# Daniel Lanois on tour.



## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Has anyone caught Daniel Lanois on his current tour? I thought there might have been some discussion on this. I'm going to see him this Friday in Ottawa. I'm not the worlds biggest Lanois fan (I'm one of only 3 people in the world who dont like U2 that much) but I'm looking forward to the show. I'm a big fan of the sounds he gets on the CD he recorded with Emmylou Harris.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

I'm #2 not U2 fan
hhmm Belleville on Saturday


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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

I consider myself a DL fan, as much for his own music as his much lauded production skills. 

I saw him last Saturday in Halifax, at the Marquee Club, with about 250 other souls. It was a great show. He played from 9 until 11:20, non-stop. He sent his band off-stage a few times and treated us to some great solo playing. My only disappointment was that he only did one number on pedal steel.

I'll give the show two thumbs and recommend you not miss it.


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2008)

I didn't even know he was on tour. _Here is What Is_ is a pretty solid disc. Runs all over the place style-wise but he pulls it off. I'd love to go but I have to admit: at this point in my life if I was at a show and it got a little laid back, I'd just fall asleep.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The show is out of my price league, but I'd like to give the guy a custom pedal he might enjoy. Not sure if there is enough time between when I get home from work, and the start-time of the show to hang around the artists' entrance and run into him.


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2008)

mhammer said:


> The show is out of my price league, but I'd like to give the guy a custom pedal he might enjoy. Not sure if there is enough time between when I get home from work, and the start-time of the show to hang around the artists' entrance and run into him.


Bosstone clone? Blender + SD-1 type thing?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Nah. He "needs" either a phase-filter, a Scrambler+, or a modded Bass-Balls. Actually, when I stumbled onto the phase-filter, he was the very first guy I thought of. He's big on murky modulation.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

In the late 70's I did an hour-long foreground show for McMaster radio, and an intermittent column for the radio guide. Somehow, I managed to wangle a tour of Grant Avenue Studio to write a piece about it. I have no idea whether it was Daniel, Bob, or a non-Lanois, who guided me around. This was around the time that Dan started collaborating with Brian Eno, but before Talking Heads, I think. So, pre-"big deal", Grammys, etc., meaning that it could have been Dan. I can picture the main studio (former dining room), and the relaxation room on the 3rd floor (skylight!) in my mind's eye, but I have absolutely no recollection of the rest of that marvellous afternoon. That's not a nudge-nudge allusion to intoxication. I simply don't remember; it was 30 years ago.

The blurb for the show says this: "Joining Lanois on stage for the Here Is What Is tour will be Marcus Blake(bass) and Jim Wilson(guitar) from Mother Superior and Steven Nistor(drums)."


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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

mhammer said:


> The blurb for the show says this: "Joining Lanois on stage for the Here Is What Is tour will be Marcus Blake(bass) and Jim Wilson(guitar) from Mother Superior and Steven Nistor(drums)."


That's the lineup I saw in Halifax. Very tasteful playing, all in all. 

It was worth the price of admission to see Lanois' unorthodox playing style(s). He was all over the neck and body of his LP, and he certainly knows how to make it sing. He was also a very humble performer (no posing) who engaged well with the audience. It seemed like he was having a great time, just being there, playing his music.

If he were close by I would go see him again.


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## faracaster (Mar 9, 2006)

Paul said:


> Who is the drummer? I saw him with Brian Blade a few years back. Brian Blade is, IMHO, the most musical drummer working today.


I totally agree !!!! I saw him with Joni Mitchell about 10 years ago and was gobsmacked at how musical and tasteful he was. then I did a show with him and Daniel Lanois a few years ago. He was the nicest, most humble man you could ever meet. Brian Blade is one of the few drummers on the planet that makes his drums talk.

BTW....I'd love to see Lanois anytime.

cheers
pete


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

So we caught the show last night - wow!~ Just awesome. Have to agree with ronmacs review above - excellent concert. He does indeed have an unusual guitar technique. His right hand especially - he has 4 or 5 ways different ways of picking with various combinations of fingers and thumb of his right hand. The other unusual thing he does is, when he feels a solo coming on, he reaches around and manually cranks the volume on his AC30 - no boost pedals for this guy! He also never bends any notes - again part of his unorthodox style. He played a Black Les Paul Custom all night, even for the quieter, solo "acoustic" part.

The show also featured large segments of improvised playing. At one point he tells the drummer to start playing and then he makes up a guitar part. He was calling out the chord changes on the fly to the other band members, and using his right hand to point out upcoming "positions" on the fingerboard. The other guitar player was having a hard time keeping up. Very entertaining.

I'd highly recommend you go see the show if you get a chance. He really is a "musical" original soul - the music just seems to ooze out of his pores. Heres the schedule for the rest of the tour:

http://redfloorrecords.com/news.htm


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

bagpipe said:


> I'd highly recommend you go see the show if you get a chance. He really is a "musical" original soul - the music just seems to ooze out of his pores. Heres the schedule for the rest of the tour:
> 
> http://redfloorrecords.com/news.htm


Crap I almost booked tickets for Belleville then I got a singles gig in a local place that I have been trying to get into for awhile. ...I once again hauled gear of course.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Just saw him in Belleville, and like Bagpipe said, it was pretty interesting. He had his Black LP Custom and AC30 again, and yeah, he kept cranking it up manually. Also, I loved how he was counting in the band to come back into a chorus from solos and stuff. It was pretty obvious that he was working in some new guys, but it sounded great! He also has a DL4 and a Digitech Whammy. He used the DL4 alllllllll night, but the Whammy only once. There was an orange pedal and a white one too that I thought were Boss DS-1 and Boss TU-2, but when he stepped on the Orange one, it was definitely fuzz-ish. 

The other guitarist was sporting a goldtop LP deluxe and also had an AC30, but one of the new heritage handwired ones with the white cab. He didn't seem to do anything interesting all night long, and his guitar was down quite a bit in the mix anyway.

Daniel played 1 song on pedal steel, and then another one in the encore, and both were awesome, and all night long his solos were tasteful, interesting and just plain great! I also loved the vibrato he would get from his LP by giving the neck and body some tension.

All in all, awesome show!


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