Manfred Mann's EarthBand on the Road - July/August 2003
Report from Sandefjord - Norway.
Posted by Thorbjorn on July 06, 2003 Hi everybody!
Just coming home from last nights Gig... A little bit hangover, but hopefully I will give you all a good report from Sandefjord!
After a BBQ party at my place Friday evening, everything was set for the big day, Saturday 5th of July... MMEB was visiting Norway again! And
"THE VIKINGS REFRESHMENT COMPANY OF MMEB" (Ari, Roar, Snorre & Thorbjorn)was together once again..
We arrived Sandefjord in good time for the Gig (about 8 hours before MMEB entered the stage). The weather was great , sunny and warm!
Ian was in action, and we had a little chat. Always nice and always joking Ian told us: "You're too late, the Gig was last night!"
Pat King was also around and welcome us... this time he had practised norwegian! Walking around saying: "Hei - hei - hei!"
Finally the girl at the ticket office had waked up and we got our tickets... Next destination was "Kokeriet" at the harbour. The Vikings Refresment
Company and their Hangarounds Per-Otto and Ivanna found a free table and ordered som pints of beer. Tasty!
We decided to go back to the hotel around 7 o'clock for a shower and fresh up. When we was ready to go to the Gig (3 minutes walk) Mona showed up, she come alone and joined the gang.
Around 10 o'clock the reporter from the local newspaper (Sandefjord Blad) shoved up with her photograph... we had an appointment with her
because they wanted a report on the Gig and The Vikings Refreshment Company. She got her interview and photos! There was no support band, and no fences infront of the stage! Great!
Time 22.40 Finally... the Band entered the stage! THANKS TO MANFRED AND HIS BAND for another fantastic Gig!!!
After the Gig I had a chat with Merete (from the local newspaper) a very good-looking reporter! And I think she liked the Gig very much!! Time to split up and go back to the hotel for another drink...
A special thanks to Ari, Snorre, Roar, Per-Otto, Ivanna and Mona for your company this evening! -thorbjorn
We went to our hotel, Rica Park, and there we met our friends Per-Otto and his wife Ivanna. Together we start the search for the ticket office... It
was located in the same building as the venue, but it was closed... So we took a look around the place and found the Band and the staff preparing for the Gig outside the building. It was to be a an outdoor Gig! Great!
Sorry Ian, I promised you to say some nasty things about you this time, but I wasn't at the "Telegrafen" nightclub on Friday evening, so I can't...
But you can't survive only on beer so we asked for some food as well.
Some of the Band members and the Crew was also there...
I had promised to call a great fan, Ole Sanne, who we should meet before the Gig. I have never met Ole before so I called him with my mobile, and we heared a mobile was ringing at the table behind us, it was Ole! Small world isn't it!!?
The doors at Hjertnes Amfi opened 8 o'clock and we promised Ian not to be late, so as always we entered the arena first of all! The Vikings Refreshment Company kept the bar staff busy from the first minute!
The Band was to go on stage half past ten, and I can estimate the crowd to count 800 people... We were all ready for the Gig and in the front row only 7 people
:-( The rest of the crowd was sitting behind us!
A big warm applause welcomed Manfred mann and his band!
THE GIG WAS ON :-)))
Set list for the evening:
Intro, Shelter, Castles, Martha, Spirits, Carol, Dancing, Father, Redemption, Demolition, Blinded...
Davy, For You, Quinn.
The Vikings Refreshment Company in the first row was as always mad (we know!) and some more joined us in the front row :-) By the sound of
Demolition Man the rest of the crowd was standing up! And in front of the stage lots of people was dancing now, GREAT!
The atmosphere for the rest of the Gig was absolute fantastic :-)))
I wished that the Gig never had to stop, but after
1 hour and 45 minutes it was all over for this time...
What the press said... Part 1
Posted by Thorbjorn on July 07, 2003
This is a translation from the article in Sandefjord Blad after the Gig in Norway July, 5th: Eccentric! With a hat, bubblegum and a black t-shirt a gravy Manfred Mann ruled the show in Hjertnes Amfi.
"-Thank you, thank you" was the only word the crowd heared from the eccentric legend. Tumbs up and a little smile and then the 62 year old
keyboard king disappeared from the concert which rocked the 40 year+ crowd late Saturday evening.
On stage he was sitting behind his keyboards. While the energetic vocal Noel McCalla nearly rock his hair off, Manfred keep his hat on! One time he
took it off! But he put it right back on his head again when Sandefjords Blad photograph starting to take pictures.
After the Gig the newspaper meet the legend behind the stage and got some quick comments: "-When it's hot I have it off" said Mann about the hat,
and gave us an demonstration. And then: "-I'm tired now, so be quick!" We had read in advance that Mann hatet questions concering what he
thinks about the concert city. "-How was your day here?" "-It was fine, I went for a walk". "-And we had a boat ride", said Mann. Together with
the band he had a boat trip earlier in the day. While the rest of the band spend Friday evening at the nightclub, Telegrafen, Mann went to bed. "-I'm tired, I go to bed now"
Before that had the legend "borrowed" the mic a couple of times, otherwise delievered he unearthly sound from his keyboard! Vocal Noel McCalla
song powerful the 70-hits like: Blinded By The Light, Davy's On The Road Again and Mighty Quinn. Around 650 people was at the concert, but it
was not filled up, because the Amfi takes about 1000 people. But they who where her seems to have a big heart for Manfred Mann. After a slow
start from the crowd, they get enthusiastic when the band started playing the old hits. At the end of the Gig, McCalla turned the mic against the crowd and let them sing. More and more was standing up and danced in front of the stage.
Dentist Arnt Helge Dybvik (38) from Sandefjord was standing during the whole Gig and said: "Manfred Mann is a fantastic arrangerer of music. The concert is enormous good!"
Last week-end Manfred Mann played for over 30.000 in Holland. But the band enjoyed it this evening too. "-It's a little bit difficult to play for a small
crowd like this, but they where great!" said McCalla after the concert. And he was very pleased with the boat trip earlier on the day: "-A fantastic boat ride!"
Amoung the youngest in the Amfi was Magne Brekke (31) from Sandefjord. "-I have listen to him since I was 8 years old. Manfred Mann was my childhood. My older brothers introduced me to him".
The Vikings Refreshment Company Reunion Sandefjord 05.07.03.
Posted by Snorre Nyeggen on July 08, 2003 hi all mmeb fans. now i am back in trondheim , norway, after a reunion with the gang from " the viking refreshment company of mmeb".. the plane took off from
værness airport to oslo airport ,early friday morning at 8 o `clock . to early for me.
10´o clock i went by bus to fredrikstad to meet torbjørn, ari and roar. i ate som food at "brygga" on fredrikstad and had a cold beer with torbjørn
and ari from gotenborg. later in the evening the vikings had a barbequeparty . behaving like gentlemens, not as the vikings from long time ago.
saturday we drove by car and ferry to sandefjord. as torbjørn mentioned in his report, we had some refreshment at "kokeriet", really a nice place
for vikings like us, and a short way to sailing-boats and sea. i even saw noel in a boat, maybe he was seasick, i do not know. hi hi. and there i talked to ole sanne for the first time.
the consert was held in a outside auditorium. not a big place.1100 people could easily fill the place. as torbjørn mentioned in his report it was not so
many people there. before the consert i bought some mmeb stuff. two mmeb-t-shirts,one mmeb cd, one mmeb-dvd, and a mmeb caps. great with something new .
first i had a nice chat with pat king, always nice to say hello to you pat. but he did not know the norwegian prices, but ian knew. and i had a nice
chat with ian thompson too. what a great chap, he his always joking. yes i am the tall viking from north that met you in norway and germany last year.
forty minutes past ten in the evening, the mmeb consert started. the consert was a little bit delayed , because of a classical consert in the same
building. since torbjørn mentioned the set list, i just mention my favourite songs from this consert. after a unusual short intro the band started with
"shelter from the storm". after a long, long time " spirits in the night" was back on the set list. what a great song. i love this song played alive. this song gave me spirits in the night .
but the greatest live song for me , is as always " father of day, father of night". great guitar playing and singing by mick. what a green guitar you
had mick ??? ugly colour. but a great sound. the audience disappointed me in the beginning, because they were sitting. you can´t sit when you are
watching a rock-consert????????????? but when mmeb started with " blinded by the light " the roof was lifted.
"davys on the road again ", "for you " (instrumental version) great version mick i don´t think all know that version ,but it was really a new
experience. and it all ended this great consert with the one and only "mighty quinn". after the consert it was some questions from a journalist about the consert, and then we all went downtown. thank you mmeb, ian ,pat for a great
consert............... thank you gorm lundgren, raymond gabrielsen for making this consert possible... and thank you per otto, ivanna, mona for a nice meeting. and i met ole at "kokeriet" for the first time, nice chap too.
sunday roar and torbjørn drove me to oslo. we all had some meal and something to drink at karl johan in oslo,
greetings to all the mmeb fan in the world. we all meet again some sunny day. snorre nyeggen the tall viking from norway
the audience was not sitting any more, but standing singing along with the band. and at the end of the consert mmeb played:
only i drunk beer. i said goodbye to them, and i went by train to oslo airport,and landed at wærnes airport 30 minutes past seven o clock in the
evening. 30 minutes past eight in the evening , i was home with great feeling inside my heart. and a great great thanks to torbjørn, roar, ari for this nice weekend.
Sandefjord report/The new Moog
Posted by Ole H Sanne on July 08, 2003
I like to read reports, but find it extremly difficult to write them. First, it was nice to meet Thorbjorn, Ari, Snorre, Jan and the rest of the extreme fans. Got yourself some press too!!. Sandefjord is too small for me
to be pictured in that kind enviorment, my famiily would have forced me to take the breathalizer.....
The gig was great, better than ever and i am not alone by saying so. Have spoke to a lot of people and they say, what a band! Some say that they
dont really have any relations to MMEB since there is no new material out. A man involved in commercial music said everyone who knows
Springsteen also know Manfred Mann and today Springsteen is a mega star. Then his friend who is in branding filled in that there is not many
bands with such a strong branding/name as MMEB. There is merely no one who can say they one way or another have NOT heard of MM/MMEB
Speaking of massive, i am very sad about the lack of promotion. It s a shame since Sandefjord being a holiday destination and it grows from a
population of 40.000 to 85.000 during July. I spend a lot of time working in Oslo and no one knew anything about this gig eventhough they were
only some few miles away in their summerhouses. Also we had the Funkstar remix on the top 40 board for a while and Evolution of Mann has
been on every commercial during the entire Big Brother season,with 800.00 viewers each day this winter and spring. So a lot of bad business sences here....Jesus. Very, very sad.
Then to my topic of interest, the new Voyager, the isnstrument and and its sound, not the player. I was lucky enough to attend the sound check and sat close to the mixing tabel with a sharp ear holding my breath.
Difficult to explain the sound i heard in writing but if a traditional Moog is a man whistling, then the Nord/Voyager combi sounded like a man caughing. Too harsh and hard.
Tried to get a word with Manfred on my way to the car just outside the gate after the sound check. But what a fantastic gig and musicianship!
Hope you can come back another time, hopefully with some more promotion, so many more can can take part of some of the magic the band produce. Ole
They only need another new hit and they can be a massive act.
Honestly i did not find it anything close to what i expected. Can only talk for myself as an listner and i am sure the technology helps Manfred a lot
with the Nord/Voyager combie with midi, osc sync and stable modern digital equipment. But i think the old sampled moog/mini combination was more clear and moogish.
Did not hear any effect of the filter nor the warm nice analog sound. I have many moogs myself and know what they are able to produce.
Maybe Manfred is aiming for his sound being somewhat different than the traditional Minimoog sound, in whish case he managed well. But with
such a powerful synth and the fat analog sound the Moog can created, it's nearly a shame its ''talent'' is not used.
I bet the Nord is the reason, it has never impressed me at all. So again interesting to hear if Manfred has created this particular sound to represent himself or if its a honest attempt to play Voyager polyphonic.
We passed through the gate together, but the booking representative turned up and got in-between (he was in a tuxido....looking like pingvin..in 27 deg celsius).
My family and friends counted 14 people rangeing from 16 to 55 years, many debuting and they were just blown away, especially the 4 under the age of 20.
Mick u become the idol of 2 new young guitar players and one 55 year old hobby guitarist. I wont be seeing much of my Moogs and hat either.
What the press said... Part 2
Posted by Thorbjorn on July 08, 2003
This is a translation from an article in Sandefjord Blad after the Gig in Norway July, 5th: -BETTER THAN SEX! Genuine fans! For Thorbjorn Lerfald is Manfred Mann's "Castles" and "Demolition Man" pure heaven!
He and four other grazy MMEB fans have travelled to Sandefjord from different parts of the country, and have been standing in front of the stage
for a while already. They are between 36 and 43 years old, and have listen to Manfred Mann's keyboard for the most of their lives. They have
travelled around to follow the legend, mostly in Germany! And it was there the boys got their nickname: "The Vikings Refreshment Company of MMEB".
"-We are four boys who follows MMEB and who is standing in the front row with a cold beer!" -explains Thorbjorn and give Sandefjord Blad a
special Viking button. Per-Otto Bjornebekk is also there in front row, but he's not a member of TVRCOMMEB yet! He must go to at least 3 Gigs together with TVRCOMMEB before he can be "a member". And this was their first together.
In Germany, where Manfred Mann has the most of the Gigs, is beer culture. The Viking groupies "Refreshment" name descends from the cold beer
in their hands. "-But we are never drunk on concerts, that's meanless!" -says the boys.
The Viking Refreshment Company shudder when they speaking of Manfred Mann's resignation... "-One day will MMEB have their last Gig, hopefully not in many years! But we will be there whenever it will be!" -concludes the boys.
"-I went all goose-flesh at the sound of it, and I forget that I'm a man. Those two songs are better than sex!" -says Thorbjorn to Sandefjord Blad before the concert with MMEB in Hjertnes Amfi Saturday.
Polo Rockfestival, Duesseldorf 19.7.03
Posted by Karin on July 21, 2003
Hi, we are back from a very hot weekend - we drove the 500 km to Duesseldorf ( a new personal record on the way home, 3 hours 50 mins :-) )
already the second time this year, again for an Earth Band gig. This time not with Status Quo, but as the headliner of a big rock festival which
started already at 10 in the morning at the area of a big bike-firm and - shop. So you saw there lots of very nice bikes and met lots of kind bikers :-)
It was a good and relaxed athmosphere there. No idea how many people had been there, may be 4000 or more. You could not estimate them
between all those factory buildings. Lots of stalls for beer, other drinks, candy and other food. And a very hot sun in the cloudless sky.
The two stages stood behind the main building of the firm, a big one for the main acts and a little one on a truck where two other bands played in
the time when the technicians had to work on the main stage. There were also Go-go- dancers on the main stage during the breaks - very nice
and very interesting to the guys around me in the audience, and also to the band members who waited beside of the stage for their showtime :-))
A lot of bands played on that day - let me mention only some of them here - Sweet (with Phil Lanzon from Uriah Heep), Doro, Bonfire, Mothers Finest, H-BlockX, Reamonn...
When we arrived there, around 7 p.m., H-BlockX started to play. No comment from me, may be I`m too old now for that kind of hard rock or
whatever that may be. I could not hear the tunes of the two guitars and also not the two hard working singers, it was only one loud and hard
noise there on stage and one hour the same rhytm - but the first ten rows infront of the stage were jumping up and down the whole time and were
very, very enthusiastic - it did not matter to them that we had 35 degrees Celsius there... We both stayed in the shadow in the further back and entered the front area only later when the Earth Band crew appeared on stage.
During the break another band started to play on the little truck stage just a few meters away, so it was not boring for the audience but I guess
difficult to the crew on the main stage who wanted to tune their instruments and to check the sound. I don`t know how long the instruments had to
wait before in the back of the stage in that hot sunshine. Also the time was very short because the last band before had been late, and so
everybody was in a hurry and the band waited already in the back. So we were not very surprised when there were later some technical
problems during the MMEB gig, first with the guitar, then with Noel`s mic, then on the monitors and later also on the keyboards. But they managed
that very well and professional, although we heard this time some "f..." from an angry guitarist infront of us :-) However, the band played good as
usual, we got some great solo parts - you play and sing fantastic, Mick, when you are annoyed! What a spirits! - and I loved especially She Was
this time. They had changed it from the wellknown former version already some weeks ago in Dinslaken, and they still seem to work on it - it is
developing into my personal favourite :-) But only because For You had been cutted this time - as usual when the band has only 90 mins to play,
but we still missed it so much. In Castles we got the wellknown "turbo" in the guitar solo - always great to listen to!, and in Martha and Spirits the
audience started to jump again. Father got a big big applause, and the wellknown songs like Blinded, Davy and Mighty let the athmosphere cook
around us. But the mood had been much better the last time in Dinslaken. It is difficult of course after such an outstanding gig like we got there in
Dinslaken - now a shorted one and not with a real MMEB - audience. BTW, Roland - where had you been, I think you live in Duesseldorf???
However, we had a special reason why we wanted to spend just that day at an MMEB concert, and we were satisfied when we left the place
after the gig. It is meanwhile difficult to us to get so excited like we had been some years ago. When you get always the same setlist so often and
over all those years you concentrate more on the details and keep interested, but cooler than before. I meanwhile agree with all of you who want
to get some other songs. Or may be a completely changed set - I would even give up Father for a new list! :-) But I guess that will not happen. So
we`ll have to take what we can get, and that is a band who was also on Saturday again so much better than the band before. We always look
forward to those fantastic improvisations and to the best live music you can get. I enjoyed also this time every minute, especially the solos. So it`s
never boring there, even with so many gigs how we and many of you had seen now, and even with always the same setlist. I do not believe that there`s another band on tour who can manage that so well!
However, we had a nice walk through the night along the Rhein then, back to our hotel. With the melodies of the solos still in our heads... Many thanks to the band for another great evening and regards to all Karin and Thomas
MMEB at 100th anniversary of Harley Davidson
Posted by Klaus on July 28, 2003
On Saturday we could see another great gig at the 100th anniversary of Harley Davidson. The Band was again in top form. Unfortunately the setlist was shortened, so there was no Redemption song, no Angels at my gate, no For you!
My personal favourite song was again "spirits", as it sounds now so cool (the piano-solo-wow!) and powerful. Fantastic! I am looking forward to the next gig in the north of Germany and to the new studio-album for christmas?
Best wishes Klaus
But the crowd enjoyed the music very much, especially Mick and his motorcycle-sound on the guitar.
A few times the Harleys were louder than the Earthband,so Mick started his "motorcycle".
Rottweil report and photos
Posted by Paul on August 16, 2003
Hi everybody :-)
Pink Panther and Mrs. Panther :-)
After a very long time (more than two months) without Manfred Mann's Earth Band live on stage we had been very happy to welcome our
favourite band at Rottweil (South Germany) which is only 30 minutes from our home. The location, an old power station built in 1915, was giving
the gig a very specially atmosphere: big smokestacks, rooms with a height of more than 20 meters and a huge concert hall that was illuminated with indirect red lamps.
May be this one reason that MMEB and the crowd (about 1500 people - the gig was sold out weeks before) both were in a very good mood
yesterday. When the band was entering the stage exactly at 8.30 p.m. and starting with the Intro the complete filled hall was screaming, jumping
and clapping their hands. The setlist of course was the wellknown, this time no Dacing but Angels - fantastic :-))) Martha and Spirits, brilliant, seemed to be perfect.
Great guitar solos of Mick including a very special show that he was earning additional applause, Noel singing and joking with the crowd that really
everybody was integrated in the concert. And the boss, wow, very powerfully, smiling, singing, clapping on his keyboards - absolutely great :-))))))
Steve on his base guitar brillant too and making a very good show with his "brother" Noel during the whole gig. Last but not least our power machine Geoff beating on his drums like it couldn't be better.
As the mood was so good and the crowd felt like electrified the setlist was spontaneous changed which meaned that the instrumental version of
For You was presented before Davy - this is it that makes MMEB to one of the best live bands all over the world :-))))))))
Thanks to the whole band and the crew for this unforgettable concert, and all family members we met in the front row :-) If you are interested on
the photo highlights of the gig please take a look at my website www.bossenmaier.de and follow the navigation on the left "Manfred Mann" - "Photos".
Also the badge collection has been updated (choose the link "Buttons") and the family too. Hope to see you all very soon which means on 13 September at Heilsbronn that is very near to Nürnberg.
Pink greetings ;-))
Gig in Braunschweig, 16 August
Posted by felicitas on August 17, 2003 Hi there. felicitas
Much time has passed, since the last gig me and my sister have been to. But yesterday was a brilliant day: mmeb in my hometown. My sister couldn't come so I went alone.
And it was huge. The best concert I've ever seen (including Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones). My father said that in the back the sound wasn't very good. But it was his decision to stay there ;)
I want to make a long story short: The guitar-solos really shook me. It was so beautiful, I nearly broke into tears!
I hardly dare to tell my sister... :)
Greetings and promise to meet you again, soon.
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