Concert Reviews

2011 - Erasure "Tomorrow's World" Tour

2011-10-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

2011 is a very memorable year for Erasure and their global audience as they are at this point in time on tour for about six month already, having first toured their 'Total Pop' double album before changing over to promoting their brandnew album "Tomorrow's world".

The album is produced by Frankmusik whose credentials also include working with the Pet Shop Boys and others.

He also supports Erasure on tour. His 28 minutes set is a mixture of peculiar yet amazingly energetic remixes of some classic songs that include the likes of Whitney Houston songs and even Paul Simon's "Call me Al" isn't spared.

Nevertheless the versions are done with respect to the originals and aren't too out there although they are dressed in a 21st century sugarcoated dance sound.

His original songs "No I.D." and "Do it in the a.m." with which he closes his set are, for me anyway, far more enjoyable than the songs that came before them.

On a whole, Frankmusik is not exactly my cup of tea yet I can recognise talent when I see it and he could go far in the future.

Interestingly enough, his influences on Erasure's 14th studio album "Tomorrow's world" seems to have fans divided since the sound is really slick and all songs are made perfectly to fit radio - short and sweet and many people therefore miss Vince's unique and often times amazing synth creations.

Be this as it may the album has garnered Erasure their biggest success in over a decade and at the time of writing this review, "Tomorrow's World" rides high in the charts. It is on nr. 6 in the US electronic music charts only one week after the album release across the pond.

To the fans "Tomorrow's world" will become yet another classic Erasure album and the new songs fit in perfectly with older gems and I like them live even better than on record.

The tour brought Erasure to Wolverhampton and the fans turned out in high numbers and Erasure didn't let them down.

Opening the show with "Sono Luminus" from the lesser appreciated Erasure album from 1995 showed that

a) what a great song that actually is and
b) that Erasure is a band that is caried through all ups and downs by their fans, which are obviously quite numerous.

The setlist included tight versions of "Always", "Stop", "Love to hate you", "Respect" and "Sometimes" and many other tunes that made Erasure a British institution and loved around the world.

Andy Bell looked amazing, well toned and fit and he himself remarked that he had enjoyed "12hours of sleep last night and my voice sounds very angelic".

Valerie and Emma Chalmers are as much Erasure on stage as the boys themselves and they add more than just female voices to the show.

What is also great for fans is the fact that the ever-so-shy Vince Clarke actually comes out from behind his laptop/synth quite a lot to play guitar right next to Andy, who, as always, enjoys the limelight and centre stage.

Productionwise the "Tomorrow's World" show is amazing and Andy's voice is still there and sounded very energetic.

New songs like "Be with you" or "A whole lottla love runs riot" sounded as exciting as their older material and Erasure have proofen time and again that they are still a force to be reckoned with and there is no sign of slowing down.

May they go on forever!

Frankmusik (centre) with his keyboardist Kathy and myself posing for a picture

Erasure fans turned out en mass

Support act and "Tomorrow's World" album producer Frankmusik

Vince, Andy and the girls in full swing

Erasure fans are awesome

Living legend Vince Clarke

Read the review for the "Tomorrow's world" album HERE

And the story continues ...

2011-10-08T06:10:00.001-07:00

Click images to enlarge

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Next stop: Erasure on October 23rd 2011

"Home of Metal" exhibition in Birmingham/England

2011-09-10T11:14:00.001-07:00

HOME OF METAL is an amazing exhibition currently on display in Birmingham/England, long hailed as the birthplace of Heavy Metal, with the major success of Black Sabbath creating something truly unique.

The exhibition is a must-see experience for all heavy rock lovers even though it obviously highlights bands like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Napalm Death and other bands from this unique geographical area.

The exhibition offers its visitors the chance to put on a wig and play drums or guitar and enjoy making music for a while but, more importantly, offers an insight into the times and lives of four lads from Aston (a Birmingham suburb) collectively known as Black Sabbath. Sabbath' musical whiz-kid Tony Iommi even lent some of his equipment to Home Of Metal.

Artwork, tour programs and stage clothes are on display and videos are looped featuring interviews with fans and band members - many newspaper clips from the late 1960's to mid seventies are on display, too to show the visitor what the economic- and political environment was like back then for these bands growing up in and around Birmingham.

£ 6,- p.Person is the entrance fee which is more than reasonable.

I am living in Erdington these days and never knew of its musical background

Also on display: "Metal Hammer" magazines from 1997 - 2011

Sabbath all the way

Probably more Quo than Sabbath - you gotta start somewhere

Family Tree

SADE "Soldier of love" World Tour 2011

2011-05-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

LG Arena, Birmingham - May 29th 2011
support act: The Jolly Boys

(Picture left: My girlfriend making sure we get a portion of fries before the show)

Shortly after entering the massive building that houses the LG Arena we came across an acoustic stage where a local band called "Charishma" performed. We only enjoyed one song but really liked what we heard.

The music was very much in the same vain as tonights' main act: SADE

Before Sade came on we had the pleasure of enjoying a strange yet remarkably compelling music act from Jamaica: "The Jolly Boys" - all 'old age pensioner' type musicians but really fun to watch and listen to as they mostly delivered cover songs from Johny Cash's great "Ring of fire" to the Rolling Stones classic "You can't always get what you want". All presented in traditionally instrumented Jamaican style.

Their gig lasted just under an hour and only a couple minutes later the main show began.

"Soldier of love" is Sade Abu's first full length studio album in 11 years and Sade, born in Africa to an English mother who returned to the UK with her and her brother Benji when she was a mere 4 years old, looks stunning. Not only for a lady born in 1959 but she simply is a very beautiful, elegant artist with a voice to match.

The stage show was high-end with videos, great lights and musicians who could emerge including their instruments from sort of out of the ground and rise up pretty high on that dark, athmospheric stage.

Less is more was the theme of the evening as the often sparse instrumentation left enough room for Sade's voice to really shine and where the return of saxophone and guitar solos could be celebrated.

The new material did blend in with the older classics like "Sweetest Taboo" or "Is it a crime?" and of course "Smooth Operator".

My girlfriend had entered our details into a draw and via the 'Birmingham Mail' we won those precious concert tickets.

I clearly wouldn't have decided to go and see Sade but am so glad that fate got me those tickets.

That was a night for a middle aged guy like myself: Real musicians, live vocals!

It was simply mesmerizing!!

Great colours and backgrounds

Colour or plain black and white: For a lady in her early 50's she looks more than amazing

The stageproduction was superb.

Merchandise was way too expensive and not my size anyway

SADE and band at the LG Arena in Birmingham, May 29th 2011

Lucky Me!!

2011-05-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend entered my details into an online draw and won us two tickets to SADE in Birmingham this coming Sunday!!

Heaven 17 - "Penthouse & Pavement" live in concert 2010

2010-11-27T16:49:00.000-08:00

HEAVEN 17
November 26th 2010, HMV Institute Birmingham

Just like OMD, who performed their album “Architecture & Morality” in its entirety plus many hits back in 2007, Heaven 17 is on tour to perform their 1981 gem “Penthouse & Pavement” in its entirety and, of course, the evening doesn’t end there.

Heaven 17 has always been regarded as a mere spin-off from The Human League, which at some stage included Heaven 17’s Martyn Ware, who co-wrote the leagues major hit “Don’t you want me?”, which on that cold November night in Birmingham is being performed in an acoustic manner by Heaven 17 vocalist Glenn Gregory.

Live musicians join H17 on band and the whole experience was just fantastic. Apparently the band felt the same as they were calling the crowd in Birmingham “audience of the tour” – and the energy on the night was electrifying.

Not least because Heaven 17 are in top notch form and the songs sound great – the video screens added yet another dimension to their performance.

The songs sound tighter than on the record and it is just great to see the band return to perform an album they have never performed live before.

The show also featured the mega hits “Temptation”, “I am your money” and the legendary “Let me go”, which has always been a personal favourite of mine.

They talked about the loss of their friend Bill MacKenzie, who overdosed way back in 1996 and performed a song of his with just Ware on synthesizer and Campbell on vocals. Goosebumps material!

Martyn has worked with and produced many artists – among them Terence Trent Darby and he recorded a meditation music album with living legend Vince Clarke of Erasure, Yazoo and Depeche Mode fame back in the year 2000.

Another highlight of the evening was the last track on the night: “Being Boiled” another Martyn Ware co-penned song.

What a great night out, what a great band!

2010 - KISS, support TAKING DAWN

2010-05-09T05:24:00.000-07:00

Fans on their way to the venue

“You’ve wanted the best, you’ve got the best …” and they were the best. KISS at the O2 in Dublin.

Las Vegas based support act Taking Dawn played a 45 minutes set and, like many support bands, had to struggle with a moderate sound and little lighting. Nonetheless, they were quite well received and their songs had melody and depth and the guys were a joy to listen to.

TAKING DAWN **

Again, like so many other support acts KISS had had over the decades, TD paled in comparison to the beast that is KISS.

All the usual effects from rising drum kits to fire and blood spitting and so on were there and the pyrotechnics were marvellous, yet – what impressed me the most was how musically tight and professional the 4-piece unit is.

“From the beginning to the boom”, referring to their latest offering SONIC BOOM, the band performed new material as well as classics including anthems like: “God gave rock and roll to you”, “Detroit Rock City”, “Love Gun” and a brilliantly sounding “Crazy Nights”.

Kiss new the history and often teased the Irish crowd by mentioning Birmingham and Sheffield while challenging the Irish ‘Kiss Army’ to sing better than the British crowd had done, thereby getting more out of the audience and increasing the mutual experience.

Although the Irish fans weren’t all that enthusiastic, judging on my going to KISS concerts a number of times before this one, they were still rocking enough to leave their mark on the KISS tour.

A great night out with a band that doesn’t only rock on but seems to notch it up every time they do a tour.

KISS ***

KISS rocking it out in Dublin

Paul Stanley during "I was made for loving you" on the second stage

KISS on stage in Dublin

Depeche Mode

2009-12-11T02:55:00.001-08:00

The o2, Dublin, December 10th 2009

Music for the masses - Depeche Mode

The support act didn’t bother mentioning their name so I won’t bother commenting on them. It is a fair bet to say that any band looks pale in comparison to the one and only Depeche Mode.

Depeche was never pigeon holed as an “80’s band” and in almost thirty years they grew and grew and are still growing. After all, their latest album “Sounds of the Universe” is a Top 10 success in many countries.

Mode were in top notch form and despite some slight sound problems they delivered the goods.

The playlist included gems like “Stripped”, “In your room”, “Enjoy the silence” as well as a few brilliantly performed songs from their 1997 album Ultra, the first album after keyboarder Alan Wilder had left the band.

Indeed, “It’s no good” and “home” sounded bombastic.

The show ended with “Personal Jesus” and left the audience wanting more.

What a great band ***

Martin Gore and Dava Gahan rocked the o2 in Dublin

Depeche Mode back on track

2009-07-09T06:10:00.000-07:00

DM is touring and most of their gigis have been re-scheduled. We will see them in December 2009 in Dublin and in February 2010 in Duesseldorf and you'll find reviews in due course right here!!!

Depeche Mode tour in jeopardy

2009-05-28T07:36:00.001-07:00

Depeche's "Tour of the Universe" is in jeopardy as the band was forced to cancel quite a number of gigs. Frontman Dave Gahan is suffering from a malignant tumor, which has been operated on in New York recently.

The concert in Duesseldorf/Germany scheduled for June 5th has had to be cancelled.

2009 - ULTRAVOX in Glasgow

2009-04-12T15:47:00.001-07:00

SECC Glasgow/Scotland, April 11th 2009

ULTRAVOX 2009
RETURN TO EDEN tour 2009

Midge Ure and co. are back in full force

ULTRAVOX taking a bow in their native Scotland

Dark yet melodic - ULTRAVOX!

Midge Ure and his companions from ULTRAVOX gave it their all and they delivered beautifully. From "Vienna" to "Hymn" and "Perfect Stranger" they played many great classics without sounding dated or 80's. With three synths on stage, bass and e-guitar and even electro violin and both acoustic and e-drums on stage, there was enough variety in their performance to never get bored.

The venue was very nice and calm and orderly yet wild. The evening didn't pass without technical problems here and there but ULTRAVOX are real pros.

Their material sounded actually much better live than on record and sounded partially Gothik and dark-electro.

It was a very energetic performance and well thought out - brilliant!

LISTEN UP!!!

2009-04-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

Just a few days and we will cover the ULTRAVOX homecoming gig in Glasgow for this very blog. In the meantime you can sit back and enjoy listening to a few interviews:

Robert Goerl (DAF ) - German

Sparks - English

Paul Humphreys of OMD and One Two fame - English

Deborah Rees from Safeconcerts.com

NKOTB, support: Shontelle, Dublin January 21st 2009

2009-01-22T04:49:00.001-08:00

Shontelle from Barbados, whose song "T-Shirt" is currently at nr.77 in the UK charts, together with an excellent DJ warmed up the crowd for the New Kids ...

Her voice was really good and her set was lively although a little long for my own taste. Both Shontelle and NKOTB mentioned the thrill of having a new president and the Dublin crowd cheered along. Barack Obama indeed could be the bringer of hope.

NKOTB was supported by live musicians and a good looking stage production. They were certainly entertaining and good at what they were doing but I couldn't help but notice that the vocal ranges of the band has changed in the last 15 years since their break up back then and some songs just didn't sound good or fitted their current look as grown men.

The dance routines were geared towards their mostly female audience and quite well executed. Songs from their new album "The Block" were more to my taste than their old stuff.

All in all it wasn't as bad as I had expected. This gig was a birthday gift to my girlfriend and I came along and I have to admit that I actually have been entertained, even though I would never have considered going to an NKOTB gig.

The new O2 Arena in Dublin was a brilliant venue

Acrobatics/Break Dance included

Reunited on stage: New Kids On The Block
Musician and actor Donny Wahlberg

Concert Reviews on WKW

2009-01-21T03:54:00.000-08:00

A new group called "Konzertberichte" has been found by concert-reviews.blogspot.com host Thomas Janak on the German social nerworking page WKW

Concert Reviews 1983 - 2006 THE BOOK

2008-12-30T16:58:00.000-08:00

If you enjoy this blog, why not give the gift of great gigs, reviewed as they happened, to someone as a book? Now you can - order the book via LULU.COM

NKOTB

2008-12-27T12:34:00.000-08:00

I just gave concert tickets for New Kids On The Block in Dublin to my girlfriend and the review will come in due course. They're playing the o2 in Dublin on January 21st 2009.

2009

2008-11-20T06:20:00.000-08:00

We have secured tickets for Depeche Mode in Duesseldorf/Germany (June 09) and Ultravox in Glasgow/Scotland in April 2009 - so cool!!

OMD 78/08 - 30th anniversary tour, support: Cowboy X

2008-09-29T05:43:00.001-07:00

OMD kicked off last years' "Morality & Architecture" show here in Dublin and made a phenomenal return when they played the Ambassador Venue on September 28th 2008.

The backdrops weren't anything short of fantastic and the band was in good spirit and really kicked ass. This years' show was even better than their 2007 gig.

The set included songs from the mentioned album as well as the much loved hits "Tesla Girls" and "Sailing on the seven seas" from the 1991 "Sugartax" album.

In the midst of their set a mixing desk blew and the front-of-house PA went dead, what resulted in a forced 20 minutes break.

When OMD returned to the stage Andy said: "I hope you've all done your Christmas shopping because we're not going before we've played the entire set" - as the crowd cheered on OMD picked up speed straight away and they delivered beautifully.

Brilliant ***

Support Act "Cowboy X", consisting of three blokes and a lady, were a mix of alternative grunge and electronica. They were pretty good and their songs certainly appealed to the Irish audience.

Good **

All in all - a great night out for less than Euro 50,-

Support Act "Cowboy X" were actually pretty good
During "Tesla Girls"
Drummer Malcolm
Beautiful backdrops underlined the brilliant music
Andy McClusky in full swing
Paul Humphreys

Yazoo

2008-07-01T05:10:00.001-07:00

Some of the pictures of YAZOO live in Brighton are now up on their official website.

2008 - Aisling Alann Arts Festival

2008-06-21T06:40:00.001-07:00

Meg Murphy officially launched the 2008 "Aisling Alann arts festival" on June 16th 2008 @ Whitechurch Library.

The festival was first launched in 2007. Its aim is to offer high-quality performance art as affordable rates and to create performance opportunities for emerging artists and to proactively develop a culture of community arts in the Greater Ballyboden area.

Scene from "Art Attack" as performed by the Drama Queens

Simon Toel playing Jack Kairo in the one-man-play/comedy with the same name

Barbara Demsey performing "Gabby" @ Whitechurch Library

A Gala Concert concluded the arts festival week. The picture shows a scene from a performance of G.F. Haendel's "Sonnata a lagrimar"

2008 - Yazoo @ Brighton Centre, Brighton (UK) 15.06.08

2008-06-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

This was by far the best of all three YAZOO gigs that we decided to go to.

With a new song on the setlist, new background for "Goodbye 70's", a crowd that was just brilliant and no other than "Erasure" Andy Bell in the audience - this evening was destined to be brilliant.

As if she needed to prove to Andy that she is all she could be, Alison "rocked". Her voice was brilliant and her interaction with both Vince and the audience were simply amazing.

She publically thanked Andy Bell for lending her Vince for a short while and sang her heart out that night - absolutely brilliant.

Alison gave her best performance ever (in my opinion) in Brighton

Yazoo in Brighton - June 15th 2008

Andy Bell at the Yazoo gig in Brighton on June 15th 2008 - what a night, brilliant!!

Support act Merz couldn't gain any ground that night and, as said before, he just isn't the right choice of support for an electronic evening.

Merz *
Yazoo ***

Yazoo Pics

2008-06-12T02:39:00.000-07:00

Our Yazoo pics from Dublin ended up on Yazoo's official website!!

2008 - Yazoo @ Carling Apollo, Manchester

2008-06-08T15:24:00.001-07:00

Less than a week after their Dublin performance we flew to Manchester to see them again. And it was worth it. This time we had circle seats from where we could enjoy the band and also fully appreciate their backdrops and videos. The Apollo, now owned by LIVE NATION, is a brilliant venue with a great acoustic.

Unfortunately, they have a strict "no cameras" policy and their security blokes are unpleasant looking fellows.

Alison's voice wasn't that strong on the night and infact she apologized for it. But even with a weaker voice she is still better than most vocalists anyway and the show was still great.

Support act MERZ was a one-man-band but, although good, was too focused on his guitars and his set sounded like a regular busker playing in a shopping mall.

Yazoo***
Merz **

2008 - Yazoo @ Olympia Theatre, Dublin June 2nd

2008-06-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

The Dublin crowd just loved Alison and Vince

The backdrops were spectacular

Alison during "In my room"

The very shy Vince Clarke took centre stage (for about 30 seconds)

Using an old Reel to Reel Taperecorder for one of the songs

Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin

Yazoo's RECONNECTED tour sees Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke, of Erasure Fame (also co-founder of the legendary Depeche Mode), touring together after 25 years of not working and almost not talking together.

The Olympia Theatre was packed and Yazoo were amazing. Their material stood the test of time and they played all their big hits from Situation to Don't go and of course the brilliant Only You.

Alison is in top form and her vocals just blew the audience away. Mastermind Vince Clarke was more animated than usual as he had to use the vocoder a couple of times.

The combination of two brilliant artists both giving it their all and more was something that was deeply felt and appreciated.

Yazoo ***

2008 - Stone & Jezreel, May 25th @ AFRICA DAY

2008-05-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

May 25th Africa Day - the festivities were held at Dublin's Chester Beaty Library. Stone & Jezreel were on stage ...

... when we arrived. I only listened to one song before we had to move on BUT was impressed with what I heard.

Check them out on myspace or Bebo

2008 - RTE Concert Orchestra at the movies

2008-03-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

12.03.2008 National Concert Hall Dublin

Conducted by David Brophy the RTE Concert Orchestra (66 people) + 2 DIT graduates performed SCI-FI movie classics from the Stargate Theme to the main theme of both Total Recall and Star Wars.

Trekkies were well catered for as the orchestra performed compositions of Jerry Goldsmith from 4 Star Trek movies.

The evening was electrifying and the audience consisted of people of all ages.

*** very good

General information

2008-01-28T02:24:00.000-08:00

Parental Guidance

Some of the reviews/interviews contain language and/or content that some may find offensive. Parental Guidance is advised!

2007 - Pet Shop Boys

2007-10-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

27.10.2007 PET SHOP BOYS, support "Helium Jive"
IMMA, Dublin

"Helium Jive" was a one-man multi-instrument playing curiosity orignally from Los Angeles and he was dreadful from start to finish. I didn't like him one bit.

The Pet Shop Boys together with three back-up singers and a bunch of dancers knew how to "rock" right from the start. They were brilliant.

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe showcased their greatest hist plus songs from their latest album PSYCHOLOGICAL like "Numb". "Sodom and Gomorra Show" and the brilliant "Minimal".

They brought us back to the 1980s when they performed: "Rent", "Heartbeat" and, of course, "Westend Girls".

Pet Shop Boys ***
Helium Jive *

2007 - AIR SUPPLY

2007-10-26T01:58:00.001-07:00

Vicar Street/Dublin 25th October 2007

The Australian romantic pop duo (backed by a three piece band) AIR SUPPLY played Vicar Street and they sure knew how to create a great athmosphere.

The sound was brilliant and the aging gentlemen gave their best to make the evening not only worthwile but unforgettable.

Well, probably for those desparate looking woman who lined up by the stage to get their picture taken while the musicians were sweating away, the evening was unforgettable.

Musically they were cool and they played all their hits from "Two less lonely people in the world" to "All out of love".

Good **

2007 - OMD (Orchestral Manouvres in the Dark)

2007-09-20T04:52:00.001-07:00

The Original line - up performed their full classic album "Architecture and Morality" as well as all their classic hits in front of a full house at Dublin's famous Olympia Theatre on May 13th 2007. Apart from a few technical problems the show was superb.

OMD ***
See also: Interview Paul Humphreys 2006

2006 - Interview Karl Bartos (EX-Kraftwerk) GERMAN language

2007-09-20T04:42:00.000-07:00

Karl Bartos Interview 18.01.2006

Karl Bartos:

Hallo

TJ:

Schönen Guten Tag, Near FM hier aus Dublin. Ist das Karl?

KB:

Am Apparat

TJ:

Hallo, Grüsse dich. Vielen Dank für die ermöglichung des Interviews

KB:

Ja, gerne.

TJ:

Dann legen wir mal los. Die erste Frage die ich hätte ist: Du hast Kraftwerk 1991 verlassen und möchtest diese Zeit wahrscheinlich auch hinter dir lassen

KB:

Die ist schon hinter uns.

TJ:

Ich nehme jetzt einfach mal an, dass die Leute sicherlich versuchen, dich immer wieder auf Kraftwerk anzusprechen.

KB:

Sie versuchen es, ich antworte aber nicht.

TJ:

Dann werde ich auch gar nicht darüber reden. Eine Frage hätte ich aber dann doch: Du hast „Das Modell“ geschrieben?

KB:

Mitgeschrieben, wir waren drei Autoren. Der Text war zuerst da und die Musik hab ich mit Ralf (Hütter, respektively) zusammen gemacht.

TJ:

Wie ist das wenn das dann so los geht und zu einem Riesen Kult Hit überall wird? Kannst du das Gefühl beschreiben das man hat, wenn man zum ersten Mal begeift, dass seine Musik einen Unterschied macht?

KB:

Ach, das ist so ähnlich wie mit dem älter werden. Man wundert sich bei jedem Geburtstag, dass jetzt noch ein weiteres Jahr dazu kommt aber es ist ja ein kontinuierlicher Prozess und „Das Modell“ ist glaube ich von 1977 und jetzt ist 2006. Das passiert dann so im laufe der vielen Jahre und der Jahrzehnte, das wird dann ein sogenannter „Evergreen“ und es gibt, ich weiss gar nicht wie viele Coverversionen.

Neulich habe ich in Paris ein DJ – Set gespielt und dort habe ich „Das Modell“ von den Cardigans gespielt, in deutsch gesungen. Das klingt unheimlich süß und viele machen das einfach halt auch als ...

TJ:

Tribut

KB: ja und als Spass irgendwie. Mit Coldplay das ist natürlich eine andere Sache. Die hatten vorher gefragt, ob sie „Computerliebe“ aufnehmen dürfen und wir haben das gestattet und das heisst jetzt bei denen „Talk“.

TJ:

Der ganze Gitarrenriff ist eure Melodie.

KB:

Ja, ja, das ist eine sogenannte „Bearbeitung“ und da muss man halt vorher um Erlaubnis fragen.

TJ:

Da seid ihr aber relativ offen?

KB:

Kommt darauf an. Also, es kommt darauf an, wer fragt und wie und auf die Situation gerade. Was heisst „offen“, klar.

TJ:

Ich meinte jetzt, dass Coldplay ja nun eine Band ist, die sehr bekannt ist. Wie sieht es aus mit kleineren Künstlern? Haben die eine Chance?

KB:

Ja, auf jeden Fall. Es gab mal so ein Tribute, das fanden wir alle sehr nett, da hat das jemand aufgenommen der hiess: „Senior Coconut“. Und zwar war das alles so aufgenommen, ich glaube zwei LPs hat der gemacht, der Künstler, so aufgenommen als würde das eine Südamerikanische Band spielen, live einspielen. Das war also ...

TJ:

Frischer Wind

KB:

Ja, interessant..

TJ:

Jetzt mal zur elektronischen Musik – auf deinem „Communication“ Album singst du auch über „15 minutes of fame“. Der ganze Musikbusiness hat sich komplett geändert. Wie schwierig ist es denn, obwohl du ja ein sehr etablierter Künstler bist, wie schwierig ist es denn mit elektronischer Musik heutzutage als Künstler zu überleben?

KB:

Also im „Wire“ – Magazin stand neulich mal ein sehr interessanter Bericht über Musik und wie sich das verändert hat. Und zwar hat der Autor gesagt: „Musik hat sich von einem Substantiv zu einem Verb entwickelt und ein Verb kann man einfach nicht mehr verkaufen.“

Und so ist es auch. So sehe ich das auch ähnlich. Früher war Musik eben etwas, was Image transportiert hat und heutzutage werden die Titel nicht mal mehr im Ipod angezeigt, die Titelnamen. Das ist eine ganz anonyme Datenmenge im binärischen Code und das ist es dann.

Musik transportiert sich heutzutage über die Medien, sprich: das Fernsehen und was dort funktioniert, das soll eigentlich gekauft werden, nur, zum Unterschied zu früher ist das heute mit einer Nummer Eins ... mit einer Nummer Eins single kann man überhaupt kein Geld mehr verdienen. Man kann mit Musik kein Geld mehr verdienen, es sei denn man gibt live Konzerte. Und da ist Musik eigentlich wieder dort, wo es vor 1877 war, vor Edison, bevor Edison die Musik von Zeit und Raum trennte.

TJ:

Und aufnehmen konnte.

KB:

Und aufnehmen konnte. Und da ist die Musik jetzt und da ist die Rezeption der Musik und die Wertschätzung der Musik eigentlich heute wieder angekommen. In der Aufzeichnung von Musik ist eine Geringschätzung heutzutage eher der Fall.

TJ:

Was ja eigentlich sehr schade ist. Mein Sohn ist 14 und fängt jetzt an Musik zu hören und zu begreifen, dass er die Erinnerungen die er da kriegt, mitnehmen kann.

KB:

Ja natürlich.

TJ:

Er kauft sich jede Woche eine andere CD während ich früher noch 2, manchmal 5 Jahre auf ein neues Album meines Lieblingskünstlers gewartet habe. Das ist halt das andere Ding, ich weiss nicht, ob ihr Statistiken habt, aber die jüngere Generation, ich meine eure Platten, zumindest die Kraftwerk Platten werden überall gekauft, immer noch ..

KB:

Ja, wir sind da in einer Ausnahmesituation, da bin ich auch sehr dankbar, wie man sich vorstellen kann, aber ich spreche im allgemeinen über Musik. Wenn ich heutzutage eine neue Platte mache, wie „Communication“ oder so, dann profitiere ioch natürlich auch von dieser Reputation, diesem Ruf und meine Konzerte laufen eigentlich auch ganz gut und da verdiene ich das Geld.

Wenn ich ne Platte mache, selbst wenn ich ausführlich daran arbeite und die von Sony weltweit in 20 Territories vertrieben wird, das ist ein Witz was man da, also da kann man nicht von Leben. Da kann man kein Geld mehr mit verdienen. Aber bei einem Konzert ist das nach wie vor gegeben und ich weiss ehrlich gesagt nicht, ob ich darüber traurig sein soll.

TJ:

Es ist natürlich für neuere ...

KB:

Für neue Künstler gilt im Prinzip das gleiche: Es war eine ganz harte Nummer als vor 5 Jahren oder so die gesammte Record Industry zusammengebrochen ist. Das war Superhart und alle haben sich gefragt: „ Wo kommt denn das plötzlich her?“ und das lässt sich nur begründen, ich möchte das jetzt hier nicht näher ausführen, durch viele Faktoren, in der Vermarktung, die Plattenfirmen sind eigentlich selber Schuld, haben vorher die grossen Profite gemacht in den 80er Jahren durch die CD, als sie quasi die gesammt Weltmusik noch einmal neu verkauft haben.

Und jetzt geht eben nichts mehr. Und ich denke, die Chance die darin liegt ist eben nicht zuletzt auch eine Chance für die ganzen neuen Künstler. Ich meine, jeder Künstler ist ja irgendwann mal neu und muss mit den Gegebenheiten, mit den kulturellen Gegebenheiten und den Marktspezifischen Gegebenheiten der Jetzt-Zeit operieren. Und die jetzt eben in dieses Internet – Zeitalter herein wachsen, die können sich eben auch ganz anders präsentieren, als wir das konnten.

TJ: Das galube ich.

KB:

Bei uns gab es früher überhaupt keine Möglichkeiten; da gab es eine Fernsehsendung, wir haben Musikvideos gemacht und Filme noch auf 35mm, da gab es überhaupt keinen Marktplatz für.

Da gab es den „Beat Club“ und sonst nichts. Vielleicht noch „Aspekte“, eine Kultursendung. Da konnte man hingehen und live spielen und dann gab es den „Melody Maker“ und den „Musical Express“ – Ende!

TJ:

Wahnsinn

KB:

Das waren die Möglichkeiten der Promotion – und man konnte live spielen. Heutzutage geht man in „Myspace“ ins Internet und hat sofort ein Millionenpublikum.

TJ:

Stimmt, ja.

KB:

Die Spielregeln sind heute anders. Und eine junge Band hat heute auch unglaubliche Möglichkeiten der Vermarktung; die können mit einer CD nicht mehr 100 000 Stück verkaufen oder 200 000 oder 250, die Gewinnspanne ist extrem gering geworden. Niemand gibt mehr einer jungen Band einen Plattendeal aber das ist ja auch Scheissegal, weil sie haben das Internet zur Verfügung und können sich selbst vermarkten was dann letztlich dazu führt, dass sie viel mehr Geld verdienen.

TJ:

Reicht es denn wenn eine Band auftritt und sagt o.k., wir sind im Netz, oder ist es hilfreich wenn eine Band trotzdem halt sagt, wir nehmen eine CD auf? Die Preise sind ja heute nicht mehr so teuer heute in Studios um CDs zu machen.

KB:

Ne, ne, das macht man doch selber heutzutage am Computer.

TJ:

Ich meinte auch eher so das Artwork.

KB:

Alles macht man selber – die Bands, die früher nur aus Musikern bestanden, die sind history. Die Band der Zukunft die wird bestehen aus einem Musiker, einem Graphiker oder sagen wir mal so, jemand der Audio-Visuell arbeitet. Die Bands werden audiovisuell werden.

TJ:

Gerade weil wir von Bands sprachen: Audiovision!

KB:
Das ist mein Label.

TJ:

Da stand auch irgendwas hier auf deiner Website, dass sich deine 3 Mann Band „Audiovision“ nennt, oder?

KB:

Ich firmiere jetzt unter Karl Bartos weil, ich hatte früher auch eine Band die hiess „Electric Music“ aber Karl Bartos ist eigentlich viel bekannter als irgenwie ein Bandname den ich jetzt in die Welt setzen würde. Das kann ich einfach nicht mehr toppen. Es gibt irgendwie eine halbe Millionen Einträge im Internet und wenn ich jetzt eine neue Band ins Leben rufe, dann habe ich vielleicht nur zwei, weisst du, und das ist einfach nur eine Vermarktungsangelegenheit.

Ich würde gerne nicht unter meinem Namen firmieren weil das ist immer komisch, wenn auf jedem Flightcase dann „Karl Bartos“ steht und überall und „mit welcher Band spielt er denn hier? Ja, mit Karl Bartos“ sagen die dann und irgendwie ist das nicht so supercool, aber ich kann es nun mal nicht ändern.

TJ:

Du bist halt auch in der glücklichen Position, dass dein Name Gewicht hat

KB:

Der hat nicht so viel Gewicht wie Paul McCartney aber ...

TJ:

Also ich höre Kraftwerk seit den 70ern. Ich bin 67 geboren.

KB:

Aha

TJ:

Und ich bin gross geworden mit euch, mache selbst elektronische Musik.

KB:

Bist du selber Musiker, Thomas?

TJ:

Ich bin selber Musiker, ja. Habe meine eigene Website natürlich und neun Alben die super gefloppt sind (lach)

KB:

Da musste noch eine neue machen.

TJ:

Ja, das ist der Plan. Ich bin gross geworden mit Kraftwerk und das einzige was ich halt hier so merke mit meinen Irischen und Englischen Kollegen ist, das die einfach nur Probleme haben, die Namen auszusprechen, das ist so deren Problem. David Bowie geht halt leichter von der Zunge als beispielsweise Karl Bartos oder Thomas Janak.

KB:

Karl Bartoos sagen die immer. Ich war neulich in Birmingham.

TJ:

Ja, das habe ich gelesen. Und an dem Wocheneende als du in Birmingham warst, ich habe das auch erst zwei Tage vor dem Gig gelesen, und wir hatten schon Tickets gebucht für Alice Cooper .

KB:

(amüsiert sich)

TJ:

Ja, ich weiss, was für ein Vergleich und ich konnte meine Freundin nicht mehr dazu bewegen umzuschwänken, zumal wir ja bereits Kraftwerk gesehen hatten.

KB:

Wir sind aber nicht Kraftwerk

TJ:

Ich weiss (lacht) das ist auch sowas. Sie ist aus dem Osten der Republik und hatte noch nie von euch gehört. Und normalerweise singst du halt lieder irgendwie und Kraftwerk das ist mehr so ein Gefühl ... „boing, boom, tschak“

KB:

Ein Konzept.

TJ:

Ja, ein Konzept. Ich habe ihr also „Boing, Boom, Tschak“ vorgesungen und sie hat mich nur angekuckt. Sie kannte die ganzen anderen Sachen wie „Autobahn“ und so.

KB:

„Das Modell“ kannte sie nicht?!

TJ:

Sie kannte „das Modell“, wusste aber nicht, ob es eure Version war.

KB:

War wahrscheinlich „Rammstein“. Wir spielen dieses Jahr auch wieder in London.

The original is 45 minutes long and for editorial reasons had to be cut short here

See also:
Kraftwerk 1991
Kraftwerk 2004

2006 - "Hello young lovers" - an Interview with the SPARKS

2007-09-20T04:33:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, the 23rd March 2006 I talked to Ron and Russell Mael better known as The Sparks. I was in Dublin and they were in L.A. – but separated somehow, therefore they set up a conference call and rang NEAR FM at 6p.m. on the dot.

TJ: “Hello young lovers” is the title of your new album?

(Pause)

TJ: Isn´t it??

Ron and Russell: “Yes, it is (laughter)

Ron: What a sharp question

TJ: You thought I address you as “hello young lovers”, weren´t you? (laughs). Your new album sounded quite different to your big hit, well, I am from Germany, just to say that, so the biggest hit I ever heard from you is: “When do I get to sing ´my way´” which was a few years ago and now I have your latest single “Perfume” in front of me and that sounds very different. In fact, you always have been quite different. How come?

Ron: I suppose if you are coming from the perspective of knowing “When do I get to sing my way” so well then probably “Hello young lovers” is even more of a shift in direction than someone who is been coming from , kind of following every little nuance what Sparks has been up to and with a song like “When do I …” it was a really precisely crafted song with a really great chorus that kicks in and in a certain way really traditiona,l even though I think it is a really great song and the lyrics are also really special to that song, but where “Hello young lovers” really differs from that is that it is the 20th album and we wanted to try to come up with a way of not working in the traditional ways in which he have worked in the past and not kind of rehashing a certain convention that are being around in pop music for so long and we try to kind of challenge ourselfs with something really different structurally, lyrically and instrumentation wise as well to just see how far we can kind of push things but then still be accessible as well.

TJ: You have just completed a little tour in the UK. How was the new album perceived over there?

Ron: It was really fantastic. The reception was just really amazing everywhere we went. We are doing the first half of the show just the new album in its entirety from the first song to the last and we´re doing it with a really stylised projection presentation which is really visual and theatrical but it is also demanding in a certain way on an audience especially that isn´t familiar yet with the new album as the album has just come out. It was a challenge in a certain way but audiences just everywhere were so enthusiastic and receptive to something that was this special and we´re really encouraged because it keeps our faith in the public that they really do exactly want to hear something that’s kind of …

TJ: … different. You have been around since the mid 70s really, isn´t it? “This town is not big enough for the two of us” – when was that?

Ron and Russell: Ehm, that was 1974.

TJ: 1974 – my god, I was seven back then

Russell: So were we

TJ: (laughs) alright. You are around for quite a while. I was talking to Karl Bartos a few weeks ago, you know him from Kraftwerk, and he was telling me that in Germany the whole musc has changed and I was talking to him about him living in the UK and he said that this really is his country and that people are more aware of his music than anywhere else. Now you, according to your biography, basically also tried your luck in England and that´s where your first success was. Is that true or is that just something that somebody wrote about you?

Russell: That´s true. We had had two albums done in the States and nothing had happened and then we got an offer to come to England from our English record company “Island” and it had always been our dream because we always idolised English bands and not American bands at all. The reception to what we were doing was incredible. There is just something about the English except of kind of having a real strong identity with pop music, it is kind of their number one industry, and there is kinda not a whole lot of other things to do so England is kind of been strong to us through the years even though others country have gone for one song or another but our consistency has been strong there. The English were kind of accepting what we were doing.

TJ: But your are also touring in the States nowadays. So you are well known in your own, huge country. Is the audience different?

Ron: No, we are finding that everywhere we go the audiences now have become really consistent. We just got back from playing two nights in Moscow in Russia and we had that same question on our own minds “would the audience be different?” They are even towards Sparks and the audience was absolutely amazing and so we´re finding that everywhere we go pop audiences, at least for Sparks, from our experience are really consistent everywhere. And really well versed in most of the albums that we have and the reaction everywhere you go is pretty similar. We´re told the same thing in Japan, “well, don´t expect them to be, well, they´ll like you but don´t expect them to be overly responsive and vocal in there reception to you” and when we got there it was just as wild as any other country we played at.

TJ: I´ve heard that actually quite often. I´ve been checking one of those old videos from KISS, you know the hard rock band KISS with the make up on and all that …

Ron: Yeah

TJ: They have been told the same thing and then when they played Tokyo, Tokyo decided that now is the time to celebrate Rock and Roll. Apart from the asian looking population you couldn´t see them differ from any other country.

Russell: There is so many different national differences but when it comes to popular music it seems that there is a pretty consistent reaction to what´s being done. We just played in Russia and we had the same thing. We were warned that maybe the Russian people, not having a strong familiarity with what we´re doing or whatever it was, that the raction wouldn´t be great but it was exactly the same as anywhere else that we played.

TJ: Let´s just imagine: If this would all end today and nobody would be interested in the Sparks anymore and all that. I mean, you have achieved so much but at the end of the day you are artists and it doesn’t really wear off. You always will do something artistically. If you couldn’t do your music is there anything you would like to do?

Ron: Well, I don’t know so much about not doing music but maybe it would be channeling the music in other kind of ways. We are really interested in doing a movie musical, so, we are just interested in what you said being creative and artistic in some kind of form, so if it wasn’t doing Sparks then I am sure we would be channeling it in some other way, wether it would be in film or making our own film or writing for theatrical performances that sort of thing. I don’t think you lose that kind of ambition and start becoming a shoe salesmen all of a sudden.

TJ: When you do electronic music it is all about melody. Being a musician myself I see it as being a craft but some people tend to think that you´re just a knob-twister and that everybody who does something electronically can´t play at all. Does that bother you that people put people into a niche and has it happened that people genuinely think that you are just knob twisters and that you are just one of those bands that does noise?

Ron: I think if someone just bothers to listen to the new album they can see what the real story is. There is a lot of musical ability and capability in that album …

Russell: The reason why we did this new album is really as a reaction against all those people that were kind of making electronic sound like one long song and, you know, we loved those kind of thing with all the dance music and that kind of thing but when an area becomes so clicheted then it is time to move on. We wanted to get a 180 degrees away from electronic music because there are so many people that aren´t very good at it but doing in that it kind of gave the whole thing a bad name and we wanted to do something that nobody else could do and try to do something that is musically more adventurious. When we were doing electronic music, even though we were able to do a lot of different styles, and because we really loved that kind of sound but there are limitations as far as uniformity of sound goes and so it was time for us to move on.

TJ: You are a very established act so I guess you have way more freedom than a new band would have but have you ever been put under pressure from the record company? Did they expect you to sound like you sounded when you sold a lot of records? You know, when I was talking to Karl Bartos he told me that after the smash hit with “The model”, they wanted them to always sound like that …

Ron: We never had anyone really tell us what to do and in addition to the comment that you made prior to that: New bands have a 100% freedom to do whatever they wanna do, too. The sad thing is that they choose not to in most cases or they´re incapable of trying stuff that is really bold so I don’t really agree that a younger band has restrictions placed on them because when you´re first starting out that is the time when you should be doing your most adventurous stuff. I think that everybody in pop music in a certain way is given that freedom. And Karl Bartos to whom you obviously talked to, well, they didn’t follow anyones advice anyway.

TJ: Yeah, I have to say, you know, I´ve been living here in Ireland for 5 ½ years but I grew up with Kraftwerk music and when I talked to Karl I found him to be a very nice guy and what he said made perfect sense. It is just that nowadays when you talk to younger people it seems that they have never listened to “real” music. When Techno started in the late 80s, early 90s it all became just one beat …

Ron: Yes, I totally agree with you that everything now is based on just what sort of came before and not even like 10 years before or 20 years before but it is being based on what has come six months before and now everyone says “We´re the new Arcade Fire, we´re the new Strokes …” and you kind of think: “Oh my god”. New people are just kind of wanting to emulate …

TJ: … this years trend …

Ron: … there isn´t a real basis musically for peoples work and having a real background in music because in the end, I think the people that do have that do pop out from the crowd if they use it wisely.

TJ: You started at a time where there wasn’t much around in opposition to nowadays. There are just so many musicians, no, hang on, I doubt it: artists maybe but not musicians … music is a craft. Do you think that this perhaps is the reason why you kept going for so long?

Ron: Well, I think that is the reason why our stuff, or maybe why he had 20 albums because the stuff is, well, there is something special on it and that people do recognise that and even though we havent had the massive successes like U2 but then I think that Sparks is doing music that is maybe more prococative in a certain way than those types of bands that have had huger success because they tend to get lazy and they use their real fire to continually challenge themselfes in what they are doing because there is no need to. They are so secure in a certain way. I think that is probably part of the reason why we´ve continued to last but not only last but do music on our 20th album that is probably more provocative and more special than anything we´ve done.

TJ: So, you reckon, you will keep going for another 10, 15 years?

Ron: (laughs) hopefully not.

TJ: Are you planning on retirering?

Ron: You know, being in pop music, you don´t think in terms of retireing. The whole thing about being in pop music is that you kind of don’t play by the normal rules that are out there and things like retirement and all of that don´t really register on our wavelength because those terms don’t mean anything.

TJ: When you said that you have never really had that massive successes, I sometmes think it depends how people measure it. I mean, your records are available in 20 odd countries. I would call that “moderately” successful.

Ron: yeah

TJ: It seems if you never had a number one it then you are not successful nowadays.
Ron: Yes, it is all relative and I think I was speaking more about commercial success but, yes, it is all relative and can all be dfined in different ways.

TJ: If somebody starts out today – is there any advise you could give to a young musician?

Russell: It seems like if somebody really has to ask then I think it is gonna be a problem for them. The thing is that it has got to be so much a part of their psyche and their drive has got ta be from themselves so if they need any kind of advise than they are already in trouble because there is so many kind of problems that come along the way and if the outside world is at all something you are considering in a strong way then I think it is a bad idea to be doing it at all. It just has to come from within you and if the drive is so strong then no matter what anybody says or recommends or what the reaction to your music is that you kind of persist. If you have to ask maybe you should persue something else.

TJ: Thank you very much, bye bye

2006 - Interview Paul Humphreys

2007-09-20T04:27:00.000-07:00

An Interview with Paul Humphreys (Ex-and again OMD)
Interview about his ONETWO project

TJ:
So you have this new project album coming up, the OneTwo album

Paul Humphreys:
That´s correct

TJ:
When is this about to be released?

Paul:
We´re just finishing off the album now. We just have to record the last two tracks, really. We started out working independently and releasing the songs independently. In fact, we just started by releasing on the Internet to begin with. We started all that as an experiment by selling on Ebay only and quite quickly we sold a few thousand units.

TJ:
Yes, I had to order your CD there, at Ebay.

Paul:
That’s right. It just started as an experiment. Claudi* (* Claudia Brücken) and I had a few songs kicking around and then we thought “well, why don’t we just try to sell them on Ebay and see what happens” and slowly it sort of formulated into a band and now we´ve got our label, we´ve got other distribution outlets now but with the OneTwo album we´re now expanding a bit more, speaking with labels about proper distribution because rather than just the Internet although it is a very powerful tool we would also like to get it into regular shops.

TJ:
Yes, it is a bit difficult. I actually went to the extreme because I am 39 now and kind of grew up with all the music that was around in the early 1980s and OMD was one of my heroes and being from Germany I know Claudias work with Propaganda quite well, so I naturally pursuit other peoples carreers so it was a natural kind of thing to order the CD but maybe, and we have seen this in the case of Prince, he didn’t sell much after having no outlet really.

Paul:
Yes, that’s right. I mean, I was actually quite surprised by how many we could actually sell by just selling on the Internet and I think there is more of a culture now just sort of in the last year or so people are getting used to buying online. I thnk the Apple ™ I-Tunes probably helped with that to change peoples´way of thining really about buying music. My generation, you know, we used to go looking for things in obscure record shops but obscure record shops are not really around anymore so you are forced to look for obscure things on the Internet. And I do think the I-Tunes thing has breed a new sort of culture of buying music online.

TJ:
The 21st century has finally arrived. The Item Album is essentially a 6-track album

Paul:
It is an EP really, really only a sample of OneTwo.

TJ: It is basically five tracks and then you have “Sister repeated in a different version. There is one song on the album, I think it is the third song, which is co-written by Martin Gore* (*of Depeche Mode).

Paul:
It is actually the second one: “Cloud Nine”

TJ:
Alright, so this is co-written by Martin.

Paul:
That’s right. It was actually co-written by Martin and Claudia. It is a song that Claudia and Martin wrote in the mid 90s really because Claudi was doing a solo album that never saw the light of day and she was collabrating with lots of different people and Martin was one of them because she lived sort of around the corner from Martin and was sort of friends with Martin anyway. She got stuck writing a song and knocked on the door saying: “Martin, help!” …

TJ:
(Laughs) … and then this song ended up on your CD a few years later.

Paul:
Exactly.

TJ:
Did you not tour with Depeche Mode at some point in time?

Paul:
I toured with Depeche Mode in, gosh, 87 propbably it was.

TJ:
Yes, because on the “101”* Film there is a poster which says OMD as well. (*”101” is a concert/tour movie released by Depeche Mode)

Paul:
That’s right, yes, we did one of those big stadium tours of America with them and we toured for like four months. Great fun, actually. Another time we had a song called “If you leave” which was in a big movie* and was really successful in America (* the movie was called: “Pretty in pink”) and Depeche was huge there too so between the two bands we drew this enourmous crowds in big football stadiums and it was really quite strange.

TJ:
With OMD reuniting soon … when I read about that I found that to be quite interesting but with regards to your OneTwo page, I really like the approach …

Paul:
Do you?

TJ:
Yes, because when people click on your page they read: “If you are interested in music and if you are interested in the year 2001,2013 ant the 1980s – that’s your place”

Paul:
That’s right.

TJ:
And you talk about Kraftwerk and all those bands that you found interesting and that is a very “musician kind of approach”.

Paul:
Yeah, it is for like minded people to meet in a way, you know, that’s the sort of theme and it is more re-visiting OMD rather than a reunion to be honest. So far I have only just agreed doing some concerts with OMD.

TJ:
O.K., but you´d reckon, I mean, OMD is a big influence or has a big part to play when it comes to the 1980s and there is nowhere where you don’t find your name rather than what you siad when you did the Interviw in Germany last week and you said that you´ve never had a number one and people like the BBC or so are only playing number one songs and you said that you´re kind of forgotten, I read that somewhere.

Paul:
I think that’s a quote from me, actually. It is kind of true. In the UK particularly OMD seems to have been forgotten. But not in America. I have a daughter who lives in Los Angeles and I obviously go and visit her regularly and every time I am there I hear OMD on the radio but in the UK you could scan the channel everyday for a month and never here an OMD track (laughs)

TJ:
Is that something that bothers you?

Paul:
No, not really. What is annoying is when they do this historical shows and they do this historical context of electronic music and they pick a lot of electronic bands that were influential, who were influential, but will kind of leave us out because we had our little place there and we definitley influenced some bands.

TJ:
Certainly, yes. Is that the strategy behing it? I mean, I also read on the interview that you would reckon that a new OMD album would not do as well as the older ones did although you never know. I mean in the case of Duran Duran for instance, their reunion tour was … they really made it big again.

Paul:
They did

TJ:
While Tears for fears played rather smaller venues in and around the UK and Ireland so it is very hard to predict,isn´t it?

Paul:
It is really, really hard to predict. That’s why I am just sort of dipping my toe in the water and see what happens with that one because you don’t really quite know how you´re gonne be perceived.

TJ:
Yes, but you must have some kind of feeling. Is it easier, I am only guessing now but I would reckon it is a bit easier when you mention OMD as apposed to OneTwo.

Paul:
Yes, yes, I mean it can open doors for you definitely (laughs)

TJ:
Let´s assume you would do an album with OMD and maybe your are going to do an album with Andy* again (* Andy McCluskey) and Claudia is keeping herself busy doing other things with this guy,ehm, Poppy?!

Paul:
Andrew Poppy

TJ:
She keeps herself busy

Paul:
She does, she is here actually …

TJ:
Yeah, I know and I will be talking to her in a few minutes. What I am trying to say is: Does that create tension every now and then? Is there an underlined fear that OneTwo does not come into being after the, whatever you call it the OMD thingy?

Paul:
Well, I hope that’s not the case. OneTwo is my main band, you know, it is an ongoing band and it is not just a project with Claudia. It is something that we are developing and we´ve got, what we think is a really great album that we´re just finishing off. We are so happy with our record, we´re so proud of it that we want to get it out there and we want to give it as much exposure as we can.

TJ:
Will this one be available in regular shops, you´d reckon?

Paul:
That’s what we´re hoping to. We are speaking with various industry people at the moment. Like I said, we just started small with it just on the Internet and I mean we will be using the modern outlets like I-Tunes and downloads but yes we really would like to see it in conventional shops as well.

TJ:
For a regular listener, music listener, who doesn’t work in the music business, I find it very difficult sometimes to understand, I mean, when you have new musicians that aren´t aware of the business and don’t know what to do and where to go and nobody knows them, and then you have Paul Humphreys and you are still saying that you´re struggling to get a deal for your album.

Paul:
The industry has really undergone an enormous change over the last few years but definitely over the last ten years, it is unrecognisable that’s how much the industry has changed. There is really not very much money in our business anymore. The record companies have tightened their belts so much that’s why we´ve gone through a phase of a lot of manufactured music. Manufactured artists are in some ways disposable to record companies, they can easily sign a once off and manufacture their songs, market them and if it doesn’t work then they can easily discard them. A signed artist to a record label over a long period of time like a big album deal is a whole different prospect for a label and a far more expensive prospect.

They´re happen to take the cheap routes. All the routes unfortunately go down to, you know, if you trace them all back to illegal downloads really. It has really taken billions out of our business and that has to have an effect after a while.

Record companies are not going to be brave and sign unusual artists. They can´t risk half a million on an artist anymore because they don’t have that kind of disposable income so they have to do more, what they consider “sure-fire” things. But that unfortunately is usually very mainstream.

TJ:
It is really a downward spiral, isn´t it, because then we only get to hear what we get to hear. I had a recent conversation with my son who turns 14 this year and I told him that I sometimes had to wait two years for my favourite artist to bring out a new album because that’s sometimes how long it took them to make a great record.

Paul:
Yes, that’s right.

TJ:
He kind of smiled about it, you know, (laughing) I don’t actually think that he can understand the anticipation. And that’s what it is about, I mean, I am a musician as well on amuch smaller scale. I did nine CDs over the last 15 years and haven´t achieved anything significant really. For me it is always about melody. I am 39 now so it is not really realistic to think that tomorrow someone is going to knock on my door and saying: “You´re just what we needed” but on a whole it is all about melody and I think somewhere down the line that has been lost.

Paul:
I think celebriteesm has taken over. People just want to be celebrities and they don’t care how they do it. And a lot of singers in the charts they´re not that interested in being singers and writing great songs, they just want to be on the TV and be celebrities. The celbrity lifestyle, you know. Which is why a lot of singers as well as being stabbed by the industry are only doing cover versions so that they don’t have to go to the process of writing.

TJ:
Yes, and most of the time they´re just horrible. Once you know the original most of the time it is not it because the orignal very likely was produced by someone who is a musician.

Paul:
Yes, I mean, we´re talking about the mainstream and the major labels and that’s the corporate music industry. There is an independent side to our industry where people basically, artists like you and ourselves, and even younger artists they´re doing it themselves. They do some great music …

TJ:
Yes and then you have places like myspace and you swap.

Paul:
Exactly, I mean, the Internet has become … everybody is becoming their own sort of independent label and all the rules are sort of changing. Because the corprate music world is so zipped up and not open anymore for whatever the reason usually monitary reasons that the internet is now thriving with independent artists making interesting music. It is just kind of hard to find sometimes but the one advantage that Claudia and I do have is that we have names from our previous bands and people will be looking for OMD and Propaganda.

TJ:
Yes, and I am not only saying this because I am on air here, last year when I got your “Item”EP we played the “latest and the greatest” and we played “Talking loud and clear” because it si just one of my favourites …

Paul:
I always liked “Talking loud and clear”

TJ:
… the guys in the studio said: “Oh no, you have to play their biggest hit like “Joan of Arc” “ but we played “Talking loud and clear” and then “Sister” and the other presenter said to me:
“Wow, that’s great music, why is it not out there??” It was difficult to answer the question so I guessed that the industry just wants to play safe and doesn’t release it because it is perhaps a bit too 80s.

Paul:
Well, it is not necessarily that we are too 80s it is just, you know, the corporate industry now are just focusing on the younger market and they´re not taking any risks at all.

TJ:
Do you think it is getting better somewhen?

Paul:
No, it is definitely getting worse

TJ:
Aaah, I thought you´d gonna say that (both laugh)

Paul:
But the thing is, you know, things like myspace and all these kind of internet places to go to look for music are all springing up now. I just think all the rules are changing. And I think that the problem with the major labels is that they are just sort of slow moving dinosaurs they really should have seen this filesharing thing coming but they just chose not to.

TJ:
They are too protective of their own things

Paul:
Exactly

TJ:
How difficult would it be for you to ring all your old mates and do a major… maybe a mini-tour with all the so called big names because, I mean, you must have made friends over the years with megastars. Is that not something that crossed your mind to say: “Let´s try to give OneTwo a bigger platform”?

Paul:
Well, yeah, there is that option. We´ve been speaking to our agent, we do have an agent now and we will be doing a few gigs later in the year with OneTwo.

TJ:
I read about the gig in Leicester Cathedral in August

Paul:
Yes, the only date that he have confiremd up is the Leicester Cathedral one, we´re playing Leicester Cathedral on the 28th of August but we´re putting a tour together and we´d love to come to Ireland.

TJ:
That’s my hope. Over the last number of years all bands that reunited or whatever you want to call it, ehm, they all played Dublin and I think the reason is that we were really deprived of Music down here, you know, and people love them. Just a few weeks ago The Human League played at Vicar Street, a smaller venue in Dublin, and they were very, very cautious when they announced it and within a week they had to add a second date and it’s the same thing with Tears for Fears. I really think there would be a market.

Paul:
Yes, there is a good demand for the live circuit.

TJ:
The music is timeless because it is handmade, you know. You have your own style.

Paul:
That’s right, I think there is some truth in that.

TJ:
I was asking Russell from The Sparks if it bothers him that people think because they play electronic music they´re just knob-twisters.
Paul: (Laughs)

TJ:
Does it bother you?

Paul:
I mean, we were always up against that. Because it was electronic music it wasn’t considered real music and we didn’t have any guitars.

TJ:
Maybe that’s why Martin Gore plays guitar any chance he gets (laughs)

Paul:
(laughs), How do I keep those questions from coming?

TJ:
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. So, basically, I wish you all the best with the OneTwo album and just, off the record, I am a huge fan. Is there any chance that I can get an autograph?

Paul:
Of course

As a matter of fact OneTwo not only sent me an autograph they also visited my www.tj-music.com page and left a message on the guestbook and I feel very proud and I am very happy.

2006 - The Human League

2007-09-20T04:16:00.000-07:00

14.03.2006 Vicar Street, Dublin/Ireland
THE HUMAN LEAGUE
Support: Neosupervital

Neosupervital is a freak in a funny sense of the word and his dancer is no different. In a comedian style Neosupervital plays rather dated sounding synthi-pop and accompanies himself on an electronic guitar, synthesizer and drum-computer. He doesn’t take himself serious and therefore his music is not embarrassing although in 21st century term it is rather dreadful.

Very funny **

Stage and instruments are in pure white and somewhat sterile which might be intended by the british pop trio The Human League. Susan, Joanne and Philip, all in their end 40s/early 50s look stunning and the spirit is there from the first second to the last. Philips voice is excellent and the League plays all their hits from “Being boiled” to “Human” and “Don’t you want me”. The new material morphes just fine with the classics and the concert is infectious. Susan says that the league doesn’t say it often: “ … but the reason why we are still loving it is because of YOU” (the fans) and I genuinely believe her.

We are in the first row and get a close look at one of the most influential bands in electronic pop.

The melodies are great and still sound modern which may be the reason why the Human League still has followers.

*** Superb

2006 - Depeche Mode in Dublin

2007-09-20T04:15:00.000-07:00

26.06.2006 POINT THEATRE, DUBLIN
Depeche Mode

An unknown and obviously untalented DJ filled the position of support act for Depeche Mode at the sold out gig at the Point.

Depeche had played London just yesterday and the stage looks a little rushed. There is no gangway and no “Lightball” that says “Hello” and in total the stage looks smaller.

On top of that the sound isn´t the best all throughout the show, the whole P.A. is rather low volume and the people in the block I am sitting in must be dead or deaf – worst Depeche experience by far.

Having said that, the “Basildon Three” are still great and do their best. The setlist is again slightly changed which is great if you go and see them a number of times. Tonight they performed an acoustic version of “It doesn’t matter too” and as a special treat they play “Photographic” from their very first album.

They don´t do a second encore and the whole set seems rather short.

They were still worth every penny.

Depeche Mode **

2006 - Depeche Mode in Birmingham (Images)

2007-09-20T04:12:00.000-07:00

2006 - Depeche Mode in Birmingham

2007-09-20T04:09:00.000-07:00

31.03.2006 NEC Arena, Birmingham/England

Depeche Mode
Support: The Bravery

Just one day after the Manchester gig we find ourselves in a smaller hall, still huge but smaller than most stadiums or arenas. Even the stage in smaller and throughout the evening there is some feedback coming back from the microphones simply because the monitors are closer to the musicians.

The Bravery are supporting Depeche Mode and they are quite good although I have to say that I find the singer to be rather strange and not a good a frontman as he thinks he is.

Bravery **

The lights go dim, the stage lights get brighter and everybody in the hall is on their feet to welcome Depeche Mode. The groove is there and the evening turns out phenomenal. The sound isn´t the best but nobody seems bothered. The band messes up “Personal Jesus”, stop the song half way through, apologize and start it again and it turns out great. Usually Martin Gore sings “Shake the disease” in an acoustic version but decides to change the song to “Leave in Silence” tonight and I think it is great. I haven´t heard the song in years and everybody sings along – superb.

Depeche Mode ***

2006 - Depeche Mode in Manchester

2007-09-20T04:07:00.000-07:00

30.03.2006 MEN Arena, Manchester/England
Depeche Mode
Support: The Bravery

The Bravery supports Depeche Mode and I like them a bit better than I liked them before now that I have heard them 3 times but all in all I think they lack originality. To me they sound like an American band who tries to sound British.

The Bravery **

Depeche Mode kicks off with “A pain that I am used to” and because we have different seats we get a better look at the stage this time which makes a difference because the show is great. Almost half an hour into the show and the gig doesn’t pick up speed. The crowd is just not up for it yet. Another 15 minutes and finally the spirit rises. It is a real setback for concert goers and I think the band feels the same.

In the end it was still a great show and Depeche Mode were truly amazing.

Depeche Mode ***

2006 - Depeche Mode in Lisbon

2007-09-20T04:03:00.000-07:00

08.12.2006 Pavilhao Atlantico, Lisbon/Portugal
DEPECHE MODE
support: THE BRAVERY

We spent a whole week in Lisbon - a really beautiful, attractive city with flair and ambiente. To see Depeche Mode on their "Following the angel" tour was a bonus.

The huge venue just outside the Metro - station "Oriente" was packed and "The Bravery" from New York City, who opened up for Duran Duran in May 2005, were the opening act for the "Basildon - Three" better known as Depeche Mode.

We had very good seats on the first balcony and this time we were way closer to the Bravery as we had been back in May and they really pulled it off.

Like all the other support acts on earth they too were struggling with the sound and their lightshow was nothing else but the lights - test for Depeche Mode.

But they were enjoying themselves and so were we.

They aren´t brilliant as such and their songs are not really extraordinary but never the less The Bravery gave their best and it is highly appreciated.

Good **

Some 30 minutes later a downscaled stage (in comparison to prior tours) offered a playground for the boys and their two extra musicians on keys and drums.

The show was still well thought out and executed and Dave Gahan and Martin Gore really complimented each other as frontmen.

DM opened with their curent single "A pain that I am used to" and they also performed "John the revelator", "Suffer well" and the stunning "Precious" from the Playing The Angel album and the songs fitted in neatly with older material.

Apart from the obvious hymns "Enjoy the silence" and "Personal Jesus" I liked the acoustic version of "Shake the disease" performed by Martin and keyboarder Pedro.

"Home" was another stunner and "Everything counts" reminded me of their legendary "101" performance in spirit.

All the other "leftover" bands or re-united bands from Tears for Fears to the Human League are no match for Depeche Mode who are undoubtedly the best there is.

Great ***

See also:

Depeche Mode Manchester 06
Depeche Mode Birmingham 06
Depeche Mode Dublin 06
D - Mode 2002
Erasure 2005
Depeche Mode 1998

2006 - B.B. King & Gary Moore

2007-09-20T04:01:00.000-07:00

29.03.2006 Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield/England

B.B. KING
Support: Gary Moore

B.B. King, the Bluesman, the living legend on his Farewell Tour. King is 80 years old and still has got the Blues. Before we get to experience him Gary Moore and his band play a delightful hour of Blues and Rock tracks from the works of Gary Moore.

Although it took me a while to get into the sprirt of things, his guitar skills are beyond belief. Some songs are better than others and I am not sure if I like his voice but overall it was a great gig.

Gary Moore **

Not too long after Moore had left the stage B.B. King and his all-black-male Band kick off their two hours show. Although it is Blues in essence, it has a big band feel to it and a lot of humour. Apart from perfectly played tunes, some touchy, some uplifting, I can´t help thinking how could it must be to have B.B. King as a grandfather. “I am a good man, a blues man, understand?” sings B.B. and we do understand!

B.B. King ***

2005 - Kiss Expo III Nottingham Interview: Zakk Wylde (Danny James)

2007-09-20T03:54:00.000-07:00

I had an interview with Danny Lee James and “Space Ace” about Rock and Roll and all sorts of things.

Danny is playing music since age 4. He is a classical trained pianist and holds grade 8 in pianoforte. He also plays guitar for almost 25 years now.

He started playing guitar when he first heard Ozzy Osbourne’s first guitar player Randy Rhoads.

Danny played in a band called Fahrenheit an released two albums with them as well as performing in front of 84.000 people at the European Harley Davidson Rally in Berlin in 1994.

He also spent 3 years in the longest running KISS tribute band “Dressed to kill”.

Danny is now playing as Zakk Wylde in both an Ozzy Osbourne tribute act as well as in a Black Label Society tribute band.

Zakk:
What I like about rock music is the fact that you have to be able to play an instrument, you have to be able to play it well, you have to present yourself on stage and there is no fallacy of “here today – gone tomorrow”. It is all about hard work, commitment, and dedication. To me that is what represents rock music apart from what you see on TV now, things like “The X factor”.

TJ:
We went to see Alice Cooper in Glasgow last week and Twisted Sister opened up for him and they said they don’t even have a record company. They are currently talking to a record company in Scotland but they want to see how the tour goes.

Space Ace:
The last Twisted Sister album, was what? – All the old songs but on a disc.

Zakk:
Motley Crue were the instigators of this. They’ve gone on to form their own record label Motley Records. Kiss a re gonna do the same, they are running through Sanctuary now. Sanctuary has always been renown for working with rock musicians, Iron Maiden especially. Most rock bands now don’t get anywhere. They don’t get airplay for a start, they don’t get the credit they deserve and they don’t get the time that they deserve and a lot of people, a lot of young kids are coming to rock music now via the “Green Day”, “Blink 182” sort of door. Some of it is good but … at least it is live music but unfortunately a lot of them are coming in through the “Busted” sort of door, which is just fucking ass. And although they do play their own instruments to a point it is not rock music and …

Space Ace:
It is rock music with a twang

Zakk:
Well, there is a difference. There is Kiddie – Rock and than there is rock and roll.

TJ:
The Sweet or the Bay City Rollers were no different …

Zakk:
No. Well, there is a difference between the Sweet and the Bay City Rollers. Although the Bay City Rollers were phenomenally huge there is only one track I can remember of them whereas with Sweet there is a lifetime’s work of material and that’s the difference.

TJ:
You don’t get anybody saying things like: “Oh yeah, Prince was great”, although he really was in the 1980s. He only gets slugged nowadays.

Zakk:
I think the reason why people slug Prince off nowadays is because he is not that prominent anymore and people haven’t moved on from the shows that he put on. They’ve become used to not seeing that sort of show. The same thing could be said with Kiss. People become so used to not seeing the Kiss – Show nowadays in the UK that anything will do. When Crue came over here this year people were just like: “Fuck, wow” but then again the Crue – show was awesome but still nothing compared to what Kiss can do. People need that sort of exposure to live shows and to top artists but unfortunately the UK is so isolated.

TJ:
So is Ireland. We only get to see half the bands you get to see. So many bands came over, like Queen, who did their final show of their 2005 tour in Dublin, saying: “We didn’t know if we can come over, we had to calculate it”. Maiden played in 2003 and they said that they had been warned not to come over to Ireland because there is no market for hard rock and yet they sold out the biggest venue in Dublin.

Space Ace:
We’re just starved of music

Zakk:
Totally starved

TJ:
To me, U2 is not rock music anymore either

Zakk:
Unfortunately for U2 it is more a political statement than anything else from one member of the band. The band themselves are immensely talented, they are phenomenally good and they are by far one of the best live bands in the world. If only Bono took his head from out his ass. He is a fallacy to what he speaks about. He speaks about that we should treat the third world like the first world and we should give them all our money, yet, this guy is probably living in the biggest mansion you’ve ever seen.

Space Ace:
A lot of these rock stars are shouting about helping the world …

(People walk by, wondering what’s going on. We all are saying: Come on, join in, we’re just having a conversation about Bono…)

Space Ace:
… but they are not looking at their back doors.

TJ:
Where they came from …

Space Ace:
Where they came from and a lot of the areas they came from are deprived. So, some of the money that they earn should go back into their local communities.

Zakk:
U2 themselves could have financed at least two countries in Africa’s food thing out of the money they earned from their last tour. It is a very, very conflicting policy that he (Bono) has.

TJ:
There is one thing about all the Kiss things that you hear … I have this Eric Carr DVD …

Zakk:
Yes, the Fox – thing..

TJ:
.. where he (Eric Carr) actually brings in the Slayer tape to Kiss and they actually end up playing with Kiss. That’s commitment to rock and roll

Zakk:
Yes, it is and Eric Singer has just done the “Hurricane Kathrina” relief gig in the States and Bruce (Dickinson) is doing it as well and that’s in between a major Alice Cooper tour. I think music has got a much more wider reach to people these days. And it is not just rock music, it is all sorts of music.

Space Ace:
At the end of the day though, everywhere is suffering, what does it come down to, to support everybody in the world: Live Aid!

TJ:
And then people still get blamed they’re only trying to make money

Zakk:
Yes, Bob Geldof springs to mind there.

Space Ace:
You got to stand up for your rights.

Zakk:
To be quite honest with you, Bob Geldof is just an arrogant twat anyway.
(Everybody is laughing)

Zakk:
I spent six hours with him on a plane. He is just miserable…The funny thing is, where I live, I live in Freemantle in Perth, where Bon Scott grew up. I was saying earlier, there are about three AC/DC tribute bands in the Perth area and they try their hardest not to do any Bon Scott material, especially: “It is a long way to the top” as this is, unofficially, Australia’s national anthem. You try that and you don’t sound as lot like Bon Scott – you’re bottled! No one else in the band, only the singer. I have seen it happening, it is not good, you know.

TJ:
Do you have some admiration then for Brian Johnson?

Zakk:
Oh, Christ, yeah …

TJ:
I remember when Bon Scott died I thought that’s it but when “Back in Black” was released I thought: “Shit, he really pulled it off!”

Zakk:
Yeah, I think it is the greatest rock album ever made and it proofed it by selling, what, roughly 46 million copies to date?!

TJ:
Yeah, it is massive

2005 - Kiss Expo III Nottingham Interview: Jazan Wild

2007-09-20T03:41:00.000-07:00

I also met Jazan Wild. Jazan´s CD "Carnival of Souls" is a stunner and by right should be signed by a big and supportive record company. Curt Cuomo is credited as co-producer on Jazan´s album and is known by KISS fans for co-writing songs on KISS´"Carnival of souls" album. (Yes, 2 albums - same title, different artists!) as well as co-writing the KISS stunner "Psycho Circus". Main producer of the album is Grammy(TM) award winner Bob Kulick, who is associated with KISS right from the start. His younger brother Bruce was in KISS from 1984 to their amazing reunion in 1996.

Jazan Wild currently tries to convey his comics and music to as many people as possible.

Jazan turned out to be a very nice and spiritual person and it was a pleasure talking to him. We even exchanged our CDs and Jazan also gave me a free comic. Thanks again, Jazan

TJ:
Do you have any advise for people who are interested in drawing and who want to get into the business? I noticed on your website that people could approach you about that. My girlfriend’s sister is 15 now and she wants to do Anime and all that …

Jazan:
Actually, this is the gentlemen right here: Rich is our editor and he does a ton of submissions and stuff. She is 15? I think, the best thing is to do what you wanna do, you follow your heart. If you believe in what you do it will be a million times better than working in some job you don’t love to do. If she finds people that she really likes, like, say she finds a great artist like Kevin Conrad or so, develop their style, learn what it is that she likes about it and just keep practising and believe in herself. I met a lot of those people and they are just people. As soon as you realise that she has every much as right to be successful as they do just keep at it. The worst thing is a lot of people like to tell people that they can’t do something. They just like to tell them that because they stopped.

TJ:
It is conditioning

Jazan:
Yes, it is conditioning. They stopped doing what they want to do but she shouldn’t stop no matter what. If she wants to do it – go do it.

TJ:
How do you get out of the lows?

Jazan:
The lows? Well, surround yourself with people that are positive. I got very lucky that the people I am with are very positive people. There are gonna be lows everyday and on every level there is ups and downs. Even if you get to your biggest success, like this, this is a Kiss convention and Kiss is notorious for having ups and downs. Even Kiss, they had so many ups and downs and even on their level they still have that. You have to keep an in-go. I have to keep an in-go to keep going. Right now my new goal is to get this comic book and this CD to as many people as I can. I really don’t care about the money. I think the money comes with what you love. I am gonna find a way to get it out to as many people as I can but I have ups and downs and setbacks every day. But as long as I stay focused on my final goal I should be able to keep going. If you wanna make a CD. Just go and make one.

TJ:
I made nine!

Jazan:
You made nine?! Well, you see what I am saying. Can I get one?

TJ:
Yeah, we can swap.

Jazan:
Yeah, let’s switch out.

(TJ asks his girlfriend to take a picture while the lads exchange their CDs.)

TJ:
This is historical!

Jazan:
I really appreciate it

TJ:
So do I. Our idea as well was to come over (to the expo, that is) to give support to “really” played music and I actually like the idea that it is not only about music. With regards to Kiss, it has always been about the package as well.

Jazan:
It is true, I mean, when I started to do this I then just see the music, I then just see the comic book. I had this whole vision. I love Alice Cooper, I love Kiss …

TJ:
We just saw Alice live last week in Glasgow.

Jazan:
How was it?

TJ:
Great. It was absolutely fantastic. And Twisted Sister opened up.

Jazan:
Dee Snyder rocks! And Eric Singer was playing drums.

TJ:
Yeah, and Alice Cooper: “I have him, the best drummer in all rock and roll: The mighty, mighty Eric Singer!”

Jazan:
And you know what, he is right!

TJ:
I also was a big, big fan of Eric Carr

Jazan:
Me too.

TJ:
When I started drumming I wanted to drum like him.

Jazan:
Yeah, “Creatures of the night” …

TJ:
I only had an electronic drum kit back then but I still played heavy metal as I simply couldn’t afford another kit. And I remember when he died I was really sad. I felt really close to him.

Jazan:
Eric was so personal with the fans, he really build up this whole reputation. I mean, he was just loved by anybody who met the guy.

TJ:
Did you see “The story of the fox” DVD?

Jazan:
The DVD, yes, they have Bill Aucoin and all, which was so cool.

TJ:
I just bought it four weeks ago. I couldn’t find it anywhere in Ireland, so I ordered it via Amazon or something like that. When you look at the DVD I was thinking: “I didn’t know all that …” I didn’t know that he was into drawing.

Jazan:
Oh, really? Oh, the Rockheads™, yeah, I forgot about that. And I remember Bruce Kulick and him released a CD that featured the Rockheads, and they had all that big hair and stuff. I still love the guy, I do.

TJ:
In my “non rock star life” as I call it, I work with kids as a homework support worker and I always come back from my travels with some advise. They are all living in a real disadvantaged area with lots of anti social behaviour and I got great advise out of Adam Bomb as well and I will certainly use what you said about the “positiveness”.

Jazan:
Yeah, and if they are from a small area that’s the thing they got to remember too, I came from a very, very small town and basically nobody ever leaves the town. Well, I left the town and I felt like being up against the world and it will never take off but you just keep going, you keep that in-go. As long as they do that it doesn’t make a difference where they’re from. Paul and Gene came from somewhere, I mean, Gene came …

TJ:
.. from Israel.

Jazan:
..From Israel and he used to, I mean, if he get the book he did: “Kiss and makeup” I think it is, I had the audio book version of it, and he talks about how he used to get fruit and bring it back and sell it, I mean, they were so poor but he found a way, even back then he was finding a way to get out there and do something and be creative. And he did, he dragged the food down and sold it to the people when they came back from the fields and he brought the money home to his mum. He has been my aspiration, Gene Simmons, without a doubt. I don’t care what people say, sometimes people say bad things about him but I love the guy. He has also been in a very tough business for 40 some years now and he had to deal with people who were trying to take stuff from him for a long time and when you look back at some of the other artists like those from “Motown”, those guys never got a dime for any of the work they did. Gene Simmons is one of these guys who says: “Now, I get what I deserve”. I admire that he looks out for himself, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I actually like it.

TJ:
I was surprised when the “Kiss Box Set” was released in 2001, and it comes with this huge booklet, that Gene said they couldn’t get the rights of some of the Van Halen songs, he had originally recorded as demos. I mean, he made Van Halen.

Jazan:
He totally discovered Van Halen.

TJ:
You never know who owns those rights. Maybe it wasn’t any of the actual players in the band that stopped him.

Jazan:
Yeah, you never know who owns what, it is not Eddie and Alex. They could have released “Kiss meets the phantom at the park”, he didn’t even know about his own movie. I think it is finally coming out now. I don’t know if it is through Kiss or through someone else. That’s what I was trying to talk about, he has learned from those mistakes and he is trying from here on out to make right those wrongs. I agree with that.

TJ:
What do you think of his new solo album?

Jazan:
I like the lot of it, I think my favourite track, I mean I love “Carnival of souls” and I actually like the title track a lot and then there is one track that Bob Kulick co-wrote on it and I thought that is really cool too and I am really looking forward to Paul’s.

TJ:
This is highly anticipated everywhere. To many people I spoke to, Paul is what makes Kiss tick.

Jazan:
To me, I think, Gene I always liked more as a personality and more as, I mean I love his songs in Kiss, I do, but Paul’s, who I love, I mean, if you want to listen to a solo album then I think it should be Paul’s. I love a lot of Gene’s but then there is some stuff I didn’t like on Gene’s too. But then, you can’t put Paul Stanley in “Rock School” and make it work either. There is different aspects, Gene can do all these other things I admire but I think Paul Stanley’s album is gonna kick ass, I really do, I think it is going to be great.

TJ:
I wish him well anyway

Jazan:
Yeah, me too. But I still want another Kiss album.

TJ:
Absolutely. I mean, at the moment I don’t really care who plays what on an album as they always managed to create a vibe.

Jazan:
They do. The album I loved was: “Carnival of souls”, and I am not saying it because I did that, and “Revenge”. In “Revenge” and “Carnival of souls” they started to go in this dark turn.

TJ:
What’s the song called that Paul wrote for his son? “I’ll be there”.

Jazan:
Yeah. I co-wrote three songs on my album with Curt Cuomo. Curt Cuomo co-wrote every song that Paul Stanley sang on “Carnival of souls” and he co-wrote “Psycho Circus”. You can hear that Curt is a great songwriter and they really worked well together. I like where Bruce and Eric took the music, I thought these guys are going in this really great direction and then the re-union happened and who can not want that?

TJ:
Yeah, but I felt sorry for Bruce and Eric and I was quite surprised when Tommy Thayer joined. I always felt that Bruce Kulick should have been the one to come back. Maybe that was only wishful thinking. I really was into the off – makeup period.

Jazan:
Yeah, you liked the whole eighties and “Lick it up” and all that.

TJ:
I wasn’t too fond of “Lick it up” but “Animalize” was just great. At that time they played in half an empty hall back then supported by Bon Jovi.

Jazan:
Bon Jovi, I love the guy. I think he is great.

TJ:
Nah, I hate him.

Jazan:
(laughs) You hate him! Do you like him (directs his question to TJs girlfriend, who nods), his new album is great.

TJ:
I think he is a big show-off. I don’t really “not like him” but I think he has rather lost his edge, you know what I mean. Anyway, Kiss played in half an empty hall because it was unmasked and they had only taken Bruce Kulick into the band because St. John had developed the Reiters – Syndrom and couldn’t play and that was the first time I saw them.

Jazan:
They did that with “Creatures of the night” too. The first time I saw them was the “Creatures” tour and there wasn’t as many people at that because there was a lot of things going on in the states. It was down south in the States and it was all this religious stuff going on too and there was protesting and all that but that was one of the best times that I had ever seen Kiss. It was so cool to see that big tank out there and the whole “I love it loud” thing.

TJ:
I saw them three times. In 1984 and twice when the reunion happened. It is not so easy in Europe to see them.

Jazan:
They don’t come over as much and they really should. There is so many fans, I mean, just look at this today. This is a Kiss convention and there are tons of people here.

TJ:
Yeah, and everybody feeds back. I just read that Eric goes to Mexico for another convention with Bruce Kulick. And lots of Japanese are into Heavy Metal as well. It is funny that they are so reserved and at the same time really rock.

Jazan:
Exactly, and we are releasing this CD in Japan and also we are releasing the comic in Japan because it is really huge there. I am looking forward to it

TJ:
We went to see Def Leppard in Dublin a few years ago and there was this fan from Nagoya in Japan who just came over for this. She booked two nights at the hotel next to the venue just to be there. Wow, how cool is that. Having fans like this is what keeps a band going.

Jazan:
Yeah, well, Bon Jovi just broke the records. There are just three bands that ever managed to climb to number one, American bands, maybe not American bands, but rock bands who went straight to number one. I don’t know exactly the wording but they are only three bands that achieved what they’ve just achieved: Beatles, Bay City Rollers and Bon Jovi!

TJ:
Bay City Rollers???

Jazan:
Bay City Rollers of all people, I read that and I was like: “Really?” but it is true. Do you remember them?

TJ:
I sure do

Jazan:
My girlfriend loves them

TJ:
The original singer of the Bay City Rollers is doing this charity gig next months in Glasgow with Alvin Stardust. What is his name again?

Jazan’s grifriend:
McKeown.

TJ:
Yeah, Ian McKeown. Are you going?

Jazan’s girlfriend:
I’d love to but unfortunately we will be back in the States next Wednesday.

TJ:
We read about that when we went over to see Alice Cooper. My son is thirteen now and I invited him to a Whitesnake concert. It was the only rock concert that was on at the time and even though I am not too fond of David Coverdale I thought it is a good idea to bring him to a rock gig. He is still listening to “50 Cent”, what can you do? It is his time now.

Jazan:
That’s a fed that is pushed on people: Rap. I mean its got its place but the thing I don’t like about the American music right now is that you got maybe 5 to 10 companies that control the whole what everybody hears and they push what they want to push and there are so many great bands out there that really never get a fair shake and that’s why I am having my own company. And I love it, I absolutely love it and we put the music that we want out there and we don’t care what those companies say and it is being super. We are received just amazingly by everybody, so be it. That’s what I meant by saying “having the dream and just not quitting”. If I woulda just went by American music I would have given up but I didn’t. I said I will achieve it no matter what and that’s what you gotta do. Kiss does that. Sometimes they were huge, remember “Unmasked”, I mean, they were huge in Australia when they didn’t do that well in the States they find ways to keep the ball rolling and that’s cool, I love it.

Thanks to Jazan for this really cool interview.

See also KISS 1984, 1996, 1999, Kiss Expo III Nottingham 2005 and all related blogs, Alice Cooper & Twisted Sister 2005

2005 - Kiss Expo III Nottingham Interview: Adam Bomb

2007-09-20T03:35:00.000-07:00

Adam Bomb is one hell of a musician who auditioned for Kiss twenty some years ago when he was under eighteen. He is a freak but a very nice one. I enjoyed interviewing him as well as seeing him perform a “three Kiss song” live set.

TJ:
When it didn’t happen with Kiss …

Adam: What do you mean “It didn’t happen”?

TJ:
When you didn’t get the gig

Adam:
How would I get the gig. They’re not gonna hire a fucking boy, a little boy. They were grown men, I mean, I lied to them on my part. I just wanted to meet them and play with them and I got that chance.

TJ:
Lets just imagine you would have been accepted as a member of Kiss and they would make you wear make up. What do you think they would have chosen for you?

Adam:
Oh, I don’t know, I would have been worse shaped than Ace. I would have never been able to handle that, you know, I am my own animal. I don’t know, probably, what animal would I be? I don’t know, they haven’t made up yet a monster from garden Eden. I think they’d make me into a little girl, a little pretty girl. You know, I am a cartoon without makeup, I don’t need makeup, you know.

TJ:
Apart from doing radio I also work with kids. If a little boy now starts playing guitar what advise can you give him apart from not listening to people?

Adam:
Listen to Van Halen, try to humble yourself and learn how to eat shit and do it on a daily basis. It all depends on what you want to do with your life. I mean, I couldn’t recommend what I do to anybody but I don’t think anybody could do what I do. I do 200 to 250 shows in the space of a year but that’s what it is about. It is about playing music. My advice is to play in front of people, play loud, get an old guitar, don’t use effects, listen to Van Halen or Led Zeppelin, Michael Schenker from UFO or the Scorpions, you know, the real guitarists. Angus Young,ehm, try to sound like them, work on your vibrato, try not to sound like a dodgy flat singer, when you play guitar try to sound in key and in tune and rock like fuck. I kinda play guitar like Mike Tyson. Yeah, maybe there is a lot of guys that are better than me but I bite your fucking ear off, I don’t care. It is all about beating the shit out of it and loving it at the same time. It’s the same like treating a woman.

TJ:
Beating the shit out of her and loving it?

(Adam turns around to my girlfriend and tries to sell her a CD than he realises that she is there with me. We have some problems with our new camera …)

TJ:
There is something wrong with this bleeding camera

Adam:
That’s because you bought a Japanese one. If you would have bought a German one it would have been more efficient.

TJ:
Maybe, the camera is operated by a German. Does that not make up for it?

Adam:
(laughs) I don’t know.

Thanks Adam for your time and insight.

See also:

KISS 1984, KISS 1996, KISS 1999, Scorpions 1996

2005 - Kiss Expo III Nottingham

2007-09-20T03:28:00.000-07:00

19.11.2005 Rock City / Nottingham
KISS EXPO III – 2005
With: Eric Singer, Dressed to Kill ...

We left Dublin by plane at 7.10 a.m. on a Saturday morning, hoping for a cool day and I wasn’t disappointed – the KISS Expo turned out to be the event of the year. And that says a lot as 2005 was an eventful year with plenty of good acts coming our way.

After checking in at the Jury’s Inn in Nottingham and a lovely English breakfast with beans, sausages, toast and everything at the “Cosy Teapot Café” I was on my way to the Welbeck Hotel next to the Rock City venue, where I was hoping to find Adam Bomb, which whom I had scheduled an appointment over the phone a few weeks ago. He wasn’t there!

I found him at the expo where the whirlwind musician was busy selling his merchandise before playing a three – song KISS set which included “Detroit Rock City”, “Firehouse” and “Rock and Roll all night”.

The interview later turned out great. He was genuinely nice, talkative and open. It was fun and a pleasure talking to him. Eric Singer was busy signing autographs just opposite Adams small stand and was too busy to be approached for an interview.

That was o.k. – there were plenty of people willing to share their opinions about rock music in general. I got to talk to many people and it was good craic.
After talking to Danny Lee James, Ex – “Dressed to Kill”, and a mate of his I was also able to chat to Jazan Wild, who just produced a CD, produced by Bob Kulick, featuring original material, partly co-written by Curt Cuomo who wrote plenty of songs with Paul Stanley in the past. Jazan is also involved in a comic series and his quest was to convey his stuff to the general public.

The conversation I had with him was my personal highlight of the day as he turned out to be quite spiritual. We exchanged our own CDs and on top of that he even gave me a free comic. Thanks again, Jazan.

As expected, the expo was packed! There was everything from the regular KISS merchandise to face painters and all those long-haired rockers were absolutely cool and kind and there weren’t any tensions anywhere whatsoever.
It was simply brilliant!

2005 - Queen and Paul Rogers

2007-09-20T03:27:00.001-07:00

14.05.2005 The Point, Dublin
QUEEN & PAUL RODGERS
€ 70,95

18 years after their last tour and 14 years after Freddie Mercury’s AIDS – related death in November 1991 Queen are back. The band that struggled for over a decade in the quest to replace Mercury finally found a match in Ex – “Free” Front man Paul Rodgers.

This is a highly anticipated tour – living legends live in Dublin. As a matter of fact, the Dublin gig is the last gig of the tour and the Point seems to be sold out.

Around 9 p.m. Queen and Paul hit the stage and play classic after classic for the next 2 ¼ hours.

The mood is infectious and Roger Taylor and Brian May accompanied by world class musicians are simply amazing. Brian has two solo parts where he sings with the crowd and where he plays a massive guitar solo.

Needless to mention that the Queen production is big. The sound is massive and the visuals match the music.

Roger Taylor also sings a couple of songs on his own including “Say it is not true” against HIV.

All in all simply brilliant.

Brian May refers to Paul Rodgers as the “best white boy to sing the blues” – that might be so but the Queen material is a different matter altogether.

No doubt, Rodgers can sing and especially the three classic “Free” songs were brilliant but throughout the show he didn’t seem to get into the spirit of things and very often he simply didn’t reach those notes.

The overall evening doesn’t fail to impress but Rodgers, quite frankly, is not the singer the masses were hoping for.

Queen and Paul Rodgers ** Good

see also
Queen coverband 2000, Queen Musical 2003

2005 - Paul Di'Anno

2007-09-20T03:24:00.000-07:00

27.02.2005 Whelans, Camden Street, Dublin:
PAUL DI´ANNO
Special Guests:
€ 17,-

“Bruce Dickinson IS the best singer of Maiden … “ (Quote, Paul Di`Anno) – but that doesn’t mean that Di´Anno isn’t a great singer himself. After all, it was his voice that made Iron Maiden famous in the first place. When Maiden exploded, rumour has it, Di´Anno couldn’t handle the pressure that came along with fame. But all that is ages ago and Di´Anno is back on track and back on the road. Or, is he?

Apparently not.

Shortly after 8p.m. the first of two support bands “Involution” started the evening off with a four-song set. Unfortunately, the songs weren’t any good and nobody seemed to have liked them. So: No points for “Involution”.

Almost immediately after “Involution”, “Scavenger” hit the stage to play seven songs to the audience. The songs were way better than “Involution’s” and the audience was way more supportive.

Scavengers singer pointed out that Paul Di´Anno is pretty pissed off because England lost a football match against Ireland on that day and everybody thought that was just a joke.

Apparently it wasn’t – Stoned or drunk or something in between Di´Anno walked on stage and along came a very negative attitude. He constantly gave out about the “fact” that the Dublin crowd was obviously less noisy than the Belfast – crowd has been and when his microphone quit working four times he became furious, shouting at the engineer and telling the audience that he is taking on anyone who wants to fight. He called a “fan” a fucking cunt and when he (finally) said something nice to the audience almost nobody believed that this came from the heart.

Even though Paul and his really brilliant band played some of the classic Maiden tracks, including “Sanctuary” and “Running free” – his voice was not as I had remembered it. Perhaps it was the P.A., perhaps it was his shape – whatever it was, it wasn’t good at all.

A very disappointing evening.

Involution *
Scavenger **
Paul Di´Anno *

See also:
Iron Maiden 2003

2005 - Erasure

2007-09-20T03:21:00.000-07:00

25.02.2005 Vicar Street, Dublin
ERASURE
€ 41,50

Support: Piney Gir

It has been a while since Erasure embarked on a tour therefore it is no surprise that nearly all gigs are sold out.

The Erasure tour kicked off in Belfast only a day before Erasure hits the republic of Ireland for a two nights sold out performance at the Vicar Street. As a life long fan I have been waiting for this event for years.

The tour supports their new album: “Nightbird” – truly: Erasure’s best album in years.

Female vocalist Piney Gir supported by two Gentlemen on the keys opens up for Erasure. She uses a very old Yamaha SHS – 10 keyboard and a Casio DG-20 to make her music sound “old” or at least old fashioned and herself is wearing a fifties style petticoat. As interesting as she may look – the music cannot score at all.

To describe it as strange wouldn’t do it any justice. She is reminiscent of Björk at times but hasn’t got her grace. None of the songs really grab the attention of the audience and even though one must confirm cool break beats at times the songs lack originality. Her last song was a rather weird version of “The Who” classic “My Generation”.

Piney Gir *

Only minutes later Erasure hit the stage. The stage is nicely decorated and looks like a forest to underline the path of the “Nightbird”.

The band starts with a new song: “No doubt” and as the show unfolds Erasure plays some more tracks from the new CD. It is astonishing how smoothly the new material fits in with the classic songs. Vince Clark stays in the shadow (as usual) and plays his synthesizers and acoustic guitar to the miracle voice of one Andy Bell and their two female backing vocalists.

Andy dances along the stage and is very friendly and genuinely nice to the audience. He likes to show off in his golden underpants or his angel- or even Elvis outfit. Erasure plays all their favourite tracks from “Respect”, “I love to hate you”, “In your arms”, “Oh Lamoure”, “Ship of fools” and “Blue Savannah Song” to the new songs such as “Breathe” or “I’ll bet your mad at me”.

Andy looks a bit tired and he is not always in tune with his surroundings, forgets some of the lyrics and often looks to Vince Clark for guidance. He still is the brilliant entertainer he is so well known for and the concert is simply a wonderful experience.

Erasure ***

See also: Depeche Mode 1998, Depeche Mode 2006 Birmingham/Manchester/Dublin/Portugal Alison Moyet 2002 Tommy Musical 1995

2005 - Elton John

2007-09-20T03:19:00.000-07:00

02.07.2005 RDS Arena, Dublin
ELTON JOHN
Support: James Blunt, Rufus Wainwright

The concert day coincided with the historical LIVE8 concerts, once more organised by Sir Bob Geldof. This time Geldof had arranged 9 concerts simultaneously around the globe. “Make poverty history” was the slogan used for the events. All concerts were entrance free. “We don’t want your money – we want your name” (Geldof) – the name was wanted on the pledge to make poverty history, available on the especially created Website: www.live8live.com - 9 cities, 150 bands, 2 million spectators, 3.8 billion viewers!

Due to the fact that Elton John was performing @ LIVE8 in London earlier in the day the gates of the RDS opened at 1p.m. and from 2 p.m. onwards LIVE8 was broadcasted on big screens until 6p.m., the time when James Blunt plus band was coming on stage.

Blunt was very nice and his songs were all well interpreted by him and his band. The songs are all love songs really and their 40 minutes set was nice to listen to / look at.

Only minutes later Rufus Wainwright and his bunch of musicians entered the stage. Rufus´ sense of humour was hilarious although most of the material played was rather serious or at least not meant to be taken funny.

Most of his songs weren’t easy listening at all but they were showcased with professionalism and fun and therefore were really enjoyable.

Only minutes later Elton John and his brilliant band were on. Boy, they were great. In a bit over two hours Elton John played some tracks from his current album: “Peachtree Road” as well as tracks from the just completed “Billy Elliot” musical score.

And Elton also played a number of his world hits, including: “Daniel”, “Sad Songs”, “That’s why they call it the Blues”, “Don’t let the sun go down and me”, “Rocket man” and “This song”.

Elton John is a virtuous piano player and a brilliant singer. He was full of energy and accompanied by drums, guitar, bass, percussion, keyboards and (at least sometimes) an eight headed choir Elton Johns performance was mind blowing.

The mood was good and the RDS was really packed.

Elton John *** Rufus Wainwright *** James Blunt ***

2005 - Duran Duran

2007-09-20T03:16:00.001-07:00

DURAN DURAN
Birmingham Football Club, 28th May 2005
Support: The Bravery, Daniel Bedingfield
₤ 45,-

Wow! That really was a superb experience. Only a 25min. walk from the hotel brought us to the stadium. We booked and paid the tickets months ago per credit card and Ticketmaster™ UK failed to send the tickets to us on time therefore we ended up in a long queue to finally get our tickets on the day of the event.

Fortunately the entrance 6: “Seating Blocks 25 – 35” was next to the ticket desk so we didn’t have to look any further and decided to take another stroll through the city instead of waiting for the stadium to open alongside all the others who only got standing tickets.

The stadium opened its gates around 3.30 p.m. and the show finally kicked off around 6.20p.m. when The Bravery from America came on stage.

The sound quality wasn’t great and so the songs did not really catch my attention. The sound got better towards the end of their rather short set and what I could hear was quite likeable.

Some 15 minutes later Daniel Bedingfield and band hit the stage. He was warmly received by the crowd and really kicked ass, musically. Full of energy and with good, strong vocals and good melodies it was fun to watch him.

30 000 people gathered at the Birmingham City Football Stadium St. Andrews to watch the “wild boys” returning to their hometown.

And their hometown gig left a lasting impression.

Supported by a massive light show and cool stage outfit the “fab 5” wasted no time and picked up speed right from the start. Duran Duran were in brilliant shape and even though Simon LeBon had problems hitting the right keys from time to time the music was perfect.

Double Duran played most of their hits including: “(Reach out for the) Sunrise”, “The Reflex”, “Wild Boys”, “Girls On Film” and “Save A Prayer”. “Rio” ended the show.

My personal highlight was “The Chauffeur” which I hadn’t heard in years and the charismatic Cockney Rebel – cover: “Make me smile”.

All in all a great night out. The boys seemed in tune with each other and they certainly enjoyed themselves as much as the fans.

Duran Duran - *** Great
Daniel Bedingfield - *** Great
The Bravery ** - Good

For more about The Bravery see Depeche Mode 2006

2005 - Duran Duran in Birmingham (Images)

2007-09-20T03:10:00.000-07:00

2004 - Riverdance

2007-09-19T07:26:00.000-07:00

02.08.2004 Gaiety Theatre / Dublin
RIVERDANCE

We were sitting in row E on the seats 18 and 19 just a few metres away from the stage.

Riverdance lived up to its promise to be one of the best performances ever. In general the play depicts scenes from the great Irish famine, slavery and from the time when the Iriah fled in their thousands to escape starvation.

The stage lighting and numerous slideshows add value to the stunning performance of Irish dance.

Very well done was the scene in which black American guys were dancing in the streets and where there was a competition between them and the newly arrived Irish chaps.

The ensemble consists of approximately 25 performers and there is an excellent five piece band backing them up musically.

Vocally there is this massive black fellow who sings: “There life can be golden if your heart unfolds” referring to slavery. The evening is full of diversity and yet everything fits neatly.

A superb experience and good value for money.

Riverdance ***

2004 - Harlem Gospel Choir

2007-09-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

20th October 2004 St. Mary´s Pro Cathedral, Dublin
HARLEM GOSPEL CHOIR

When my mother visited me over here in Ireland two years ago we couldn’t get tickets for the world famous Harlem Gospel Choir. She passed away in April this year and now they are on tour again.

My son was visiting me for the first time ever and we went to see the choir and in retro-spective honoured my mum that way.

The church was packed and the choir lived up to its expectation.

Among well known church songs the choir also performed songs from artists such as the likes of R. Kelly and the Beatles and their voices were great.

It was a nice evening in the midst of a nice church and as the choir sang: “It’s a mighty good thing to be chosen by god” …

*** Super

2004 - Whitesnake

2007-09-19T07:22:00.000-07:00

26th October 2004 Olympia Theatre, Dublin
WHITESNAKE, support: Ham Sandwich

“Ham Sandwich” replaced “The Quire boys” as Whitesnake´s support act and their 30 minutes set was not a very good one.

The songs lacked originality and the crazy behaviour of Ham Sandwich’s guitar player couldn´t make up for it.

Although their female singer had a nice voice and was nice to look at they didn’t quite spark.

Not good at all

Just 10 minutes later “Whitesnake” hit the stage for a 2-hour happening at the Olympia. Me, my girlfriend and my son Kevin happened to be at the front row, directly in front of a huge set of speakers and we were blown away in the very sense of the word.

David Coverdale, already 53 years of age, still behaved as if he would be in his late teens and his attitude was not always nice: He is a real fucked up rock and roll singer !! And people like him for it.

The band itself was as brilliant as a band can be. They were really friendly, outgoing and passionate musicians and nice to watch for the duration of the concert.

** Good

www.whitesnake.com

See also:
Whitesnake 1997

2004 - Simon and Garfunkel

2007-09-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

17.07.2004 RDS Arena / Dublin
SIMON & GARFUNKEL
Support. The Everly Brothers

It was really sunny day and we knew that this gig was going to be sold out. The concert was supposed to start at 8pm and the gates opened around 5 p.m.

We made our way to the RDS Arena in Ballsbridge around 1 p.m. and the event staff at the gates were very friendly. They gave us blue ribbons so that we could wander off again but still could be in the very first row in the pitch area later during the show.

The place was really crowded and just standing behind the barriers from 5 until 8 p.m. was torture. Finally Simon and Garfunkel kicked off their “old friends” tour at 8.15p.m.

The huge stage offered a good view at the artists and due to big screens to the left and right of the stage it didn’t really matter that they were a good bit away from us.

The chemistry between Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel wasn’t brilliant but the material and their performance was superb – after all: They are living legends.

Simon and Garfunkel met at the age of 11, exactly fifty years ago, when both of them got cast for a school production of “Alice in Wonderland”. They had their ups and downs and the rest is history.

Their program included all the major hits from: “The Rock”, “Homeward bound”, “Bridge over troubled water” to “Cecilia” and of course “Sound of Silence”.

Halfway through the night they introduced the Everly brothers as their idols and the two piece family band sang three songs including the number one smash hit: “Wake up little Susie”.

I would have loved to see Simon and Garfunkel in a more intimate venue but the night was well worth what we had paid for.

10 000 people in the audience and a visibly moved world class duo on stage – what more can you ask for.

Simon and Garfunkel **
The Everly Brothers **

See also:
Art Garfunkel 1997
Art Garfunkel 1998
Art Garfunkel 2003

2004 - Rick Astley

2007-09-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

05.09.2004 Spirit Dublin / Ireland
RICK ASTLEY

On Rick’s Tour Info on www.rickastley.co.uk one can read that Rick Astley, who wasn’t on tour for 17 years (!), kicks off his tour in Dublin.

It says on the homepage that this isn’t going to be a “Best Of” Tour – and, because I didn’t check out the homepage prior to the gig, I was surprised.

Surprised because Astley performed songs he was introduced to by his parents and those songs were mainly songs from Frank Sinatra and compositions of Kurt Bacharach. The set list also consisted of Fred Astaire´s 1930s classic: “Heaven” and Casablanca – Hit:” As time goes by”. Even “That’s amore” !

Because he performed with a classical Jazz – Band: Saxophone, Trumpet, Guitar, Drums, Contrabass, Piano – his very own material, which was only performed in a short medley, sounded quite different.

Never the less – Rick Astley certainly has got the voice for singing Sinatra – classics and, even though he was terribly nervous, the show was extremely good.

Rick looked fresh and healthy and said that he had enough opportunities to perform his 80s stuff but decided not to do it as he really enjoys singing classic material in more intimate venues.

The Dublin performance is sold out and a second night is added for the 6th of September.

Some other performances are already sold out. It looks like he’s picking up his career where he had left it, even though that’s not quite true as the 2 albums: “Body & Soul”, released 1986 who never charted in the UK and made only # 198 in the US charts, and “Keep it turned on” from 1991, who has never been released in the UK, flopped pretty well.

But that happens to the best of artists – and Rick Astley still is one of the best male vocalists around.

** - Good

2004 - Reamonn Interview (German)

2007-09-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

5 Jahre Reamonn - das Interview mit Uwe und Sebastian

TJ: Fuenf Jahre Reamonn. Was hat sich geaendert? Sind die Leute beknackter geworden zu euch, in eurer Heimatstadt? Ist es leichter oder schwieriger geworden bekannt zu sein in Deutschland?

Uwe: Die Leute sind netter geworden, viel netter – eigentlich zu nett. Das ist irgendwie so die Geschichte die jeder erzählt. Plötzlich bist du erfolgreich und überall sind Blumen. Mit der Zeit blickst du dann hinter die Kulissen und weißt, dass du jetzt wieder aussieben musst. Wir sind ja die gleichen Typen wie davor. Wir hatten ein paar nette Zeitungsartikel und ein paar schöne Platten, die die Leute moegen und das veraendert schon viel, mehr als es eigentlich müsste.

TJ: Reamonn ist ja nicht Rea, sondern die Band. Wenn Interviews gemacht werden dann fragt immer jeder: Kann ich das Interview mit Rea machen?!, stört euch das ein bisschen?

Uwe: Das stoert einen am Anfang, da muss man ganz ehrlich sein, das wird auch oft gefragt, gerade von der Boulevardpresse, aber mit der Zeit stoert einen das nicht mehr. Ich hatte das ja auch mit manchen Bands. Dass Bon Jovi nur ein Typ ist habe ich bis 16 gedacht. Wenn man sich nicht fuer eine Band interessiert, dann denkt man halt, das ist nur ein Typ. Wenn man sich dann mehr fuer die Band interessiert, dann merkt man, da stehen ja noch ein paar Typen hintendran. Mit den Jahren sind wir da gut zurecht gekommen. Die ganzen Leute die heute kamen, die kennen die Songs in und auswendig...

TJ: Ja, wir haben einige eurer Fans getroffen. Ausser einigen Songs von der ersten CD kannte ich nicht viel, aber ich muss ehrlich sagen, dass ich eure Show als sehr ehrlich empfand. Hut ab. Wir machen das Interview ja fuer Regensburg und eure Fans haben uns sehr geholfen. Sind irgendwie alle Deutsch (Uwe nickt). Ist ja cool, dass die euch alle nachreisen. Ist das auch Druck? Verzeihen die euch schlechte Abende, habt ihr schlechte Abende?

Sebastian: Der Witz ist, wenn wir denken wir hatten jetzt einen schlechten Abend, was natuerlich passiert, wir sind ja auch nur Menschen, dann merken das andere meistens gar nicht. Wir sind dann meistens schlecht drauf und denken, oh, das war jetzt Scheisse, wir haben nicht so gut gespielt, es hat nicht so gegroovt oder so und du triffst dann Leute, die die Band gut kennen und die sagen: „Boah, das war total gut heute“ und du denkst: O.K.?! – Weißt du, wenn du so drinsteckst, dann sind das so die Kleinigkeiten die uns so auffallen und andere merken das gar nicht so.

Uwe: Du hast so einen gewissen Level als Musiker, den hast du einfach und dem entsprichst du auch immer. Du bist halt innerhalb dieser Range manchmal ein bisschen besser oder schlechter aber jemand der da draussen steht, der wird das wahrscheinlich niemals merken. Wie Sebi sagt, manchmal denken wir: Der Gig war eine Katastrophe und dann kommen Leute zu dir und sagen: „Ihr habt mein Leben veraendert...“ Ich glaube, wenn man eine Band macht und wenn man davon lebt und jeden Tag im Proberaum verbringt, dann ist das auch das Muss, dass man seinen Fans etwas zurück gibt. Ausnahmslos. Man geht nicht einfach so mal nicht auf die Buehne oder so, das laueft einfach nicht.

Sebastian: Du machst das ja auch fuer dich. Du machst das ja nicht nur fuer die Fans, sondern du musst ja auch fuer dich ein gutes Gefuehl haben. Ich muss denken: Ich hab gut gespielt und ich haette gar nicht besser spielen koennen. Das sind alles echte Perfektionisten in der Band und wenn einer mal nicht so gut war, das kriegt er dann hinterher von den anderen Vieren auf’s Brot geschmiert, so nach dem Motto: „Was war denn mit dir los, das war ja gar nichts...“ Die kriegen das schon mit bei uns in der Band. Jeder weiss was der andere spielt.

TJ: Wo seht ihr euch in 10 Jahren. O.K., Zehn Jahre ist ne lange Zeit aber was denkt ihr: Wird es Reamonn noch geben?

Uwe: Wir hatten schon mal solche Fragen, gerade nach „Supergirl“, Was ist in 5 Jahren, was ist in 10 Jahren?

Sebastian: Wir haben immer gesagt, wir wollen in andere Laender fahren, in anderen Laendern spielen. Komischerweise, wir haben jetzt in Portugal Stadien gespielt, in Litauen Stadien gespielt, wir spielen in Istanbul, am 15. glaube ich, Stadium ...

Uwe: Ich kann mich an so ein Gespraech mit Sebi erinnern; Da sind wir gerade aus Litauen, Letland und Estland zurueck gekommen und wir sitzen so in unserer kleinen Wohnung in Deutschland und Sebi meinte irgendwie: „Das kotzt mich echt an, ich will jetzt endlich Stadien spielen, so richtig Europaweit und so...“ und ich sagte: „Ehm, wir kommen doch gerade aus..wir eh haben doch gerade erst Stadien gespielt“. Manchmal vergisst man irgendwie wo man steht, weil was die meisten vergessen ist, dass wir eigentlich ein ganz normales Leben fuehren. Passiert uns manchmal, wenn du so zu Hause bist, im normalen
Leben drin, so mal fuer zwei Tage, und ploetzlich stehst du so vor den ganzen Leuten, das ist schon schwierig das manchmal auf die Reihe zu kriegen.

TJ: Dieses „High“ das ihr dann habt wenn ihr auf der Buehne steht, wie kompensiert ihr das?

Uwe: Das ist die Droge, das ist die beste Droge.

TJ: Wie ist das wenn ihr Monate lang unterwegs seid, habt ueberall gespielt und dann kommt das Ende der Tour, bumm, was dann?

Sebastian: Das ist der Hammer. Das ist das Schwierigste ueberhaupt. Ohne Scheiss, das ist echt beschissen. Da bist du dann zu Hause, am ersten Tag bist du voll fertig, dann sitzt du so rum und am zweiten Tag spaetestens schmeisst du dann das Album rein und hoerst es voll laut.

Uwe: Und dann merkst du so am 4. Tag, wie sich alle wieder anrufen ...

Sebastian: Dann rufen sie alle an, so: „Was machst’n gerade?“ das ist schon geil.

Uwe: Weil irgendwie keiner ruhig sitzen kann und dann denkt dann: Der andere hat jetzt keinen Bock mehr oder so und dann fragt man: Was machst n du eigentlich gerade?

TJ: Man hat es bei vielen Bands erlebt: Was ist wenn einer aussteigen wuerde? Denkt ihr, das wuerde euch nur staerker zusammen wachsen lassen oder denkt ihr, ihr wuerdet euch neu formieren? Was sind eure Gedanken dies bezueglich?

Uwe: Der Gedanke das einer ausfaellt, das waere eigentlich das Ende der Welt. Ich denke das funktioniert nur wenn du wirklich so abgefuckt bist, und so alt, dass die Musik nur noch ein Business geworden ist und dann faellt da ein Teil weg von der Band, der dann zu dem Zeitpunkt nicht mehr wichtig ist. Dann funktioniert das. Ich koennte mir das gar nicht vorstellen mit einem anderen Drummer, einem anderen Bassisten oder anderem Keyboarder.

TJ: Wenn so etwas wirklich mal passieren wuerde, waere es nicht logischer zu sagen, ihr wuerdet neu besetzen. Wenn Leute zu dir kommen und dir saggen, du hast ihr Leben veraendert, hat man dann nicht auch eine Aufgabe den Fans gegenueber? Ich meine, zurueck ins normale Leben wuerde wahrscheinlich gar nicht funktionieren, oder?

Uwe: Also, das ist unser normales Leben. Ich glaub, dann wuerden wir ne andere Band machen oder so. Wir sind Musiker, wir waren davor Musiker und wir werden immer Musiker sein. Das hat mit der Band nichts zu tun. Wenn es die Band nicht mehr geben wuerde, dann waere ich der ungluecklichste Mensch auf der Welt aber das Leben geht ja weiter.

TJ: Na ja, angenommen du hast ne neue Band, hast viele neue Sachen geschrieben und keiner will sie wirklich hoeren, ist das als Kuenstler nicht schwierig?

Sebastian: Da wo wir jetzt sind, da hast du ja schon andere Connections als wenn du jetzt gerade frisch aus dem Proberaum kommst oder so. Mal angenommen das fliegt wirklich alles auseinander, dann sind da 5 Leute und ich koennte mir schon vorstellen, dass dann jeder auf einem ganz anderen Level weiter macht als vorher. Dass die Leute dann wieder Unterrichten gehen, auf irgendwelchen Jazz – Sessions abhaengen oder wieder Hochzeitsmukke machen, das ist glaube ich wirklich vorbei. Ich meine, das war auch wichtig, es war eine harte Schule aber eine wichtige Schule und ich glaube, es gibt keinen Musiker, ob Prince oder Quincy Jones, der das nicht gemacht hat.

Uwe: Da ist ja nicht nur ne Band gewachsen, sondern da sind ja auch tiefe Freundschaften gewachsen. Das die Band sich aufloesen koennte ist kein Gedanke der in unseren Koepfen aktuell ist. Es gibt schon so Situationen wo alles verfahren scheint und man denkt, das war jetzt aber Scheisse. Dann setzen wir uns zusammen und wissen, wir muessen das Loesen und das ist dann auch wieder der Motor um weiter zu machen. Es ist ja auch ein Zeichen von Groesse und Freundschaft, dass man da drueber kommt. Das Thema das jemand die Band verlaesst also nicht, dass die Band zerfaellt, sondern das wirklich einer aussteigt ist voellig unakzeptable, das geht gar nicht.

TJ: Vieles von euch kannte ich nicht. Wie gesagt fand ich es relativ gut und ehrlich dargeboten. Ist das auch ein Schutz? Wird euch vorgeworfen, dass ihr Allueren haettet?

Sebastian: Wir hatten alle schon unsere Anfluege, das ist ja auch nur menschlich. Es geht staendig voll die Post ab, da kommst du ja gar nicht so schnell hinterher. Bei mir zuhause klingeln irgendwie wildfremde Leute, die ein Autogramm wollen. Ich habe die noch nie gesehen und die fahren durchs Land nur um die Wohnung zu finden, in der wir irgendwann mal einen Song geschrieben haben. Das ist schon der Wahnsinn. Da muss man schon aufpassen und ich weiss, dass jeder von uns schon mal seine Tage oder seine 5 Minuten hatte, wo er voellig abgehoben ist, wie man so schoen sagt, wo die anderen vier einen dann immer so auf den Boden zurueck holen, das ist echt grass. Wenn du halt auf Tour bist, dann gibt es da einen Punkt, wo du einfach abdrehst. Das viele Reisen ist cool aber du sitzt ja nur und diese angestaute Energie will raus. Das ist wirklich so wie man es von anderen Bands immer hoert. Da kommst du in ein Hotelzimmer und es ist keine Cola in der Minibar und dann kickst du den ganzen Kuehlschrank durch das Hotelzimmer, irre. Aber wir hatten das alle schon und wissen jetzt, wo wir stehen und sind mittlerweile mehr gefestigt.

TJ: Ihr habt mit’n paar Bands zusammen gearbeitet wie Jam & Spoon, Xavier Naidoo. Wie ist das? Mit wem wuerdet ihr gerne auftreten oder vielleicht nicht auftreten aber vielleicht den ein oder anderen Song zusammen schreiben?

Uwe: Also ich muss ganz ehrlich sagen, wir haben schon oft mit anderen Bands gearbeitet und wir haben da auch ganz verschiedene Meinungen. Xavier ist ein Wahnsinns Musiker und ein ganz lieber Mensch aber ich bin immer am gluecklichsten, wenn wir zu fuenft auf der Buehne stehen und nicht zu sechst. Einige in der Band sehen es als Motor, dass mal wieder was passiert, ich persoenlich brauch das nicht. Ich wuerde allerdings wahnsinnig gerne, weil ich frueher ja mal Jazz gemacht habe, zum Beispiel mit John Scaffolding auftreten, oder wenn Miles Davis noch leben wuerde, den wuerde ich gerne mal treffen. Ansonsten gibt es da niemanden. Ich freue mich auf die Songs die wir schreiben, wenn wir dann wieder mit jemand neues arbeiten, das ist dann immer so schwierig.

TJ: Was machen die Plattenfirmen?

Sebastian: Also zur Zeit ist es halt... der Vertrag laueft aus mit Virgin. Virgin ist ja von EMI gekauft, es ist eh total grass, was da im Moment in dem Bereich abstirbt und neu gemacht wird. Fuer uns ist es genau so spannend. Also wir wuerden einfach wahnsinnig gerne einfach weitermachen ,ist ja klar. Unser Vertrag laueft aus und unser Management verhandelt. Fuer uns macht es derzeit ja keinen Unterschied. Wir haben ja jetzt das Album schon seit einem Jahr in den Charts irgendwie. Wir denken zwar schon an das naechste Album aber dann kommt ja erst noch mal eine Single und die Live CD und DVD, die Sommertour. Die Maschine rennt.

TJ: Wir haben von eurem Management erfahren, dass es die aktuelle Platte in England nirgendwo zu kaufen gibt. Ist das nicht aergerlich, dass man so abhaengig ist von Plattenfirmen und Maerkten?

Uwe: Superaergerlich!

Sebastian: So darfst du gar nicht anfangen. Wenn du so anfaengst zu denken, dann bist du ja nur schlecht drauf. Du musst denken: Hey, wir haben jetzt Gold in Portugal. Ob du jetzt in England die Platte kaufen kannst oder nicht, ist mir eigentlich Wurst egal. Es waere natuerlich geil aber Scheiss drauf. Wir haben in Istanbul vor 30 000 Leuten gespielt, das ist viel geiler. Es gibt noch so viele Laender wo es die Platte noch nicht gibt. Es waere ja schlimm, wenn es schon ueberall die Platte gaebe und wir schon ueberall gespielt haetten.

Uwe: Es passiert ja auch so viel. Wir haben jetzt gerade erfahren, dass wir noch nach Brasilien gehen dieses Jahr, wir werden in Kanada spielen, wir werden sicher auch irgendwann in England spielen. Aber das ist als deutsche Band oder als Band die von Deutschland aus startet viel schwieriger als fuer die Kollegen die von Amerika aus starten. Die haben halt einen ganz anderen Streufaktor. Aber wie gesagt, das braucht halt Zeit. Wir haben schon das Gefuehl, dass es nach vorne geht. Wir werden bestimmt irgendwann in England auf der Buehne stehen, haben wir auch schon, und man wird sicherlich irgendwann auch in Amerika unsere Platte kaufen koennen. Also ich habe schon das Ziel und ich bin sicher, jeder in der Band hat den Traum irgendwann weltweit erfolgreich zu sein und dass man in jedem Laden unsere Platte kaufen kann. Ich mach das zum Beispiel immer wenn ich im Urlaub bin. Ich war neulich auf den Malediven und habe geschaut, ob es da unsere Platten gibt: Und es gab sie !!

TJ: Wir haben uns mit euren deutschen Fans unterhalten und ihnen versprochen euch das zu fragen, was sie wissen wollen: Wenn ihr auf eine einsame Insel gehen muesstet, welche 3 Dinge, keine Leute – nur Dinge, wuerdet ihr dahin mitnehmen?

(Gelaechter)

Sebastian: Na ja, ne Insel ohne Musik bringt nichts also muesste ne fette Anlage mit und ein Instrument wenn man keine Personen mitnehmen darf. Vielleicht so n I-Pod mit 10.000 Songs, mit unseren Alben drauf und ...

Uwe: ... 4000 weiteren Alben! Keine Menschen? Schade, drei Frauen waeren’s sonst gewesen (lacht)

Sebastian: Und dann noch was starkes zu trinken, weil man ja da so einsam ist.

TJ: Habt ihr euch an euren Alben schon mal tot gehoert? Geht das ueberhaupt?

Sebastian: Ich hab’s probiert. Es geht nicht. Ich verstehe es auch nicht.

Uwe: Wir sind noch am probieren. Also der erste Song den wir jemals geschrieben haben ist „La Trieste“, der ist uebrigens auf unserem 2. Album drauf, das kennst du ja nicht.

TJ: (Schaem). Ich hol’s mir, versprochen!

Uwe: Den haben wir 1998 oder so geschrieben. Der ist jetzt sechs Jahre alt und wir haben uns noch nicht tot gehoert an der Nummer, also von daher ... Ich hab uebrigens Verwandte in Regensburg.

TJ: Michael (der Kameramann) ist aus Regensburg. Ich bin Offenbacher aber das behalte ich meistens fuer mich.

Gelaechter und Verabschiedung.

2004 - Reamonn

2007-09-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

01.05.2004 The Whelans / Dublin
REAMONN
Support: The Rack

Reamonn is basically a German band with an Irish singer who met his fellow musicians in Germany five years ago.

It was for the first time ever that they were performing in Dublin. The Whelans, an up and coming venue in the Irish capital with a capacity of accommodating roughly 300 people was sold out.

Even though I only knew their very old song and best selling single. “Supergirl” from their first CD: “Tuesday” I bought tickets well in advance.

Just days before the event a friend of mine with whom I had recorded a few tracks in the past rang me to tell me he’d arranged an interview with the band and he wanted me to conduct it.

It was good craic when we filmed and talked to the German fans of Reamonn.

The gig as such was a good one as well.

Rea Garvey and the boys were interacting with each other and the music was performed in an honest and almost humble way.

Some songs simply weren’t as good as others and in the middle of the show the steam was a bit out of it. But all the hit singles including: “Star” and “Angel” were brilliant.

All in all it was worth the entrance fee and Reamonn proved to be an act with a lot of good material and a great future ahead of them.

Read the interview (German)

Reamonn **

2004 - Kraftwerk

2007-09-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

17.03.2004 Carling Apollo / Manchester
KRAFTWERK

They are the godfathers of Techno, the godfathers of electronic music and they are on tour for the first time in almost thirteen years.

They are indeed living legends. Their gig in Dublin on the 15th of March was sold out within a day and I couldn’t get hold of a ticket. Thanks to the Internet tickets for their Manchester concert was purchased.

Thanks to Ryan Air the flight wasn’t expensive at all.

In summer 2003 the German artists released their first album since 1991: “Tour de France soundtrack” and this very album transported them back onto the platform of fame and into the TOP TEN charts around the globe.

By the time Kraftwerk hit Manchester they had already toured Denmark, Norway, Japan, Ireland and Scotland.

In a time where electronic dance music tends to always sound the same Kraftwerk always manage to remain unique. That obviously is the secret to their success.

The Carling Apollo is just outside the city center and easy to access. There was a short queue of people when we arrived and we managed to get to the front row after entering the premises.

The Apollo was absolutely packed. Typical German they started their program at 8 p.m. sharp and over the next two hours they played all their hits and more.

It was in fact a multi media show with videos and slideshows supporting every song. From “Man Machine” to “The model”, “Boing Boom Tschak”, “Tour de France”, “Expo 2000” to their latest single: “Aero Dynamique” – they played them all.

Kraftwerk were dressed in suits matching the ones the wore on their 1978 hit album: “Man Machine”. 70% of their material was performed in German language or at least bilingual.

It was a real happening.

Florian Schneider, who presented himself with a new haircut: bold, wasn’t too happy though as he had computer problems all throughout the show.

After approximately 20 minutes he just took off his headphones and decided not to continue playing. Ralf Hutter, who stood to the very left tried to cheer him up with a “human smile” but that didn’t work too well.

Nevertheless the audience was thrilled by Germanys best and most successful band.

Kraftwerk ***

See also: Kraftwerk 1991

2003 - Tralee Musical Society

2007-09-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

23.11.2003 Siamsa Tire / Tralee
„That´s entertainment“
a variety show performed by the Tralee Musical Society

My housemate Vince is a member of the Musical Society of Tralee and he managed to secure a free ticket for me so that I can see the show which runs for seven consecutive days at the Irish Folk Theatre better known as Siamsa Tire.

I was positively surprised. A five piece band plays all songs supporting up to 20 – 30 singers and dancers who impress through perfection and superb choreography.

The show kicks off with a “Robbie Williams Medley” followed by songs from the 1970s. Some of the artists have solo parts and especially the ladies have excellent voices.

The program has got something to offer for everybody including comedy in Kerry slang.

Another brilliant piece of the evening were the kids of the Society who acted brilliantly.

A brilliant night and well worth the official € 13,-

Tralee Musical Society ***

2003 - We will rock you (Musical)

2007-09-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

10.07.2003 Dominion Theatre / London
The Queen Musical:
WE WILL ROCK YOU

1964 – Beatles # 1 worldwide
1975 – Queen releases “Bohemian Rhapsody”
2046 – All instruments banned

Thought control is everything in the future. Uniform clothing, one station rules the world: “Globalsoft”.

Non conformists are hunted and prosecuted.

That’s the scenario of the musical. Music is forbidden but there are rebels hiding in the shadows who call themselves after the musicians they adored.

Not much is left from the art form MUSIC.

Music is controlled and only programmed but rumour has it that the chosen one will come to end this lethargy and to bring back the instruments.

We Will Rock You is full of dance scenes, an expensive set and brilliant singers.

Humour is a big part of the musical and the stage looks formidable in every single scene. Scaramouche and her friend Casanova Galileo and their friends “Prince”, “Bob the builder” and “Britney Spears”, a HE, are fighting a common enemy: FAT BOTTOM GIRL, better known as the KILLER QUEEN.

The music of Queen is performed live by a superb band.

The musical manages to keep the audience interested and almost every Queen classic gets played. From “Who wants to live forever” to “Under Pressure”, “Crazy little thing called love”, “Radio GaGa”, “I want to break free” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

The show is breathtaking.

Queen musical ***

See also:
Queen coverband 2000
Queen + Paul Rodgers 2005

2003 - Beauty and the beast ON ICE

2007-09-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

27.03.2003 Point Theatre / Dublin
Walt Disney’s
Beauty & the beast
On Ice

Just to say: It was superb.

Merchandising good were to be found on all levels of the Point Theatre. From torches with a built in rose to sweet dishes to Belle as a puppet wearing a golden costume to the beast as a teddy bear – everything your (or your children’s hearts) desire.

The prices though were beyond daylight robbery.

On the other hand side it is always great quality when it says: Disney!

The show starts with a medley performed by Disney’s cult figures Mickey, Donald and Balu before the real play begins.

With great humour and great skill the actors “fly” across the ice and even though it is clear right from the start that Belle will fall for the beast and thereby lifts the curse it was still nice to watch.

Beauty and the Beast ***

2003 - Iron Maiden

2007-09-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

01.12.2003 The Point Theatre / Dublin
IRON MAIDEN
Support: Funeral for a friend

It was for the first time in over a decade that British rock legend IRON MAIDEN was to perform in Ireland.

The Point was sold out and with our balcony tickets we had the best seats in the house.

The stage had been transformed into an old abbey and the huge canvas with the often changing images was great.

Maiden played all their hits: “The number of the beast”, “Brave new world”, “The trooper”, “Run to the hills” and classic tracks like “Hallowed be thy name” and “Can I play with madness”.

Singer Bruce Dickinson, who has just returned to Maiden after an attempt to go solo, apologized to the audience for not being around for a while. He then said: “MTV refuses to play our new video because they say our audience is too old!” – the crowd was furious but it proofed my point that music has become a manufactured product and bands like Iron Maiden are a real exception.

The sic new tracks from their new album: “Dance of death” were simply brilliant and after more than twenty years Iron Maiden doesn’t seem to slow down at all.

Iron Maiden ***

The opening act Funeral for a friend had a 45 minutes gig and they were loud and not very melodic. The acoustic was great throughout their performance but to put it simple: Their music was crap.

Funeral for a friend *

See also:
Paul Di´Anno 2005

2003 - Def Leppard

2007-09-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

11.02.2003 The Ambassador / Dublin
DEF LEPPARD

The Ambassador venue lies handy along the busies Street in Dublin: O’Connell Street.

British act DEF LEPPARD is well known here as they recorded all their albums over the last nineteen years in Ireland.

Support act Ricky ?? managed to get through to my ears and within his 45 minute set he managed to create a good spirit in the hall to build up to the main act: DEF LEPPARD.

Between the two bands we were chatting away to fans and there was even a fan who travelled from Nagoya / Japan to see the band. I was highly impressed.

When Leppard finally hit the stage the temperature dropped below zero when two obviously stoned obese girls squeezed themselves into the front row only to head bang to get more room for themselves.

When they didn’t stop bullying anybody around I simply punched one of the girls in the face (moderate of course) and they stopped. For a while at least. They carried on for a good bit, making it difficult to concentrate on the band. It took almost an hour before a security officer finally threw one of the troublemakers out of the venue.

That’s sorted – back to the event:

The band in their mid – forties did rock and their ballads were brilliant as well. The sound could have been clearer especially around the vocals but that didn’t take away the fun.

They played a lot from their latest album: “X” and everybody sang along.

I liked their The Sweet cover of “Action” best.

Leppard was great and worth the money but they weren’t different to any of the other veteran rockers like Judas Priest or Uriah Heep although I was hoping they were.

DEF LEPPARD **

See also: The Sweey 1996 & Judas Priest 1998

2003 - Sister Sledge

2007-09-19T06:59:00.002-07:00

10.07.2003 HMV, Tottenham Court Road / London
SISTER SLEDGE

We were on our way to see the Queen musical: “We will rock you” when we decided to go for a tea downstairs at HMV. It was there when suddenly Sister Sledge was announced.

Sister Sledge had a massive hit with: “We are family” a while ago and they were here to promote their new album. The trio sang four songs from the new album and of course: “We are family”.

Honestly – nobody really seem to like the new material. It was a mixture of 70s Funk and modern dance floor but the songs were lacking melody.

I bought a twenty year old CD that day: AC/DC: “For those about to rock (we salute you)” but we wont salute Sister Sledge.

Sister Sledge *

See also: Queen Musical 2003

2003 - Simply Red

2007-09-19T06:59:00.001-07:00

10.11.2003 The Point / Dublin
SIMPLY RED
Support: KAVO

Mick Hucknall alias Simply Red and his 9-piece band open the show with the lines: “You can have it all but you have to pay” and that’s always true.

The red-haired Englishman appeared to be in good shape and the vibes were brilliant from song 1 all throughout the show including the 2ominute extra set he had to play before he could leave the audience to the stormy autumn.

The band consisted of two keyboarders, two hot black chicks on backing vocals, a bass player, a drummer, a percussionist and three Saxophone / Trumpet players.

Simply Red played all the great hits from “Stars” over “Money’s too tight to mention” and of course “Holding back the years”, solely performed by Mick with an acoustic guitar.

His voice is absolutely stunning and the man himself has no attitude whatsoever, fair play to him.

The Point was packed and we were approximately six metres away from Mick and were able to see the whole show up close.

Simply Red ***

Before the show Irish born and raised band Kavo played 45 minutes and proofed once more that good music can be created at your very doorstep.

Kavo **

2003 - Brian Kennedy

2007-09-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

07.03.2003 Olympia Theatre / Dublin
Brian Kennedy
Support: Paul Casey

I’d been living in the country for 2 ½ years already and had missed the artist on a few occasions. They say he sings as good as he looks.

His guitar player Paul Casey was also the opening act:

Casey from Derry played a forty minutes acoustic set and he mentioned his own CD and his Website www.paulcasey.com quite often.

The young man immediately captured the audience by playing easy listening stuff very much to the liking of the listeners.

Only minutes later the man himself arrived on stage: Brian Kennedy and band!

Well dressed, the hair shaking heart throb took the audience by storm. His vocal range is great and even a falsetto sounds great.

All songs were performed honestly and meaningful.

Kennedy mentioned his current BBC™ show: “Kennedy on song” which goes into the second season now and he announced the release of a CD to support the TV show.

Kennedy performed solely for fifteen minutes only armed with a guitar and this intimate set was the best part of the show.

With a lot of humour and interacting with the fans he performed a few tracks and he even played his version of the Gershwin Classic: “The first time ever I saw your face” – superb.

Kennedy said that he will follow the tradition of all the other bands and will be available for a chat after the Show in the Sheridan’s Bar” inside the Olympia Theatre.

Paul Casey *** Brian Kennedy ***

2003 - Peco & Blotooth

2007-09-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

12.06.2003 Temple Bar Music Centre / Dublin
PECO
BLOTOOTH

Irismagazine.net gave twelve bands the chance to perform for a wider audience. There were two halls: the main hall and the side room.

The side room was more to my liking as it was a more intimate setting and the acoustic acts were to play there.

My passion for music wasn’t actually the reason for me being there. I had answered an add from “blotooth” as they were looking for a keyboarder and I talked to singer Myles and we agreed to meet there.

Another keyboarder talked to him while I was walking into the room but I don’t fear competition.

The side room was packed and with 30 people overcrowded. PECO kicked off accompanied by Bassist Philly and his set was approximately 20 minutes long. He played self written material which was reminiscent of David Gray, his voice was good and he seemd to be a genuinely nice guy. Nevertheless the songs didn’t really convince me.

Peco **

Only minutes later Myles and Dara from Blotooth had some issues with the P.A. before they finally started playing together. There set was also roughly 20 minutes long and they played six tracks from their shortly released debut CD.

The two part harmonies sounded great and the songs played with a 12stringed guitar were interesting sound wise.

But I found the material lacked originality and depth and I wasn’t sure if I want to be part of that and we never met again.

Blotooth **

2003 - Paul Young

2007-09-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

18.07.2003 Ambassador / Dublin
PAUL YOUNG
Support: Susan Enan

Who would have thought that I will ever get to see one of the biggest names of the 1980s in a top shape in the year 2003?

Paul Young, who can claim to have achieved seven number 1s throughout his career, and his band are picking up speed right from the start. The band members haven’t changed in the last 20 years and one can clearly here and see that.

A few seconds into the gig Paul’s guitarist wants us all to come closer to the stage leaving the security guys staying there with mouths open.

Paul Young looks well rested and fit and he obviously had as much fun as the audience.

He played his biggest songs from “Wherever I lay my hat” over “Come back and stay” to
“Senza una donna” the song he once recorded with Italian singer Zucchero.

He closed the show with “Every time you go away” and he had no problems to shake numerous hands during the evening although he risked to get dragged off stage by some of his female fans.

It was very obvious that Paul Young is into sport and he showed some martial art tricks using his legendary white microphone stand as the opponent.

When the heavily sweating middle aged singer started to make love to it I felt it goes a bit too far as it wasn’t a pleasant sight even though most of the fans wouldn’t agree with this assessment.

Paul Young ***
Susan Enan **

2003 - Art Garfunkel with Maia Sharp and Buddy Mondlock

2007-09-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

09.03.2003 Olympia Theatre / Dublin
ART GARFUNKEL
With Maia Sharp & Buddy Mondlock

It is a real treat – every time! I went to see Art Garfunkel three times now and every time his voice and music simply knocked me out.

“Artie”, the name he is been called at by his friends has reached yet another milestone in his amazing career: He writes his own songs now!

Over the last decades the gifted singer “only” performed songs written by such marvellous song writers like James Taylor and of course Paul Simon. Now, joining forces with Buddy Mondlock and Maia Sharp, he has two companions to write songs with.

Both mentioned artists have short sets before the actual show to promote their own albums. Buddy reminds me a lo of the great Paul Simon which helps Art Garfunkel writing the right tracks.

After Mondlock´s set Maia Sharp hits the stage accompanied by two musicians on drum and bass. Her drummer Tommy Igor also drums for Art Garfunkel and his band.

Maia´s music is hard to pin point and lies somewhere between 70s Mainstream and Jazz. L.A. raised Maia sings and plays keyboard, clarinet and guitar.

Buddy Mondlock *** Maia Sharp **

And then, finally, it is time for the main act: Art Garfunkel

The new material melts perfectly with his older songs and all the Simon and Garfunkel classics.

Art Garfunkel apologizes for the current political agenda of the United States referring to the lingering war with Iraq.

“War can never be a political instrument” he says before asking: “Are you listening Mr. Bush?”.

As the evening progresses Art mentions that he collaborated with Paul Simon just recently when they received a lifetime achievement award (and we know now that this collaboration turned into a reunion.)

“Cilia”, “Bridge over troubled water” and “Sound of Silence” are on the play list and standing ovations for the great performance is the reward for this hard working gentlemen.

Art Garfunkel ***

See also: Art Garfunkel 1997 Art Garfunkel 1998 Simon and Garfunkel 2004

2002 - Six & 5th Avenue

2007-09-19T06:50:00.000-07:00

16.03.2002 Merrion Square / Dublin
St. Patricks Day
SIX
FIFTH AVE.

Once a year Dublin goes mental to pay tribute to its history: St. Patricks Day! When the holy St. Patrick rid the country of all unwanted snakes he could not have foreseen the extend to which the Irish would party on “his” day.

March many weathers – despite a rather rainy weekend it is still dry and the gods pitied the living and let the sun shine.

In the midst of the Merrion Square a huge stage, sponsored by radio giant FM 104, foretold what was yet to come: Boy- and girl band time.

FIFTH AVE played three backing tracked songs including their soon released single. The song was so unmemorable that I couldn’t even remember the name.

Fifth Ave. *

Only minutes later another retorted band SIX, consisting of six people , hit the stage. Their material was almost identical. SIX played only two songs including their current chart topper: “A whole lot of loving going on”. Their voices were better than the ones of Fifth Ave but only slight and after only 10 minutes they left the stage and I left the scene.

Fifth Ave **

Maybe I am too old for “not handmade” music or maybe I am a true artist who thinks that music is an art form that belongs to those who can create music and not to those who only look good and call themselves musicians.

Who knows?!

2002 - Phantom and the Opera

2007-09-19T06:47:00.000-07:00

21.06.2002 Civic Theatre / Dublin
PHANTOM & THE OPERA

Sold out and I managed to reserve a seat in the first row.

To put this straight: This wasn’t the Phantom of the Opera but a performance of the most established songs from the most successful musicals.

The six people ensemble consisted of three musicians and three vocalists and all off them were already experienced in musical performance.

Some of the performing artists were once cast in productions like “Cats” or “The Phantom of the Opera”.

Although it is pretty obvious that the misleading title of the show leads to massive ticket sales one has to admit that the performance is worth every penny.

The grateful audience obviously doesn’t mind the ticket price of € 25,-. I went there with a group and only paid € 15,- 

The Phantom and the Opera ***

2002 - Japanese Noh Theatre

2007-09-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

22.08.2002 Central Bank of Ireland Arts Centre / Dublin
Japanese Noh Theatre
“Kyogen and Hayashi”

The Irish / Japanese Association delivered remarkable theatrical art free of charge.

Before the program started Japanese people dressed in their own country clothes serve green tea especially made “old style”. With every tea one gets a mince sweet.

Deeply bowing we accept graciously.

Besides some embassy staff members the ambassador Mr. Tageshi Kagami and his wife are present and all 200 seats are taken by anticipating viewers.

The program starts with the momi-no-dan dance to celebrate the harvest, called “sambeshi”. The dance depicts farmers working in the fields before harvesting it.

Not easy to grasp for Europeans but thanks to useful translation on a screen understandable.

Accompanied by three musicians with their small and big drums and flute the evening develops its own dynamic and is absolutely brilliant and engaging.

During the intermission and in honour of the ambassador and his wife a tea ceremony is celebrated and explained in detail.

Then the show goes into the second and final act: A comedy.

Two servants, tied together by their master to avoid them stealing and drinking his “Saki”, find a way to untie themselves and to drink Saki and get caught subsequently.

Very funny and totally different to western humour.

The evening was superb ***

2002 - Chinese State Circus

2007-09-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

07.03.2002 Booterstown / Dublin
CHINESE STATE CIRCUS

At eight o clock on the dot the Chinese state circus kicks off their rather unique show.

One must have a fable for acrobatics in order to appreciate the movements shown by the mostly tiny Chinese artists.

There is this lady for instance who is able to bend herself so much so that she walks on her hands and feet carrying candleholders with burning candles on her belly, her forehead and her hands. Then there is another one sitting on top of a one cycled bike throwing bowls onto her head only using her left foot to lift them up.

Shaolin Kung Fu and sword fighting and “breaking stones” is also part of the show.

A lot of “salto mortale” Chinese style, no animals, no clowns but still an amazing show for all those who are open to a different circus.

Chinese State Circus ***

2002 - Rattle and Hum

2007-09-19T06:44:00.000-07:00

9th April 2002, Eamonn Dorans / Dublin
Rattle and Hum (U2 tribute band)

“Rattle and Hum” is a legendary album title of a U2 album and is also the name of a very successful tribute band.

The look- and sound alikes are really good and deliver a brilliant show. They ARE Rattle and Hum, true fans of their idols U2.

The gig spans songs from the last 20 odd years of U2s career and the “fake” U2 play a lot of songs from the “All that you cant leave behind”.

“Sunday, bloody Sunday”, “In the name of love” or “With or without you” are only a few of the old classics performed tonight.

The audience in the heart of Dublin supports Rattle and Hum and celebrates them as the closest thing to U2.

Rattle and Hum ***

2002 - Moby & Lamb

2007-09-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

17.11.2002, The Point / Dublin
MOBY
Support: Lamb

He is a multi talent and his Website www.moby.com portrays him as a thoughtful individual and his music speaks for itself.

This isn’t pop kitsch but good, deep music with massive appeal to all ages and a tendency towards melancholy.

After performances in the States and Asia Moby just entered the European leg of the tour.

The evening began with an early opening of the Point Theatre and the support act: LAMB started their set already around 7.50p.m.

The electro – pop formation reminded me a bit of KOSHEEN . The sound wasn’t brilliant but the best looking female singer on the surface of the planet and their bombastic drum and bass sound they didn’t fail to impress.

Lamb **

Thirty minutes later: MOBY

He played ninety minutes and then some and himself and his perfect band only played the crème de la crème of his extensive catalogue.

From “In this world” to “Another woman” and of course: “We are all made of stars” from his latest CD “18” he also played the world hit from the predecessor Play: “Why does my heart feel so bad?” and ended the show with his breakthrough techno anthem: “Feel so real” from his “Everything is wrong” album.

The band consists of members from diverse countries such as Cuba, America, Asia and Moby knows exactly how to entertain the masses.

He apologises for the politics of “his” president George Bush and says that it is hard at present to be American and that he feels obliged to apologise for it.

His Keyboarder and DJ “RJ” was voted “Best DJ of the world” back in 1998 and Moby and DJ (both wearing black Afro wigs) scratch “against each other” during one song.

The show is absolutely perfect and very energetic. Moby even plays a 36second Speed metal song, funny.

Moby, who plays Bongo, Keys and Guitar during the gig proofs that deep thoughtful music can appeal to the masses although he had his breakthrough with techno songs.

Moby ***

2002 - Four Seasons by Candlelight

2007-09-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

23rd November 2002, National Concert Hall / Dublin
The Four Seasons By Candlelight
It was the very first classical music concert I ever witnessed and on the tickets it said: “Choir Balcony” meaning BEHIND the musicians.

The ensemble consisted of roughly 25 musicians in historic costumes and wigs “armed” with numerous Violins, Contrabass, Oboe, Clarinets, trumpets and a piano supported by vocalist Elisabeth Cragg. The evening promised interpretations of musical works from G.F. Haendel, Mozart and Beethoven’s “little night music”.

With the exception of musical director and conductor David Hill everybody else showed us only their backs but that didn’t really matter.

The performance was well thought out, everybody seemed to be very focussed and stiff at times but musically it was all worth it.

Only occasionally south African born Violin player David Jurtz, renown for his work with the London Mozart Players, got to play the Violin for the audience.

He signed the DVD to the show later on. He asked me whether there should be a dedication on it and I said: “To Nicole” and ended up with a signed DVD saying: “To Colin”!

Over two years living abroad and they still don’t seem to understand me. 

The 4 Seasons By Candlelight ***

2002 - Darren Hayes

2007-09-19T06:40:00.000-07:00

19.10.2002, Vicar Street / Dublin
Darren Hayes

The brake up of the Australian pop duo “Savage garden” certainly leaves a gap in the world of pop and a huge following on which Darren Hayes is counting on his first ever solo tour.

The last Savage Garden album: “Affirmation” sold more than double platinum and catapulted the band once more onto the big stages around the world.

The Venue that is Vicar Street is comparatively small but Darren already has a solo hit under his belt (“Insatiable”) and is on top of the charts and therefore has faith in the future.

The support acts name has never been mentioned anywhere and there is no need to anyway as their rather strange Techno / Trance music doesn’t fit with Darren’s music.

Darren Hays played in the following line up: 2x backing vocals, 2x keyboards, 1x Bass, 1x drums and 1x guitar and his 90minutes gig is breathtaking in respect to the show and music.

He loves to be a pop star and obvious sex symbol and enjoys the screaming and mostly female fans.

And very rightly so I might add – the man from Brisbane is absolutely unbeatable.

He also sings a medley of “Savage Garden” hits and says that he doesn’t know where his life will take him but he is thirty years of age now and has the time of his life.

Darren Hayes ***

2002 - D-Mode

2007-09-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

25.05.2002, Temple Bar Music Centre / Dublin
D – Mode

Laughed at in Germany and only used for rural tent discotheques are tribute bands a totally different animal as they are met with open arms and the audience doesn’t mind minor mistakes.

To re – interpret the show and songs of Depeche Mode is not an easy task given that Depeche Mode is the nr.1 dance floor act on the surface of the planet.

D – Mode were really brilliant. Admittedly, their singer had problems keeping up the pace at times but as the evening unfold the band including their front man found their own pace and from “Personal Jesus” to numerous songs from the current “Exciter” album D – Mode played all.

They best performed the “songs of faith and devotion” and especially “Walking in my shoes” sounded like Depeche with eyes closed.

They only played 90 minutes because they aren’t doing this for long but that will hopefully change in time.

“No hidden catch, no strings attached – just D-Mode”

D-Mode **

See also:
Depeche Mode 1998
Depeche Mode Portugal 2006
Depeche Mode Birmingham 2006
Depeche Mode Manchester 2006
Depeche Mode Dublin 2006

2002 - Alison Moyet

2007-09-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

30.10.2002, Olympia Theatre / Dublin
ALISON MOYET
Support: Duncan Nighthood

Alison Moyet is back – she has had her last hit back in 1985 with “Invisible” and was invisible indeed for almost 20 years.

She hasn’t lost any weight nor her fantastic voice.

At the Frank Skinner Show on TV Alison talked about the power of the record industry and how they end ones career.

After her fulminate debut together with EX – Depeche Mode mastermind Vince Clarke in the early 1980s and their smash hits: “Don’t go” and “Nobody’s Diary” they ranked among the established heroes of the New Wave era and she was definitely one of my heroes because of her voice and she could describe herself lucky because she was able to be famous in a time when voice was more important than looks.

As the tour begins Alison’s new album already sold more than 60.000 copies (Silver status) and this clearly is only the beginning.

The evening at the Olympia marks Moyet´s 10th and last show and the heavy singer interacts perfectly with her 5-piece band.

The first 30 minutes weren’t exactly great. Although she deserves every credit for her excellent voice the new material lacks depth and the minimalist sound of some of the tracks is too reminiscent of early New Wave stuff and sounds retro and outdated.

The Diva herself notices that on time and asks the audience the bare with her for a bit until her voice is in full steam. And truly she picks up speed and turns the night into a happening.

One cracker after another and when she finally sings “All cried out” the audience eats out of her hands.

The Yazoo hits: “Don’t go” and “Situation” make the crowd go crazy and with “The old devil called love” Alison calls it a day and ends the tour and the show.

Alison Moyet **

Her one man support act Duncan Nighthood who has produced his current CD in Temple Bar just around the corner of the Olympia Theatre plays not always easy to listen to tunes and 45 minutes pure acoustic music is hard to bare at times. Never the less it seems to be important to him to convey his music to the audience even though his charm doesn’t feel real. His voice is full and towards the end of his set one finally wants to hear more.

Duncan Nighthood **

See also: Erasure 2005

2002 - A-HA

2007-09-19T06:36:00.000-07:00

16.10.2002, The Point / Dublin
A-HA

A-Ha is back touring their current album: “Lifelines”. Two years after their comeback release: “Minor earth – major skies”. The Norwegians are back in business.

They were huge in the 1980s. Their debut single: “Take on me” and the follow up: “The sun always shines on TV” managed to win six MTV™ awards in 1985 and kick started an unprecedented career.

After some successful sold out tours and some platinum albums the band vanished in the 90s.

The new album is a real treat and the guys in their mid to end thirties are giving everything.

The venue is really packed and the concert which marks the final concert of the tour is really brilliant.

The three Norwegians are accompanied by three Swedish guys and the first thing everybody notices when A-ha hits the stage is their phenomenal shape and energy.

Morten, Paul and Magne look well rested and in addition to 2/3rd from the current CD the band also plays cult classics like: “The living daylight”, “Take on me” and “Stay on these roads”.

Soft light effects help the performance.

Magne mentiones that this concert was added to the tour and it seems that A-ha has got more friends in the audience than in the record company. Even though they can’t complain about sales figures as almost everybody sings along to the new tracks.

Besides the opener “Forever not yours” it was especially the charismatic “Time and again” that impressed me highly. Despite numerous microphone and sound problems during the gig Mortens voice sounded full and dynamic and “Summer moves on” sounded exactly like the single version.

After two extra sets a truly grateful band leaves the stage.

A-ha ***

2002 - Bealtaine

2007-09-19T06:33:00.000-07:00

11th May 2002, National Concert Hall / Dublin
BEALTAINE
… a summer fest of music, song and dance
with:
Seamus Brett, Acabella, Gerry O’Connor and friends, Sonia Dowling, Parson’s nose
Hosted by Mary Kennedy

A picture book day in spring – only fitting that the National Concert Hall celebrates the arrival of spring in style.

Hosted by RTE™ presenter Mary Kennedy who gave her speeches both in English and Gailge and often gave in depth historic reports.

Musical director Seamus Brett and band accompanied all performing artists musically throughout the night.

The artists were rather unique such as the likes of Acabella who were on stage the most and sang in all five musical ranges: Bass, Baritone, Alt, Soprano and Tenor. Every tune a cracker.

Also highly acclaimed: “Eala” consisting of two ladies, Mary Kennedys half – sister Fionnula and the tiny Deirdre. I liked them best.

With elves-like dance movements performed by 10 dancers this event turned into a real treat.

The all male quartet: “Parson’s nose” wasn’t that much of my liking and fortunately they only played two songs.

Banjo and Fidel player Gerry O’Connor from Dingle and his mates closed the evening with a lively mix of Irish folk and American standards.

All in all a great event.

Bealtaine ***

2001 - Rob Strong & Band

2007-09-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

27.05.2001, Gumpys Pub / Tallaght, Dublin
ROB STRONG AND BAND

It was a sunny day in May 2001 and the “Gumpys”, a spacious pub in the Plaza Hotel complex in Tallaght Village, Dublin 24 was packed as usual.

The house band Rob Strong plays here weekly always having a full house to play to and the man himself is well known here.

Robs son is one of the musicians in the famous The Commitments film starring Colm Meaney, internationally renown for his role as Mr. O’Brien in Star Trek.

Rob himself is singer and bass guitar player with a passion and his vocal range is amazing.

The music is rather untypical for a pub as it is very bluesy, American style as opposed to Irish folk.

The 22,23 year old guitarist Simon is the only younger musician in the band and the only one not to play Barre – riffs.

The music is loud and powerful and the two hour show holds something for everybody.

Rob Strong and Band **

See also: Star Trek World Tour 1998

2001 - Faithless & Kosheen

2007-09-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

01.12.2001 Point Theatre / Dublin
FAITHLESS
Support: KOSHEEN

A spot in the first row was probably the best that could have happened to me on this night out in December 2001. The stage was packed with gear from two bands one bigger than the other.

Around 8p.m. support act KOSHEEN hit the stage to introduce their album: “Resistance”. An album I wasn’t familiar with at all. I only knew the cover as it was hanging above the stage.

There wasn’t that much of a difference between the two acts musically although Kosheen doesn’t have a rapper.

Their line up was nonetheless impressive. It consisted of turntables, Guitar and electro – Cello/Violin, drum and bass.

The female vocalist was pretty good as well

Kosheen **

Only minutes later: FAITHLESS. At the time of the tour the new single “Tarantula” gets played around the globe and Faithless pick up speed straight away.

After the instrumental opener “Outrospective” from the new album with the same title front man Maxi Jazz appears on stage to start a two hour musical happening. His first act on stage is their great song “Muhammad Ali”.

Faithless play all their hits from “Insomnia” to “I want my family back” and “God is a DJ” is the final track.

Highly impressive is Faithless´ rhythm section as they are really pitching up the beats. Even without a massive lightshow Faithless know how to convince their audience.

Faithless ***

2000 - Queen coverband

2007-09-19T06:27:00.000-07:00

13.09.2000 „Old Mill“ Pub / Dublin
QUEEN COVERBANDThe OLD MILL is one of Dublins hottest Pubs because it is spacious and bright. Its space also enabled the Queen cover band to really show off and impress with a good quality sound on this lovely Saturday evening. This band was great in mimicking Queen optically and sound wise.

It was astonishing enough to see a vocalist who actually has the range of one Freddy Mercury and it got even better when the guitar player wore his “Brian May wig” and played just like the man himself.

Their repertoire included “Under Pressure”, “We will rock you” and “The show must go on” and of course “We are the champions” and the massive “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Highlight of the show was the theatrical performance of the famous “I want to break free” video

Queen Cover band ***

See also
Queen musical: “We will rock you” 2003
Queen and Paul Rodgers 2005

2000 - Ronan Keating

2007-09-19T06:24:00.000-07:00

13. November 2000, Point Theatre / Dublin
RONAN KEATING

13 000 people fit into the spacious venue which lies along the river Liffey. The show was sold out on this dry evening in November.

When I purchased the tickets I wasn’t sure what to expect from an ex – boyband member (Boyzone) but I was quite surprised by his first solo album: “Ronan”.

My then girlfriend bought her ticket way later than me and we had seats far apart from one another. We were trying to spend as much time together as possible and we were hanging around the stairs in front of one of the rows and we’d been asked a couple of times to finally take our seats. I explained the situation briefly to a female security officer and she offered us to sit next to the “Friends of Ronan” – and that is exactly what we did. They were quite surprised but welcoming.

Keating himself was brilliant. He was supported by a band and despite the odd Boyzone hit he played a lot of his own stuff including the smash hits: “You say it best when you say nothing at all”, “The way you make me feel” and “Life is a roller coaster”.

The concert lasted roughly two hours and was more or less the soundtrack to my own private kissing party. Although I thought I am way to old for this I enjoyed it feeling like being 15 again.

Great night out ***

Boyzone 1995

1999 - KISS

2007-09-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

09.03.1999 Festhalle Frankfurt
KISS(in 3D)
„Psycho Circus“ Tour

In the original line up that made Kiss so famous in the 1970s. The line up that experienced a massive reunion tour in 1996 was back to promote their new CD: “Psycho Circus” – recorded with the original four blokes. The first recording of the original band in 17 years.

KISS brought the well known and still exiting spectacles back to Germany and they even topped themselves by giving out 3D – Glasses to everybody in the audience. Using up to date technology one thought you are on stage with the boys. Paul Stanley had a little knife attached to his “flying V” and when he attacked the camera it was like he is attacked us – scary but brilliant.

The 3D glasses were as fancy as the “Love Gun” back in 1977.

The new songs blended in perfect with the older material.

Kiss ***

See also

KISS 1984
KISS 1996
KISS Expo 2005

1999 - Stigma String Orchestra

2007-09-19T06:19:00.000-07:00

18.02.1999 Covent Garden / London
STIGMA STRING ORCHESTRA

I was on a promotion trip through London for my “Darker Than Black” CD (pic)and I strolled along the famous Covent Garden, where one can find the oldest shops of the British capitol and I found a real musical treat.

Three gentleman and a lady “armed” with violins and cellos played classical musical from Offenbach to Mozart and Beethoven. Funnily interpreted and somewhat groovy the Stigma String Orchestra didn’t fail to impress.

Another woman with a hat walked through the audience asking for small donations. I only had a pound on me and gave it freely.

Stigma String Orchestra ***

1998 - Star Trek World Tour

2007-09-19T06:17:00.000-07:00

20.12.1998 Messe Düsseldorf
STAR TREK
WORLD TOUR

We bought our tickets already in August and very rightly so – the demands were massive.

Our day started early at around 6 a.m. with walking the dog before making our way to the station boarding the train for the 3 ½ hour trip from Rüsselsheim (where I used to live for a short while) to Düsseldorf.

The route offers a great scenic view along the river Rhein and all its small villages. We arrived in Düsseldorf close to 12 noon. Timing was essential as our “flight” with the enterprise was scheduled for 1 p.m.

The venue was packed with “Trekkies”, “Klingons” and “Romulans” and they even had “Quarks bar”. They also offered a “space basar” with real bargains and real trade fair prices.

Very unique and interesting as the Star Trek museum in which one could see original costumes and handmade models of various spaceships.

All inclusive for DM 51,80. Finally: Taking off aboard the Enterprise 1701 – D. Guided by members of the Federation of planets we all walked through a hallway that looked like a Paramount pictures museum and then we went on to engineering where star trek character “Q” and his son messed about only to invoke a warp core breach therefore we were being evacuated to the main bridge where red alert had already been ordered.

The life support systems failed and we all had to run into the turbo lifts (that felt so real!!). Destination: Promenade. After arrival Klingons insulted by passers and openly collaborated with Romulans.

Including the 3 ½ hours back to Rüsselsheim our “Star Trek Day” started at 6 a.m. and ended around 8 p.m. but it was all worth it.

Even on the crowded vessel Enterprise one could feel the peaceful intentions of the Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

It was a great day

Star Trek World Tour ***

1998 - Judas Priest

2007-09-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

20.03.1998 Stadthalle, Gross – Umstadt
JUDAS PRIEST
„Jugulator“ Tour

While Ex – front man and vocalist Rob Halford tries to impress with his new band TWO, Judas Priest is far from extinction.

The tour rocks through 16 countries and their logo: “The beast is back” gets support through their hard guitar riffs.

The hall in the small Gross – Umstadt can only hold 800 people and approximately 600 fans made their way to this rather rural place for German standards.

Surely, Judas Priests big years are over and like many of their aging colleagues they also pay the price to the ever ticking time but the rock legend showed no signs of aging tonight.

Despite brilliant songs from the new album – Oldie “Breaking the law” was the one to lead the fans into ecstatic screams.

The priest lives on …

Judas Priest **

1998 - Depeche Mode

2007-09-19T06:13:00.000-07:00

11.10.1998 Festhalle Frankfurt
DEPECHE MODE
Support: PURITY

Sold out gig – perfect spirit even hours before the most successful Synthesizer – Band of our time hits the stage.

Since their charts debut back in 1981 Depeche Mode are part of pop culture.

The “singles 1986 – 1998” tour is the first tour in five years. Over the last few years Dave Gahans drug addiction and suicide attempts made the headlines and it was good to see a recovered Dave Gahan on stage – full of energy and eager to live.

Support act Purity, consisting of three absolutely gorgeous woman, played roughly 30 minutes and that was good because the majority of their songs sounded pretty alike. Their monotone music reminded me a lot of FRONT 242 and older works of THE ART OF NOISE but besides their model looks the girls hadn’t got much to offer.

Later on: Depeche Mode. Including three extra tracks the length of their concert reached more than two hours and was pure joy. In massive letters D and M were placed next to massive screens on which one could watch past video clips of the band from Basildon, Essex in England.

Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher brought another keyboarder, a REAL drummer and two backing vocalists along for support.

Depeche played hit to hit from “Condemnation”, “Walking in my shoes”, “Personal Jesus” to “Stripped” and the ever popular Vince Clarke penned “Just cant get enough”. A real happening and 14 000 people cheered and screamed all night to pay tribute to this phenomenal band.

The boys looked relaxed and Martin Gore sang three songs throughout the evening and it is astonishing that his vocal range is equally as good as Dave’s.

Depeche Mode 2006 / Portugal
Depeche Mode 2006 / Birmingham
Depeche Mode 2006 / Manchester
Depeche Mode 2006 / Dublin
Also see :
Erasure 2005

1998 - Art Garfunkel

2007-09-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

24.09.1998 Stadthalle Offenbach
ART GARFUNKEL
Support: GODEWIND

From the north of Germany comes GODEWIND, the opening act for the German leg of the Art Garfunkel tour. They are together for 19 years and they managed to release an album each year and they are heading towards their 20th anniversary.

The play roughly 50 minutes from their latest piece “Windlichter” and it was very impressive. The 6 – man / woman combo sings only in dialect but one could understand them (most of the time).

The “Husum six” played very professional and were a good opening act on this lovely September evening.

Half an hour later: Art Garfunkel – the master of the soft songs.

He told us that he “only” things material from other artists as he is no song writer himself but in all fairness: Whoever writes the songs can surely be proud of having them sung by a man like Garfunkel.

Sometimes the cheers didn’t stop even after the songs were finished and standing ovations were the expression if gratefulness to have him sing for us.

He named people like Jimmy Web and Marc Cohen his favourite song writers and didn’t forget to mention the brilliant Paul Simon with whom he had his biggest successes as Simon and Garfunkel.

Best song of the evening: “Bridge over troubled water”.

Art Garfunkel *** Godewind **

Art Garfunkel 1997
Art Garfunkel 2003
Simon and Garfunkel 2004

1997 - ZZ Top

2007-09-19T06:10:00.000-07:00

18.02.1997 Stadthalle Offenbach
ZZ TOP
Support: The Seer

7.55p.m. – the lights went out and for the next 35 minutes THE SEER played cool guitar rock / pop with Irish influences.

The Seer present their new album “One world”. Interesting is that the band is neither Irish nor British, they’re German to boot. Augsburg is their hometown.

Their songs are pretty cool and they mention that the Augsburg FC and the Offenbacher Kickers have a lot in common e.g. they both play in third or fourth league and nobody gives two fucks about them. Their set ends with their new single: “River” and they tell us that radio station HR3 does refuse to play them.

Cool **

At around 9 p.m. the main band enters the stage: ZZ TOP! First noticeable thing is that the Light effects and stage set are really work well together and so does the trio.

In only 90 minutes ZZ TOP literally raise the roof and they know how to get their audience going.

Despite their classic hits: “Sharp dressed man”, “Legs”, “Gimme all your lovin” and “Cheap sunglasses” they also play material from their current album “Pincussion” as well as songs from the predecessor “Antenna”.

The shoe ends with frenetic applause during “Tush” before ZZ TOP really call it a day with their Elvis classic: “Jailhouse rock”.

Cool and relaxed and with absolutely no attitude whatsoever this was a real treat.

ZZ TOP ***

1997 - Whitesnake

2007-09-19T06:09:00.000-07:00

20.10.1997 Stadthalle Offenbach
David Coverdale and
WHITESNAKE
Support: SKIN

It has been for the first time in thirteen years that I went to a concert on my own and I felt like the loneliest person on the planet.

It was cold outside and autumn did its best to keep me in this rather depressed mode.

I managed to find a superb spot in the packed Stadthalle Offenbach (Town hall of Offenbach). According to the news paper this would be the last tour with Whitesnake and their charismatic on / off front man David Coverdale.

At twenty to eight the British band SKIN made their way to the stage to play a 45 minute set in support of their album “Experience Electric”.

Fast but always melodic and especially the vocal range of their singer blew me away. It was also nice to notice that the sound was brilliant. That is something that isn’t always the case while the opening act plays.

Twenty minutes later: Whitesnake! “Soldiers of fortune”, “Here I go again” and more.

Coverdale and the boys were in control right from the start. The fans often demanded Coverdale to sing some of his solo songs and he delivered.

Touring the new “Restless Heart” album makes the band write another chapter in music history and they were visibly touched when 1500 fans sang along to all the classic anthems the band had written over the years.

Especially the ballads are significant for the bands´ success and ditched in blue and white light the soft songs made a lot of impact.

After 90 minutes they called it a day leaving us wanting more and hoping that the “restless heart” doesn’t rest for a few years from now on.

David Coverdale and Whitesnake *** Skin ***

Whitesnake 2004

1997 - Warren G

2007-09-19T06:06:00.000-07:00

With the Bob Marley cover of „I shot the sheriff“ and an alternative version of Tina Turners „Whats love got to do with it“ in the charts – and now in Germany:

WARREN G. and the G Funk Era
Support: Der Wolf
8th April 1997, Hugenottenhalle / Neu – Isenburg

Before Warren G and his crew turned up for their 90minutes show, Dortmund based rapper „Der Wolf“ and band entered the stage.

Der Wolf (The Wolf) played a 30minutes set which he opened with his first hit: “Gibt´s ja gar nicht” (“That’s impossible”) and the half empty venue cheered him on gratefully.

Unfortunately the established vibes turned immediately to dust as each song sounded like the one before and the wolf lacked enthusiasm.

He called himself “the ultimate lover” during each song and during the performance of the well phrased “Werft die Waffen weg” (Throw away the guns) he lost a lot of support in the audience when he said that US rap star “2pac” is solely to blame for being shot because he wore guns.

Der Wolf left the stage after his latest single “Frau Schmidt” (Mrs. Smith) – and it was about time.

“Have a mother fucking good time” – this sample echoed back from the speakers in the beginning of Warren Gs show. Warren made it clear in the beginning that all the songs are performed live: No turntables or anything like that! Fair play to him.

All in all the songs were decent and musically well performed although the show as such wasn’t that great mainly due to the fact that hip hop beats often sound very alike.

The best songs were the ones the audience knew best: “I shot the sheriff” and “What’s love got to do with it”.

Warren G.** Der Wolf *

1997 - Art Garfunkel

2007-09-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

14.05.1997, Hugenottenhalle / Neu – Isenburg
ART GARFUNKEL
Support: Mel Pope

He was one half of the legendary „Simon and Garfunkel“ duo and songs like „The Boxer“ or „Bridge over troubled water“ are musical anthems known by millions. Art Garfunkel had a solo hit in the mid eighties with “Bright Eyes” and after a 12years break he is here to connect his past with the present: Art Garfunkel

The venue was packed and our seats in the fifth row were good seats, close to the stage on which Mel Pope made an appearance around 8 p.m.

Mel told us that he’d already written three songs on the tour bus and he was eager to perform them. He said it is in the interest of the record company to play songs from an album people can actually buy but those three songs were just great and although the weren’t available on any album yet, one had to hear them. The songs were called: “I left my heart in England”, “Kathryn” and “How they do it in Hamburg”.

His voice and the way he was playing guitar were unique and it was a pity that his set was only thirty minutes long.

Twenty minutes later the first notes of Art Garfunkels band made the audience aware of what was to come: Art Garfunkel.

He took his microphone, sang and won – he is a true genius, full stop! All the classics from “Bridge over troubled water” to “Cecilia” to “Bright eyes” were part of the set and after the third song Art Garfunkel paused before he said “Ich muss wissen wer ich bin, um zu wissen wozu ich fähig bin” (I need to know who I am in order to know what I am capable of) in German.

As the evening unfolded the poor chap had to “endure” numerous standing ovations and he had to come out three times because the audience just didn’t want to let him go. Full of mischief he said that the reason for the split of Simon and Garfunkel was that he wanted them to be called Garfunkel & Simon.

He also told the audience that he walked 4000 miles through the United States on foot. He did that on and off over the last 12 years and after arriving back home in 1996 he performed for the Disney people where the current live album: “Across America” came to light.

He announced a new CD release for the summer. A CD dedicated to his son and he sang the classic tune: “What a day for a day dream”. It was a brilliant night.

Art Garfunkel *** Mel Pope ***

See also
Art Garfunkel 1998
Art Garfunkel 2003
Simon and Garfunkel 2004

1997 - 3T

2007-09-19T06:03:00.000-07:00

3T
11.03. 1997 Stadthalle Offenbach

The second generation of the legendary Jacksons takes Germany by storm. The sons of Ex – Jackson Five member Tito Jackson are touring in support of their album: “Brotherhood”.

Who thinks that 3T is nothing more than a lame follow up to the Jackson 5 is wrong:

In a well thought out show the boys, together with a five piece band (including two of their cousins), convinced a lot of their critics on stage tonight.

The audience is barely older than 6th grade but this evening does not offer music for kiddies only. The three handsome looking youngsters proofed to the world once more that the name Jackson stands for Quality!

Synchronised dance moves, three part harmonies and either together or solo, one could see that the all three 3Ts know their game.

Despite their songs from the actual Brotherhood album they also covered Oasis´ “Wonderwall”.

Rapper Scott Johnson accompanied the boys during “Gotta be you – gotta be there” and the evning turned nostalgic when no other then 3T – Daddy Tito Jackson paid a visit to the boys on stage.

He talked about his life as a member of the Jackson 5 before he and his three sons, with weird 70s wigs and outfit, played the Jackson 5 classic: “ABC”.

TJ from 3T said that this song is a reminder of how they did it back then and that they are here to continue the legacy into the 90s.

The show ended with “Anything” and “I need you”, absolutely brilliant.

When we left that venue free drinks were waiting for us just outside. Michael Jackson labelled “Mystery drinks” and a free Mystery – magazine (German language) were served as a reminder that the King of Pop Michael Jackson pays a visit to his fans in Germany later in the year although he will perform in arenas in front of thousands and thousands of people while his nephews are currently playing in front of 2500 + people.

Back to the beginning: The Munich based 5 girl combo “Sister, Sister” opened for 3T and offered lively dance floor. Funny is that the girls are aged between 10 and 14 years of age. Great

3T *** Sister, Sister ***

1997 - Sound of Frankfurt Festival

2007-09-19T05:40:00.000-07:00

12.07.1997 Zeil Frankfurt: Sound of Frankfurt
Das Auge Gottes, Ranger / DJ Ulli Brenner

The „Loveparade“ is on the move in Berlin and Frankfurt answers with this years Sound of Frankfurt Festival along its long shopping mile: ZEIL.

I arrived around 9 p.m. at the “Konstabler Wache” and immediately I was drawn towards sound check sounds from a nearby stage. On stage the German Band: “Das Auge Gottes” (Gods eye) who had a hit in 1996 with “Du hast Jesus Christus an das Kreuz genagelt” (You nailed Jesus Christ to the cross).

The song sounded really good and groovy.

I wanted to meet my sister later on at the cinema but had approximately 45 minutes to enjoy the Frankfurter Grunge band: “Ranger” – a 4-piece band who impressed me a lot and their Motörhead cover: “Killed by death” was super.

Giving in to my girlfriends wining I ended up on the Techno – stage of Radio HR 3 Club Night. Hundreds of sweating, smelling dancers / ravers are grooving to the DJs choice of music. The DJ Ulli Brenner impressed with perfect transitions between songs and I also got to see DJ Taucher wo flew over from Berlin where he had DJ d earlier in the day.

I wasn’t too comfortable in the midst of all those smelly chaps and girls and I left the scene quickly. Maybe I am too old for that sort of thing.

Das Auge Gottes ** Ranger ** Ulli Brenner **

1997 - Open Ohr Festival: H-Blockx, Takfarinas ...

2007-09-19T05:35:00.000-07:00

23rd Open Ohr (Open Ear) Festival
16th – 19th May 1997
Zitadelle / Mainz
H-BLOCKX, TAKFARINAS, TEATR OSMEGA DNIA

16th May 1997: H – Blockx

“Boo yah – here we go” – the whole Zitadelle Mainz jumped up and down on the first day of the four day festival that ran under the banner “Heimat” (Home).

The weather was great and the H-Blockx from Münster, the band that turns every party into a happening with their smash hit “Rising high”, were the main act of the evening.

They interacted perfectly with one another and they picked up speed straight away and their heavy sound was just brilliant.

One day later (17th May 1997) Yal – music was the name of the game. YAL music is a mixture between Arabic and western music. The name of the band: TAKFARINAS.

Their lyrics deal with Drugs, Love and sex and all band members live outside of the emirates because their inconvenient music turned them into enemies of the state.

Who thought that only well established stars like Ofra Haza or Khaled are able to break down barriers was proofed wrong by Takfarinas. Their sound and show was perfect.

Straight after Takfarinas the Polish theatre ensemble Teatr Osmega Dnia presented their play “Sabbat” which resembled scenes from the MAD MAX trilogy and post third world war scenarios.

“Sabbat” was a grand scale production and the set was monstrous and costumes were great although their mix between Polish and German made me wonder what the play is all about.

H-Blockx *** Takfarinas *** Teatr Osmega Dnia ***

1997 - Youssou N'Dour

2007-09-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

1. Mainzer Zeltfestival
YOUSSOU N`DOUR
04.07.1997 Volkspark / Mainz

Perhaps it wasnt our day – the « Senegal lion » Youssou N Dour already roared for about 30 minutes when we finally arrived at the tent due to work- , weather- and bike conditions.

The sound was cool but the music of the man who toured with A – list stars including Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Sting, wasn’t as groovy as I thought it would be.

The show and the band were good especially the African dancers and the female vocalist with whom N Dour sang his hit “Seven seconds”. US Rap star Neneh Cherreh sang the duet with Youssou but wasn’t with him on tour.

The “replacement” was visually far more exciting but her voice wasn’t half as good as Nenehs.

One has to admit that N Dour and his band are professionals although his “Afropop” doesn’t do much for me.

Youssou N Dour **

See also: Tracy Chapman 1996

1997 - Sinead O Connor

2007-09-19T05:30:00.000-07:00

1. Mainzer Zeltfestival
SINEAD O´CONNOR
27.06.1997, Volkspark / Mainz

Irish singer Sinead O Connor who had her biggest hit with the Prince – penned song: “Nothing compares to you” back in 1991 and who dominated the charts with her great album: “I do not want what I haven’t got” is back again. This time with an 11 piece orchestra supporting her latest release: “Gospel Oak”.

We missed the opening act but were on time for the show. Even though we had seating tickets we were allowed to sit wherever we wanted and we picked a spot directly opposite the stage from which we could see and hear Sinead and band well.

The sound was great and Sinead’s voice was crystal clear.

All songs ranked between good and excellent but the concert only lasted about 90 minutes and that was a bit short.

She didn’t bother playing her best known hit and she didn’t even say one thing to the audience all throughout the evening which left me with a rather negative memory.

Musically she was absolutely stunning.

Sinead O’Connor ***

See also Prince 1987 & 1988