[ATTENDED: June 30, 2022] A Hard Tay’s Night
I was pretty excited to see Man Man again and I didn’t really care who the opening band was.
Originally it was supposed to be Pink $ock, whom I have listened to and hated–a cheesy R&B lounge act that I was glad not to have to sit through. He was replaced by A Hard Tay’s Night, which I didn’t understand the name of. And didn’t really understand the concept of until it was over.
A Hard Tay’s Night is the creation of Taylor Plenn who is the saxophone player for Man Man. Taylor, according to him plays saxophone, flute and EWI (an Electronic Wind Instrument that is a synthesizer controlled by breath) and is “known for my improvising skills and my ability to adapt to different genres. I have had experience performing and recording a wide variety of styles, from hard bop, rock and roll, blues, free jazz, hip hop, electronic music.”
So Taylor played snippets of songs on the sax with keyboard accompaniment from the Man Man keyboardist.
It was cheesy and kinda funny. And after every minute or so of “song” he would say “That’s a Hard Tay’s Night.”
I didn’t enjoy it at first, but as the show wore on, I got more of a kick out of it. I think had I know he was the sax player from Man Man I would have gotten in on the jokey aspect of it more. But I just didn’t really know what was happening. People in the audience seemed to recognize him and enjoy the fun a lot more than me. But that’s not really that surprising.
I like when he played the EWI best. So that was cool.
Oer all, the set was about thirty minutes. And he made lots of jokes–he’s an excellent front man and emcee. Knowing what the deal is, I think it would be fun to see it as a night out–raucous dinner theater or whatever. But for an unaware opening act, it was just not what I was looking for.
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