Venue: Munich, Muffathalle
Concert date: December 15, 2004
Attendance: 1,700
Ticket price: €25.50
It was the kind of day Bruce Dickinson would have described as “Satan, has left his killing floor!” (lifted from the Psalm of Job in the Old Testament). Truth is, the two of us slipped out of the devil’s claws by the skin of our teeth. Just an hour and a half after we’d covered part of the route (the motorway from Ljubljana to the Karawanks tunnel), a nasty pile-up happened on it near Voklo, when the road suddenly iced over and 30 cars collided in a chain reaction. So we’d left Slovenia far and long behind us, the weather was gorgeous and clear, the Alps were positively glowing, over at Flachau they were dutifully skiing on artificial snow, and the drive was flying by express-fast, except…About 100 km outside of Munich we got pulled over by an “unmarked” police patrol. Suddenly a silver BMW appeared in front of me with a light flashing under its rear window, red “Stop” lettering and all. At the same moment a lollipop poked out of the car, and I was supposed to follow it. Routine check, nothing worse.
Well, that this day was truly miraculous was also confirmed by the shocking fact that when we walked over to the VOM CD store in downtown Munich, it was nowhere to be found. The whole building was being renovated from the foundations up. So on to Marien Platz 8 and München Tickets for tickets, where they politely explained that ticket sales for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band had unfortunately already closed. But the saleswoman did cheer us up, telling us to just go to the “Abendkasse” at the Muffathalle, because there were still tickets in stock like leaves and grass. Then on to Pizza Hut, where everybody knows us by now.
If only what the saleswoman said had been true. The Muffathalle, which holds around 2,000 people, was like a beehive. People were crammed in, which means the tickets had been gone for ages. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band clearly enjoy tremendous support from the German crowd.
At 8:30 PM the opening act Meera Fe & The Band kicked off the show. The band, led by a blonde frontwoman, wasn’t messing around and convincingly presented its repertoire in a good half hour. The group is made up of keyboardist and singer Meera Fee, who played electric piano, plus the rest: a guitarist, a bassist and, holy cow, even a drummer. We got groovy, beat-driven rock with grunge-flavored riffs, prettied up by Meera’s heartfelt and excellent singing. The rhythm section carries a lot of weight in the band’s sound. A great choice for a warm-up. The band, and especially the girl with her stage presence and colorful voice, created an atmosphere charged with sadness, anger and boundless disappointment. Meera wound nicely through a rainbow of vocal styles, which made for a great revival of the contrasting moods the songs were going for. A few verses she angrily spat out at the top of her lungs, while in the quiet and tender parts she led her lines in an almost narrative, deeply felt whisper. At moments I was reminded of a band like The Cranberries. This is a group that brings something of its own to its musical expression, something alternative and rebelliously ramshackle, and that’s why it has a bright future. The only criticism the girl deserves is perhaps that she was a bit too shy, so contact with the audience didn’t exactly come easy (or out of her mouth), but the seasoned German crowd rewarded the band fairly with applause. The sound was clear for an opening act and the instruments sat in an enviable balance, which sadly not every support band gets to enjoy. So Meera Fe & The Band’s set was a real success.
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band are legends, of course. A band whose roots lie in rock’n’roll, blues and R’n’B that grew up on American soil. I dare say (judging by their hits, at least) that the band won its fans’ sympathy and its reputation mostly because nearly all of its brilliance lies in witty, uniquely rearranged takes on covers of well-known musicians like B. Springsteen and Bob Dylan, which turned into hits all over again as reworkings. Sometimes these are arrangements deliberately stretched out with hefty solos, so you get a proper epic in one song! And a reworked song in the hands of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band really does sound like a completely new tune. Yet always tastefully listenable, seasoned with a full measure of melody. That’s why they land on the list of progressive bands. This is a group that stands out for something very special. Their fans literally demand covers of other musicians’ work, so wildly can these guys twist a song around. In November this year they released a new album called “2006” and it’s obviously time for another tour (the first one took place this spring, in March and April). The band played in the lineup of Manfred Mann (keyboards), Mick Rogers (vocals, guitar), Noel McCalla (vocals), Steve Kinch (bass guitar) and Geoff Dunn (drums). Mick and Noel trade off on lead vocals, weaving a marvelous tapestry as they swap verses and create atmospheric duets that bring an extremely contrasting breadth to the sound. The excellent guitarist Mick Rogers is, besides Manfred Mann, the only original member of the band.
It was 9:15 PM when the band opened the show with a cover of B. Springsteen’s Spirits In The Night (“Nightingales And Bombers”, 1975). That was a nice surprise, since the song hadn’t been in the band’s repertoire for quite a few years, and so we got a punchy, harder and bouncy start to the set. On vocals in this song, Noel and Mick traded verses. But as I said, this day was obviously the devil’s own! Okay, a side issue was that the air in the hall became unbearable. They were heating it as if we were in the middle of Siberia, people were lighting up one cigarette after another, and the air turned hot and dry, in short “toxically” foggy. I’d have loved to strip down to nothing and drink a whole barrel of anything. And then, to top it all off, in the middle of the instrumental part of Castles Burning (originally a Neil Young song, Don’t Let It Bring You Down) there was an irreversible, unfixable logistics failure. The right-hand monitor, which the legendary Mick Rogers was plugged into, suddenly started crackling mercilessly and humming and roaring. What followed was what I’d feared most. Suddenly Mick raised his hand and the band stopped playing. Noel apologized on behalf of the band and promised they’d try to fix the problem as quickly as possible. Then the band disappeared backstage, while the roadies ran back and forth across the stage, frantically looking for a solution.
Ten minutes passed. The band is back on stage and starts playing Castles Burning exactly where they’d broken off. So they didn’t deny themselves a few spare notes here and there, grrr,… as if they had no guilty conscience at all. Because of this whole mishap, the show wasn’t at its maximum. The band did build up real stage chemistry in places, sparking most in the seamless communication between Manfred’s and Mick’s instruments, but the atmosphere of the show suffered lasting damage. Why? The sound problem sadly wasn’t solved. So in the next break, they stretched the break out a little more, to somehow get the problem under control. And Mick apologized to the audience after testing the fixed monitor with an enthusiastic “That’s better!” But the joy was premature, because the box started farting mercilessly again during the next number, Martha’s Madmen (“Watch”, 1978), which the band rescued with an excellent closing section. It’s a song that opens with an intro where the group patiently builds up the atmosphere bit by bit, reaching its peak in the closing part, to which the deeply felt Noel contributed the most with excellent improvising, and Manfred with his piano bits. Noel’s style sometimes recalls Glenn Hughes (only recalls, mind you, I mention it just to give you a rough bearing). After it, Noel introduced a new song, Demons And Dragons (from the latest record “2006”), and “reassured” the crowd: “It lasts 3 minutes and 15 seconds!”, as if everyone was only waiting for the older repertoire anyway. It sounded more modern, it sounded melodic, compact, with a piercing and melancholic chorus, and it sounded like “their own”, meaning penned by Manfred Mann (not a cover). People yawned a little, but soon perked up at the next song, Shelter From The Storm (“Soft Vengeance”, 1997), which followed the previous one diligently in style and atmosphere. That there were plenty of real MMEB fans in the hall was proven by the fact that at the start of every single song they greeted the musicians on stage with thunderous ovations that boomed through the room. The band struck up Don’t Kill It Carol (“Angel Situation”, 1979), where Noel could leave the chorus to the audience for the first time without a worry. Then came another song from the band’s new album, called Mars (this song can now join the “planetary” “Solar Fire” from 1973). “Mars, the bringer of war!” Manfred Mann announced the song, and the band launched into a psychedelic number in which they wove together a proper Armageddon drama. Next came the high point of the show, at least for me personally, with a song originally written by Bob Dylan, Father Of Day, Father Of Night. Mick sang the whole thing. But before he started playing its intro, because of the right monitor’s constant farting, he asked the audience: “Wish me luck”! (regarding the sound). The song was brilliant. Mick soloed with total feeling! While hanging on the tremolo, coaxing practically circular-saw noises out of his guitar, he cracked a joke and addressed the audience by describing his sound as: “Michael Schumacher! The crowd of course burst out laughing. In the closing section Manfred joined him again with his indispensable solos on the mini moog, which only fired up the ambience further. A fantastic performance from head to toe. And that damn box on the right finally gave us some peace, at least this once! Then on to the Police song Demolition Man (“Somewhere In Africa”, 1982), which Manfred, in the version they played, spiked with some extra piano licks and stretched out even more! Next came the always-hot Springsteen number Blinded By The Light (“The Roaring Silence”, 1976). The crowd boiled over with joy and we all started singing along even more eagerly. So the general racket of the hall and the commotion were at one of their peaks right then! The band closed the show with another hit that the people of course knew inside out again. Davy’s On The Road Again (“Watch”, 1978), naturally.
The encore opened with the instrumental For You (“Chance”, 1981), which reminds me every time of Cloudy Eyes from the record “The Messin'” (1973). The legends Manfred and Mick were the main players on stage, and the song, with its soulfully drawn solo motifs, hit the bullseye in terms of the atmosphere it conjured. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band had one more iron in the fire. They ended the concert in top gear with Dylan’s Mighty Quinn (“Watch”, 1978). The hall was bursting with excitement, and the band had fun on stage, stretching out the solo duels and the outro in general. Once again, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band showed off their extraordinary stage tightness. The guys, in sync and in one breath, glided as if for fun through the more complexly designed transitions between rhythm changes, and even worked in the main motif of Smoke On The Water (Deep Purple, “Machine Head”, 1972). The party was over around 11:20 PM.
Of course the concert wasn’t perfect. One thing was that we were shortchanged by the aforementioned sound quality, or rather the “puking” from the right monitor throughout the band’s whole set. Because of it, roadies were constantly patrolling the stage during the show, and Mick couldn’t fully switch off either, since he always had to carefully pick his volume and effects settings. Otherwise the guys are coherent, phenomenally tight and they burn, and with their intensity they know how to really set a crowd on fire. The concert was very good, not superior or perfect, like three days ago with Uriah Heep, when all that magic had my head spinning after the show, but very good. Fascinating interweaving solos whizzed through our ears the whole time, we were treated to Noel’s excellent singing, Mick Rogers’ brilliance as a guitarist, and the genius of the legendary Manfred “the moog” Mann as the band’s “screenwriter” and “conductor”. Manfred and Mick are old cats, they know each other “down to zero” and the chemistry between them on stage works totally convincingly. If somebody had told me in 1986 that Manfred Mann’s Earth Band would ever tour again, I’d have laughed in their face. Well, boy, was I wrong! Not only that, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band have remained (and persisted as) an excellent stage act, super energetic and hard-hitting. Live, they keep getting better. Like wine with age. And that’s the quality that keeps legendary bands upright, the ones who mostly said their piece in the seventies (said it in the studio). I have a feeling Manfred Mann’s Earth Band are nowhere near saying their last word.
Setlist
1. Spirits In The Night
2. Castles Burning
3. Martha’s Madman
4. Demons And Dragons
5. Shelter From The Storm
6. Don’t Kill It Carol
7. Mars
8. Father Of Day, Father Of Night
9. Demolition Man
10. She Was
11. Blinded By The Light
12. Davy’s On The Road Again
——encore
13. For You
14. Mighty Quinn (incl. Smoke On The Water)
