Concert Reviews

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

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 se...

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 ...

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 bi...

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...

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 **

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 th...

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 ***

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 ...

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 ***

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 d...

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 we...

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 lit...

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 pleas...

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...

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...