Manfred Mann's Earthband - On The Road May 2002
Friday,3 May Losheim (am See!), Germany
Posted by Jamie Rastamann vibrations yeah! positive.
I am the one who went to the wrong Losheim. The Losheim 200km north of the correct Losheim. Had to take the scenic route south, shouting a 2
hour mantra of „why am i doing this". Arrived to the last song of the support act and even had time to organize two beers to calm down before
MMEB came on. The place was sold out, hot, steamy and packed and only thanks to the travelling Stuttgarters, Rheinländers and Nederlanders I got to stand in second row (those who come last...).
What a tour start. Wow. Just when you think they can't do the songs any better, they surprise you with an energetic, tight and fresh sound. There
are some new bass lines here and there and some songs were played a bit faster. And there was a new song in the set (surprise, surprise):
Working Week. We all agreed we had heard it before, maybe something New Wavey from the early eighties? It is based on a guitar riff, with a
sudden tempo change to a slower, groovy chorus. There was a bit of'Spirit' put in towards the end of it - hope I'm not mixing it up with another
song. I don't make notes during rock shows and my memory is not what it used to be. But I'm sure about "The Locomotion" sneaking into Manfred's
"She Was" solo. A bit like "Erkennen Sie die Melodie" (German TV music quiz). No song was dropped from last year's set and Redemption Song came up somewhere in the second half instead of as an encore. I swear I have
never laughed so much at a rock concert before: Noel and Mick were doing Redemption Song when Manfred came on wearing a dreadlocks-wig
complete with knitted woolly hat in Jamaican colours. It had us front row girls crack up completely and it took me the whole of the song to get my
breath back. Definitely a visual highlight of the show. We decided Steve should be the next to wear it!
Musical highlight for me is Angels at my Gate which doesn't get a lot of crowd response because it fades into the intro of Father. I like the no frills
rock arrangement, like the essence of the perfect Earthband sound. Martha got a fantastic Moog solo from the maestro, and I love the fat bass
string-sound chords after the solo (could you make that part last for 30 minutes please). Mick was "a bit of a speed freak" last night and he has
dusted off his wah wah pedal. So we got a lot of acid-head spacey sounds - far out man! :-) The crowd were fantastic, everyone was singing + clapping along especially to Blinded, Davy and Quinn. Reinhard kept the time and told me the
gig lasted almost 2 hours when I thought it couldn't have been more than 30 minutes. Time flies when you're having fun! Thanks for the coke, Wil, it
saved my life. It was very hot in the Eisenbahnhalle and everyone was sweating like hell, except Uschi. See you in Mainz!
Saturday 4 May to Saturday 11 May, Linkenheim to Worpswede, Germany
Posted by Karin and Thomas Hi all, we returned some hours ago from Worpswede and needed just one hour to read all of your reports - great! :-) So let`s tell some facts about the
gigs which had not been here on the board up to now. We had seen all seven gigs from Linkenheim to Worpswede (you are right, Roland, we simply hadn`t been online but on the road and had no
chance to write earlier). And in our opinion it was like mostly in the past: The band was going to be better and better from gig to gig, and especially
the little clubs with their great athmosphere generated an "echo" on stage and at the end both, the band and the audience, had great evenings together...
To be honest, I was a bit disappointed in LINKENHEIM. It was a good gig, no doubt, but I missed something there - I cannot explain what, may be it
was the fact that the new song wasn`t played there... May be it was only the rainy weather... To all the other fans the gig seemed to be just great.
Interesting to us the support band (The Moon Orchestra) and Mick`s guest-performance there. And, Noel: You are still invited to come over and ride a real horse here, when your leg is okay again :-)
We met many of our old friends and enjoyed it very much - it had been a long time since we met Wil, Reinhard and Erika, the Panther family and and... and so we had a lot to talk to each other.
The next day in FISCHBACH/Friedrichshafen:
The weather was much better and my mood, too. Although we had the merchandising built up in the bar of the club and I saw only the last few
minutes of the gig when Thomas was back from the hall, I got the impression of a real good gig. It was also the first time for us that we heard
Working Week - Martin, we agree with you, we knew we would need some more gigs to get really used to it and to find to an opinion. It was a
song which was able to carry away the audience and it did so in Fischbach. Interesting the fact that the band changed the setlist from evening to
evening - so I started in Fischbach to write it down :-) And although we are not the real fans of "Times" the song sounds really fresh and good
(they didn`t play it in Fischbach but in some of the other gigs) this year and we enjoyed it very much. Fischbach had an enthusiastic audience and the band seemed (in my opinion) much more relaxed than the evening before.
It was great to meet the Retzbach-family there and of course the Panthers and Uschi again - greetings to you all! And I enjoyed as ever some very
interesting talks at the merchandise stand - you always meet there some old MMEB fans who are very good informed about the band history and
who are very interested in the band and so we can always learn something from each other in such talks. The merchandising is like a meeting
place for all of them before and after the gigs. That makes that little job so interesting to us :-) And many thanx to the nice team of the Bahnhof Fischbach! You`ve got a very nice club there.
The next day, some hours of journey without any problems, then we checked in in our little hotel in AUGSBURG (Thorbjorn, Graeme and Lois, you had been in our mind there!). As ever we arrived early enough at the Spectrum Club - we were looking forward to that gig, it was already the 4th MMEB gig we saw there, and it was a feeling just like coming home - everything was wellknown there, the team of the hall was very kind just like the years before, and the athmosphere of the Spectrum is incredible. It was also this time completely sold out (700 people) and thanks to the good air condition system the air was okay infront of the stage. This time it was my turn to see the gig, and Thomas stayed in the back at the stand. I enjoyed every minute there, the band played a fantastic gig. The sound was not the very best, but we knew that already from the Spectrum. And this is a club where it really doesn`t matter if you feel the bass deep in your stomach or the whole hall is sometimes swinging in the rhythm of music - the mood is simply great and we had celebrated just a rock festival there. Manfred came out in Redemption Song again with Rasta locks and a big cigar - or shall I better say a "joint"? Noel gave it later to some people in the first rows. This time they played Intro-Shelter-Times-Martha-Working Week-Carol (I love the guitar solo!)-Dancing (great performance)- Angels-Father-Redemption Song-DemoMan (another fantastic guitar!)-She was (great version)-Blinded and the usual encores Davy and Mighty (what a fantastic keyboard in Davy!). And finally the air, the mood and everything else in the hall was cooking ... So we got in Augsburg just the gig we had expected there - wonderful!
We had been still in top form when we drove in the next morning to MAINZ, had a look at the city there and a dinner in the SWR -Rockcafe (very nice!). To be honest, after the new and nice Bürgerhaus in Linkenheim, the lovely Bahnhof Fischbach and the Spectrum in Augsburg we were a bit shocked when we came into the Kulturzentrum in Mainz. You should imagine - the whole area there, near the river Rhein, shows very nice and new hotels, a big modern shopping centre, and just next to them that old factory building. It looks dirty from outside and it is dirty inside. In the beginning of the evening we feared the hall would be filled only half - but when the first chords came from the stage, another hundreds of people came in and so it was well filled (600 people?) but not sold out. In all we saw a good gig but the crowd cannot be compared with the gig at the Mainzer Zelt some years ago where the mood was much better. Sorry, Annette, but they played the following setlist: Intro-Shelter-Castles-Martha-Working-Carol-Times (great version)-Angels-Father and the usual other songs. We enjoyed in Mainz a wonderful lightshow from Simon and another fantastic guitar solo in Carol, and the sound was fine. So everything was fine there as long as they had turned out the lights and you couldn`t see the dirty hall around you...
The 8th of May, another journey, early enough on the road and so we were lucky enough to reach Solingen before all of these traffic jams our friends had later on that day. We found our nice, little hotel not far from the "Cobra" without any problems and walked in the late afternoon down to the hall. And found there another lovely club, sold out, got a nice place for our stand and met all the other members of the fan family again. It was now again one of my "free" days for the gig (we share the job during the gig from day to day, so both of us can go into the hall and see every second show), and I enjoyed again one of these wonderful concerts together with Torsten and Birgit and all the other wellknown fans there infront of the stage. Mick was again in top form on that evening and played fantastic solos, the whole band seemed to enjoy the gig very much and the audience did so, too... That was now the very best gig in that row for me, and the big question was now - could they top that again???
After one day off (shopping, relaxing, visiting the Irish Pub :-) ) it was time for the next gig, in the Stadthalle in Cloppenburg. A very nice and new building, just next to our hotel. No supporting band. The hall was not sold out (500?), Thomas told me later it was well filled but the people had there enough space to move infront of the stage. It was his evening to spend it infront of the stage and I stayed outside in the foyer with the stand. So I heard the gig only through the wall but it seemed to me the sound wasn`t clear. Thomas told me later the sound was really not the best, it is always difficult in such a hall to find a good sound. But the audience was in a very good mood and I could hear them singing through the wall :-) This time they played Intro-Shelter-Castles (already here Mick got the first big applause for his solo as I could here from outside)- Martha(wow, what a fantastic keyboard there, outstanding!!!)-Times-Carol (another great solo)-Dancing-Angels-Father-Redemption Song and so on. No Working week - what a pity. And so another gig was over much too soon - but we wanted to spend some more time in the Irish Pub around the corner. There was a guy playing live music - oh god!!! After such a good band it was really terrible to all of us to listen to him, he was really awful bad but he didn`t want to stop. So the only thing you could do was to drink a bit faster - that helped to survive his singing :-( Unfortunately there is no other bar in Cloppenburg where we could go to. Around midnight he finished his "music" and we all were happy about that... What a difference to the Earth Band before!!!
It had started to rain in the night, but not as terrible as some km from us in the south. And we started after a good breakfast to the last town, in the
knowledge that would be another highlight in that tour. We had been there at an Earth Band gig already in October 1999, and we knew the Music
Hall is a fantastic little hall (600?) with a very, very nice boss and a very kind team, and the athmosphere there had been in 1999 even better than
in the Spectrum - we had looked so much forward to that gig now and we had not been disappointed, indeed!
The Hall was sold out since weeks and very well filled - and very hot! Although all windows were open the air cooked already before the gig
started. We got the best merchandising place we ever had - on the left side of the stage, I sat there during the gig behind my table and had the
musicians just a few meters next to me! :-)) I guess I had the best place in the whole room. Thomas stood infront of the stage but he said later it
had been terrible hot there and the people stood very closed. And the mood was fantastic from the very first chord, when the gig started at 9.30.
This time they played Working again - and it was the best version we heard on that tour. I guess the song is still in development but we like the
direction in which it goes very much, and that last version of Worpswede was great! The audience enjoyed it, too, as well as all the other songs.
After Carol there was a technical problem with the bass amplifier but they were able to find a solution in a very short time and so it did not matter
to the audience. It was a big party from the beginning to the end of the gig, the band on stage great, the people infront of the stage, too, and after
the gig the whole crowd stayed in the hall, shattered, but happy :-) So we got in Worpswede the best gig of that tour, and many, many thanks
again to Mr. HD, the boss of the hall, and to his great team - we hope we can return to your Music Hall very soon! BTW, on the homepage of the
hall there will be some pics of the gig, have a look at www.music-hall-worpswede.de during the next days.
And now that tour is over - much too soon to us, we could continue so for weeks, it was very interesting and we enjoyed every minute. A big
thank you to the band and the crew and to Mike and Bernie (DMC), and greetings to everyone we met there, K & T
Saturday, May 4, Linkenheim, Germany
Posted by Paul Hi everybody waiting for the Linkenheim report :-))
It's 1.45 a.m. in the early morning and we're just coming back from the second gig of the MMEB tour 2002. And although the band didn't play the
new song "Working Week" they did a very good job. Arriving in Karlsruhe at 6.00 p.m. we crossed the Rhine by ferry from the back side and
reached the "village" Linkenheim some minutes later. It had been easy to find the Bürgerhaus in the centre of Linkenheim, a very nice hall including
a gallery for all together about 1000 people. Entering the hall we passed the famous Sunday Shop with lots of T-Shirts and of course Karin &
Thomas. And there we met the MMEB-family for this evening, which had been the following persons: Erika, Reinhard, Iris, Angela, Christiane, Heiko, Wil, Ben, Susi und Jens, Thomas F., Uschi, Sigrid and me (thanks Uschi for your family-list).
The support-band "The Moon Orchestra", promoted by Mick Rogers, started at 8.10 p.m. with their programme and they presented a very good
music show. At the end Mick Rogers entered the stage and gave the band a little help with a guitar solo.
9.33 p.m. MMEB started with their concert and Noel hobbled with a hurted leg and a sports-dress to the stage. What had been happened? As we
heard Noel had sprained his right leg the evening before in Losheim and with some medicamentes he was able to be on stage now.
The setlist was an old one, but the songs impressed very new and dynamically: Intro - Shelter - Castles - Martha - Carol - Dancing - Angels at my Gate - Father - Redemption - Demolution - Blinded - Davy - Mighty.
From my point of view the highlights of this evening had been Castles, Father (Mick and Manfred with a great music duel), Redemption Song
(Manfred alias Bob Marley with his typically Caribbean hat and a virtually joint), Carol (Noel jumping and riding on a chair, the whole band smiling) and Mighty (intro "Smoke on the Water" with a shower for the fans).
Thanks the fantastic MMEB for this great evening the people in the front row (of course the family and some unknown family members, for example Einstein in the middle of the front row) and the singing and clapping crowd.
We are looking forward to the concert today evening at Fischbach/ Friedrichshafen and hope to enjoy the band again with this powerfully show :-))))) And of course lots of the family :-)))))))))) See you later ;-) Pink Panther
Sunday, 5 May, Fiscbach, Germany
Posted by Martin Retzbach Hi to all Earth Band lovers! We're just back from our first gig in 2002, this time nearly the whole family. Sebastian of course, my wife Beatrix joined me the second time after
Reutlingen 2000, and Christian for his first time. Christian is 5 years old and he was very disappointed last year every time he might not join
Sebastian an me. At this point thanks to the team of the "Bahnhof Fischbach" for letting my two sons in with no ticket! In future the Earth Band gigs seems to become a very expensive hobby for me…
We entered the building at about 7 p.m., after a small stop at the "Sonntag"-Shop we stood in the front row together with Uschi, Paul and Sigrid.
Additionally we met Andy from Switzerland (I hope there will be a gig in Pratteln this year, so I can get my beer ;-)) and a couple from Nuernberg (seems we forgot to ask their names…).
Due to technical problems with Manfred's keyboard the gig started at 8.30 p.m., half an hour later as announced. The band began with the usual
intro, after that Shelter. The keyboard problems weren't solved so Ian had a lot of work during the next songs. Noel used this technical timeout
before Castles to tell us from his injury and why he needs a chair on the stage. Get well soon, Noel! Because of the problems with the keyboard
during Castles, Martha and Carol we had to miss a lot of wonderful moog sound, but on the other hand it was very interesting to see how
professional the band was able to react on this situation, especially Manfred, replacing his solos with his other "machine". The new song "Working
Week" was also played today, I think it's like Dancing last year, I need to hear it 3-4 times to be able to make a judgement. In "Dancing" Manfred took
the risk to use the Moog (after he made several crosses) for one of his fabulous solos. After that Angels, Father, Redemption, Demolition Man,
Blinded. As encore Davy and Mighty. Christian sat between two boxes on the stage, during Mighty Noel made him to his tambourine man, very
nice!!! At home he told his grandmother very proud that he played together with Manfred Mann's Earth Band!
So another wonderful Earth Band gig was over, unfortunately with too little solos from Manfred. Eventually the long pause is over and I'm looking forward to the next gig, at the latest in Fuerstenfeldbruck!
Thank you Earth Band for making this a very special evening to Christian, especially Noel and Mick! It's now late at night, I'm very tired and in a few hours I have to work. But the worst thing of all: more than 8 weeks 'til my next gig…
Hope to see many of you this year Martin (and the rest of the already sleeping family…)
Tuesday, 7 May, Mainz, Germany
Posted by Jamie G'day,
I was hoping for one of those very precise reports from Karin & Thomas, but they're probably still busy folding T-Shirts. So you have to put up with
my unprecise one. After two espressos I might be able to remember the contents of last night's setlist: Joybringer/Intro, Shelter, Times, Martha, Demo, Angels, Father, Working Week, Redemption, Blinded, Davy, Quinn.
The KUZ is a small-ish place and very nicely situated next to the Rhine and some Biergärten (cheers!). At 8.30 pm I thought oops - small crowd
tonight, but the place filled up just in time. No supporting act, Earthband came on at 9:00 pm. Noel appeared looking very miserable, but seemed to
be able to move about without too much pain. But when you're sick you just want to be home with your folks propped up on the couch feeling
sorry for yourself, instead of being dragged around the German Outback. Manfred looked miserable as well but without the excuse of any injuries. He said that Steve had complained about him looking miserable and smiled once, just for Steve. :-)
So we started off fairly miserable and there was an attempted stage-dive by an old hippy who was apparently seeing colours and things
somewhere 5 m above our heads. Things got more relaxed later on. Manfred's piano-solos were fantastic, and Moog-wise he even defeated Mick
in the Father-"battle", looking very pleased with himself. The guitar-solo in Quinn is becoming my favourite, although I could do without the 'Smoke
on the Water' -part because it's been played to bits and pieces by everyone else. There were no technical problems for a change (Ian praying to
the God of Midi) and Manfred seemed to be making up for lost Moog-solo time playing really awesome solos. Whew! And tonight is going to be
absolutely fantastic, because the crowd will be even better than last night. The band are going to think they're having a deja-vu because it's going to be US in front row AGAIN (ohhh no!). Sorry guys.
Wednesday, 8th May, Solingen, Germany
Posted by Gerhard, the pastor Hello dear friends of the MMEB, First of all: the concert was as excellent as ever. And it was very nice to meet all the nice fellows of the fan-family before the beginning. Roland
(Rollyboy, living E-piano without teeth) already gave a very good report. Thank you Roland! You must have worked hard for this. My english is not that good! I only want to add some comments:
The audience at Solingen was excellent and so was the band. I had the impression right from the beginning of a great recognition, a big thank you
for the musical ability and talent of the band. Manfred was right, when he said somewhere on the message board, that not every song sounds
good live. It really depends on the art of performance, of arrangement of the live version. I only can speak for the Solingen-concert: well done,
excellent done MMEB! The song "working week" was also very good, especially for his musical allusion to "Spirits in the night"...in the mid. But the
song is not that easy, not "easy listening", because the refrain goes another tempo, goes suddenly very slow, which sounds as if someone pulls
on the break, retarding. Perhaps a little change in the arrangement concerning the tempos would help, but perhaps we only have to get
accustomed to the song. MMEB-songs are seldom "easy listening", I know and it's just what we like, isn't it folks?
I am very thankful for your music, Manfred. And even if there are not new songs at the moment let me say a big thank you for your energy and the
energy of the band, having been on the road so often and frequently over the last 4 or 5 years. This is hard work! You really "re-conquered" your
audience this way. I am happy that people still have a feeling for good quality of music, of good rock music. Keep on rocking. Kind regards to everyone, especially to the toothless Roland and the Pink-Panther-Duett: Paul and Sigrid!
Gerhard, the pastor from Cologne
Solingen-report (New song, fog and jelly-babies...)
Posted by Roland Hi dear Fan-Family,
with a little delay I just try to give you some impressions of the Solingen-gig . After arriving at the "Cobra" (with some detours) at about 6.00 p.m.
with the Pastor by my side (less time to confess my sins ...:-)) ) we met the well-known Panthers, Paul and Sigrid; then arrived Thorsten and Birgit,
Uschi, Annette, Reinhard and Erika (they were suffering in a traffic-jam )... Good to see all again in good mood :-) and waiting to get in. Fortunately the weather has been warm and sunny and Paul distributed his famous buttons to all of us .
The doors were opened at 7.00 p.m. sharp and the way leads us thruogh a small Biergareten into the foyer of the hall. The first stop was at the "Little Shop of the Sundays" :-)where Karin and Thomas were busy in folding T-Shirts.
The we entered the hall to take our places in the first row...a little stage without barriers...And also Dietmar with his 10 years old son David (this
time without his drum-sticks) were there and with them 3 friends, sorry I've forgotten the names, only Dieter was in my mind .
Suddenly Ian entered the stage with a pencil and he changed the set-list.. Yes...a few minutes before the beginning...so the set-list was:
Intro/Joybringer - Shelter - Working Week - Martha - Times - Carol - Dancing - Angels - Father - Redemption - Demo Man - (She was) - Blinded - Davy - Quinn -- So Castles has been cancelled.
Our Joybringers were entering the stage at about 8.30 p.m. ooh and all sounded very very fresh :-) Noel seems to be healthy again...no problems
has been noticed whilst his performances. The new Song "Working Week" was performed by Noel with very much soul, and the audience just
noticed the well-known guitar-part in the mid...yes we have recognized the "Spirits" ... my opinion is, that the new song should be setted a little bit
later maybe after "Martha"; then the - for me - very fresh "Martha" came up...great guitar-solo of Mick and a huge Moog-performance by Mr. Mann
...fantastic and the audience was excited ...Mick communicated with "us" as ever ... and the fog in the following songs became thicker and thicker ...Steve seems to be vanished for some time...but you've heard the bass.
Then "Times" with great solo by Mick and I think this song should be setted before "Martha" ... (that's my opinion) ... The famous "Carol" oh it's great
the bass in the beginning and the duet Noel and Steve with many fog around them... Some technical problems with the cables made Manfred very angry...it seemed that he would leave the stage, so Ian did his very best and so all
has come to a good end...and Manfred did fantastic solos especially in "Dancing" and after the Angels the Father celebrated his magical guitar :-)
Mick did a fantastic performance and conducted the audience by singing the verses..and he was impressed by the 10-years-old David who knew
each lyrics and clapped his hands and so the audience clapped for David ... The "battle" in Father between Mick and Manfred was one of the highpoints this evening ...fantastic and I guess, Manfred just won it...very narrow indeed !
Then it was time for Redemption...and Noel performed it with much soul as ever and a little bit of Louis Armstrong in his voice :-)) Very funny...
Another highlight for me ... actually in each gig was "She was"...sooo gigantic ...I like this very much. This time it seems to be much longer than in
former gigs and the following Blinded of course great as ever ...the audience was cooking now and after performing the good old Davy Mr. Mann
shows his watch, that it is very late...but of course...they come back for Mighty with an great guitar-solo by Mick who sleeved the guitar...ooh Mick you are a magician !!!
At 10.25 p.m. this fantastic gig has ended...it was too short as ever... After this we stood nearly one hour together and we have much fun with ("foot-eyes" haha) some jelly-babies :-))Paul has distributed...so a few
of them stuck under the shoes...and therefore we have to "dance" to get rid of them ... Just taken some photos and then we left the hall at 11.30
p.m. ... And Annette, Paul and the others, I swear, this was the last time I've worn my grey Shirt...(maybe...)
It was a fantastic evening with all of you...I'm lucky to be a member of this great and growing Fan-Family and it is always a pleasure to enjoy the
gigs of the fantastic MMEB !!! Thank you Manfred, Mick, Noel, Steve and Pete (great solo...) for giving us so much :-))
See you all on minimum one of the forthcoming gigs ! To Graeme: Reinhard has brought us your greetings , thank you very much :-) and hope to see you and Lois very soon. That's it from me...hoping that I haven't bored you...
Keep on rocking ! Roland
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