for the rest of the concert that’s yet to come. Still the wonderful moment when the cloth drops and reveals all of those drummers and percussionists and guitar/stick/keyboard players...what an incredibly tight band. And to think that every single one was pulled from an existing Blue Man venue. BMG has, as they say, a very deep bench. The lighting and staging in general don’t seem to have changed from the first leg of the tour...I don’t recall the upright columns midstage being there for the Rosemont show. They might have been, but our seats may have been too close to clearly see the whole set. Besides, I tended to focus on the Blue Men, since I knew that a lot of character bits had been added. Drumbone: Here’s where the show starts to radically change from the first leg of the tour. Our three Blue Men, clearly used to their own shows in the venue cities, pull the pieces of the Drumbone from the PVC instrument they’ve just played during Above. A few hijinks with the hidden video camera on a cable, and they launch into a pretty standard Drumbone, drumming on one piece, then the other...then both at the same time. All three do that great little jump...only the band doesn’t join in! The Blue Men stop and stare at the band in confusion, and try it again...nothing. Right even tries setting a tempo with his drum sticks...nada. Finally, they put the two pieces of the Drumbone together, and the band backs them up...and that great little jump gets things going. Rock Manual: This introduces the framing concept for the entire show. A voice (shown on an oscilloscope on the Big Screen upstage) thanks the Blue Men for buying the Rock Manual, which will teach them, step by step, how to be rock stars. I’m not even going to TRY to repeat the script...it’s simply hilarious. The Rock Manual comes back several times during the show, mostly in the form of Rock Concert Movements. The very first time, the Manual gets the Blue Men to “loosen the pelvis”, commenting that dancing is a good way to cover up the weaker points of their act, such as singing or playing instruments. The Rock Manual then provides this cheesy-sounding drum machine rhythm to move to. The Blue Men are just hysterical at this. Imagine a bump and grind that jerks from side to back to side to front, and you’ve got the basic idea. I was laughing so hard, the tears were just streaming down my cheeks. Next, the Rock Manual instructs the Blue Men in some Rock Concert Movements that they’ll want to do with their audience. This leads us into... Time To Start: Again, unchanged from the first leg of the tour. The audience was still a little hesitant to join in, especially with Rock Concert Movement #3, the Up and Down Jumping Motion. Naturally, our row was with the Blue Men all the way...except for Rock Concert Movement #4, the Behind the Head Leg Stretch. Tom was really, really funny with this...one of the others had to help him put his leg behind his head...and he finally gets it there...then falls over. It takes him some time to get back up...and he falls over again. ThroatCam is still included here. Rock Concert Movement #15: Bringing a Guest Vocalist Onstage: A little stage setting by the Blue Men, with a music stand, some insanely complicated-looking sheet music seen through the camera-on-a-cord that’s been lurking inside the tubes of the PVC instrument, and a microphone. This is followed by a funny little video – one of the Blue Men goes offstage to get Tracy (we can “see” him via the camera-on-a-cord, put back into its place in the PVC instrument). Tracy’s in her dressing room in a robe, eating pizza. He takes away her pizza and pulls her to her feet to lead her onstage...and she drops back to the couch and picks up the pizza. Again, the Blue Man takes away the pizza and pulls her to her feet; this time, Tracy gives in, takes off the robe to reveal her black and white mini-dress and go-go boots, and goes with him. Which leads us to... Up To The Roof: Same funked out tempo from the first leg of the tour, and it’s still one of my favorite songs on the album. I love Tracy’s nuances on the lyrics...you can really feel her frustration! This song is the first that starts edging back towards the Blue Man’s exploration of the overlying themes of conformity vs. individuality and the need to belong vs. the need for self-expression, but the Blue Man himself isn’t doing the questioning here, Tracy is. I think it’s at this point that the Rock Manual suggests that the wanna-be rock star distinguish him or herself by altering their appearance to make them unique. You can imagine the looks exchanged by the Blue Men at that point! They go on to apply the glow-stuff while the voice over pokes fun at rock names, like Slash, and Scary Spice. If I’m remembering correctly, this leads into... Persona: no change from the first leg of the tour. That poor Everyman is still trapped in his welding mask in the video, spewing orange-paint repressed individuality when he tries to find himself. Cool, cool LiveWire Iconmen play the airpoles upstage. This song is the first time the Blue Men themselves return to their questioning of the society they’re venturing into – the darker themes of the album, rather than the upbeat character moments that have dominated the show so far. The Blue Man still gets a few long moments to stare out into the audience, connecting us with the poor repressed soul in the video. |