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Charlotte Observer - Nov. 16, 2013

Live and Let Die: The Next Thing to McCartney
BY LAWRENCE TOPPMANN

          If you saw Paul McCartney play live here in 2010, you could have paid $128 to sit all the way across from him in Time Warner Cable Arena. Fantastic concert, but he was about the size of a beetle, unless you watched the screens flanking the stage.
          If you saw the Live and Let Die concert Friday, you could have paid half that much to sit within literal spitting distance of McCartney impersonator Tony Kishman at Knight Theater. He fronted the four-piece band of that name and the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, performing hits from the Beatles, Wings and a bit of McCartney’s solo career.
          McCartney and producer George Martin incorporated classical influences almost from the beginning, whether using a string quartet on “Eleanor Rigby” (beefed up with extra strings here) or massive orchestration on the Oscar-nominated “Live and Let Die” (played with heft Friday). They hired great classical musicians for solos: David Mason of the Philharmonia Orchestra was brought in to play a piccolo trumpet interlude in “Penny Lane,” which the CSO’s Rich Harris echoed with a flourish.
          So symphonic expansion suits a lot of McCartney’s music, and conductor/orchestrator Martin Herman (a Duke University alumnus) used the classical musicians well. Sometimes they were a wall of sound; sometimes they were “a big guitar,” as Wagner said of Verdi’s orchestra when it backed singers in a subdued fashion. Sometimes woodwinds or brass doubled or tripled parts from recordings.
          Yet this was clearly a rock concert, not purely a re-creation. Guitarist John Merjave and keyboard player Richi Ray played solos almost note for note, but they bent a few notes just to show they’re not human Xeroxes. (So does Kishman.) Chris Camilleri duplicated Ringo Starr’s famous drum solo at the end of “Abbey Road,” but his energy made it vital.
          This experience has been sold as a tribute concert, and Kishman delivers on that score: He looks, sounds and phrases like Paul, though he plays guitar as well as bass and piano. (And he’s right-handed, the opposite of McCartney.)
          His work at the keyboard has the same verve as McCartney’s, and he somehow manages to embody Sir Paul while referring to McCartney in the third person during brief speeches. Merjave and Ray contribute impersonations, too, doing George Harrison on “Here Comes the Sun” and John Lennon on “I am the Walrus,” respectively. (Camilleri, like Ringo, gets no vocal solos.)
          Nobody’s faking anything here. All have experience in rock bands and tribute bands; Kishman played with the British rockers Wishbone Ash after touring in “Beatlemania” and before restarting his career as a McCartney impersonator. At the end, when Kishman urged the crowd to its feet, he didn’t have to ask twice. The audience was ready to rise.

Read the original article at: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/11/15/4470366/live-and-let-die-the-next-thing.html#.Up-fcNJDv8m#storylink=cpy
 

Examiner.com - Sept. 18, 2010

Tony Kishman and Seattle Symphony channel Paul McCartney, 9/16
BY GILLIAN GAAR

4/5 Stars

          The Seattle Symphony has a rare opportunity to rock out this weekend, courtesy of Tony Kishman, a Beatle impersonator who began by playing Paul McCartney in a touring version of Beatlemania. With the help of conductor Martin Herman, Kishman has put together a show entitled "Live And Let Die: A Symphonic Tribute To The Music Of Paul McCartney."
          After a brief intro with a snatch of the instrumental sweep in “A Day In The Life,” the show began with “Band on the Run,” with Kishman’s voice heard booming through the speakers, though he wasn’t yet on stage. After a verse, he strode on to applause, simply attired in black. He was accompanied by Jim Owen and John Brosnan on guitars and backing vocals, and Chris Camilleri on drums, in front of a glass partition separating the musicians from the symphony.
          There were some sound problems on Thursday night, with the guitars sounding muffled, and the band musicians were slightly off during “Mull of Kintyre.” The musicians also did a number of songs without utilizing the symphony, which would seem to defeat the purpose of the exercise. This was partly due to the set list being tailored for mass appeal; no digging in the McCartney songbook post-1977 (and indeed, much of the audience seemed unfamiliar with “Kintyre,” a massive hit for McCartney everywhere else but the US).
          Still, it was thrilling to hear real strings accompanying songs like “Eleanor Rigby.” Sir Paul does the song himself in concert, with longtime keyboardist Wix Wickens providing an excellent synth approximation of strings, but, like CGI special effects, it’s close but no cigar — no match for the real thing. There were also some nice touches, like “Penny Lane” having the trumpet ending used on the promo single but not on the official release. And Kishman has a pleasing voice, light but also capable of roughing it up a little bit, and with the capability of hitting those high notes on songs like “Uncle Albert.”
          Kishman had fun with audience, at one point building up to what was obviously going to be “Yesterday” and playing a snatch of “Feelings” instead. At times his stage patter was nearly as pat as Sir Paul’s, with the obligatory “Thank you, Seattle, you’re beautiful!” type comments, while a reference to the Seahawks was seemingly designed to appeal to local sensibilities (and missing the fact that on Thursday it was the Seattle Storm who were playing a championship game that very night). The audience ran the gamut from children to grandparents, but Kishman managed to get them relaxed during Act Two, jokingly asking, “Do we have any screamers out there?” and urging people to clap and sing along, so by the show’s end they were noticeably more relaxed. And enthusiastic enough to drag him back for an encore, with another singalong on “Hey Jude,” and everyone standing up to boogie a little bit on “Back in the USSR.”
          As a clever way of introducing a more mainstream audience to the delights of classical instrumentation, the evening was a big success.


Read the original article at: http://www.examiner.com/review/tony-kishman-and-seattle-symphony-channel-paul-mccartney-9-16