2018 Rock Meets Classic, Ludwigsburg April 17
Apr 24, 2018 20:39:54 GMT
snakelady and craydarr like this
Post by frozenhero on Apr 24, 2018 20:39:54 GMT
So, here's my gig report, my first one on here! It was a great day, walking from the train station to the location was almost a non-event (the five minutes Google told me seemed exaggerated...). I quickly noticed the plethora of merch, and since there was no break, I bought Michael Sadler's signed solo album and the tour programme. I passed on the shirts since I already have too many but I thought it was curious they did a Francis Rossi T-shirt specifically for this tour.
The intro was a bit awkward - if you're gonna mix Beethoven's 5th and a rock song, why not do it like ELO?
Michael Sadler went on and he was great as always. The orchestra did some nice things, the guitarist on the left did his best to interpret Ian Crichton's parts. Saga music is complicated and they did a good job at it. They should have let Michael play bass on "Humble Stance" though
Eric Bazilian came on looking young as ever (he's about the same age as Michael) but "All You Zombies" was a huge disappointment - I hated the re-arrangement! You remember those strange revamped versions of Quo classics on Aquostic II? Well this was just as bad, bits of lyrics repeated with no reason and the whole dynamics ruined. "One of Us" (performed similar to the Five by Five EP version, apart from the well-established but still funny German verse) and "And We Danced" (with long intro, just like on "Both Sides Live", and Eric playing his trademark guitar/mandolin doubleneck) were great, though.
The Gotthard guys didn't convince me. It just sounded like generic hard rock, with a lot of posing and animation. Also, this was the first time the pyrotechnics were used, you could feel the warmth! (I was in the tenth row.) "Heaven" is a great ballad though.
The Supertramp team came on. I actually never heard Jesse Siebenberg (he's the son of Bob, who's been 'Tramp's drummer since 1973) sing, but he's very close to Mark Hart. In other words: He doesn't sound like Roger Hodgson, but did an amicable job. But given how many singers there were on stage, I wish they'd also played something by Rick Davies. John's sax parts sounded a bit shakey here & there and he didn't have a lot to do but was still funny in his introductions, just like back in the 70s. And he blew a whistle near the end of "The Logical Song".
Then the band/orchestra did a song by P!nk that I hate. Nice. Er, not really.
Michael came back and... tbh, I don't get why he's doing "Only Time Will Tell". It's not a particularly great song, it wasn't a big hit (I'd say "The Flyer" or "Don't Be Late" are more popular), and it wasn't a big orchestra showcase either (like some of the passages of "Generation 13"). But at least it gave him the chance to show off his vocal chops. All in all, he still comes out as the winner of the "supporting" artists.
Eric's second set started as weirdly as the first one, with "500 Miles" similarly disfigured as "All You Zombies". But "Johnny B" was absolutely magical - they did the long arrangement like on "Both Sides Live", except that the intro was a duet between Eric on blockflute and one of the violinists! He also shone on harmonica and guitar.
Then it's Gotthard time again and it goes to show that they had to resort to a Deep Purple classic (actually DP also only covered it) to get the crowd going. I could have done without them, to be honest.
The intro to "School" was not played by Eric B. (missed chance!) but by somebody else. The song took a while to get going but after a while it did rock. "Give a Little Bit" was nice.
The orchestra made a very good impression with the "Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack.
It's headliner time! Francis seemed very agile, funny (he made jokes about Mat peeing on stage etc.) and in a good, er, frame of mind. The band actually played heavier than the current incarnation of Quo, maybe you need two rhythm guitarists to replace Rick? The orchestra was mostly underused with exceptions on "In the Army Now" and "Burning Bridges", which got us all to bouncing. Also, Francis was the only one who didn't speak a bit of German, but he mentioned Bielefeld! Oh, and when "Burning Bridges" started, I wondered whether he'd sing "can't escape this Sinner in my ears"... and he did!!
At the end, all artists came back on stage and did... stuff.
Visually it was good apart from the fact that they couldn't get the lights to do "a green light turns to red" during "Johnny B" (I remember this from when The Hooters supported Quo!). There were two screens left and right and one in the middle. The latter showed a mixture of animation and the musicians as projected on the left & right screens.
The sound unfortunately was poor. It seems the PA was struggling with the volume and the amount of low frequency, which lead to the bass sounding distorted. And at times the mix was off. Not only did the orchestra often not come through properly, but even John's sax and Francis' guitar seemed to get lost in the blur of sound. That was a downer.
All in all, a great night only compromised by the fact that it's a "greatest hits" show (imagine "Fool's Overture" with a real live orchestra... droooool.) and by, as so often, the acoustics/sonics.
The intro was a bit awkward - if you're gonna mix Beethoven's 5th and a rock song, why not do it like ELO?
Michael Sadler went on and he was great as always. The orchestra did some nice things, the guitarist on the left did his best to interpret Ian Crichton's parts. Saga music is complicated and they did a good job at it. They should have let Michael play bass on "Humble Stance" though
Eric Bazilian came on looking young as ever (he's about the same age as Michael) but "All You Zombies" was a huge disappointment - I hated the re-arrangement! You remember those strange revamped versions of Quo classics on Aquostic II? Well this was just as bad, bits of lyrics repeated with no reason and the whole dynamics ruined. "One of Us" (performed similar to the Five by Five EP version, apart from the well-established but still funny German verse) and "And We Danced" (with long intro, just like on "Both Sides Live", and Eric playing his trademark guitar/mandolin doubleneck) were great, though.
The Gotthard guys didn't convince me. It just sounded like generic hard rock, with a lot of posing and animation. Also, this was the first time the pyrotechnics were used, you could feel the warmth! (I was in the tenth row.) "Heaven" is a great ballad though.
The Supertramp team came on. I actually never heard Jesse Siebenberg (he's the son of Bob, who's been 'Tramp's drummer since 1973) sing, but he's very close to Mark Hart. In other words: He doesn't sound like Roger Hodgson, but did an amicable job. But given how many singers there were on stage, I wish they'd also played something by Rick Davies. John's sax parts sounded a bit shakey here & there and he didn't have a lot to do but was still funny in his introductions, just like back in the 70s. And he blew a whistle near the end of "The Logical Song".
Then the band/orchestra did a song by P!nk that I hate. Nice. Er, not really.
Michael came back and... tbh, I don't get why he's doing "Only Time Will Tell". It's not a particularly great song, it wasn't a big hit (I'd say "The Flyer" or "Don't Be Late" are more popular), and it wasn't a big orchestra showcase either (like some of the passages of "Generation 13"). But at least it gave him the chance to show off his vocal chops. All in all, he still comes out as the winner of the "supporting" artists.
Eric's second set started as weirdly as the first one, with "500 Miles" similarly disfigured as "All You Zombies". But "Johnny B" was absolutely magical - they did the long arrangement like on "Both Sides Live", except that the intro was a duet between Eric on blockflute and one of the violinists! He also shone on harmonica and guitar.
Then it's Gotthard time again and it goes to show that they had to resort to a Deep Purple classic (actually DP also only covered it) to get the crowd going. I could have done without them, to be honest.
The intro to "School" was not played by Eric B. (missed chance!) but by somebody else. The song took a while to get going but after a while it did rock. "Give a Little Bit" was nice.
The orchestra made a very good impression with the "Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack.
It's headliner time! Francis seemed very agile, funny (he made jokes about Mat peeing on stage etc.) and in a good, er, frame of mind. The band actually played heavier than the current incarnation of Quo, maybe you need two rhythm guitarists to replace Rick? The orchestra was mostly underused with exceptions on "In the Army Now" and "Burning Bridges", which got us all to bouncing. Also, Francis was the only one who didn't speak a bit of German, but he mentioned Bielefeld! Oh, and when "Burning Bridges" started, I wondered whether he'd sing "can't escape this Sinner in my ears"... and he did!!
At the end, all artists came back on stage and did... stuff.
Visually it was good apart from the fact that they couldn't get the lights to do "a green light turns to red" during "Johnny B" (I remember this from when The Hooters supported Quo!). There were two screens left and right and one in the middle. The latter showed a mixture of animation and the musicians as projected on the left & right screens.
The sound unfortunately was poor. It seems the PA was struggling with the volume and the amount of low frequency, which lead to the bass sounding distorted. And at times the mix was off. Not only did the orchestra often not come through properly, but even John's sax and Francis' guitar seemed to get lost in the blur of sound. That was a downer.
All in all, a great night only compromised by the fact that it's a "greatest hits" show (imagine "Fool's Overture" with a real live orchestra... droooool.) and by, as so often, the acoustics/sonics.