Manfred Mann's EarthBand on the Road - May 2003
Posted by Spirits in Copenhagen on May 07, 2003
Last night in Copenhagen MMEB visited Amager Bio, I think the concert was sold out, which means 1.100 people saw a great concert. The last
couple of times I have seen the band in concert, it has been at outdoor concerts where they played with other bands.
To me an indoor concert is much more intense, and last night was the best MMEB concert I have attended for a long long time. The program was:
Intro – Shelter – Castles – Martha – Spirits – Carol – Angels – Farther – Redemption – She Was/Blinded and as encores: For You – Davy - Mighty.
The concert was supposed to begin at 9 p.m. and it did, but with an unannounced Danish Support band, they played for 30 min. and then after another 30 min. the concert finally started at 10 p.m.
Manfred started the concert playing solo on his new Voyager - one of the highlights of the concert! And then the band joined and continued with
Shelter and Castles, nice songs but too much pop for my taste. Martha was great (as always), and then came Spirits. I just love this song and the
Mick/Noel singing was great, it also seemed to be one of the songs which was best received by the audience. In Carol Noel joked around with Steve.
Angels was good – Noel proved that he is a great singer. Farther was next – please don't shoot me, but I have seen this song too many times at
MMEB concerts, and I think it is a bit overrated. I love Mick's voice and guitar playing, but there are so many other great songs in the back catalogue
to choose from. Then came the acoustic Redemption and DemoMan before SheWas/Blinded concluded the set. The encores started with For You – great version and Davy. The second encore was Mighty.
The concert proved that the band is an excellent live band, and they are all great musicians. Manfred seemed to be in a really good shape – maybe
because of the new Voyager? Mick was also playing/singing good, the new guitar seemed to suit him well (I personally prefer the sound from his
Les Paul from the oooold days). It must have been an almost impossible task for Noel to replace Chris, but he is indeed an excellent singer (please
also listen to Smallcreep's Day where he sings on the solo album from Genesis' Mick Rutherford!!! A must have). Steve was the big surprise to me,
he has really grown to be THE bass player in MMEB, I think he used to be very anonymous, but last night he was joking around with Noel, and was steady as a rock. Geoff did a great job, but he was hiding behind his drums.
The only real mistake was probably outside the control of the band. In my opinion the concert started much too late. 10 p.m. on a Tuesday night is too
late to start a concert, maybe I am getting old (40 years), and I think this was the reason for the audience being a bit quiet. We were all singing and
enjoying the music, but also the audience was a bit tired (or drunk). The light was OK, but I missed the videos from the concerts from the old days. I bought the new solo album from Mick. Sorry for all the words
Uffe
Copenhagen
Posted by Lars N on May 07, 2003 Hi there. Best regards
Writing this with some serious hangovers so please "dont be too hard". The setlist was : intro-( the old one was better )martha, castles burning,
angels,spirits in the night, redemption, father, dont kill it carol, demolation man, for you (instrumental),blinded ,davy og mighty quinn. almost hours of
superb music. I really liked the concert. Al the things having been told on this board from the German gigs proved to be so right. The freshnes and joy that the band is showing is amazing.
We had a little talk with Ian Thompson during our ceremonial T-shits buying. We asked for Karin but Ian said that she only attended the German gigs
and Ian proclaimed that he was a better t-shirtssales man than Karin. So to all of you out there -DONT MISS A MMEB GIG They ara as good as ever.
Lars ( Peter K you were and are in our minds al the time )
Copenhagen, Amager Bio
Posted by Keld GT on May 09, 2003 In Reply to: Copenhagen, Amager Bio posted by Kenn Jensen on May 09, 2003
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YEAHHH - Earth Band really kicked ass. Man you could just tell they wanted to set
something straight...that's for sure! Thanks to Manfred for being so darn cool. Thanks to Noel for giving us all he had. Thanks to Mick for a great great show. Thanks to Steve for delivering the nice smooth bass and glamour. Thanks to Geoff for being solid as a rock.
To Manfred....you shall never more hear anything for the gig last year at 5-oren. I know it wasen't your fault. But please drop the warm-ups for other bands....you're just too good to warm up.
Have a great summer of 2003 - looking forward to the next studio album (hopefully with Chris also) - the best concerts i've seen was when Chris and Noel sang together.....man that was worldclass Earth Band.
Posted by Jan Sehested on May 07, 2003
so maby it´s my turn to come with a report ( sory stil A BIT DRUNK so dont mind the misspellings).
The band went on stage (on time) in a half packed koncert hall, and seemed to be surprised that we were sitting down.
The gig was simular to the day before, but they replaceded "angels" with "dancing", and that now is beginning to fit in (stil missing serverel MMEB
number`s) unforetunetly the band was not cable to get us up our feet( ohhh we were 7 in "spirits) and even when Noel joked around with it, we
keept our placeses untill "blinded" and from there on, there where only a few seet`s taking in the building.
I dont want to sound disapointet but, if i was ROCK icon i would have done something different to get the party startet (i´ve seen him change sets before, in the last second)
Well ! after Geoff almost destroyed both "shelter" and "Martha" (with some missplaced cha bumm bumm`s)
we sat there, listning to a great bunt of mucians doing there job (and they do that very well)
but somehow they got to us as they normal do.
so with a noise like a soccer ourdiense in the left speeker in "Redemption" (whicth could not be over song´n by the 4 us )we went on to have a nice
koncert with a band finaly using the sound system at it´s full.
I hate to say it, but it´s the worste gig out off 28
but the sound was great and Mick played as allways brilliant.
I whish i could go to Hillerød tommorow
sory but i have to be concreet.
jan
Posted by Jan Verbeeten on June 03, 2003 Hi, Last week problems with my internet provider a solved.
In the Dutch newspaper of april 25, Manfred Mann says: I only want to make music thats all!! Its more than all! From there I'd like to thank also the very nice group of great MMEB followers: Terrific organised, wonderful day, great company! Hope to see you again soon, with the slogan: Regards, Jan.
But still impressed by the great concert and performance of MMEB last Friday.
Power, Teamwork, strong Solo's, and a lot of Emotion
were given by the band for I think an enthusiastic public on the Dom square!
Which gave it a special character for me as the Band play Spirits in the night! Nigel wrote It was the best live version ever heard in 30 years!! Wonderful!
For me it always has been a wish: play it at a concert!
It was a present......and so very good!
Fortunately last 1.5 year I saw MMEB a bit regular, specialy in Holland and Iserlohn.
And despite I know its not possible to make up about 15 years of missing concerts every concert now gives so much joy and satisfactory.
Uschi, Nigel (and fam.) Reinhard, Erika, Wil, Paul, Sigrid, Annette, Joachim, Roland!
Want to have nice days, evenings, nights and concerts, Thats all!
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Re: Re: Spirits in Munster
Posted by Observe-Hypothesis-Experience on June 04, 2003
In Reply to: Re: Spirits in Munster posted by Joachim (aka JK), the guy with the Jethro Tull T-Shirt on June 03, 2003
It was quite a good opportunity to get an impression on the band, especially as I live in Muenster at the moment. I am not a real huge fan of them, but
as my good friend is, I know most of their songs and albums and line-ups by heart. Unfortunately, he was to IRL at this moment and we couldn't
enjoy the show together.It was a really nice gig, just like I had expected. Nice mood in the square and fun on stage. I really enjoyed it. Martha's
Madman (Noel's spot and Manfreds finger twisters), Castles Burning and Dancing in the Sun were my personal favourites that night, though I was
impressed by the new version of 4 U too (It took me quite a while to get it, though it sounded quite familiar to me.). I really loved the vocal work of
Noel and Mick on Dancing in the Sun and the drums and bass coordination was really heavy. A great track. Manfred, I hope you are about to put it on
the next album and don't come up with the idea to change the line-up before. You will get into trouble with me otherwise! :-) cheers!
Photos Münster and Eschwege
Posted by Paul on June 01, 2003 Hi everybody :-)) The Open Flair Festival at Eschwege was perfect organized with lots of tents and actions - and a
fantastic 90 minutes show of MMEB :-))))))) We met Uschi, Mick Rogers webmaster Andreas Pirali with his lovely girlfriend and after a long time the Sunday-Family :-))
We want to thank everybody we've seen during the weekend and of course Manfred Mann's Earth Band and the unbeatable crew. We hope to follow you some more years to be live in the front row :-))))))))
Pink highlights are now uploaded to the website In the navigation on the left choose "Manfred Mann" - "Fotos" and follow the link to Münster and Eschwege. Pink greetings ;-)) Pink Panther & Mrs. Panther :-))))
back from a great MMEB weekend at Münster and Eschwege we are full of really very nice impressions. We're sure that you've already read the Münster report of Nigel and jumping Roland -
all that is missing now is a mini report of Eschwege and some photos of the gigs.
Munster 30 May - EuroCity Festival
Posted by Nigel Stanworth on June 01, 2003
Hi,
Just back from Germany and the gig at Munster on Friday evening. What can I say, wonderful setting - in the main square outside the impressive Dom, fantastic weather and a large crowd (don't know how many but
must have been towards 10,000 at least). One frustration, having taken my family to Germany for the first time with the possibility of my son seeing his
first MMEB concert, he was ill so missed it! Well at least I have an excuse to go again this year now! Before the EarthBand were The Levellers, never heard them before and when I saw the description of their
act as Folk Punk I must admit I was sceptical, however they were right and very good too. Earth Band were in fine form as usual, enjoying the large crowd and being very well received. It is refreshing
to see a younger audience who also know their songs unlike in the UK. The 'usual' setlist for 2003, my first chance to hear the 'new' opening (very short), Spirits (the best live version I've heard in nearly 30 years), the
combination between Mick and Noel works very well and the instrumental version of For You. I must admit that For You has never been one of my
favourite MMEB songs but this version works well 'For Me' and provides a breather before Quinn closes the concert out.
Thanks to Reinhard, Erika, Uschi, Annette, Wil, Jan, Paul, Sigrid, Joachim and Roland for their great company - see you again soon I hope. Paul, I look forward to the photo's (:-)) Nigel 
Re: Munster 30 May - EuroCity Festival
Posted by Roland on June 01, 2003 In Reply to: Munster 30 May - EuroCity Festival posted by Nigel Stanworth on June 01, 2003 Hi from me too,
thank you Nigel for your fine report and it's good to see, that you well arrived at home ;-). Let me add some things:
Yes the Intro was really short but Manfred in the blue fog very amazing. Well, I miss a little bit the "I'll give you"-opening.
Great mood, fantastic wheather !! No rain, although there were very dark clouds at 22:00, but Petrus is an Earth Band Fan too ;-). This evening was
pure fun with the mentioned guys and girls. Pamther has taken much photos and hopefully only a few are lost because of my weird dancing ;-)... Hope to see you very very soon :-) Keep on rocking
Martha has great new solos of Manfred (very powerful and music - for me - from another star...), and then, at least "Castles", it must stay on the setlist FOREVER !!
Agree with you Nigel, Spirits incredible good !!
And the first time I 've listened to the instrumental "For you"..ok, it sounds good, really interesting...but I had the feeling, CHT jumps on the stage and
begins to sing... you expect the singing words. But it's good and refreshed the setlist a little bit.
It was a greatevening at the "Domplatz", the sound very good (no problems), great new solos and the gig starts at about 22.05 and ended at midnight
!! Great show with much (blue) fog , amazing :-)... The "battle" in Father was indescriptable ;-)...Just ONE winner: The audience :-)
It's a pity that they played "Dancing" and not Angels, I love the "Ticker-Tape" :-)
The first time that I heard Geoff Dunn and I have to say : Great, powerful...! Please Manfred, don't replace him one day, he fits very well :-)
We've licked our fingers. Thank you Earth Band !!!
And Nigel: Hope to see you with your son this year, hope he is better now...
And thank you Joachim for all !
Roland
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