I attended the second of only two gigs of reformed Ticket, at Kings Arms in Auckland.
The band had rehearsed for one week after having broken up in early seventies and, until this tour, never again being all together in same room.
I confess to never hearing Ticket back in the day , aside from the Radio hit Country High. I had however heard Hansen play live later in the seventies Living Force, both with and without Harvey Mann on co-guitar duty. So I had some idea of the Santana-esque field he ended up in before the punk/new wave scene put the virtuoso-driven 60s and 70s genres out of business and many artists of Hansen and Mann's calibre either quit or left the country in the 80s.
Before attending I familiarised myself with the youtube clips that suddenly appeared about a month ago of the band circa 1971 or 72, see example below.
The gig? In balance I enjoyed it (including seeing a few faces, including an ex bandmate I hadn't seen in 27 years who happened to be the concert promoter).
The usual gripes - less than ideal sound - which I basically expect so won't go into much except to say they may have served to restrict the bands dynanic range and initial approach.
The set list was drawn from their two LPs, one recent Hansen composition (about sperm banks called Souls on Ice) and a couple of Neil Young works from their 70's set list.
The band was reasonably well-rehearsed but didn't have the esp of a unit gigging together for a few weeks or months.
Inevitably I direct comment toward my interest, the guitar-chair, and Hansen definitely still has it, and without denigrating the others, he really is in class above his band mates.
Guitar duty in Ticket was heavily stylistically nodded toward Hendrix and Hansen delivered within that style although occasionally fragments of his later playing styles encroached - but only on the rare occasion, as there wasn't much room for much else in the arrangements - besides which, the band didn't appear flexible enough to accommodate much else anyway. He stuck to doing what he probably did in Ticket, and, for a approx 60yr old, did it with more energy than I, considerably younger, could probably manage.
So, it was not Living Force, Spacefarm nor The E Hansen band, it was Ticket. But not I imagine, Ticket at their artistic height, rather a credible reunion that given the opportunity could only get tighter. It was an enjoyable trip down the seventies memory lane.
Anybody else see the show/s?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNtG4bSr ... re=related[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIG75Mw8 ... re=related[/youtube]
Ticket
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