Steve's
Place
Aschaffenburg,
Germany
May 10th.
from
Michel
PASTOR
Colos-saal
is a nice venue near Frankfurt that can welcome an audience of about 200
persons, which makes it more human and friendly, there are no security
watch dogs, the people working here like music and spectators. Our problem
is that it's a bit far from Paris (1,200 km journey) as RT will not play
in France on this tour...
Excellent
opening band, Ben Granfelt trio from Finland, his former bands were :
Gringos
Locos (1986 - 1991), which released 3 albums.
Guitar
Slingers (1991-1999), 3 albums.
Leningrad
Cowboys (1991-1998), 5 albums.
Wishbone
Ash (2001-2004), 1 album, 2 DVDs
Find details
on his web site : HERE
Then comes
our guitar hero...
First
thing to notice, when he is not concentrated on soloing, he is often smiling,
which proves he is enjoying the tour. He has an absolute control on his
playing and sound, we knew that already, but it's nice to watch it again
(I have been waiting this moment since 1976 when he played in Paris for
the last time...). And I have a good sight and sound : first row standing
in front of him, I can hear the sound from his Marshall amplifiers,
don't ask
me how the sound was in the audience, I didn't hear the PA !
Second,
Richard Watts is doing a good job, his voice texture is similar to Davey
Pattison's, so the repertoire fits him. And he is not trying to steal the
show, there are a lot of instrumental parts, he often goes to the stage
side to wait when he is not singing and he's not trying to make funny gestures
to keep the audience attention like some singers do when the musicians
play... Maybe it's some kind of respect too, the three musicians are twice
his age !
Nothing special
to say about the rhythm section, except that they're precise, good sounding
and all, in one word perfect...
Concerning
the tracks played, its 40% from LOOT album and 60% from his classic albums,
but it was impossible to obtain the setlist sheet because they play the
same every day and have plastified setlists which the roadie will put aside
as soon as the concert is finished... Not the same with picks, the same
roadie has got a lot of them in his pockets and it's easy to have one,
you just have to ask ! But I'm not sure they are the
same model
as the one RT is using on stage, they should be "gift picks"...
The problem
is that the tour manager is doing too good a job to protect the musicians,
it's impossible to see them before the show, and after the show everybody
rush into the dressing room, so there will be no opportunity to make a
picture of the whole band. But after a while, Robin goes back to the concert
hall where the dedicate fans are waiting. He signs nearly everything people
will ask, LPs, CDs, newspapers, books, pictures, even arms (people who
will not wash for a week !) until the last sucker, me, comes with all the
CD sleeves. It's late and he begins to feel tired, so he stops in the middle.
I'm not sure he was really looking because he even signed a bootleg CD
sleeve ! But it's not important, the main purpose to come here was to hear
and watch him play. I'm so glad he is still in great shape and a wonderful
player !
Other problem,
we were asked not to use flash for photographs (partly because there was
a lot of video cameras, some for the DVD of the tour), and the lightshow
was made by a guy who is a lover of red light... They have a photo gallery
at the entrance, I was wondering why they all looked red, now I know the
reason why !
Just one
regret : I could have gone to Bonn on RT's birthday and see Davey Pattison,
and I didn't ! I will not see Davey Pattison with RT, but I bought his
latest solo CD ("Pictures") and the covers one (even "Too rolling stoned"
is covered) he made this year with Michael Schenker ("The Endless Jam Continues"
by Schenker-Pattison Summit). But I'm wondering if the musicians ever played
together because the rhythm
tracks,
the vocals and the guitar parts were recorded separetely in 3 different
places... But we are used to it with Mike Varney's productions !