Artist: Gotthard
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release: 2011
Length: 79:08
Rating: 4.5/5
A lot of words have been spoken about Gotthard in the past year. Tragic words, tied to an event after which the band will never be what it once was. Singer Steve Lee’s death in early last October draped the band in a black curtain of months-long mourning, and for a good while it wasn’t at all clear whether Gotthard planned to carry on or retire with honor. With his stature and his voice, Lee was a hard rock vocalist and interpreter without equal. When he left, he took the whole essence of his unmistakable stamp with him: the special charisma, the one-of-a-kind stage presence, and above all that fantastic voice, whose exceptional qualities were always crowned by top-notch renditions of delicate ballads, which in turn delivered the live highlights of Gotthard shows.
The release under the microscope this time comes from a concert Gotthard played last summer in the middle of their hometown. As the album title already tells you, that’s the Swiss city of Lugano. It was a show in front of 20,000 fired-up fans, organized by bikers, and Gotthard served up a set tailored to festival gigs. In other words, a shortened one. The band recorded the show without knowing they were capturing one of Steve Lee’s last performances at the same time.
There’s almost eighty minutes of music here. Considering headliners at festivals usually play for an hour and a half, you’ll probably miss a song or two that was played at the show but got cut from the release to save space. This gig was also part of the band’s run of summer shows promoting their then-current studio album “Need To Believe” (2009). Gotthard kicked off the live promotion for that album back in October 2009, playing the first leg of the European tour as a standalone headliner, the second round of European dates through Germany alongside Sweden’s Europe, and the third, the “French cycle,” alongside rock and metal forefathers Deep Purple. The set captured on “Homegrown – Alive In Lugano” was rounded out on the first leg of the tour in October 2009 by the songs Now, Right From Wrong and I Know You Know. Those just aren’t on this disc.
Since Lugano sits in the “Italian” part of Switzerland, Lee uses Italian for most of his banter with the crowd throughout the show, though he doesn’t skimp on French, German or English either.
This release captures the incredible stage power that defined the band’s live essence in the summer of 2010! A compact, melodic hard rock form, rooted in inspired borrowing from classic rock bands like Rainbow and Deep Purple, and reaching its developmental peak in terms of arrangement especially across the band’s last three studio albums, is played flawlessly. Of course, the main pillar holding up most of this performance quality is Steve Lee’s outstanding vocal delivery, which roughly embodies the best of what both David Coverdale and Jon Bon Jovi once coaxed out of their undisputed musical talents back in the eighties. Anyone who’s been missing David Coverdale’s form at Whitesnake shows over the last few years will be floored when they get to the outro of Hush, where Lee, light as a feather, delivers a few Coverdale trademarks with playful, carefree fun, the kind you can only hear at Whitesnake shows today with the help of a backing track or the faders on a mixing desk. Lee is even stronger when the acoustic side steps into the spotlight. That goes for the acoustic “medley” that strings together the trio of Sweet Little Rock N’ Roller (an original Gotthard song, mind you!), Angel and One Life One Soul. That moment is followed up by the even more intense, one-of-a-kind ballad Heaven, which in Lee’s hands is always hypnotic. Gotthard rearranged that acoustic trio, their little sing-along, specially for every show on the “Need To Believe” tour, so no two acoustic “medleys” on the tour were the same. They usually combined four songs into one medley. For this Lugano show, just three.
The sound is excellent. The whole weave is soaked in a warm tone, built especially on the rock-solid chemistry between guitar riffs and keyboards (with heavy use of that Hammond sound), the virtuous voice of the fat bass, which unstoppably drives the Gotthard machine, and a rhythmic framework of drums that keeps the songs dynamically supple and holds up their backbone. On top of all that stands Lee with the vocal brilliance already mentioned. On this recording of an “open-air” concert, you can feel the euphoric “feedback” of a 20,000-strong crowd fanatically melting into the band as they sing along to the verses. The gradual build-up of atmosphere, with peaks in the chorus “crescendos,” only boosts the crowd’s participation. Lugano is on its knees (or up in the air). Take your pick. Lee literally floors you with his message to the audience when, in several languages and at the end of the song Anytime Anywhere, he announces: “We’ll meet again soon.. anytime, anywhere!” Not knowing that he’d actually just spoken historic words.
This release also contains a bonus track, Train. In the “unplugged” manner of the band’s creative nucleus Leo Leoni – Steve Lee, it hands everyone who loves Gotthard’s music yet another typical Gotthard ballad. Train would have easily found its place on the next studio release, which Steve Lee sadly never lived to see. The only slightly annoying thing is the rhythmic pattern underneath, which joins the song in its outro, hinting that the track comes from a demo recording that was later polished up to the max. The extended edition of this concert also includes a bonus DVD. It features some footage of the band’s performance at the same Lugano venue from December 31, 1999, as well as interviews with the band members.
“Homegrown – Alive In Lugano” is a must for the collection of every truly devoted Gotthard fan. This release rounds off an era for the band. With it, Gotthard closed the book on their story with Steve Lee. Let’s wish them that turning over a new blank page on their road of rock defiance hurts as little as possible!
Lineup
Steve Lee – vocals
Leo Leoni – guitar
Freddy Scherer – guitar
Marc Lynn – bass guitar
Hena Habegger – drums, percussion
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Nicolo Fragile – keyboards
Production
Gotthard
Track List
1. Intro
2. Unspoken Words
3. Gone Too Far
4. Top Of The World
5. Need To Believe
6. Hush
7. Unconditional Faith
8. Acoustic Medley 2010
9. Shangri La
10. I Don’t Mind
11. Heaven
12. The Oscar Goes To…
13. Lift U Up
14. Leo vs. Steve (solo guitar/vocals)
15. Sister Moon
16. Anytime Anywhere
17. The Train*
*… bonus track
