Once again, I would like to thank you all for helping to make "Il Gala Verde" a most memorable event! The music was excellent and our patrons loved it. I do believe our dance floor was the MOST CROWDED I have ever seen it in the three years we have been producing the event....And I actually got to enjoy myself and dance as well. I was supposed to leave at 10. You all know that never happened.
Your generosity and willingness to perform helped to make this very special fundraiser a success in these most difficult of financial times for WDIY. Kudos, gentlemen on a job well done!

My name is Tony Raymond and I am a musician/DJ. I heard (or should I say felt) the band PULSE for the first time last night at the Main Gate in Allentown, PA. I expected another nite of the predictable attempted dance material that saturates the Lehigh Valley but after hearing only a few songs I was amazed at their impressive repertoire. I walked in during Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb and it showed me they were not a band of everyday songsters. Next was the classic but-not-too-often-played Badge by Cream. I thought The Seeker, an obscure Who song was surprise enough, but when they announced the next song by Deep Purple I fell off my seat (it wasn't Smoke On The Water)! Their blazing rendition of DP's Highway Star blew me away and I pinched myself to see if I was still conscious. It closed their first set and my eyes (and ears) were glued. They cherry-pick their songs and it led to one sweet delicacy. Throughout the dusk all present were treated to Get Back, Something, (artist listing unecessary), L.A. Woman, Riders On The Storm (with authentic thunder & rain) (Doors), Teacher (Jethro Tull), Time by Pink Floyd (including the clockwork intro) an Oye Como Va/Evil Ways medley (Santana), Kid Charlemagne (Steely Dan), Soul Man (Blues Bros.), Hush (more Purple) and an exact version of Eminence Front (The Who). Just thinking of playing your favorite songs is pretty much a fantasy in the club world of Anytown, USA. PULSE made it their reality. The worn-out aural reruns of yesteryear disappeared for just one night. PULSE showcases each member equally, not focusing on a single element. This balance and willing allowance of each individual talent promotes an unbelievable spectrum of range. Variety is the spice of life, and I was on the rack. If the previous delights of the evening were not enough, the last astonishment to be had was the multi-colored and challenging side two of the Beatles Abbey Road. At the end of this epic complexity, PULSE left the crowd gasping to The love you take is equal to the love you make--- the melodic conclusion of the Beatles final philosophy. If ever a band combined classic/progressive music successfully, PULSE is it. PULSE plays the heart of true passion, what beats inside us and them, beautifully. Don't let them in your blood. I ignored and lost my date last night. But I gained my PULSE.

I had the pleasure of seeing Pulse yesterday at the Main Gate in Allentown as part of a benefit for the Big Brothers and Sisters in the area and they really played a smoking hot set. They were one of ten bands on two stages, each band limited to a 25 minute set and very little changeover time. Once one band finished, the next one had to be ready to start. I actually wondered how a band with as much ability to reproduce classic album tracks on stage could possibly be set up in 25 minutes.

But as soon as the introduction came, they blasted into a note-perfect rendition of Tull's "Hymn 43" and the crowd was riveted. While the earlier bands had played you could see just as many people talking in casual conversations as there were people listening. But Pulse started and everyone shut up and listened. The applause was measurably louder and more spirited. I also noticed a table where people who were with the radio personalities were sitting, and though they had looked mildly interested in a few of the previous bands, suddenly they were paying rapt attention and smiling at each other.

Part of what makes Pulse command the attention is a hitherto unheard of accuracy for a cover band in the keyboard patches - Bob sounds like the record! The trade-off between his rich lifelike piano licks and flute runs and guitarist Greg's faithfully Tull-esque lead snarls thrilled the crowd and made 'em feel like they were seeing and hearing Jethro Tull. Add to that Bill's in your face bass playing and the drummer's complete command of the feel and the fills and the crowd was theirs from song one. The devil's in the details and they've harnessed him.

Launching next into the incredibly challenging Steely Dan track "Kid Charlemagne," the audience was just blown away as Billy anchored the complex funk feel with a rock solid beat while the rest of the guys wailed away on their instruments. Every song counted in this ultra-truncated set and the crowd seemed to like each one more and more. The Moody Blues' "I'm Just A Singer In A Rock'N'Roll Band" got a huge response as did their closer, Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer." But perhaps the high point of the show was smack in the middle when they did Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar." It didn't hurt that Pulse had the best vocalist of the day, and on this song he was an absolute revelation, convincing me that he had actually been in a meeting like the one the lyrics describe. Then the extended lead guitar solo by Greg absolutely slayed everyone on this tune. It didn't just sound like the record, it sounded BETTER than the record. He captured all the licks and essence of Gilmour's wild solo but played it with so much more intensity and emotion that it felt like a runaway train about to obliterate everything in its path. This was in my opinion the transcendent moment of the set and the audience howled their approval.

No knock on the other bands; some of them were really good. But something was different when Pulse played and the whole place felt it. The radio station's morning guy gushed after they finished, "THAT was a COVER band????? Absolutely incredible, they blew me away."

Can someone please start booking these guys on a regular basis? I've seen 'em twice now but I've got to see them again.

I caught Pulse at a big show in Emmaus, PA around Hallowe'en time. By far the most talented group of musicians I've seen in the Lehigh Valley. Great treatment of some very challenging material. I found myself just closing my eyes and almost seeing the original artists. Amazing!