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Post by quolifier on Nov 16, 2014 13:37:25 GMT
In this thread I'd like to follow Quo on their German tour which is starting tomorrow (November 17th). Please feel free to contribute and comment. Next Exit:...... DRESDEN
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Post by quolifier on Nov 16, 2014 13:40:46 GMT
The German tour starts in Dresden, the capital of the federal state of Sachsen (Saxony), a town of about 530,000 inhabitants situated on the river Elbe. Probably best known for its destruction by Allied Forces air strikes during World War II, the town consists of two distinctively different parts seperated by the Elbe. The old town (Altstadt) boasts splendid historic buildings like the Zwinger, the Opera and of course the reconstructed Frauenkirche. My personal favourite, though, is the new town (Neustadt) where a posh part with expensive shops eventually leads to the students' quarters with a lot of pubs. The venue of the Quo gig is Messehalle 1 - a large multifunctional exhibition hall - and as for indoor concert stages it's as large as it can get in Dresden (up to 5,500 seated or 12,000 standing, with options to downsize into 4 segments). If anyone visiting the Dresden gig on November 17th should be reading this: I can recommend from personal experience - the Spanish restaurant "El Espanol" - the Hotel Backstage (not located at the backstage of the concert though) - a visit at the Kunsthof-Passage (a series of backyards with fantastic architecture and nice shops and bistros) all three located at the new town.
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Post by quolifier on Nov 16, 2014 14:29:58 GMT
From one capital to the next: Kiel is the capital of the most northern federal state: Schleswig-Holstein. The town of approximately 240,000 inhabitants is situated on the Baltic Sea coast where the Kiel Canal starts (or ends, if you want), the most frequently used artificial waterway in the world. From my rare visits some 20+ years ago I do not remember Kiel to be a remarkably nice town. Some of its features have some importance though: the harbour (with ferries to Scandinavia and the Baltics) the university and the center of geo-marine research (GEOMAR), to name just a few. For me, Kiel was the starting point of my most adventurous journey: a reseach trip on the stormy North Sea during my student days (although I did not study at Kiel) on this research vessel: But I almost forgot to tell about the venue for November 18th: The Sparkassen-Arena (better known under its former name Ostsee-Halle) is one of Germany's biggest multipurpose halls for sports events, exhibitions and concerts allowing an audience of up to 13,500. Not that Quo will be able to attract that many...
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Post by quolifier on Nov 16, 2014 15:01:02 GMT
Last preview for today: After one day off Quo will move on to yet another capital: Magdeburg with its 230,000 or so inhabitants is the capital of the federal state Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt) and like Dresden it is situated on the river Elbe. Although I recently went to visit a congress at Magdeburg I didn't see much of the town. It did seem worth another visit though. I stayed in a very nice hotel within the Grüne Zitadelle (Green Citadel) a building complex beautifilly designed by Friedrich Hundertwasser. The inside is just as unusually designed as the outside. The venue for the gig on November 20th - the Stadthalle - was built in 1927 (but had to be reconstructed after WW II) and from the outside it looks distinctively different from most modern concert venues I know. It is located on an island within the river Elbe and holds up to 2,000 (seated) or 4,000 (standing) people. Just about the size Francis prefers, I think to remember from reding various interviews.
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Post by snakelady on Nov 16, 2014 16:30:23 GMT
That's a great idea, Ingo, introducing the towns of the tour ! Dresden is indeed a beautiful city again. If you're staying there for a few days don't forget to take a steamboat trip on the Elbe passing underneath the Blaues Wunder (blue wonder - a famous bridge) and a walk on the Bastei a few km further to the south. I only know Kiel from passing it on the autobahn, but just like you, my younger brother set out for the seatrip of his life from there: He did his Bundeswehr stint on board of the Gorch Fock.
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Post by quolifier on Nov 16, 2014 16:54:10 GMT
What a wonderful picture of the Gorch Fock ! Thanx Kathrin.
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Post by curly and the model on Nov 17, 2014 13:31:20 GMT
In this thread I'd like to follow Quo on their German tour which is starting tomorrow (November 17th). Please feel free to contribute and comment. Next Exit:...... DRESDEN Be in touch when we get to Mannheim
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Post by snakelady on Nov 17, 2014 13:55:21 GMT
A preview for Mannheim - the Wasserturm (water tower) just across the street from the venue:
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Post by quolifier on Nov 17, 2014 18:21:38 GMT
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Post by snakelady on Nov 18, 2014 7:44:54 GMT
First gig in Dresden: Well attended, but not sold out. Lou Gramm has pulled out at very short notice, so Quo came on considerably earlier. I wonder if that means LG out of the whole tour or just the one gig ?
As promised the band put a few of the songs played with the FF into the setlist:
Caroline
Paper plane
Rain
Little Lady Most of the Time
Hold you back
Beginning of the end
Oh Baby
What you're Proposing / Wild side of Life / Railroad Big fat Mama
Oriental
Creeping up on you
In the Army now
Blue eyed Lady
Drum Solo
Roll over lay Down
Down Down Whatever you want Rockin' all over the World
R+R Music / Bye Bye Johnny
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Post by snakelady on Nov 18, 2014 7:55:01 GMT
My opinion on it ? Well, I absolutely love MOTT, so that's a plus and to hear Oh Baby and Blue Eyed Lady again is great as well. What I don't like is they've dropped RNRNY, and overall even less new songs are played instead of more. Rain, BOTE, Oriental, Creepin, the medley all need exchanging urgently and even more so the encore. They may have to start with Caroline and end with RAOTW, but all the other big ones should be played elsewhere in the set (or dropped as well). Main point of criticism: As near as no new songs in the set. thumbs-down-clipart12
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Post by elvis57 on Nov 18, 2014 12:03:31 GMT
nice to see new songs in the list. I don't like R&R&U so happy it's gone, but I can't see the logic in not profiling a few songs from the acoustic album
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Post by snakelady on Nov 18, 2014 14:25:52 GMT
Hm, really lively them Saxonians - but obviously they loved it nonetheless ..
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Post by quolifier on Nov 18, 2014 19:07:12 GMT
Lou Gramm couldn't perform? :oo: Well that must have been a bit of a challenge for Quo to play to an audience that had no chance to warm up. I was trying to be realistic about the set list and didn't expect a major shake-up. So what's "new": we have Oh Baby and Blue-eyed Lady. Then we have a (hopefully) complete Little Lady / Most of the time. And that's about it I guess. There seems to be a tendency towards FF marerial: only 4 songs from post-84 survived in the set (Army, Oriental, Creeping, Beginning/End). And with Burning Bridges gone from the encore without any replacement, the encore seems to be rather short. Maybe this is due to the ever increasing age of (most of) the guys, but it is a bit disappointing nonetheless. If I shout Zu-ga-be, I want to hear more than 1.5 songs. Well, IF (and that's still a big IF) there should be a fully acoustic tour in 2015, that will at least have a notably different set-list compared to the current tour.
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Post by curly and the model on Nov 18, 2014 20:26:31 GMT
First gig in Dresden: Well attended, but not sold out. Lou Gramm has pulled out at very short notice, so Quo came on considerably earlier. I wonder if that means LG out of the whole tour or just the one gig ? As promised the band put a few of the songs played with the FF into the setlist: Caroline Paper plane Rain Little Lady Most of the Time Hold you back Beginning of the end Oh Baby What you're Proposing / Wild side of Life / Railroad Big fat Mama Oriental Creeping up on you In the Army now Blue eyed Lady Drum Solo Roll over lay Down Down Down Whatever you want Rockin' all over the World R+R Music / Bye Bye Johnny Thanks for the set list and the picture
How far is the station to our hotel ?
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Post by curly and the model on Nov 18, 2014 20:26:42 GMT
First gig in Dresden: Well attended, but not sold out. Lou Gramm has pulled out at very short notice, so Quo came on considerably earlier. I wonder if that means LG out of the whole tour or just the one gig ? As promised the band put a few of the songs played with the FF into the setlist: Caroline Paper plane Rain Little Lady Most of the Time Hold you back Beginning of the end Oh Baby What you're Proposing / Wild side of Life / Railroad Big fat Mama Oriental Creeping up on you In the Army now Blue eyed Lady Drum Solo Roll over lay Down Down Down Whatever you want Rockin' all over the World R+R Music / Bye Bye Johnny Thanks for the set list and the picture
How far is the station to our hotel ?
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Post by curly and the model on Nov 18, 2014 20:27:23 GMT
Oooppps
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2014 12:29:30 GMT
Some stunning photos there Ingo, and lovely to get a little story attached to it too! Surprised to hear they didn't play any from the Aquostic.. but perhaps then there's all the more chance of them doing a 2015 tour of it - that would be fab. Good to hear about the setlist change there Inna, and I'm glad Burning Bridges made an appearance Never been a fan of Rain... but I love Most Of The Time, and Oh Baby is always a pleasure to hear.
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Post by snakelady on Nov 19, 2014 14:46:55 GMT
A few words about Kiel last night: Lou Gramm did play for a change The gig seems to have been attended rather poorly (2500) Not quite sure, but it looks like BB was played in the encore instead of RnR Music (would be a big improvement IMO) What I'm really surprised about is, that nobody seems to bother much that Francis isn't playing his old tele anymore. The new thing seems to be all green, but what will be interesting is how it sounds (and if I'll be able to notice a difference .. ).
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Post by quolifier on Nov 19, 2014 18:01:35 GMT
What I like about Oh Baby is that they play it quite well including Francis doing a proper solo that doesn't end in over-bending. What I don't like is the song itself. Not true, it's not the song, it's its appearance in the set list For me it just sounds so "old". Some music from the 70s is timeless including quite a lot of Quo songs, other music (also including quite some Quo songs, like Oh Baby) sounds so much like the 70s that if played today does sound out of place - just to my humble ears of course.
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Post by quolifier on Nov 19, 2014 18:49:41 GMT
The local press doesn't seem to be interested in the Quo gigs at Dresden and Kiel. The only thing I could find so far is this: link
and it says so little, it isn't even worth translating. The overall vibe of this little article is positive, but it also confirms that the audience was low in numbers.
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Post by quolifier on Nov 19, 2014 18:56:22 GMT
Here's an video if the first part of Caroline from the Kiel gig. Nice way of showing Rick's shadow through the curtain before it drops.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2014 22:57:55 GMT
Some really good footage there and as always, thanks for posting.
Think Rick is looking really well and is obviously sticking to his new healthy lifestyle.
As for the all green guitar that Francis is playing, if it's a model made by Status then I know who'll get the blame for that.
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Post by snakelady on Nov 20, 2014 9:11:19 GMT
Some really good footage there and as always, thanks for posting. Think Rick is looking really well and is obviously sticking to his new healthy lifestyle. As for the all green guitar that Francis is playing, if it's a model made by Status then I know who'll get the blame for that. It is mentioned in a few posts on the German mb how thin and healthy Rick looks, even compared to the Roundhouse. I guess when Francis remarked in one of those recent interviews that he had just bought a new guitar for 8000 quid, that he was talking about that green thing. . Obviously he's still using the old tele for at least part of the songs though - going by the vids.
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Post by snakelady on Nov 20, 2014 9:21:48 GMT
So the band have their first day off today and then we've got the usual three in a row with Schwerin the second gig. Schwerin, capital of MeckPom, only recently held the national garden exhibition, so they've got beautiful parks and gardens at the waterfront and around the castle now. Here's the impressive castle: The boy, whose family owned the thing once, went to school with me. He had a rather longish surname with lots of von and zu, but the teachers simply called him Schwerin (nice boy, made me a copy of his Breakfast In America album).
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