What a treat it was to be able to attend one of Yanni’s concerts in Anaheim, California this past Saturday evening. Everything about this show was suburb - the musicianship, the lighting, the sound, and the use of video in a multimedia setting. And since Yanni is a self-taught keyboardist (who doesn’t read music, by the way) every one of his numbers (most of which he composed) featured sounds from one or more keyboards. Yanni uses six keyboards himself and he has two other outstanding keyboard players who use multiple keyboards as well. In addition there are another 25 or so musicians in his orchestra. This show featured a variety of instruments such as a hammered dulcimer, a Peruvian harp, a Chinese flute, and an Australian aboriginal horn known as a didgeridoo.

The show was a solid three hours of music. There was only one 15-minute break after the first hour and a quarter. Typically Yanni would alternate between a “mood” song in which he would play the grand piano and then for the next number would switch back to a livelier number where he would return to his array of keyboards and perform. Interestingly (in light of recent posting on this Forum) the only time Yanni sat to perform was when he played the grand piano. His other keyboardists stood for the entire evening as well.

During the course of the evening, Yanni featured all of his tour musicians who constituted about two-thirds of his orchestra. I suspect the remainder were local professionals. They were the only ones reading music during the concert. At one point the main drummer was featured in about a 10-minute drum solo. While the drummer was positioned above and to the back of the orchestra for the entire concert, for this solo, the stage crew rolled out another drum set to the front of the stage. In my youth I’ve had the good fortune of seeing the likes of Buddy Rick and Gene Kruppa, but I have to say, I’ve never heard or seen a drummer this talented before. He put on an amazing performance. And similar things can be said for most of the other featured musicians. Yanni obviously has selected some of the best from throughout the world. I don’t have enough superlatives in my vocabulary to describe what we heard and saw that evening.

I’m sure most of you have heard Yanni’s music either on a CD or a music video and perhaps a number of you may have heard him live in previous concerts. Eric Bott (Eric B.) and his wife Claudia whetted our appetites for Yanni when we watched one of his videos at their condo some weeks back. So when we saw a packaged bus trip to the Yanni concert in Anaheim, we signed up. Originally Eric and Claudia were going to join us, along with Art Larsen (my sax/clarinet player friend) and his lady friend, but unfortunately the Botts had to cancel out.

The Yanni Tour is heading up the West Coast and will be in Sacramento on May 8, Oakland on the 9th, and San Jose on the 10th if any of the Forum members in those areas may be interested. From there he’s heading up to Reno, Salt Lake City, Oregon, Washington, etc. His web page (Yanni.com) gives the complete itinerary. For my part I can say I’m certainly glad my wife and I didn’t miss the opportunity to attend this concert.
Paul C.

Were you able to see what Keyboards he was playing?

I was also interested in what brand(s) they were using. But I was not able to see any markings on the keyboards, even in the video close-ups that were featured on the large overhead screens. He has his boards arranged three high in two banks (opposite each other). Each bank has a black backboard which covers the rear of the boards where you normally would find the brand label.

All the boards appeared to have 88 keys, however. On one number near the end of the show, Yanni clearly was using the pitch bend wheel on one of the boards to achieve the sound he desired. For the most part, he played them straight, however.
Paul C.

Looking at one rehersal session photo from his newsletter (posted the Yanni website) I can see that at least one of his boards is a Korg Triton.

Hi Guys

I have all of Yanni audio CD's and Yanni-Tribrute on VHS and DVD. His music is very beautiful, and his crew of musicians are a joy to see perform.

My wife and I was going to attend the concert at Madison Square Garden on Thu, 04/17/03. I'm sure it was nice, but I was very busy doing other things to attend the concert.

Peace.

Ringo

Yanni and another musician name Ming Freeman used these Korg keyboards below in Yanni-Tribrute DVD.

Korg O1/W , Korg Trinity

I'm not sure, but I believe Mr Freeman was playing a Z1 88 key.

Yanni had 3 O1/W keyboard's and 3 Trinity Keyboard's on stage at the same time.

I'm sure he uses Triton keyboard's with the above keyboards now.


Peace.

Ringo

[This message has been edited by RINGO (edited 05-05-2003).]

Hi Paul. To be honest, I never could get into Yanni's music, and always equated his songs with the likes of Kenny G and John Tesh, my other admired musicians 'not'. I do admire though, their tremendous commercial success, and acknowledge their huge following, especially amongst the new age crowd. It seems (to me) that Yanni's music relies heavily on the 'big production' extravagenza event itself, and find the music itself uninspiring. Different strokes I suppose and just my opinion (of course), and not meant to offend you, Eric, Claudia, or the many millions of other Yanni fans out there.

Perhaps if I take up crystal healing & meditation I'd grow to appreciate Yanni's music more, or perhaps I just need to 'BE THERE' to check his show out in person to appreciate what he has to offer. Anyway, I guess I'll now have to check to see if there are still tickets available for his May 9th concert date here. I'll be sure to remember to bring along a quartz crystal or two as well. - Scott

What? No Roland ?

Scott ..... I thought I was going to be the one to "upset the apple cart" in this thread, but you beat me to it ... I am TOTALLY with you on the Yanni (YAWNNI) subject ...
Perhaps I haven't listened to enough of his music(and if that's the case, I guess I never will), but from what I've seen and heard on some of the public broadcasting networks, it just seems SO repetitious, far more 'fluff' than substance, and totally dependent on the 'theatrics' of the musicians ... But, no offense to those who like it ... that's why they make vanilla, chocolate and tutti-frutti .....
t.