Saturday, November 30th, a friend and I had the opportunity to travel down to Mexicali, Mexico, to watch a performance by the symphonic-progressive band CAST. The following is a review of that performance, as well as some general comments about the evening as a whole.

Mexicali is located in the Mexican state of Baja California, close to the tri-state borders of California, Arizona, and Baja. It's approximately 4 1/2 hours from Los Angeles (which is where we traveled from), 2 hours from San Diego, and about 4 hours from Phoenix.

Our evening started by meeting CAST's long time sound/technical engineer, Cesar Cardenas, at a local fast food restaurant on the U.S. side of the border. We followed Cesar in to Mexicali for a couple of miles until we arrived at an unassuming residential area a few blocks off of Mexicali's main drag. Here we found, in this completely innocent looking residential alley way, the unmarked entrance to "La Lisco" where CAST would be playing that evening.

"La Lisco" can best be described as a "private nightclub", or maybe "underground club" as we in the states might say. In other words, it's not open to the public. Bands that play there are close friends with the owner of the building (it's actually located in his backyard !) And people who attend events there have usually been invited or are friends/family members of the bands.

But this is not to say "La Lisco" is just some fixed up garage ! No, it was obvious from the moment I stepped in the venue, that a lot of time, money, and effort, had been put forth making this quite an extraordinary place. The main room was approximately 1000 sq. Ft. with about a 20 foot ceiling, and a stage large enough to accommodate the five members of CAST. The club also sports a full size bar, it's own stage lighting system (which was better than any lighting system I've seen in comparable size venues in the U.S.), an excellent sound system, and complete 24 (?) channel mixing console (located in the cut out shell of a MACK truck tractor, you've got to see it to believe it !). Another highlight was the body of a wrecked Cessna single engine airplane, which hung perilously from the rafters, and belched fog out of it's cargo hold on to the stage at appropriate moments during CAST's performance. A lot of other neat-o stuff that I won't go in to here, but needless to say "La Lisco" would bring tears to the eyes of any self respecting lounge lizard, and certainly would make many a musician envious to have such a place to play at in their own backyard !

Once we arrived at "La Lisco" we immediately were greeted by Alfonso Vidales (keyboards), Antonio Bringas (drums), and Claudio Aboy (the artist that paints many of CAST's album covers). Claudio was showing off a full size, framed print of his latest masterpiece, the album cover from CAST's live album _A View of CAST_. Certainly Carlos's artwork is an integral part of CAST's overall image, and the cover of _A View of CAST_ is really a great piece of fantasy artwork (Roger Dean move over !).

I was also informed, once I arrived, that CAST would be recording the set that evening for possible inclusion in a double-live CD they hoped to produce sometime in the near future. Two 8-track ADATs in the mixing booth, a dozen or so mikes hanging from the rafters of the club, and the presence of a recording engineer from the states confirmed that CAST was serious about getting this set digitally record.

Since we had a bit of time until the bulk of the guests would arrive, and since the band was still tweaking with the sound system, Alfonso Vidales invited us to go by his home and visit the CAST recording studios where all the CAST CDs have been recorded. My friend and I jumped in the 4-runner along with Alfonso and two gentleman from San Diego, Russell Ebersole (CAST homepage creator) and his friend Manuel. At the recording studio we saw all the sound equipment used to record and mix the CDs, as well as were invited to peruse through literally hundreds of photographs of the band, from every episode in the bands history (which dates back to 1978 !). It was a bit overwhelming, but Alfonso certainly was very enthusiastic. Leafing through a myriad of CAST's CD reviews from Progressive rock fanzines that crossed across the globe from Argentina to Germany, Alfonso pointed out numerous articles which have been written about CAST in dozens of different magazines (BTW - I don't know if I saw one lousy review in the bunch...you do keep the bad reviews too, don't you Alfonso ?).

After messing around the studio a bit, we traveled back over to "La Lisco" and started to get ready for the show. By this time the rest of the band had arrived; Francisco Hernandes (Guitar and Vocals), Rodolfo Gonzalez (Bass), and Dino Brassea (Flute and Vocals). People were streaming in to the club, and it quickly became a standing room only affair as more and more people arrived. I'd estimate probably about 125 people ended up jamming in to the small club, but remarkably it remained pretty comfortable for the number of bodies in there.

Finally, after waiting a while, CAST took the stage and launched in to their first song of the night, "Rescue" from the _Beyond Reality_ album_. It was great to finally hear them perform a song from their new album. And immediately I could tell that this was going to be an outstanding performance.

The complex rhythms of Antonio and Rodolfo laid the foundation of CAST's sound, as Francisco's and Alfonso's intertwining melodies soared above ever changing bass notes and drum meters. Dino took the stage and began his hypnotic flute playing and the mood for the evening was set. CAST continued the set with additional songs from _Beyond Reality_. As I watched the set progress, it was interesting to watch how the band members tackled their complex compositions. One thing that really adds to CAST's diverse sound is the use of both Francisco and Dino as lead vocalists. The variety of moods achieved in the vocals by Francisco (his more midrange) and Dino (more of a high falsetto, such as Jon Anderson) gives CAST a very original and elegant mood. Even more impact is made on the listener when they mix their different tonalities.

CAST's sound in concert is both lush and complex, creating almost an overwhelming atmosphere of sound and emotion. As the show progressed, each member continued to put their own style forth and meld in with the others to reach a final cohesive sound. I find Franciso's voicings on guitar to be very innovative, it's hard to pinpoint any direct influences, although at times he sounds a bit like a more edgier Hackett. Antonio Bringas adeptly handled the drum kit, and spit forth a variety of styles. Alfonso Vidales, probably the cornerstone of the band, has always blown me away with his classically trained stylings on piano and synthesizer and during the show seem to play his multi rack keyboards with great skill and ease. Rodolfo Gonzalez let his jazz bass background bleed through the sound, and Dino Brassea contributed strongly to the whole picture with his ideas and progressive stylings on vocals and flute.

During the show Francisco and Dino would usually trade off on the vocals depending on what song they were playing. When Dino wasn't singing, or during long instrumental jams, (sans flute), Dino would sometimes tentatively take a seat at the corner of the stage, letting the rest of the band members take the full lime light. Other times Dino would take over the guitar playing allowing Francisco to concentrate solely on the intense vocals.

The moods and feelings for each composition were bolstered by some nice stage lighting, and the ever present fog machine billowing puffs of white smoke from the cargo hold of the suspended Cessna. Another nice point was the sound mix, which was just about perfect to my ears. Cesar Cardenas did a nice job of mixing all the instruments and vocals at equal levels, so nobody was really ever drowned out or mixed to high, and the sound was at a perfect level and very comfortable to the ears. I'm sure we've all been to shows where the sound level is set way to high for the venue, but Cesar showed excellent restraint and touch by setting the volume just high enough to where the music had great impact, but without blasting us out of the venue.

All in all CAST played for close to three hours, with a short intermission inserted in to the middle of the evening. CAST's set list (at least to the best of my knowledge) was:

Introduction
The Rescue (off of _Beyond Reality_)
Transparent Symbols (off of _Beyond Reality_)
Mirror's House/Northern Places (off of _Beyond Reality_)
Where The Wind Blows
Waiting

- intermission-

Hidden Poems
Signs of Future
Spirit of Man
Door of the World
Run in the Rain
Reunion
Light of Darkness

-encores-

Dragon's Attack
Chris Col
El Fin (?)

The highlight of the evening for me was the band's beautiful rendition of "Light of Darkness" off the _Four Aces_ album. It's always been one of my favorite CAST tunes, and the band came through with a very emotional performance of the song, with Dino belting out the lyrics with great conviction.

During the whole evening it was obvious that CAST was having a great time and that the band was very comfortable performing with each other. Dino provided lots of stage banter, but it was all in Spanish, so I'm not exactly sure what he was saying in between songs.

After the show we sat down and had some nice discussions with some of the band members. I spoke in length with Alfonso and Dino in regards to CAST's current state of affairs, there hopes and plans for the future, and a general discussion about the state of progressive rock music in the world today.

It should be obvious to the casual reader of this review that I had a great time visiting "La Lisco" and watching CAST perform. All I can do is urge my fellow progressive rock music fans to seek out some of CAST's recordings, and if you get the chance to see them live, DO IT. You will not be disappointed, I guarantee.

Last, but not least, a great thanks to the members of CAST, their families, and friends who attended the show, for making me and my friend feel welcomed and wanted. I can't wait to do it again !