STOMPed

The team went out to see the production of STOMP yesterday. It was great! I loved it! Out of the 8 people in the team, 3 of us where late so we kind of missed the first performance (we were able to watch it on the TV outside the theatre though). I also felt sorry for all the people we had to disturb to get to our seats as the show didn’t really have a bonafide intermission.

In any case, we got to our seats and began to enjoy the show. But the guy in front of me was pissing me off a bit. He would always lean forward in the most inappropriate time blocking my view of the show! I mean what difference does a couple of feet make when you are still a couple of hundred feet away from the stage?! At first I would just lean forward too or look at the side, but then it was really bothering me after a time. So I told him off to sit tight and enjoy the freaking show! (Just kidding, I was diplomatic on how I said it). All throughout the show, he would lean forward a bit then settle back to his chair. What was wrong with this guy? Does he have a finger up his ass? It was really annoying, but at least he was mindful of me and I got to see the show better.

Now on with the show! Well, it is definitely a must see, especially with friends who are into music (specially percussions) and/or theater arts. The actually had a “cast” with certain members acting out a particular persona.

They started out with simple beats and “soft” sounds, something light for the audience to digest. They used a whole range of different “instruments” including their body parts. My favorite would probably be the use of Zippo lighters. It was awesome! They turned out all the lights and they started lighting and clicking the lids of the lighters. All you see are the flashes of sparks and tiny flames accompanied by a variety of sounds. Simple yet awe-inspiring.

The music reminded me of Joe Satriani or Liquid Tension Experiment and those instrumentals only groups. They had some good, fast beats that make you wanna jump or do something other than sit on that chair. They even had the audience do some claps, stomps, and finger snapping to participate in the show. The crowd was really worked upped about it too. Too bad it had to end, but at least they ended in style. They picked a great exit song with Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, which had a great drum intro. Although some might argue about choosing another song with good drum beats, it went pretty well with the ambience of the place/set.

Unfortunately, I was not able to take photos during the performance as I was enthralled by the sights and sounds. I also noticed that no one was actually taking pictures, I figured it was prohibited. As they say, "When in Rome...". These are the only photos I took, sorry.

the ticket


end of the show


Needless to say, being a frustrated drummer (and musician as a whole) I truly enjoyed the performance. I somewhat envy these guys being pretty damn good percussionists.