Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Herzogburg / St. Veit a. d. Glan (Klagenfurt) / Austria
Concert date: September 11, 2010
Attendance: 1,300
Ticket price: €32.00 (presale) / €35.00 (day of show)
It’s a tradition by now: the little town of St. Veit a. d. Glan is the destination of RockLine’s yearly pilgrimage! There’s always something strikingly interesting waiting for music lovers there, especially in July and September. I’m talking about the annual cycle of concerts put on as part of the yearly Herzogburg festival. And this year, with everything all set for a show by legendary white bluesman Peter Green and his band, English art rockers Wishbone Ash jumped in at the last minute to fill the slot of the blues icon. Green fell ill, and finding an equally handy bluesman of his caliber to save the day with an urgent invitation is very hard these days, since the years have firmly rolled into the seventh decade of their lives. Swapping in Wishbone Ash is certainly a big surprise from several angles, especially given the festival’s traditional devotion to the blues, so the organizer has surely thrown in a nonstandard swerve from expectations. On the flip side, though, that same organizer could honestly breathe a sigh of relief, because having to hunt for a replacement barely two weeks before a booked gig, after the musical headliner cancels, is hardly a position you’d wish on anyone.
Wishbone Ash definitely grew up on the blues. But they developed in a direction all their own. Even though they stayed forever tied to the blues umbilical cord, their special style is best described as art rock. With their arrival they laid down many of the foundations for the later shaping of the first forms of classically conceived heavy metal (the N.W.O.B.H.M. movement) and later (especially European) power metal. The pomp and epic quality that, over the years of defiance, clung more and more to elements that clearly stemmed from the blues, gave rise to their trademark twin guitar harmonies played in thirds. Something that forever changed musical perception in the world of rock. They deepened that melodic touch with vocal harmonies too, and developed a style all their own, with a distinctly melancholic connotation of cold Celtic breath that clearly proclaims Wishbone Ash are typical islanders.
But it very rarely happens that the band in front of you is so strong you don’t really need a headliner. That’s exactly what happened this time. Hamburg Blues Band. The German bluesmen, formed in the first half of the eighties, are so seasoned and so respected in the music world that for a few years now the one-and-only blues wizard Dave “Clem” Clempson has been playing regularly in their lineup! He’s got a mountain of mileage behind him, known for playing in Colosseum and Humble Pie, and he even turned up at an audition for Deep Purple, but Tommy Bolin got the job instead of him. In his career he’s shared stages with musicians of highly esteemed, artistically expressive pedigree such as Jack Bruce (Cream), Billy Cobham and Dave Sancious, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Bob Dylan, Chris de Burgh and Jon Anderson (Yes). So Clempson in Hamburg Blues Band is direct proof that this is a band worthy of all your trust when it comes to authenticity and the quality of the musical sermon. And that’s not all. The fact that Hamburg Blues Band were especially beefed up this evening was also shown by the invitation to a special guest! Clempson’s well-known Colloseum colleague, even a former member of Atomic Rooster and The Thunderbird, a big fan of covering Rolling Stones hits, the one-and-only soul & blues singer Chris Farlowe. Well, I’ll be damned, but even that isn’t the end… The jackpot in this lottery this time was the announcement that the extravagant Arthur Brown would also show up on stage in the middle of the show. Yes. The very same Arthur Brown who’s the probable forefather of glam! His psychedelically frenetic, vocal-theatrical escapades and performances with fire, deliberate provocations like stripping, disguises and the like, influenced every musician after him who sought the meaning of stage theater when presenting their music live. From David Bowie and Alice Cooper to Peter Gabriel, and last but not least, Marilyn Manson turns up on that list too. So a performance of special dimensions was in the cards! Let me just mention that this is the very same Arthur Brown who, on the famous solo album by Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, “Chemical Wedding” (1998), read a few opening verses to three songs and so breathed a special “dark” stamp into them.
Quarter past seven. The guys march onto the stage. The ever-smiling, positive-vibes singer and rhythm guitarist Gert Lange, keyboardist Adrian Askew, the chiseled, Aryan-looking bassist Michael „Bexi Becker, drummer Hans Wallbaum, and Clem Clempson, who permanently replaced Alex Conti in the band in 2008. The lineup takes the stage and, completely self-assured, starts building up their signature blues heritage. Rockin’ Chair delivers compactness, depth, a melancholic murmur. Gert Lange’s vocals are incredibly warm, manly, yet still mournful enough to be made for the blues. The share of Mississippi Delta that makes up Lange’s blood type was surely experiencing a real high tide at that moment. The embrace of the Hammond, a chunky rhythm and superb guitar playing, with Clempson stretching out his devilish fingers for the first time. In that vein Make My Day works even more seductively, while Trouble Man somewhat veers off into a solid, punchy blues rock romp, in which Clempson for the first time conjures up that magic moment of masterful control over the blues sound through his soloing, and the song gets an especially expressive stamp from the extra dose of throatiness in Lange’s heartfelt vocals. Lange is an excellent singer. On top of that, he’s also exceptionally obliging. From here on, his job as lead singer stopped working for a few minutes. Clem Clempson steps into the lead vocal spot, with a higher voice and honestly almost no throatiness at all. As lead guitarist he handled his vocal duties excellently too, and the band’s performance didn’t lose any of its charm. The guys spiced up the first part with an excellent rendition of Thorogood’s Bad To The Bone.
After Lange’s invitation, a legend ambles onto the stage! Chris Farlowe! Things get even more intense, and the usually polite and always calm crowd wakes up in their seats. Chris Farlowe led the band through six numbers, offering a one-of-a-kind chameleon-like shifting of vocal color. Even though the voice isn’t as fresh as it once was, it still has remarkable depth and grit, manliness, and a clearly expressed melancholic yearning that can’t and won’t hide the emotions the honest delivery of a blues sermon demands. The next 40 minutes were kicked off by the mischievous Fatts Waller shuffle Jelaous Man (Crazy ’bout My Baby), but above all Farlowe really got under the skin during the duet with Askew on keyboards in the ballad Don’t Wanna Love You Anymore. Farlowe’s more-than-successful collaboration with his companions was capped off by the most intense number of the evening. The sped-up, hard-galloping Hard To Get Along With, where both guitarists picked up their slides. In step with their string pulling, the adrenaline rush in the room kept growing, and once again it was the one-and-only “Clem” Clempson who brought it to a peak, in a wildly immersed solo.
Chris says his goodbyes, and the band invites a second guest onto the stage. That’s Arthur Brown. Of course, his arrival was fittingly accompanied by a proper thunderclap and a heavy downpour. Bob Dylan? Yep! A Hard Rains’ A – Gonna Fall with a psychedelic intro, where everything goes quiet. On stage stands the figure of Arthur Brown, dressed as an Indian fakir. True to his show theater, he holds a staff in his hands that’s supposed to help him summon the rain! Right from that first song it was confirmed that the almost seventy-year-old Arthur Brown is a man who has kept his voice completely intact to this day. He unleashed an incredible mix of wild wailing and godly wrath on stage as he “warmed up” his vocal cords in the opening song. Brown’s presence finally got the audience on their feet, and they finally plucked up the courage to move all the way up to the stage.
This time the man didn’t douse his headgear in gasoline; for Fire he put on his head a “blossoming” knitted cap that would belong in the wardrobe of South American Indians, and he gleefully scared people. There’s no way to go without Fire, since it’s Brown’s biggest hit. The covers I Put A Spell On You and Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood had already warmed the hearts of those present before Fire, and in Fire the salvos of enthusiasm went off. Hamburg Blues Band worked phenomenally with Brown. Of course Arthur took all the attention for himself, and he fully justified his show theater with an incredibly well-preserved voice, with which he conquered even the most dizzying passages in the higher registers. Fire was somehow the logical close of the regular part of the show. The band returns to the stage with Farlowe and strikes up the instantly recognizable All Or Nothing (the original belongs to Small Faces), and everyone present joined in on the accompaniment more intensely for the first time, since the punchy title line of the chorus gave them no trouble at all. To finish, Arthur Brown joins on stage once more and the lineup plays the old rhythm and blues number Got What I Want, which flows into an “a cappella” choral finale of all seven on stage.
A one-of-a-kind performance, charged with voltage and emotion, and above all with excellent execution, it left such a strong mark that at that moment you could have turned toward Ljubljana and been totally satisfied. An unforgettable experience.
Around half past nine in the evening, Wishbone Ash stood on the stage. The quartet lineup of Andy Powell (vocals, guitar), Muddy Manninen (guitar, backing vocals), Bob Skeat (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Joseph Crabtree (drums) came onstage with great respect for the musicians who had entertained the audience before them. Already during the Hamburg Blues Band’s set, you could spot Wishbone Ash members in the crowd, enjoying watching the performers. Bassist Bob Skeat watched the show from below the stage, while band leader Andy Powell enjoyed the show from a distance, standing right behind the mixing desk, where he had evidently found the sound “sweet spot”.
The first part of the show went down much like our visit to the band in Graz on February 10, 2010 (RockLine report HERE). The new Driving A Wedge from the current studio album “The Power Of Eternity” (2007), sandwiched between two juicy gems from the album “Front Page News” (1977)! Somewhere around the fourth song of the night, The King Will Come, the crowd got what they came for. A serving of “Argus”. Wishbone Ash know that all too well, so they stuck with this historically crucial album for rock music through Sometime World and Throw Down The Sword as well. Perfect execution of the material, including vocal harmonies, guitar harmonies in thirds and of course Powell’s lead vocals, which sounded determined, clear and fresh! The band shook up the setlist a bit. It kept the excellent Lady Jay from the album “There’s The Rub” (1974), followed by the phenomenal Tales Of The Wise from the album “Illuminations” (1996), where the Wishbone Ash figure of melodies built on a dialogue of guitar thirds really came into its own. The middle section was certainly one of the peaks not only of the song but of the band’s whole performance, serving up an endless solo duel between Manninen and Powell that wrapped up after a good ten minutes of this excellent atmospheric song.
A short break follows in which Powell announced a song carried by a swaying rhythm that goes with the gesture of tilting beer mugs, which Powell theatrically mimed, adding: “Beer is required!” Even though Powell, as a refined English gentleman, almost certainly didn’t mean it as a brazen demand for beer, two rounds of hoppy liquor followed spontaneously from the hospitable staff behind the bar. And so, all of a sudden, eight mugs of beer turned up among the stage monitors at Powell’s feet. That’s two per band member. Five of them were left untouched after the show. The band jumps over to the album “Wishbone Four” (1973) as it takes on the easygoing semi-acoustic song Ballad Of Beacon..
After it, Powell took a few more minutes to chat with the audience. Apparently something serious is brewing in the Wishbone Ash studio. That was confirmed by the release of a new single and video for the song Reason To Believe. Even though Powell announced a song that Wishbone Ash supposedly had to write so it would fit into the pop mold of the current UK musical mainstream, this song embodies anything but. Reason To Believe is an excellent new song from the band, and it fit phenomenally into the company of the other classics in the Wishbone Ash repertoire. If the rest of the new Wishbone Ash album is written like this, then there’s surely a new reason for big joy on the horizon for all the (still living) loyal fans of this legendary band.
The band picked a perfect solution by including the “Twin Barrels Burning” (1982) song Engine Overheat. This time Manninen didn’t use the steel pedal guitar in the instrumental part, which is otherwise the guitarist’s habit. This song is wound up positively metal-style and on this night’s setlist it was a welcome departure from Wishbone Ash standards, and with it the guys spiced up the show superbly. In the chorus, drummer Joseph Crabtree really shone, a man who comes from a jazz background, as he went at the toms with full fury and effectively sorted out the fills!
To close, the band played Phoenix as expected, from the studio debut “Wishbone Ash” (1970). A melancholic song that grows in intensity as the minutes tick by, it prepared true bliss for all lovers of guitar escapades. This was the moment when the excellent Finnish guitarist Muddy Manninen fully came alive and showed with his masterpieces why he earned his place in Wishbone Ash. A magical finish. For the encore the band returns to “Argus” (1972), cuts loose with Blowin’ Free, and so all of us lucky ones that night got half of the album “Argus” played live in St. Veit!
A superior show, thanks above all to a one-of-a-kind setlist that served up some truly first-rate surprises. Wishbone Ash are in exceptional form when it comes to stage tightness. They play live all the time, and that definitely shows on stage. This time they arrived in St. Veit as a lifeline for the organizer. No extra “screen monitors” and/or other aids to set up the Wishbone Ash stage scenography. But you couldn’t really miss it. The execution was masterful, and Wishbone Ash, who were greeted by a good turnout below the stage, didn’t hide their excellent stage mood and high level of engagement. Hamburg Blues Band helped with that too, setting a high quality standard with their set, the kind that commands awe. Luckily, Wishbone Ash are musically a story cut from a completely different cloth. Thanks especially to that fact, compared to the unforgettable Hamburg Blues Band performance, the quartet this time even walked off the stage with the upper hand. This fall Wishbone Ash are touring the UK, and after the new year they cross over to the old continent, where a new tour of Germany awaits them again. And with it, a very likely new concert adventure for the RockLine crew!
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
WISHBONE ASH: 1. Right Or Wrong 2. Driving A Wedge 3. Front Page News 4. The King Will Come 5. Sometime World 6. Throw Down The Sword 7. Lady Jay 8. Tales Of The Wise 9. Ballad Of Beacon 10. Reason To Believe 11. Engine Overheat 12. Phoenix —encore— 13. Blowin’ Free HAMBURG BLUES BAND: 1. Rockin’ Chair 2. Make My Day 3. Trouble Man 4. Down In The Flood 5. Bad To The Bone 6. Jelaous Man (Crazy ’bout My Baby) 7. Lonesome Road 8. Don’t Wanna Sing The Blues 9. Fog On The Highway 10. Don’t Wanna Love You Anymore 11. Shaky Ground 12. Hard To Get Along With 13. Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall 13. I Put A Spell On You 14. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood 15. Gabriel 16. Fire —encore— 17. All Or Nothing 18. Got What I Want
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