2014 Stuttgart - happiness vs. sadness
Mar 22, 2014 7:57:36 GMT
quodlibet aka granny, Sam, and 2 more like this
Post by snakelady on Mar 22, 2014 7:57:36 GMT
This time we managed to take our tickets with us, so no time was wasted for a return home to get them and in consequence, despite heavy traffic on the autobahn due to the rush hour, we arrived at the Schleyer-Halle about 40min. before the doors would open. Only a few hundred people were queuing already and with attendance figures so far in mind, I started to worry about choice of venue and possible lack of atmosphere as a result. The feeling increased when not a lot more fans had shown up by the time the doors opened. I need not have worried though .. only the seats at the very back (and you wouldn't have seen much from there anyway) were curtained off, and by the time the gig started the standing area looked sold out or as near as and only maybe 1/3 of the seats remained empty. It's a huge arena so I guess it must've been an audience of 8000-10000 and the atmosphere that was created, was simply fantastic.
The support - what can I say, the Woodstock theme wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but he did an interesting version of POMM and that's what he got his best response by far for.
Quo looked good and fit, especially the change in John was remarkable compared to the Wembley blue-ray and his white Hauptstadt Rocker shirt made me smile (do you get a percentage, Rick ?). Rick has lost a lot of weight since last winter and all of them looked like they were really enjoying the gig. Alan basically looked like last year, happy to be there, but he didn't move around much at the start and not at all later. The songs they played, how they were played - what can I say - fantastic ! My boys, who saw Alan for the first time commented on how great his voice was.
The audience was intend to enjoy every second of it and that's what they did. They clapped, they did the Quo-o-o-oh chants and even the occasional na-na-na bit and sang along to the lyrics. In fact all the lyrics were sung so loud by the audience, that sometimes the band simply stopped singing and let us do lines or whole verses even. The longer solo in 4500x followed up by Gotta Go Home worked really well and is probably an ideal compromise. What can I say - I love this band !
By the end of the main set the guy beside me - and he was a Quo fan, knew the songs, just not the message board attending variety - remarked to me that Alan clearly was drunk. So I explained (shouted into his ear more like) about his illness and what a trooper he was. Then things got worse quickly for Alan. He started dropping his plectrum and wasn't able to loosen a spare one from the guitar, so he tried to play without. Francis went over and passed Alan one of his and when he dropped that as well shortly after, helped get him one of the spare ones. Then Alan wasn't able to stand straight anymore, in fact he wasn't able to stand anymore at all and desperately held on to the microphone stand so he wouldn't fall, but he still managed to sing Roadhouse Blues, after which the band left the stage very quickly - Francis and Bob carrying Alan more or less. It was just so sad to see, Alan desperately tried to not let the band or the audience down, while he was clearly struggling with severe health problems. Usually the audience would have screamed loudly for an encore (Zu-ga-be) - nobody did last night. Nobody expected one, in fact I said to hubby that I hoped they wouldn't do one. People just stood there and clapped. Well, the gap between main set and encore may have been a few min. longer than usual, but return they did. Which let to Alan-Alan chants. Alan placed himself at the Marshalls and the tech brought him the bass as late as possible. Then the band went into Caroline got through it as planned and then it was Bye Bye Johnny. Only Alan wasn't able to walk up to the microphone, so Francis did the first verse .. more or less .. more less than more, while Alan tried to get to the front. For the second verse Francis carried the microphone closer to Alan, who sang it then - and the band went straight into the bye-bye bit. No long waves of good bye either. In a way it was heartbreaking to see. Francis tried to put his arm around Alan and pull him upright again for the waves and bows, but Alan's pride made him refuse it and instead he continued to cling on to the microphone stand. Francis and Bob had to help him get off the stage though .. Such a depressing end to what had been an otherwise wonderful night.
The sadness is still what I'm feeling this morning mainly. They should cancel at least the next few gigs, at least part of the tour. I know Alan's pride and willpower will keep him from doing so, but his health is simply more important. Hope the others and his wife will make him see sense.
The support - what can I say, the Woodstock theme wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but he did an interesting version of POMM and that's what he got his best response by far for.
Quo looked good and fit, especially the change in John was remarkable compared to the Wembley blue-ray and his white Hauptstadt Rocker shirt made me smile (do you get a percentage, Rick ?). Rick has lost a lot of weight since last winter and all of them looked like they were really enjoying the gig. Alan basically looked like last year, happy to be there, but he didn't move around much at the start and not at all later. The songs they played, how they were played - what can I say - fantastic ! My boys, who saw Alan for the first time commented on how great his voice was.
The audience was intend to enjoy every second of it and that's what they did. They clapped, they did the Quo-o-o-oh chants and even the occasional na-na-na bit and sang along to the lyrics. In fact all the lyrics were sung so loud by the audience, that sometimes the band simply stopped singing and let us do lines or whole verses even. The longer solo in 4500x followed up by Gotta Go Home worked really well and is probably an ideal compromise. What can I say - I love this band !
By the end of the main set the guy beside me - and he was a Quo fan, knew the songs, just not the message board attending variety - remarked to me that Alan clearly was drunk. So I explained (shouted into his ear more like) about his illness and what a trooper he was. Then things got worse quickly for Alan. He started dropping his plectrum and wasn't able to loosen a spare one from the guitar, so he tried to play without. Francis went over and passed Alan one of his and when he dropped that as well shortly after, helped get him one of the spare ones. Then Alan wasn't able to stand straight anymore, in fact he wasn't able to stand anymore at all and desperately held on to the microphone stand so he wouldn't fall, but he still managed to sing Roadhouse Blues, after which the band left the stage very quickly - Francis and Bob carrying Alan more or less. It was just so sad to see, Alan desperately tried to not let the band or the audience down, while he was clearly struggling with severe health problems. Usually the audience would have screamed loudly for an encore (Zu-ga-be) - nobody did last night. Nobody expected one, in fact I said to hubby that I hoped they wouldn't do one. People just stood there and clapped. Well, the gap between main set and encore may have been a few min. longer than usual, but return they did. Which let to Alan-Alan chants. Alan placed himself at the Marshalls and the tech brought him the bass as late as possible. Then the band went into Caroline got through it as planned and then it was Bye Bye Johnny. Only Alan wasn't able to walk up to the microphone, so Francis did the first verse .. more or less .. more less than more, while Alan tried to get to the front. For the second verse Francis carried the microphone closer to Alan, who sang it then - and the band went straight into the bye-bye bit. No long waves of good bye either. In a way it was heartbreaking to see. Francis tried to put his arm around Alan and pull him upright again for the waves and bows, but Alan's pride made him refuse it and instead he continued to cling on to the microphone stand. Francis and Bob had to help him get off the stage though .. Such a depressing end to what had been an otherwise wonderful night.
The sadness is still what I'm feeling this morning mainly. They should cancel at least the next few gigs, at least part of the tour. I know Alan's pride and willpower will keep him from doing so, but his health is simply more important. Hope the others and his wife will make him see sense.