Comparing Theatre of Death to Montreux .......

SKULLBOY · Post by **SKULLBOY** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:46 am

evil syd wrote:I guess when you see a musician on stage with make up on, trying to be all evil and stuff, singing songs sbout dementia, it naturally becomes his persona, it's Alice, they sort of become one. Then when you see him. without the make up, in interviews about being a good family man, teaching bible studies, playing golf, not drinkling, it sort of takes something away, at least for me, I know it sounds stupid. It takes a lot to scare me in the entertainment world. As I said before, I still love it!

It doesn't sound stupid if that's the way you feel, but to me it's a matter of separating fantasy from reality. For example, I don't care what actors do in their personal life while I'm watching a movie. They're all just pretending: it's their job.

evil syd · Post by **evil syd** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 4:03 am

SKULLBOY wrote:It doesn't sound stupid if that's the way you feel, but to me it's a matter of separating fantasy from reality. For example, I don't care what actors do in their personal life while I'm watching a movie. They're all just pretending: it's their job.

ahhhhhhh dude, it was a thought. I say things to provoke conversation sometimes, and I perfectly understand what you are saying, but as I explained before I thought of him as musician putting on a dark play, not an actor, well, somewhat, but most actors have many parts and play them very convincingly. Alice plays only one part and it's an evil dude with make up singing great songs about dementia. It just gets more funny with age, that's all, not the songs, but the stage play, I do love it, I'm not saying I don't....

SKULLBOY · Post by **SKULLBOY** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:46 am

evil syd wrote: . . . but as I explained before I thought of him as musician putting on a dark play, not an actor, well, somewhat, but most actors have many parts and play them very convincingly. Alice plays only one part and it's an evil dude with make up singing great songs about dementia. It just gets more funny with age, that's all, not the songs, but the stage play, I do love it, I'm not saying I don't....

Alice plays many parts (which is one of the things that fascinates me). He plays Alice, Steven, Maurice Escargot, Spider, The Showman, Dwight Fry, The Devil, etc. There are also many character actors out there that basically play the same role over and over.

I never doubted your fanaticism, I just found your take quite interesting.

Gorehound · Post by **Gorehound** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 9:56 am

SKULLBOY wrote:
TeresofBlood wrote:They never set out to make comedies, they just admitted to themselves it was no longer scary and embraced it.
I'm not so sure about that. I mean, look at the Child's Play sequels or many of the lines from the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels, etc.

Good horror writing includes comedy for balance, but it's obvious when the balance swings too far one way.

I like the sick sense of humour they gave Freddy in the later films, I think he gets some much better lines in the sequels.

As for which DVD I prefer (no surprises here) it's gotta be TOD, purely for all the appearances made by us UK sickies. I even showed a clip to my grandparents the other day (they would be mortified if they knew everything that went on in an Alice show), it's my claim to fame

evil syd · Post by **evil syd** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:13 pm

SKULLBOY wrote:Alice plays many parts (which is one of the things that fascinates me). He plays Alice, Steven, Maurice Escargot, Spider, The Showman, Dwight Fry, The Devil, etc. There are also many character actors out there that basically play the same role over and over.

I never doubted your fanaticism, I just found your take quite interesting.

my friend, I would never want alice to give up the theatrics, it's still very unusual
and highly entertaining. He's brilliant. His warped view of the macabre still holds up and it has a real sense of humor, even some of his songs. Now what I love about Alice's music, it could contain
sadness,comedy,drama,blues,all in one whiff. It's crazy and love it.Alice rules!

A_MichaelUK · Post by **A_MichaelUK** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:55 pm

>I say things to provoke conversation sometimes

In that case, I'll try to ignore your posts.

evil syd · Post by **evil syd** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:30 am

A_MichaelUK wrote:>I say things to provoke conversation sometimes

In that case, I'll try to ignore your posts.

I always mean what I say, but to some it seems like I am provoking, but that's alright, who needs ya

A_MichaelUK · Post by **A_MichaelUK** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:39 am

>I always mean what I say,

That's the second time in a week you contradicted yourself, but then again, I must try and remember to ignore your posts.

evil syd · Post by **evil syd** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:48 am

A_MichaelUK wrote:>I always mean what I say,

That's the second time in a week you contradicted yourself, but then again, I must try and remember to ignore your posts.

please do, my very sensitive friend

Dannorama · Post by **Dannorama** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 2:36 am

I like turtles.

evil syd · Post by **evil syd** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 3:27 am

Dannorama wrote:I like turtles.

my turtle's name is Gamera, he loves kids.

Dragonlady · Post by **Dragonlady** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:37 am

I'm with Dave in saying that you can't compare these in terms of production, they were edited to show very different things as far as I can tell.

I can't judge the technical (musical) aspect as I am no musician. But I like both equally. Also I was at both shows, I can tell you that both crowds were equally enthusiastic, at least in the first rows.

Montreux is set up like a TV studio, I mean each performance is professionally filmed for the big screens, there is a camera on a crane in the middle of the room for sweeping crowd shots and such. Must be a dream for any producer and editor to work with that footage.

I like both dvd's, I probably watched Montreux four times since it came out? And ToD twice. What I really love about Montreux are the numerous sharp close ups on Alice's face. It allows us to take in every detail of his performance all the things that often escape most of the crowd in a hall.

I equally love ToD because this time it's more about the show itself and the band as a whole. I need to practise ignoring the crowd and concentrate on the show, it's hard to ignore all the familiar faces there

I also think that ToD was the best live show and theatrics since Brutal Planet, even better than BP. And it's really great to have both on film.

Dave Conway · Post by **Dave Conway** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:16 am

DL, I think you are in both DVD's too!

Dragonlady · Post by **Dragonlady** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:31 pm

Dave Conway wrote:DL, I think you are in both DVD's too!

I doubt that my presence on any of them is a sign of quality. Or are you also judging my own performance?

Lisacooper91 · Post by **Lisacooper91** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:06 pm

Dragonlady wrote: I doubt that my presence on any of them is a sign of quality. Or are you also judging my own performance?

One of the reasons I really like ToD is that I see so many familiar faces in the crowd. And your performance on the ToD dvd is great!

Dave Conway · Post by **Dave Conway** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 8:47 pm

Yeah, I should have said you 'FEATURE' on both DVDs.

WickedYoungMan · Post by **WickedYoungMan** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 12:33 am

In comparison.. I think the musicianship on "Montreux" is slightly better. There's not an over reliance no wah-wah pedals and the solos are slightly better. The show overall is far better in "Theater of Death" I think. Just looking at it, the things like those "scarecrows" getting Alice all wrapped up in the straight jacket on Montreux just looked a bit cheap and cheesy.

Each have something I might like over all, but "Theater of Death" is by far the better of the two, for me anyway.

Alicehunter2000 · Post by **Alicehunter2000** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:45 am

Shoesalesman wrote:
evil syd wrote:the more you know the identity of a character, the less creepy he gets.
Speaking in terms of Alice the man, I think this works opposite. What's a stable, spiritual, classy, family-oriented, charity-driven gentleman doing on a dark stage killing himself and chickens? The character has always been a bit creepy but there's a real unsettling aspect about a man who keeps that dark side alive and yet maintains all the 'nice guy' factors above. It almost adds to the mystery of the character.

Couldn't have said it better myself.....Complex man and Complex Character.

evil syd · Post by **evil syd** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:52 am

dude, that is really an awesome avatar!

cooperrocks · Post by **cooperrocks** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 2:29 am

I respectfully disagree with the original poster as well. The Montreux show is probably my least favorite of all the live Alice videos. The band sounded fine on that one, but I disagree about not paying attention to the crowd. I think a crowd getting into an event whether it is a sporting event or a concert can really make or break a show. Often the band feeds off of the crowd. Montreux is not your typical hard rock/metal crowd and to me that concert was somewhat lifeless.

In terms of energy, that was the first thing that caught my eye concerning the Theatre of Death video was the energy Alice had. He moved around throughout the show more than he has in years and the band sounded great. It was definitely his best show since the Brutally Live tour and you could make the argument it was even better than that tour.

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