Maceo wasn't allowed to play his sax for the first 9 songs!
by Sad Listener on 1/13/20Centennial Hall - TucsonThe opener was a big band cover outfit made up of about 15 people (mostly college kids) who were all reading sheet music the WHOLE TIME! It was soulless opener stuff. Then, Maceo came out and JOINED them. It was his band! But it also wasn't his band at all. It was all lead by the orchestrator of the big band. And it was ALL Ray Charles covers! I had front row center for this show and after 9 Ray Charles big band covers of soulless dudes staring at their music stands and Maceo referring to himself as Ray Charles!?! We left. I never even heard him play his sax!! Not once. He came out with it and put it in the stand and then pretended like he was Ray Charles for the next 50 minutes. And to top it off, when Maceo was confused about what song was next, the orchestrator belittled him. He ordered him to turn back to the last page saying "It was in the right place, go back to it!" rather than graciously helping him out. I was just disgusted.