Author: Urban Bolta
Location: Herzogburg / St. Veit an der Glan / Austria
Concert date: 05.09.2014
Attendance: 400
Ticket price: €39 / €44
Every year, St. Veit an der Glan in Austrian Carinthia plays host to some famous name from recent music history. Even though guitarist Jeff Beck’s show was canceled due to illness just two months ago, the local concert promoters can boast visits from heavyweights like Wishbone Ash, Jack Bruce, Arthur Brown and the Yardbirds, and on the first Friday of September, the list of venerable guests to this quiet Austrian town got even longer.
In the little town about twenty kilometers north of Klagenfurt, Eric Burdon, the former frontman of the British R&B outfit The Animals, stopped by on the promo tour for his 2013 album »’Til Your River Runs Dry«. Throughout a musical career spanning half a century, Burdon has been trailed by the success of his original mid-sixties band, even though in later years he also tried his hand at blues, psychedelic rock, soul and even jazz. The man with the gritty voice still isn’t giving up at 73. He keeps touring tirelessly, as if the golden age of the British Invasion had never ended! In St. Veit he played as part of the festival at the medieval castle complex of Herzogburg. In the pleasant setting of the inner courtyard, the weather was on our side too, holding back its tears this evening.
Opening the night were Hamburg Blues band, old friends of the St. Veit scene and seasoned veterans who have been playing nonstop for over thirty years and are indispensable among fans of the genre across continental Europe. Proverbial German punctuality let us down this time, as Hamburg Blues Band hit the stage about half an hour late, around 7:30 p.m., and invited the crowd to leave the safe haven of their tables and benches and move closer to the stage. The Germans built their set out of three interlocking parts. In the first, they presented themselves as a tight unit full of bluesy swagger, which always comes alive in a cheerful tone in their hands, since these good-humored guys don’t skimp on positive energy up there. The songs, mostly originals, with the Free classic Wishing Well slotted in among them, sounded even more melodic thanks to the two-guitar attack, and the real proof of their creative drive was the easy-to-remember choruses of their strong bluesy flirtation. In the middle of the show, the right-hand guitarist took the reins, none other than the renowned six-string master Miller Anderson. Hamburg Blues Band has often worked with world-class artists in recent years, which speaks to their reputation in these musical waters. As a former member of eminent outfits like the Spencer Davis Group, Keef Hartley Band, Savoy Brown and T. Rex, Anderson had no trouble filling the audience with charisma, and in one of his short addresses he recalled playing at the legendary Woodstock, where he appeared as a member of the Keef Hartley Band. The energy jumped exponentially when singer Maggie Bell (Stone the Crows) appeared on stage for the final part of the set. The lady is nearly seventy now, but she remains a mighty vocal presence, even if her range has shrunk a bit over the years. The five on stage won everyone over with their thoroughly lived-in banter, which peaked in a playful take on Freddie King’s Living in the Palace of the King. Hamburg Blues Band – came, played, conquered!
After a long break, everything was set for the night’s main attraction. The backing musicians took the stage first, and Eric Burdon joined them in the middle at the first verses. Dressed in a peace-sign T-shirt and his trademark sunglasses, he quickly convinced us that his voice still serves him brilliantly! Sure, he was never known for technically demanding lines, but over the years he hasn’t lost any of the aggression, rasp and color, so even in his seventies Burdon remains a credible champion of the blues and rock vernacular.
All evening long, Eric Burdon boldly spun through a colorful palette of musical influences, with a base deeply anchored in rhythm & blues. With Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, it was already time early in the night for the first of The Animals’ big hits, though the live version casts the composition in a completely new light. As a magical interpreter, Eric Burdon added an organic touch to the song, a totally new rhythmic setup and a singer-songwriter, almost storytelling vocal feel. When I Was Young brought a leap into psychedelic waters, which is only fitting for a song written in California during the hippie heyday of the late sixties! In the instrumental parts, Burdon let his musicians wander freely, with the guitar and keyboards taking on most of the improvisation, occasionally resulting in a simultaneous duel between the two. The expanded drum kit didn’t go unnoticed either, coming alive with extra touches of African vocabulary especially in the more energetic tracks like Inside Looking Out. If anyone still doubted by then that Burdon had dedicated his life to the blues, the middle of the show was where they could see it for themselves. Burdon dedicated a tribute to Bo Diddley’s bluesy minimalism with a performance of his song Before You Accuse Me, spiced up with an inspired improvisation of a Black vocal, followed by a song from the current album, Bo Diddley Special, with a thicker curtain of organ and backing vocals in the chorus. The building of a dynamic atmosphere continued with a return to the days of The Animals, and between Don’t Bring Me Down and We Gotta Get Out of This Place, Burdon showed off a few moves from his once-rich arsenal of charismatic stage flailing, which is why Rolling Stone once named him one of the best frontmen of all time. The easygoing nature of the long-awaited finale with the big hit The House of the Rising Sun bowed completely to Burdon’s more complex musical character, so directness gave way to a ten-minute epic full of jamming, during which Hammond master Red Young even played a few notes with his foot, to great effect. The soothing pleasure for our ears peaked when Burdon came back out for an encore with It’s My Life and John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom, then said goodbye to the crowd with his index and middle fingers held up. The message was clear: let peace rule the world!
Eric Burdon remains a traditionalist. He could have pitched his shows in a more mainstream direction, but he’d rather cater to the pickier music connoisseurs, the ones with the long-forgotten language of the sixties running through their veins. With a show just a stone’s throw from our border, he proved he’s still a vital herald of the hippie generation, which headed home in high spirits.
Setlist
ERIC BURDON:
1. Black Dog
2. Water
3. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
4. When I Was Young
5. Inside Looking Out
6. Spill the Wine
7. I Believe to My Soul
8. Before You Accuse Me
9. Bo Diddley Special
10. Don’t Bring Me Down
11. We Gotta Get Out of This Place
12. Peace in this World – River is rising
13. The House of the Rising Sun
——————
14. It’s My Life
15. Boom Boom
Photo Gallery
