Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Munich / Backstage (Halle) / Germany
Concert date: 08.10.2013
Attendance: 300
Ticket price: €28.00
In the new millennium, every tour by a legendary rock band that got going sometime in the seventies (or even earlier) could be the last one. You never know. That goes for the new tour by American rockers Y&T from Oakland, California, who have been roaming our galaxy since 1974. If a tour like that is confirmed for Europe, it’s a straight-up gift for us! And if one of the confirmed dates happens to be Munich, then going is practically mandatory!
Since their revival around 2002, Y&T have enjoyed the status of a revered, legendary hard rock outfit, and since 2008 they’ve been visiting the old continent pretty much every year. The band released its last studio album three years ago. »Facemelter« was Y&T’s first studio album after a 13-year »withdrawal crisis« of no new studio material. Years fly, and since 2011 the band has been marking the thirtieth anniversaries of its cult albums by tailoring the setlist accordingly. This year it’s 30 years since »Mean Streak« (1983), which is still considered one of the band’s most recognizable albums. Before arriving on European soil this year, the band had already played an extraordinary run of shows on the other side of the Atlantic, and came away with an important discovery: fans of their music much prefer a setlist that spans a broader stretch of the band’s career over one album played in full, first track to last. So Y&T kicked off the German leg of the tour with a set that, as expected, covers material released on albums between 1981 and 1990, sensibly mixed with new songs from »Facemelter« (2010), which is stylistically very close to the classics anyway.
Opening for Y&T in Munich was the German hard rock quartet Hartmann, from Aschaffenburg, Germany. They’re led by Oliver Hartmann, a guy who, over a good decade of the new millennium (which flew by quick), contributed backing vocals or »choir« colors in the studio on a pile of albums by all sorts of artists, among them Edguy, Avantasia, Helloween, Primal Fear, Rhapsody, HammerFall, and so on. Music specialists among you may also know him as a former member of German power metallers At Vance, with whom he recorded five studio albums. Under his own Hartmann banner, Oliver has put out 4 studio albums so far, the latest being »Balance« in 2012. This year even saw his first compilation, »The Best Is Yet To Come«, which collects the best moments from all four of the band’s albums!
The quartet of Oliver Hartmann (vocals, guitar), Mario Reck (guitar), Armin Donderer (bass), and Dario Ciccioni (drums) proved to be an excellent solution when it comes to picking a band to open for Y&T. I had no idea what to expect. And then? Oliver turns out to be a brilliant vocalist, and on top of that a brilliant guitarist too. The stage quickly became a one-man show. The show of charismatic Oliver. A vocal chameleon who could conjure an authoritative, clean, high-pitched voice with a strongly melodic payoff, which immediately answered why German power metal bands wanted him so badly in the past. But the guy can flip that trait around too and turn tenderly subtle, adding a bigger or smaller dose of grit to the color. On top of that, Oliver handled all the main guitar solos as well as the decorative lead passages. His three buddies followed him loyally. This evening Hartmann played the entire setlist of the freshly released compilation »The Best Is Yet To Come«, which means all four of the band’s studio albums were equally represented. Oliver Hartmann has an exceptional feel for building gripping compositions. The extremely tight and dynamic performance of a superbly in-sync quartet delivered an outstanding opening experience, which, as mentioned, also created that quietly hoped-for sense of a good fit between the support act and the main event. If you’re into melodic hard rock, definitely check out Hartmann. You won’t be disappointed.
Y&T are a different story. A separate entity. No other band is like them. A one-of-a-kind. Y&T are best seen without a support act, even though Hartmann worked confidently as part of the package. Two years ago the band played a tiny dive near Munich’s temple of culture, Kunstpark Öst, called Garage Delxuxe – RockLine report HERE. The club, about the size of Slovenia’s Orto bar, was bursting at the seams back then, and nobody inside could move. This time Backstage was at least half empty. Even more interesting was that the crowd had changed quite a bit compared to the day before, when Pretty Maids played the same venue alongside Bonfire. More or less pure hard rock veterans.
Dave Meniketti, who turns a round 60 on December 12 this year, stopped worrying about turnout at his shows a long time ago. When he steps on stage, everything around him disappears. All that’s left is the music and him as part of it. He’s one of the most accomplished musicians out there, someone who embodies in one person the perfect fusion of top-class guitar playing and vocal interpretation! Sadly, as the leader of a band that sold an enviable 4 million records over its long career yet always stayed »on the fringe«, let’s say unjustly overlooked, they never got the proper recognition, not just for their body of work, but also for the inspiration Y&T offered to the commercially successful »pretty boys« of the late eighties. From the first moment to the end, which tops a solid two hours of energetic, eruptive experience with Y&T, Dave Meniketti transforms into a proper stage imp with no shortage of mischief. Is he going to take it easy? No chance. Never with this much power and creative energy radiating off him! The man simply switches off from everything. At every single point. Only emotion and passion speak. Meniketti is the perfect example of someone embodying passion and emotion through the language of music called rock ‘n’ roll. Already in the opening Mean Streak, the band signaled right away that it’s perfectly chosen, and that Brad Lang, who joined the lineup in 2010 replacing the late original bassist Phil Kennemore, has become his true successor. And the way Meniketti’s fingers fly across the fretboard in every variation imaginable from the very first song is just proof of the incredible mileage this music wizard has already racked up in his 40-year career. The dynamite that Y&T scatter and set the stage on fire with is extraordinary. Hard to put into words. The whole quartet forms outstanding vocal harmonies which, together with the top-notch sound Backstage delivered this evening, co-create the optimum stage presentation of the Y&T repertoire. There’s Dave’s loyal guitar master John Nymann, his high school buddy who already helped Y&T out on keyboards now and then in the eighties. And we can’t skip the true drumming »walrus« Mike Vanderhule, whose cannon-like, precisely measured swings shake the contents of men’s trousers at venues like he’s betting on it! No. Backstage was no exception.
After the quietly anticipated opener Mean Streak, Y&T delivered the first lovely surprise of the evening with a performance of the classic Hard Times from »Ten« (1990)! The wide-ranging setlist actually covered all the »pillar« albums of Y&T’s career! Coming back to the main figure of the night, Dave Meniketti, the man once again delivered an outstanding vocal performance. His voice is manly, rugged, packed with macho charge, and extremely piercing, or rather, powerful. Dominant. It has a strongly carved-in raspiness that Meniketti, as a vocalist with a unique timbre, exploits superbly when delivering his verses. It’s hard to put a guitar in front of a vocal as excellent as Meniketti’s, but of course he is first and foremost a guitar hero. The man gives himself over to pleasure. Y&T transform their songs on stage. Stretch them out. He took lots of time to give a song like Dirty Girl the royal treatment, and it went through at least five solos in its development. At times during the solos it looked like Meniketti would never come out of one. The trio of buddies watches him on stage, alert and wary, waiting for the moment the leader lets up on a solo so they can escort him back into the song’s main phrase. As a guitarist/vocalist in one, Meniketti hasn’t lost a single grain of his extraordinary energy, not a bit of his remarkable character, in all his years in the music business. True, toward the end of the show he was coughing a little. You have to understand that a musician giving this much of himself is bound to be drained of energy. That’s probably why there was only one song in the encore. Two years ago at Garage Deluxe we got four songs in the encore.
For about two years now, Y&T have also been playing Squeeze from »Earthshaker« (1981) on stage. Here Meniketti lets John Nymann sing the song, and he adds a heap of theatrics, upgrading the Y&T show’s fun carousel. Since Meniketti is unstoppable on stage, the rest of the crew has to keep up. They have no other choice, or they might lose their jobs at Y&T. So in his wildness Dave literally drags them along, and there isn’t a moment when you could catch Brad or John standing still, each in their own corner of the stage. Y&T remain a perfect energy torpedo that doesn’t stand still for a fraction of a second of the show.
Masters remain masters! Next year the band celebrates 40 years of activity. Y&T are reportedly going to use one of the concerts planned in Japan to record a new live document. So the story is far from over. Not after what we enjoyed in Munich, no way. The untamed hearts of wild teenagers keep driving Y&T into their 40th year. And all these years, the wise old music sages are not easy to get a grip on. A Y&T show remains a must-have experience for any true hard rocker, even in this new era! An experience that sobers you up. An experience of meeting a band that gives everything. And you share all the heart radiating from its genuine love for the magic of the music it creates! The priceless value of the experience, I’d say literally irreplaceable in its uniqueness. It’s that moment of total authenticity when you can say you actually got the most a band can possibly give you.
Setlist
HARTMANN:
1. Right Here Right Now
2. The Sun’s Still Rising
3. All My Life
4. Like A River
5. After The Love HAs Gone
6. From Outta Space
7. Don’t Give Up Ypur Dream
8. Alive Again
9. Out In The Cold
Y&T:
Intro (Highway To Hell/From The Moon)
1. Mean Streak
2. Hard Times
3. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
4. Don’t Stop Runnin’
5. Black Tiger
6. Dirty Girl
7. Midnight in Tokyo
8. How Long
9. Lipstick and Leather
10. Hurricane
11. Winds of Change
12. Contagious
13. I Want Your Money
14. Rescue Me
15. I’ll Cry for You
16. Squeeze
17. Summertime Girls
18. I Believe in You
19. I’m Coming Home
—encore—
20. Forever
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