Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Vienna / Reigen / Austria
Concert date: 04.02.2012
Attendance: 300
Ticket price: €29.00
Wisbone Ash, masters of dual guitar harmonies, with a subtle feel for the epic and eternal seekers of innovative arrangement tricks that helped them invent their own distinct brand of classic rock, have long since stopped playing the bigger stages that would suit their reputation and magnificent legacy, with just a few exceptions.
The legendary British outfit, who earned their musical immortality and recognition with the epic masterpiece “Argus” (1972), don’t bat an eye when offered a gig in a “bar-sized” room like Vienna’s Reigen club on this night, something most of their musical peers, especially those who haven’t enjoyed their former commercial success for decades, would surely turn down. The love of playing live and making good music, even in front of far fewer people than they used to draw, is simply too big for Wishbone Ash, who still approach every project with heart and soul.
Opening the night with a decent set were the Swiss band Fabian Anderhuf Band, whose admittedly rather generic mix of guitar-driven blues and funk managed to win over the proverbially cold Austrian crowd at least enough that the band’s boss, guitarist and singer Fabian Anderhuf, never lost the smile from his face until the end of the set. After a thorough overhaul of the stage setup, everything was ready for the arrival of the evening’s main “stars”.
Mr. Powell and the gang decided to hit with full force right from the opening and use long-standing classics to get the traditionally emotionally frozen Austrians on their feet. Most of them gave the impression that what matters more to them than watching British art rock legends is a heaping mug of beer on their table and, if possible, a smoked beer sausage with sauerkraut. The atmosphere in the hall admittedly wasn’t up to the occasion, but the seasoned veterans in the band, with a professional, very well-executed performance and a generous dose of British humor, knew how to turn even that shortcoming to their advantage.
Wishbone Ash opened the show with the epic “Argus” evergreen “The King Will Come”, which was inevitably followed by the anthemic “Warrior”, whose mighty chorus always wakes up even the sleepiest of the emotionally dormant. The legendary band’s tour was primarily meant to promote the excellent new album “Elegant Stealth” (2011), so it was no surprise that the third song of the night was “Can`t Go It Alone”, picked as the first representative of that studio effort.
The spirited opening stretch of the show, during which Andy Powell of course didn’t forget his famous flying-V guitar, calmed down a bit with “Lady Jay”, an evergreen ballad from “There`s the Rub” (1974) whose melancholy ambience is always a true balm for the ears and the soul. For many fans of Wishbone Ash’s classic era, the melodramatic, nostalgic “Argus” opener “Sometime World”, one of the bigger surprises, was the highlight of the night.
The guys from Wishbone Ash aren’t just outstanding musicians, but also quite colorful stage figures, real incarnations of seasoned classic rockers, with the most sense for stage choreography, as you’d expect, going to the oldest members, namely Andy Powell and his longtime guitar buddy, the “eternally serious” Finn Muddy Manninen. While the charismatic Powell, always up for a good joke, had a long scarf wrapped around him at the start of the show, one he had apparently borrowed from Fish, Manninen, in a jacket adorned with shamanic decorations, looked like the perfect embodiment of a classic rocker.
The ever-cheerful bassist Bob Skeat, crowned with a little cap, looked like a genuine countryside guy from rural England and, among other things, kept the mood positive, while drummer Joseph Crabtree, relatively young compared to the rest of the band, remains the only member of Wisbone Ash who wouldn’t mind a touch more stage charisma, which he successfully makes up for with enviable drumming technique. The selection of songs was well balanced between long-time and newer favorites the whole way through, so there were quite a few pleasant surprises, such as the “Bona Fide” (2002) standard “Love, Faith & Hope”.
A return to the golden seventies was taken care of by the “Pilgrimage” (1971) evergreens “The Pilgrim” and “Jailbait”, which they stretched out with plenty of guitar improvisations. The long-standing “Just Testing” (1980) classic “Living Proof” was another surprise of the night, since they haven’t been playing it at every opportunity in recent years.
Just before the closing stretch of the show, Andy Powell picked up a twelve-string guitar, with which he took us back to the band’s classic period, when epic historical-pastoral themes dominated their poetry. The concert peaked with the immortal epic “Phoenix”, which is always a unique demonstration of virtuoso guitar improvisation between Powell and Manninen. After a short break the gang returned to the stage with the instrumental gem “Mud-Slick” and another “Argus” classic, “Blowin` Free”, which for the grand finale managed to bring the hall to life one last time, more or less.
Wishbone Ash, who once again won us over with an almost dreamlike set list, simply can’t disappoint, no matter how cramped the conditions, how poor the stage lighting, or how relatively apathetic the crowd. The only truly annoying thing, and one that noticeably spoiled the concert atmosphere, was the bad sound: the drums were a bit too loud all night, which “cut” the guitars and vocals, but the band had no influence over that. It’s a shame they also had trouble with the microphone levels for Skeat’s backing vocals, which could barely be heard at times. Still, if you draw a line under the whole show, we witnessed a top-notch concert experience of the kind only grandmasters of their craft like Wishbone Ash can deliver.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
1. The King Will Come 2. Warrior 3. Can`t Go It Alone 4. Lady Jay 5. Open Road 6. Keeper Of The Light 7. Sometime World 8. Warm Tears 9. Faith, Hope & Love 10. The Pilgrim 11. Jailbait 12. Living Proof 13. Invisible Thread 14. Phoenix —encore— 15. Mud-Slick 15. Blowin` Free
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