Author: Jernej Vene
Photos: Jernej Vene
Location: Munich/Germany
Concert date: 01.12.1992
Attendance: 2000
Does anyone still remember the Boston funk metal quartet Extreme? Considering their new record Three Sides To Every Story, which is a really high-quality piece of work, you’d maybe expect a bigger crowd, because the hall wasn’t sold out. At exactly eight o’clock, the Brits Thunder kicked off their set. They’re a hard rock five-piece that’s making more and more of a name for itself on the rock scene. They gave us songs from their two albums, Backstreet Symphony and Laughing On Judgement Day. The most interesting ones were Backstreet Symphony, Everybody Wants Her, Flawed To Perfection and of course their biggest hit, the ballad Low Life In High Places. A punchy performance and pure guitar hard rock, backed by a thick bass and loud drums, were their biggest strengths.
Half an hour later, Extreme opened their set with the first track from the new record Three Sides To Every Story. The song is called Warheads. They served up energetic, at times aggressive heavy metal built on a foundation of pure-blooded funk at its very best. Then they took a stroll through the previous record, Pornograffitti, playing When I’m President, Suzi Wants Her All Day What, He Man Woman Hater and a few more. Even though they’re just a quartet, their show is packed with great music. Drummer Paul Geary and bassist Pat Badger play with so much energy that the crowd just stared at them in amazement a few times. As for the other two longhairs in Extreme, there aren’t enough words of praise to go around. Singer Gary Cherone has just the right voice for the kind of music Extreme play. He has total command of the crowd, and it’s clear they follow him loyally. That said, the biggest master is guitarist, pianist and singer Nuno Bettencourt. After everything he showed us, we can safely put him among the five best modern rock guitarists in the world. He served up lightning-fast, ultrasonic solo spots. Those of us who know a bit more about guitar got chills running down our spines. Many couldn’t figure out how, on top of all the tricks, he still managed to smack the drummer’s cymbal with his hand while playing. That’s nothing other than being fused with your own music, and so that kind of commitment is hardly surprising. For Hole Hearted, which they played with electric instruments in a proper funk metal outfit, four horn players came on to help out. We also heard Rest In Peace, Peacemaker Die, Stop The World (which is also the name of their tour), Seven Sundays and, of course, More Than Words, during which the women in the crowd were bawling their eyes out. To close, their famous Get The Funk Out, and after two and a half hours the concert was over. For me, that was definitely one of the best concerts in the last few years. Extreme sound punchy, aggressive and fresh on record, but live you need to multiply that by at least three to get the real picture of what went down in the hall. Bands like that sadly don’t exist anymore…
