Alive and kicking, get the best out of me

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Gotthard – Turbinenhalle Oberhausen; February 18th, 2017

Gotthard are an old love of mine. Not the music I listen to on a daily basis, but always fun to catch on tour. This year marks their 25th anniversary and for 21 of those years I’ve been seeing them live. However, I did take a break for the past two tours and had never seen them with their singer Nic. He has been around since 2011, but I hadn’t been since 2009. What can I say? They still rock and I had a fun evening at the Turbinenhalle with them. 😀

Arrived a bit after 5 pm and spent the waiting time chatting with the fans who were already there. We shared a few memories and smiled about the confusion caused by two bands playing that night. Gotthard were playing hall 2, whereas Ska-Punk band Sondaschule occupied hall 1. Until the venue’s security guys put up a sign, many people asked for the right entrance. Other than that it was the usual wait and ended with a spot in front row.

Supporting were The Pretty Maids from Denmark. While looking at their stage backdrop I tried to remember when and where I had heard about them first. I know someone told me about them at another concert I have been to years ago, but other than remembering the name, I had no idea what to expect.

They brought us colorful stage attire, at least as far as the guitarist and the bassist go and rocking songs. I enjoyed their set, I smiled at the keyboarder’s haircut, loved the energy they brought to the stage and even sang along a bit. They had fun and got the audience going. Quite a few knew their stuff and sang along so it was just the right warm up. For the one hours they played, I got a good taste of their songs and liked what I heard. There was a lot of action going on too and towards the end, the guitar player walked along between the barrier and the stage, leaning out into the audience a few times. Overall it was an hour of high energy and fun.

Setlist:

Mother of All Lies
Kingmaker
Face the World
Rodeo
I.N.V.U.
Bull’s Eye
Little Drops of Heaven
Back to Back
Red, Hot and Heavy
Love Games
Future World

Pretty Maids pictures

While the stage setup was changed, I got a little bit nervous. Steve, the band’s original singer, had been amazing and his stage presence accounted for much of the magic of Gotthard’s shows. With Nic, I had no idea if I’d feel the same. I already liked his voice though and the three albums since he joined the band had all been good, so I knew I’d love the music, no matter what. By the end of the night I was sure I’d go and see them again. Nic is very different from Steve and that it exactly how it should be. He honors the older songs and makes them his own and he rocks the new ones. I did reminisce about old times occasionally, as one should at a 25th anniversary concert. It added some good memories to an already entertaining evening. 🙂

When the band first walked out I wondered if Hena had gotten a tattoo on his neck. Only when the lights went up I realized it wasn’t Hena behind the drums. I kept wondering what I’d missed until Leo explained that he was ill and Halloween’s Daniel Löble jumped in and learned their set in a few short days. He did a great job too. Impressive!

They started with ‘Silver River’ from the current album and I realized I should have listened to it more often. There was no chance of singing along. Thus I watched, listened and soon got into the mood. By the time they played ‘Hush’ I had fully arrived, finally singing and loving it. The setlist was a good mix of older and newer songs, just right for an anniversary tour. Except for the acoustic set, they mostly picked rock songs, just as I had hoped they would. Their acoustic ‘d-frosted’ tour was great, but other than that I want Gotthard to sound like Gotthard and love it when they rock.

Steve, Freddy and Marc powered through the songs, all getting a chance for solos. I wasn’t always close enough to watch their fingers working, but when I was I did. 🙂 Of course Ernesto on keyboards and Dani on drums got their solos too and Nic played ‘Remember it’s me’ on his own. For that song he was quite chatty, telling us how the song came about. Other than that there was less talk and more music, but the band did make connections with the audience, drawing us in.

For the acoustic set it was just Leo, Marc and Nic, giving us some of their classic love songs and asking everyone to help out and sing along. Of course we did. I must admit, I liked the older songs better, but that’s only because I have a stronger connection to those, i.e. know them better. I listened to the first three albums a lot more often than to the last three. My taste in music has changed over the years and also I have many more bands to listen to know than I did the first time I saw Gotthard.

Before ‘Miss me’ Nic told the women in the room to decide who wanted to dance with him. Funily enouh I didn’t see any hands raised in front row and the girl he chose was a few rows back. A security guard helped her over the barrier and walked her on stage. She hugged Nic and they danced for a while. I would not have wanted that kind of attention, but she seemed to enjoy it and it was a nice gesture. 🙂

Some songs I recognized right away, some took a little bit. ‘Mountain mama’ is hard to be mistaken for anything else, but when Nic read us the lyrics to ‘Firedance’, mentioning this was a love song we didn’t know as a love song, I recognized the words, but could not name the song. Loved it though. It has always been a highlight for me. They played a powerful two hours set and even gave us an extra encore in the end, because we were yelling so loudly for more. They might be doing that every night, but judging by the fact that the fans who had already seen a few concerts, packed their things after ‘Anytime Anywhere’ makes me think they have not. Either way, it was a good night, hopefully to be repeated on the next tour.

Getting home after the gig proved difficult. It was an excellent display of Murphy’s Law where what should have been a one hour trip turned into three. I made it eventually though and of course it was all worth it.

Setlist:

Silver River
Electrified
Hush (Joe South cover)
Stay With Me
Mountain Mamay seen a few concerts
Remember It’s Me
Feel What I Feel
Sister Moon (with bass intro)
What You Get
Keyboard Solo

Acoustic set:
One Life, One Soul
Let It Be
Angel
Heaven

Miss Me
Firedance
Everything Inside
Top of the World
Lift U Up
Drum Solo

Encore:
Standing in the Light
Anytime Anywhere

Come Together (The Beatles cover)

pictures of this concert

The world expects the pose perfectly natural

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Faith No More Tribute – Gaukurinn, Reykjavík; February 10th, 2017

I remember Faith No More from back in the early 90ies, but I never paid much attention to them and would not be able to name even one song. They simply don’t play a role in my personal music universe. So what was I doing at a dark Reykjavík club at 11 pm, waiting for a Faith No More Tribute band to play? Well, my friend Ragnar, who happens to be their lead singer, invited me to come see them, so of course I did. I had only a very vague idea of what to expect, but I enjoyed it tremendously. It was a really fun show. 😀

Arrived about an hour before they started and was surprised by the long guestlist – I don’t think anyone who was there paid to get in. 😉 Got me a drink, sat down and knew I was too early. Oh well, it had felt late when I left my hostel. Hálfdán arrived and we chatted briefly, I talked to Ragnar when he got there and just before it started I saw Baldvin and said hello to him too. The only person I was missing was M., but she had to work before the show didn’t get there until after the concert had started.

Finally there was some movement on stage and people came closer. I stayed on the sidelines, watching, wanting to get a feel for the concert before I started taking pictures. With the music being a little bit outside my comfort zone, it took me some time to get into it. Yet I immediately enjoyed watching the band as well as the audience reaction. I’ve seen a lot of different bands play and while I have seen most musicians with one band only, there are quite a few that do play in several bands, even making different kinds of music. When I get the chance to see the same people in different bands I like looking out for the differences. In most cases though, their roles stay similar or at least they rarely switch instruments. With Ragnar, who switches instruments, roles and musical style with the different bands he plays in it is fun to see the change in stage personality that comes with it.

Even though I have never consciously listened to Faith No More, I had thought I’d recognize t least some of the songs when I heard them. Not the case. 😀 There was one I knew I had heard before, ‘Epic’, but that was it. Thankfully, other people in the audience knew their stuff, yelled suggestions for songs to play and rocked along wit the music. While most had kept a distance from stage at first, they moved in closer eventually, especially after Ragnar jumped across the barrier for the first time, sang from among the audience and directly to some people. Fun!

Trying to capture the whole thing with my camera proved to be a challenge since the venue was dark and the lights used were mostly red. I took loads of pictures, but only few came out. It was still fun, taking pictures as well as watching and listening. I alternated between being and amused observer and rocking with the music. The band sounded good. I have no clue how close it was to the original, but I assume it must have been as because the audience really got into it. I had not seen drummer Kristján, guitarist Reynir or keyboarder Jakob before, but I liked what I heard. Of course seeing Hálfdan in a different band was fun as well.

Just before they took a break, M. finally found me and we said hello. She had been a bit late and since it was dark we had not seen each other earlier. She also noted that Ragnar seemed like a completely different person in this context. 😀 We both had fun and the second half got even better now that people were closer to the stage and going into full rock mode, dancing and even head banging. Jakob switched to guitar for a few songs and Ragnar took over the keyboards. Lots of energy was flowing between the audience and the band, with people singing along and enjoying the party. It was a good show overall and I was happy I had come.

Afterwards we hung out, talked, finally were kicked out and moved to the bar next door. It was a long night and a good one. 🙂

pictures of this concert