The Great Tree

Durin Mephit · Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 8:58 pm Post subject: Blue Man Group

I thought some members might be interested to know that Blue Man Group is beginning leg 2 of their How to be a Megastar Tour 2.0. They begin in Yakima, WA on February 1. Seattlites, they're scheduled to be in your town on February 2nd at Everett Events Center. Portland, OR is their stop on February 3. Then they're leaping up close to Cyan in Spokane WA, on February 6.

Tickets go on pre-sale November 7 at 10AM Pacific, and the secret password you'll need is FLOPPIE.
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
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Anna Catherine · Folklorist Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Posts: 470

I saw them one time.

They have (or had, not sure if it's currently the case) a permanent theater in Boston, and if you ushered you could get in free.

I did the ushering thing with a group of friends a couple of years ago. It was a good time, although the noise and confusion made my head hurt.

Have fun if you decide to go to this! Smile

Annacat

Saxy · Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 10:01 pm Post subject:

URU GET-TOGETHER AT THE BLUE MAN CONCERT! *lol*

Oh, I'm sooo going to this if I can. Everett Events Center is conveniently close to me.
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brian · Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 10:14 pm Post subject:

We're in!
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ghaelen · Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:21 pm Post subject:

I missed the concert in the Quad Cities, Iowa/Illinois. But they are great! Have fun! And yeah, wear earplugs, lol.
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Moiety Jean · Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:24 pm Post subject:

Ooh, good reminder! I always forget to bring earplugs to concerts and then regret it later. Thanks!
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janaba1 · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:58 pm Post subject:

Oh, our Blue Man Group in the States, cool!!! Cool

Durin Mephit · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 3:06 pm Post subject:

Yes.

I have seen BMG twice in Chicago where they also have a permanent show. The more recent show was similar to the original I saw, but still very entertaining. (Both versions had the Captain Crunch scene, but they seem to have dropped "White Rabbit" in which half the fun was watching the audience's reactions.) I'm looking forward to seeing what is different in the Tour.
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
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Anna Catherine · Folklorist Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Posts: 470

I don't remember the specifics of the show I saw, just much noise and confusion. If I didn't know I had been sober at the time, my memories of it would make me suspect I had not been. Wink

Annacat

Durin Mephit · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:33 pm Post subject:

I'll relate some of the experience from my perspective. This pertains to the Chicago show.

As you arrive at the theater, you walk into a room that has plastic tubes strewn everywhere. They cover the walls. They hang from the ceiling. You can walk up to them and talk into them, or put your ear to them. You may find that somewhere in that room, there is another person at the end of your tube and you can hold a conversation with them. Good luck finding that person though! The tubes are impossible to follow, because they entwine with each other so.

Some of the tubes have numbers next to them. These are broadcasting recorded audio. Have a listen. One may be a trumpet. Another, piano. One is just the vocals. When I went, one of them sounded like a choir of monks. In my head, when I put all of the pieces together - the tracks - I realized that all of these were interpretations of "Smells like Teen Spirit."

During the more recent performance, I was having some stomach problems. So, I went into the restroom. And while sitting on the toilet, well, there was a performance there too. For you see, the restroom has its own soundtrack, titled, "The Blue Man Lobby Bathroom." Its lyrics go something like this:

"Bathroom. Bathroom. Blue Man Lobby Bathroom. Bathroom. Bathroom. Blue Man Lobby Bathroom."

Finally, the doors open, and the crowd (which has been packing itself densely between the walls with the tubes) spills into the theater. The front ten or so rows of seats have clear plastic ponchos tastefully arranged on the seats. To anyone sitting in those seats, it's strongly suggested to wear the provided gear. Blue Man Group can get a little... messy.

BMG (in Chicago, at least) is all about sensory overload. That is the primary message of the show, and the theme is presented both visually and aurally. The group makes heavy use of fluorescent colors and black lighting, scrolling LEDs, and at times there will be so many things happening that you won't be able to follow the entire show. But that's the message.... they're reminding the audience that in order to live our lives practically and sanely, we learn to block out messages - we identify and separate the words that have meaning to us, from the noise that surrounds us every day. There is so much information in the world today that we simply cannot absorb it all. We have to let some of it go.

Visual comedy is interspersed with this serious message. The audience laughs as one Blue Man throws a small, brightly colored pink paintball at a second Blue Man. Blue Man 2 hovers just so, and *thunk!* - catches the paintball in his mouth. He munches down upon it. Crunch! Munch! Mash! Then he picks up a canvas and twirls it in the air. *SPIT!* BMG 1 throws another paintball, this one is green. BMG2 catches it in his mouth, too. *thunk* *Chew Crunch Munch!* *Twirl!* *Spit!* He holds up his masterpiece of pink and green spiraled together. BMG3 wants in on the act. He looks impatiently at BMG1. BMG1 throws him... a marshmallow. All of this is done in real time, with perfectly orchestrated sound effects.

A later act returns to the key moral of the story. TMI - too much information. Three Blue Men hold up Three Signs. The signs are sometimes LEDs. Sometimes they are flipcharts. It can vary. But the audience members are always told to each pick one of the signs. Just one. And then the Blue Men begin, in time with the music, to flip their signs. And you cannot keep up with all of the signs. You can't read them all. At each flip, you might pick a different sign to read, just to get the basic idea of what each set of messages represents. Or, you can stick with your original Blue Man, and read all of his signs. You can either become informed partly about the content each Blue Man has to offer... or you can be informed completely about one of Blue Man's messages. But you can't know the full story behind every sign.

What I've described above is just a tiny piece of what Blue Man group does... so I don't think it is too much of a spoiler.

Dress comfortably, and yes, wear earplugs. Smile

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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
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Anna Catherine · Folklorist Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Posts: 470

Durin Mephit · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 5:47 pm Post subject:

Another batch of BMG venue tickets go on "pre-sale" tomorrow, for the tour extending from Tennessee up to Kentucky, Ohio, over to New York and back to Kansas through Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Missouri, over 3/4 to 4/1.
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
rel.to | Marten KI: 59474 | Durin M KI: 11883768