Manfred Mann's Earthband - On The Road August 2002

Saturday, 3 August, Vollanfestival, Norway

Posted by Lars Grimstad

Hello all u fans out there!

This weekend i had another memorable moment with a band i really care about, and i feel also the band cares about me and all you other fans out there...

I arrived at the festival a day prior to the concert and were expecting a similar turnout as my previous MMEB concert, on November 3rd in Bodoe, last fall. To me and many others it felt a bit sad, that the festival didnt manage to get more people to the Venue.
I must say the arrangers, did an excellent job, even if the odds turned against them.

Anyways....we where a group of hardcore fans defying the lousy weather all through the weekend, waiting for our moment with the band we all love... the last hour before MMEB entered the stage felt like an eternity...i think i checked my watch over a dozen times that one hour...

The Audience was small but extatic, and the band picked up on this vibe and gave us their best, the contact between Mick Rogers, Noel McCalla and the audience was close and personal....and the two musicians obviously enjoyed the audience as much as we did enjoy them...

After the concert i met both Noel McCalla, Steve Kinch & Pete May (Drummer) I had met the band in Bodoe and got their Autographs...and talked a bit with all of them...Now i actually got to walk next to Noel and tell him what their music means to me.
Pete May is propably the nicest drummer in the World...he is so open and happy to oblige fans.
Sadly i only got to say hi to Mick Rogers when he arrived...but he remembered me from the last time we met in Bodoe. Manfred was, and as i know not too keen on being bothered with fans..and i respect his wish.

The gig was all i expected and more....im now proud to call my self a hard core Mannfred Mann fan. And my next project is getting started on an official Norwegian website for this band...who has a very faithful gang of followers in Norway

---Lars G---

Saturday, 3 August, Vollanfestival, Norway

Posted by Asbjorn

Hi MMEB fans!
Me and my friend Raymond drove about 6 hours before we came to the festivalplace.The event started at 12,00 and we arrived about 15.30. The band on the stage at that time was playing for nobody! Band after band came on stage but there was no one to listen to them!It was a pity because it was good bands playing good blues and rock. And we was getting a little bit nervous about what would happen later when MMEB shold start playing.It was cold and it looked like the rain was heading our way. Suddenly Pete May showed up and i said "Hope you guys give us some "Shelter.."? He smiled to me and said "That would be no problem!"
The band came on stage ca. 23.00 people suddenly came in from all places!:-) And suddenly there was about 6- 700 people in there!! The band played the usual set but again - for me - new arranged songs! Fantastic to listen to!The Blinded - solo was too short!:-( but everything else was perfect in my ears and the audience was fantastic and very enthuastic (as we always are in Norway:-))
After the show Manfred ran into a cabin with the rest of the band walking after him. A few minutes later he jumped into a car and left the place.But the rest of the band took their time talk to the fans, we took some nice pics together with them. Nice guys!
Well that was my small report from Norway and i hope it won't be long before they come back!!

Greetings from Asbjorn

Some great photo's from Kloften - http://www.rks-web.dk/kloften/man.htm

Saturday 10 August, Erfurt, Germany

Posted by Thomas and Karin

Hi,

we are happy about Nigels great work with the tour archive and want to add another one - the gig in Erfurt last night.
It is a big open air event, called "Traumzeit" (dream time). On Saturday the wellknown foreign bands and "Vital" from Germany, and today, on Sunday, the great old bands from Eastern Germany (Karat, Puhdys, Electra and so on...). The gigs took (and will take) place on a meadow just next to a big shopping centre, the Thueringenpark in the north of Erfurt, and the venue is surrounded by a big area with lots of apartment houses - a problem, like we should see later...

Everything was very well organized there, articles about the event already some weeks before in all local newspapers, at the area lots of bars and stalls for food, a big stage - only the weather tried to disturb as much as possible! In the afternoon we had at home (only 80 km from Erfurt) such a terrible thunderstorm, 3 hours long, that we could not start our journey, and it rained also later when we arrived at around 5.30 p.m. at the Thueringenpark. There had been already around 1500 people, listening to the band Vital, who played oldies from the 60ies. The main organizer of the event, Werner Zentgraf, was also a member of this band and we want to thank him here for his work - he did a great job, on both things! We walked around a bit in the rain with our umbrellas, had a look at the area and looked for a chance to get a dry place for the merchandising. Finally Pat could organize a corner for us in the little tent at the doors where the box office was :-)

Meanwhile Saylor and The Equals had played their gigs, good, but not our taste of music. The rain had stopped, there were now estimated 2500-3000 visitors at the area and we had met some friends (greetings to Lothar and his wife!!!).

A bit belated, at around 9.50 p.m., the Earth Band entered the stage. And that was just the problem: the band had only 70 min left to play because the whole event had to finish at 11 p.m. (the many houses in the neighbourhood and the typical German sense for rules!) :-( So we saw a very short gig, without Castles, Angels, Times, also without Dancing and Redemption Song :-( But what we saw was great! Well done like always, the sound was good and the musicians brilliant on stage. I saw the concert from the 5th or 6th row and enjoyed every minute there. Highlights to me the very well done Father, then again Mick`s Working-Week-middle part of Demolition Man (he is developing it meanwhile into a new kind of solo there :-) ). She Was this time very impressive and with the sound I love so much, and after Blinded and the usual short break Manfred played a wonderful intro for Davy - really great! The last minutes Thomas spent infront of the stage but I had a good view on the high stage from our tent, too, and so this gig was really over much, much too soon! But we could not change it, also the organizers I had spoken with were not happy with this early finish. The only point we have to critisize was the audience - it was the most tired and sleepy one we had since a long long time. Hey, Erfurt, you had been much better last year in the Gewerkschaftshaus in December!!! So we can only say: sorry Erfurt, but you lost the race and you now got the last place in the row of the German audiences to us. The people around me in the first rows seemed to enjoyed what they saw and heard, no doubt, but they stood like trees in the wood and only some of them moved and danced there - strange feeling when you are from Thuringia, too!

However, we enjoyed the gig and we want to thank our band and the crew for another fine show. Special thanks to Pat and to the guy from the organizers who let us in into the tent for their friendly help.

Looking forward to next Saturday in Rotenhain! And this time hopefully without any rain...

Best wishes

K & T

Thursday 15 August, Randers, Denmark

Posted by Lars Nielsen

Here is report from the gig in Denmark last thursday !

We were almost late to the gig due to the fact that the website of the gig telling MMEB to play after Michael Ruff band. So five minutes past 8 we were approaching the big tent with space for 4000 people and what a chock ! The soft voice of Noel in "shelter"
mmeting us. We rushed to tent and had a wonderfull gig.

The band played 1 hour and 45 minutes( with angels And carol ). The topact to me was Father and dancing. Mick and Manfred where really in the mood this night. The solos was so dynamic than ever. I had only experienced Dancing one time before and I found it a little bit boring - but this time it knocked my feed from the ground -wow.

In redemption song manfred suddenly filled some tunes from plains music into the piano solo and it was obvious from Noels reaction that this was something new because he had to look at manfred before singing again - but this solo was so great. All in all the band was in their best shape and 2000 people enjoyed every minute.

MMEB was not the topact this evening. Michael Ruff Band was - but what a failure ! After to songs the majority of the audience left and in the end only 100-200 people watched the end of the concert.

We will thank the band for gig beyond our wildest expectations and we hope to cope up with them somewhere in Germany during the Xmas tour.

Best regards
Lars and May-britt

Saturday 17 August, Rotenhein, Germany

Posted by Annette

As you can tell from Herr Fleischer's message the audience in Rotenhain was very special. I was glad policeman Paul was there to protect us. There even was a bit of a fight in second row during Blinded - I think it was - and Manfred was so occupied with watching the culprit being ecorted out of the venue he lost his timing for a moment.
The music was fantastic, I'm getting more and more critical the more gigs I go to (spoilt brat mode), but this one was special because it was the one I've been waiting for since Losheim1 because Manfred did really really good solos. I'm not saying he's been playing crap, so keep the tar and feathers in the shed, just a mix of sort of average to pretty good with a highlight here and there. I like the solos when he doesn't try to play stuff he might think people would like to hear and just goes for it really Manfred-style - if you know what I mean. I have even made my peace with the sampler/Nord combo which is technically stable and seems to meet the Maestro's requirements. I'd still prefer the Mini though. Mick started off a bit wobbly but what a solo in Father! Even Steve applauded in the background. Manfred won the battle I'd say and three quarters of it was really nice spacey stuff which gets the goosebumps-reward every time. Complete and utter excitement :-) got me during the Quinn guitar solo. I wish I had a recording to be able to listen to that one again. Noel (side-fill junkie) was made redundant during Blinded and Quinn because the crowd was singing so enthusiastically. He started spraying water onto the people in front row with one of those indoor-plant spray thingies (what's the word), to cool us down a bit.
I think the PA was still set to a limit for MMEB, I checked the sound from further back in the venue during Martha and it was a **** up. I bet FOH weren't able to hear a thing for people talking. The Cowboys got all the dBs they wanted. So, 2 headliners didn't happen. Opener for Cowboys more likely. I went back to the front and what came off stage sounded far better than the PA. Very nice lightshow all in blues and reds and we were Blinded by the Light indeed.
"Peace & Harmony!"

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