Location: Munich / Ampere / Germany
Date: 15.03.2011
Spring was already in the air when it was time for a gig trip to Munich, where the legendary British melodic art rockers Magnum were playing the Ampere hall. The bearers of melodic rock refinement, who remain a one-of-a-kind live attraction even after more than three decades, were presenting their current studio album “The Visitation” on this tour. Even though a major football showdown between the local club and their Italian guests was on that same night, the hall filled up with ease. With good company all around, a cozy, intimate vibe soon settled in, promising an unforgettable evening with legends who rose to fame in the eighties with unforgettable albums like “On A Storyteller’s Night”, “Vigilante” and “Wings Of Heaven”.
Opening duties went to Australian blues rocker Gwyn Ashton, who wowed the handful of fans in the hall with garage blues rock that didn’t shy away from growling vocals run through a special effect. Definitely not the happiest choice of support act, but the Australian duo at least did a decent job, and the boss man proved that the guitar is no stranger to him. The main reason Magnum picked them as openers is that their keyboardist Mark Stanway guested on the new album by these notorious garage blues rockers, who kept pushing their own promotion after the show, flyers and all, to the point of being almost annoying.
Unlike some of their peers who need a whole procedure just to show up in front of a crowd, Magnum didn’t take long to hit the stage. To the general surprise of those hoping for an evening of classics and hits, they kicked off the show with the popular but rather obscure “Back to Earth”, which originally came out only on the EP “Live in USA” (1982) and is now available on the latest CD version of the album “Chase the Dragon”.
The legendary singer Bob Catley, still in great vocal shape and someone we also had an interesting interview with before the show, looked like an old Native American medicine man as he happily let the wind blow through his hair, gesturing energetically to rouse the crowd and acting out the messages of the individual songs. Keeping him company on stage were the ever-serious guitarist Tony Clarkin, the only original member besides Catley and also the author of the music and lyrics, the starry yet superbly tight keyboardist Mark Stanway, and the rhythm duo of bassist Al Barrow and drummer Harry James, both at least a generation younger than their buddies.
The selection in the first part of the show wasn’t entirely to the taste of those of us seeing Magnum for the first time that night, since newer material dominated, especially tracks from the otherwise excellent current studio effort “The Visitation”. Still, we enjoyed every minute of the band members’ top-class instrumental showmanship, Bob’s bravura singing and the exceptional atmosphere that the old cats can still conjure up with ease. With convincing renditions of songs like “When We Were Younger, “Wild Angels in “Brand New Morning” they paid tribute to some of their post-2000 achievements, while proving that their newer creations are no slouches either.
To be honest, Magnum aren’t exactly the most eye-catching band visually, but they more than make up for it with astonishing tightness and sonic chemistry between them, which together add up to unforgettable stage magic. Clarkin served up several inventive guitar solos, even in the middle of songs where nobody would have expected them, stretching those tracks out even further. Besides diligent and convincing performances of selected pieces from “The Visitation”, which hinted that most of them will soon count among Magnum classics, they also gave special attention to the previous album “Into the Valley of the Moonking” (2009), playing “Moonking and “All My Bridges” from it.
Fans of Magnum classics finally got their fix when “How Far Jerusalem” brought the magic of the unforgettable album “On A Storyteller’s Night” (1985) to life for the first time that evening. They kept memories of their golden era alive with “Les Morts Dansant”, which was the first of the night’s epic highlights. After the punchy, almost heavy metal catalyst “Black Skies”, the last part of the show was a run of classics that delighted all the longtime followers, who by then were pretty hungry for Magnum evergreens. Among them, the deeply felt rendition of “All England’s Eyes”, which isn’t among the better-known songs from the “On A Storyteller’s Night” album, was certainly a small surprise.
To a degree it would be understandable if the band members were fed up by now with constantly playing the classics from their eighties studio peaks, which tends to happen with bands that have this much mileage on the clock. But the gentlemen gave no such impression at all, putting their absolute maximum into every performance of the Magnum evergreens. With the epic “Vigilante” they sent even the most reserved people in the crowd into delirium, and they quickly backed that up with a phenomenal close to the main set, embodied by a bombastic rendition of the indispensable classic “Kingdom Of Mandess”.
The encore didn’t take long to arrive. In it they finally ‘took pity’ on everyone who swears by the album “Wings Of Heaven” and played “Wild Swan”, one of the more complex pieces from that masterpiece. Then came the triumphant peak of the night with “On A Storyteller’s Night”, where the storyteller Catley and his up-and-coming crew sent the whole hall into ecstasy one last time before saying goodbye amid thunderous ovations.
With great sound throughout the whole set, Magnum impressed on every level and put on a top-class get-together to the sounds of some of their best work from every era of their career, except the nineties, which they probably steered clear of this time because of painful memories of the band’s breakup in that period. We witnessed a top-notch live show, the kind only seasoned old cats can put on, still pouring their whole heart into their music. The only thing some of us truly missed on this magical evening, when fairy tales and legends briefly came back to life, was the lack of many eighties classics in favor of newer creations. Of course, the situation would have been totally different if this hadn’t been our first live encounter with the Birmingham legends. Personally, I still find it hard to imagine a ‘perfect’ Magnum concert without evergreens like “Sacred Hour, “The Spirit”, “Just Like An Arrow” and “Days Of No Trust”, which we missed the most that night. But since this was surely not our last meeting with these melodic rock legends, who still put out excellent studio albums, they’re completely forgiven.
author: Peter Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. Back to Earth
2. When We Were Younger
3. Wild Angels
4. Brand New Morning
5. Mother Nature’s Final Dance
6. How Far Jerusalem
7. Spin Like a Wheel
8. The Moonking
9. Freedom Day
10. Les Morts Dansant
11. Black Skies
12. All My Bridges
13. All England’s Eyes
14. Vigilante
15. Kingdom Of Madness
—encore—
16. Wild Swan
17. On A Storyteller’s Night
