Griffin Features Writer
Live music came to Canisius Thursday, October 7. Khyber, Buffalo's only tribute to Pink Floyd and the Doors, performed in the Palisano Pavillion at 7 p.m. in a concert sponsored by WCCG 97.9 the Wire, Canisius College Radio. The band features Canisius College Class of '97 member John Grandy on keyboards and vocals, Sam Graci on guitar, Dan Burckhalter on bass and keyboards, and Mike Shinnick on drums.
Their first set focused on the music of Pink Floyd. Of course they played "Another Brick in the Wall." About halfway through this set they a break from Pink Floyd and played three Beatles songs. It was obvious that there were several die-hard Beatles and Pink Floyd fans in the audience, judging by the large number of people singing along with the band on most of the songs. Audience participation was encouraged by the band, especially during their enthusiastic rendition of "I am the Walrus," one of the Beatles songs. After about an hour and a half of non-music they took a ten minute break.
One of the more amusing moments of the evening came as they were ready to begin their second set and the drummer had, for lack of a better term, vanished off the face of the planet. While waiting for him to reappear, John, Dan and Sam decided to enter into an impromptu jam session, in which John played the drums, Sam was on guitar and Dan played the bass. The audience really enjoyed this random act of music. This little bit of fooling around while waiting for their drummer to return really showcased the talents of the band. It showed how versatile some of the members really are in terms of the instruments and type of music that they played.
Their second set focused on the music of the Doors. They played a wide variety of Doors songs including "Back Door Man" and "People are Strange." This set also featured some songs by Cream. Again there was a great deal of audience participation in terms of singing along with the band.This set was about as long as the first set and ended with the song "The End." Throughout the night the band was able to maintain their energy level even at the end of about three hours of performing.
The concert's audience was extremely varied in composition. It was mostly students, but there were some members of the faculty and staff in attendance. The two Public Safety officers that were working the show were obviously enjoying themselves. Dr. Richard Falkenstein of the music department was among the faculty that attended the concert. When asked his thoughts about the show he replied, "The music was well done, especially the guitar, but not slavishly followed. They allowed some of their personalities to be expressed. They played really tight and were energetic as an ensemble." Peter Gothgen, a junior who was also in attendance said, "As general manager of WCCG, I am proud to have sponsored a most non-choadly (talented) local band to perform on campus."
Khyber is an excellant local band that features four very talented members. In one of the songs Dan, the bassist, handed his bass over to John and brought out an acoustic guitar. In others, Dan played the keyboard and bass simultaneously, an extremely difficult task and an amazing sight to see performed live. Sam Graci, the guitarist, provided the audience with some exceptional solos in many of the songs, including one to end the show. The band is preparing to take some time off from performing to record a CD, which will feature original songs written by John Grandy and Sam Graci. Their last show before recording will be Friday, Oct. 22 at 11p.m. at Central Park Grill on Main St. It will be an all ages show.