Leonid & Friends, that is. Haven't heard of them before? Check them out on YouTube: their music videos get millions (yes, literally) of views. They are a band from Russia that does impressive covers of Chicago, Earth Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, and others. I've been watching their videos for a couple years; the bass player (Leonid) does all the arranging and the musicianship is fun to watch. They are currently on a 2024 US Tour - last night to appreciative crowd at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix.
We haven't been to the Celebrity Theater before, so didn't know what to expect. While the venue can do typical stage shows, it is set up as theater-in-the-round. Seating capacity is 2650, and the stage rotates, so all the seats get a good view...
We were there about 45 minutes early, got a good parking place (paid), and found our seats. The obligatory selfie...
The seats behind us filled as it got close to show-time. All seats are reserved, so it wasn't necessary to get there early to get a good seat (but we got better parking with our timing). Doing a bit of people watching while waiting for the show to start (25 minutes late), it was clear that Leonid & Friends appeal to an older crowd, people who remember the heyday of the bands they cover. These are my people!
When the show got started, the band kicked right from the beginning...
They are very true to music they cover, but it is clear that some of the vocals are being done phonetically... we considered some of it to be a bit of Yakov Smirnoff sounding with the accent. There are 11 of them up there: 3 piece horn section, drums, bass, guitar, and keyboards, and 4 vocalists. The venue has a good Bose sound system, so the stage is very "clean." The volume wasn't so loud that it left your ears ringing. It was a good concert experience.
During the intermission (15 minute break that ran 25 minutes), their emcee (and Leonid's son) came out and auctioned off a band jersey that all the members had signed and included VIP seating and any of their US shows for the next year. Bidding started at $100 and it didn't take long for it to build to the winning bid of $8,000.
The second set was more of the same energy, a bit of crooner-ish Chicago-style vocals, and building to a lengthy drum solo.
I didn't find out about the Friday night show until seeing a commercial on TV on Thursday - I was surprised that there were still seats available and at a reasonable price. I knew we would be "off to the side," but the rotating stage brought them front and center to us regularly.
A fun evening. We would definitely go back to that theater again.
A short video sample...
No comments:
Post a Comment