Ken

Westbury is a small venue and the revolve got to be a little strange. But it worked for them...The only truly bad thing about it was no George or Titi.... No room!!! They sounded amazing. Smaller venues do so much for their music. I was finally able to hear Andre's sweet voice. It was not drown out by weird sound levels.. As always Paul's smile lit up the stage. I love the fact that he has taken on the "role" of M. C. for the group. As for Nicolas, he is simply amazing. His golden voice has only gets better. To hear him sing is truly an honor and a privilge. And his warm smile warms the heart. Mario, again, he played the hell out of that guitar. He responds very well to the audience. The more he played the more the audience responded. He is a gifted guitarist. Patchai, yet again was the master showman. He and Paul made sure that everyone was up and standing and having a good time.. Patchai sounded wonderful on his songs. His "Todos Ole" Always is fun to be a part of. And Canut......Amazing. He seemed to be in a very good mood.. "Montana" sounded better than it ever has. He put his guitar down and he just sang. It is soo beautiful to hear Canut just sing. When he and his brothers sing together it sends chills down my spine and it brings tears to my eyes. I actually had to sit through Andre's "Canto a Brazil" and recover, so to speak. His "A tu vera" blew me away!!! They are remarkable individuals and I feel so lucky to be able to see them and to hear their music. I always feel a sense of awe when I listen to their music and seeing them live adds to that. I will say it again and again and I hope y'all don't get tired of hearing it. The world is truly a better place with them in it.

VIVA LA GITANO!!!

Melissa

Sorry to be slow in getting this out. I, too, was at the Westbury show (as it turned out, I had a business trip to Atlantic City that week, and stayed on for the weekend).

I have mixed feelings about the show. The venue was better than many - I got tickets late (and took my 80-something year old aunt, who was up dancing with the best of them!) so we were in the very back row. But no seat is very far from the stage. ( Although it was necessary for the venue, I wasn't fond of the revolving stage - I spent half of the evening staring at the GK's backs and profiles (also made it difficult to get good pictures!) On the plus side, the sound was excellent. But I still prefer Hard Rock Las Vegas, when I can get good seats!

I have to say that Mario is technically very proficient, and seems to have lightened the mood for the entire band - I've never seen them having so much fun on stage. It makes me wonder if Tonino set the mood for the last few years. Yes, I missed Tonino's virtuosity, but Mario is really an up-and-coming guitarist and played beautifully.

Nicolas' voice was in fine form, and Canut was more anitmated than ever, gesturing while singing, smiling - it was wonderful! There were two songs I didn't recognize, which was a treat (sorry I can't be more descriptive - does someone have the play list?).

I knew what to expect from the play list and encores, and agree it would be nice to hear more new and lesser-known songs. And I really wish they would save Todos Ole for the last encore number, it's the kind of song that you can file out of the venue singing and keep singing all the way home!

That's about it. As for me, it's back to lurk mode.

Nikki

Sound was good, everybody looked good (I didn't realize Canut had lost so much weight) and was definitely in good spirits. FWIW, here's my take on the Mario-Tonino thing: Mario is Mario, and is a fine guitarist in his own right, and Tonino is El Maestro, and nobody can take that away from him. They're different, yes, but did you really *not* enjoy the show you saw because of that difference? So when you see Tonino next year, make sure you see him after the show and tell him how much you missed him! What can I say that hasn't been said before, except I'm glad I was there. Boy, 70-80 minutes flies by when you're having a good time. On several songs Canut was shakin' his booty (oo-la-la), but I would have needed to take a movie to capture that, which my camera can do, but I've never tried it yet. Maybe next year.

Got backstage after the show, although I didn't have a pass. One of my missions (which I decided to accept) was to find out some names of new songs, and in particular the name of the cowboy song (those who have heard it know what I'm talking about). So on the new CD there will be Como Siento Yo (Like I Feel), Como Ayer (Like Yesterday), Tampa (new instrumental from Tonino - at least this was the name at the time I spoke with him in May), and Camargue (cowboy song).

That's all from this GK-holic!

Derek