Jon Oliva tonight

Sym1

New Metal Member
Aug 26, 2006
18
0
1
Wesley Chapel, Florida
so tonight..i got to attend something special...

At a local music store... Jon Oliva did an acoustic/piano storyteller type deal...... and wow.

( this is all kind of scattered info...just throwing down what i remember)

I'll start off by saying I'm a Savatage fanboy.. seated right in front of Jon!! 50 seats and some standing behind us around the store.

It starts with Jon saying hello and a few lil things but then right off the bat...technical problems!!! Guess the lil disc player they were using for some backing tracks ran out of batteries..... Jon was hilarious killing time til they found some.......

Started off with a Welcome to the Festival type song...to 'set the mood' he says. Then played a song called "Stay" that was left off of Streets (great song). Covered Eleanor Rigby and told how it was the song that got him wanting to be a song writer. Then played If I Go Away from Streets.

Then did a Savatage Q and A

Then talked about the TSO came to be and how the songs were written. How he worked with all these 'stuffy' professional musicians... and how problems arose because Jon doesn't write or read music!! And then how it all worked out. And played some bits and pieces.

Talked about JOP and the writing process..out of tune guitars and Criss Oliva's contributions. I also didn't know Jon was left handed....hmm

Also played Alone You Breather and Believe. A few others....

There was a fan participation song.... And honestly i can't remember what song it was :/

Lots of other funny things happened and were said. Jon also had the best Diet Coke he ever had!!! (it wasn't really DC of course:p)

Jon...guitarist Matt Laporte and drummer Chris Kinder all hung out after..signed stuff...did pics with fans and chatted. Matt played through out and Chris did a bunch of the technical stuff...backing tracks etc... The were all just really cool genuine people and were really appreciative of the people that were there.

Just and incredible evening that went by way to fast.....

OH...the soundcheck was pretty funny too... especially when Matt answered his phone in the middle of it!!

OH... so right when it was over... they were gonna go sign some autographs... Jon said he had to go to the bathroom first!! He gets off the little stage there... starts walking to the bathroom..stops right in front of me..shakes my hand and thanks me for coming..... :headbang::headbang:.... then continues on past everyone else :worship:

Think that is it...will add some more if I remember more....
 
The performance tonight was incredible....I've atttended over 100 shows in my life, but have never had the opportunity to see one of my absolute favorite acts in such an up close and intimate setting. A $15 ticket and a crowd of approximatley 100 people will go down as one of my top 5 favorite musical experiences ever. Thank you JOP.
 
The crowd participation song was also a Beatles song, "You've got to hide your love away". It was a nice cool little performance. :)
 
We had a total blast as well. And no show with Oliva is complete without technical issues, silly-nonsense,
and just an all around party vibe....and he accused me of stealing his "Diet-Coke"?..(burp...belch....hiccup)!

We are considering doing a few more of these "workshops". Now that we have one under our belts, we can
fine tune it and make it even better. Thanks to all who were in attendance. I gave it 9.5 on the entertainment
value scale....all we needed was some cocktails for all of you.

Cheers....and for anyone interested, I will be co-hosting the Metal Lessons Radio Show this Monday night
from 8-11. Details below.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Metal Lessons Radio welcomes Christopher Kinder (Jon Oliva’s Pain) into the studio to co-host the show this week. He joins hosts O’Brien & Mahoney as they go through three hours of metal, call-ins, war stories, and live chatting! Expect lots of requests, some of Mr. Kinder’s favorites, and a heavy dose of Jon Oliva’s Pain new release “Festival”. Class Is In Session!



"Metal Lessons Radio" Live, Monday May 10, 2010. 8-11pm EST. The chat is located at OldSchoolMetal.net

Tune In:
* CMSradio.net
* HardRockin80s.com

* PureRockRadio.net

* UncontrolledNoize.com

"Metal Lessons Radio" also replays Saturday 10am EST on PureRockRadio.net
 
We had a great time as well. Truely a unique experience and Jon's voice just gets better and better! Would love to see another one someday. We were sitting right next to you Chris and really enjoyed everything. Thanks to You, Jon, and Matt for putting this thing on!

To those that didn't attend, it was like a Jon Oliva unplugged/storytellers type deal. Jon knows how to tell a story and is always funny as hell. I am so glad we got to see this.
 
Sounds awesome. I stood right in front of Jon (in front of his keyboard) at a JOP show a few years ago at Bourbon Street. Literally an arm's length away!
I'm sure that'll never happen again.
 
Oliva has decided to join us for the 3 hr journey....
The gloves are off people...no telling what he might
say tonight!

Come join us if you can...live chat-call in's, ect!

:headbang: