Today my husband and I went and experienced the magic that is a Mannheim Steamroller concert. If you're not familiar with Mannheim Steamroller, let me enlighten you. They're a sort of New Age rock band that formed 30 or so years ago. They started doing celestial, nature-type musical albums and found real success using that style for Christmas songs. So, to my knowledge, that's pretty much all they do now, releasing Christmas albums and digging deep in the Christmas song canon to get more material to reinterpret and sell.
Anyway, if you haven't heard "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" done with guitars and synthesizers, then you haven't really experienced Christmas. And when we showed up at the concert, we discovered we weren't the only ones who felt that way. We were, however, the youngest people who felt that way. There was a considerable age difference between us and the majority of the concert-goers, which turned out to be a bonus since it meant I could easily outrun all of them to the restrooms at intermission.
My review of the concert is mixed. Now, it's the woe of concert-goers everywhere that when you see a singer or band, you usually want to hear your old favorites. But, of course, performers always want to promote their new stuff. With a Christmas concert, you kind of feel safe because let's face it, all the songs are old favorites, right? Well, not exactly. Mannheim Steamroller has composed some 'new' songs and also pulled out some obscure Medieval jaunty type stuff. I don't mind the minstrel stuff, but I was a bit surprised that it took up the majority of the second half of the concert. It was also set to a backdrop of a screen showing a film of a Renaissance feast.
Again, I have no quarrel with that style, but going into this concert, I was ready to rock it out. I wanted the heavy synthesizer-guitar-bass drum stuff that characterizes their older albums. I expected it to be like Journey and Slayer going on tour together and suddenly bursting out playing "Jingle Bells." MS did certainly rock some stuff out, and "Carol of the Bells" was the show-stealer. But, I wish there had been more of that. I also wish there had been more lasers (okay, any lasers), which I just somehow assumed would be part of a New Age rock band Christmas concert. So, I was a little disappointed by the song list.
I will say that they did a synth-tastic job on "Good King Wenceslas," a song that's now convinced me I should write a script for "Buck Rogers Saves Christmas." I know it's only a matter of time before
Buck Rogers is remade, and I want to catch that wave.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
lolcatz says what I'm proposing is actually fan fiction, but I think it's the next big thing. New York Times Bestselling Author Richelle Mead might not be able to get
Vampire Academy turned into a movie, but surely she can convince someone to make a made-for-TV movie in which Buck Rogers (played by
Joe Flanigan) uses synthesizers to teach those 25th century heathens the real meaning of Christmas. And also fights robots with lasers.
In closing, I'll give you a glimpse of those enjoying the magic with us. In the row in front of us was a couple who were actually younger than us, and when they weren't cheering at the songs, they were on each other and making out. Meanwhile, sitting next to my illustrious husband was an elderly gentleman with binoculars. During intermission,
lolcatz got up and then couldn't sit down again because the elderly guy was blocking the aisle, standing with his back to us. Oh, yeah. Said elderly gentleman was also busy massaging a woman's shoulders. And
that woman was massaging another woman's shoulders. Yes, that's right. There was a three-way massage train going on in our our row. There wasn't much we could do until intermission ended except exchange astonished looks. I had a better line of sight on the massage a trois and wasn't sure if
lolcatz understood the wackiness of the situation, so I held up three fingers--just to make sure it was clear. Then the young couple in front of us started making out again.
So, my snarky review aside, I would still heartily recommend MS's early albums,
A Fresh Aire Christmas and
Mannheim Steamroller Christmas. They've got some awesome stuff on them if you like Christmas music and need something for your holiday get-togethers. Most of it is that rockin' out guitar and synth stuff, with a few of the jaunty tunes thrown in as a nice touch. I can't speak to the newer albums, since I don't own them, but I'm sure there's good stuff there too.
So, thank you, Mannheim Steamroller, for an entertaining night. You are kind and talented people. Your fans have a lot of love for you--and apparently for each other, too. And to quote your own expression, keep on steamrollin' for future Christmases to come.
happy
sleepy
chipper
excited
