Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Komma / Wörgl / Austria
Concert date: April 28, 2009
Attendance: 200
Ticket price: €25.00 / €28.00
The legendary Canadian progressive rockers Saga, who have gotten plenty of in-depth coverage on our pages, decided to swing by Slovenia’s northern neighbor on their current “The Human Condition” tour. For the scene of the crime they picked the picturesque Tyrolean town of Wörgl, an important railway junction linking Innsbruck and Munich via Salzburg. These grizzled Canadian veterans, who are touring with the cult British art pop rockers It Bites, have seen plenty of ups and downs over more than thirty years in the game, so they didn’t lose much sleep over the fact that the local concert hall only suits the needs of the local club scene and is by no means fit for a band of their caliber. Saga in general are still nowhere near as respected in Austria as they are in Germany, where they sell out every hall in every major city without breaking a sweat. The pretty miserable turnout at Komma, with no more than two hundred souls, and the rather lukewarm vibe from the traditionally reserved Austrians down front made that painfully clear.
Just how little the band’s incredibly humble and approachable members fret about that kind of thing showed in the super relaxed club atmosphere before the show, where you could chat for a minute or two at the bar with guitarist Ian Crichton or new singer Rob Moratti, as well as with all the members of It Bites. The new Saga vocalist was without a doubt the center of attention that night. He joined the band before the recording of the new album “The Human Condition” as a replacement for the irreplaceable charismatic Michael Sadler. Moratti lived up to the trust placed in him on the new record, but you could feel quite a bit of tension in the air over how the newcomer would handle the classics where his predecessor left an indelible mark. The other big question of the night was how the songs from the otherwise excellent new album would hold up live next to the old material.
Warming up the half-empty hall, where you could walk right up to the front row at any moment, were the eternally overlooked but cult art pop rockers It Bites. On this tour they were also presenting their latest studio effort, “The Tall Ships”, their first studio album in almost twenty years. It Bites have been through a string of major changes in that time. Instead of the charismatic guitarist and singer Francis Dunnery, John Mitchell is now at the helm. Among prog connoisseurs he’s long been famous as a fantastic guitarist, mainly as a member of Arena, Kino, Frost*, Blind Ego and the John Wetton solo band, while his rise as a singer only began in recent years. Bassist Lee Pomeroy was absent that night because of his Take That commitments, so he was replaced by Nathan King, brother of Mark King from Level 42. Both original members were there too, of course: keyboardist John Beck and drummer Bob Dalton.
Dressed in all-white outfits reminiscent of hospital scrubs, It Bites delivered an incredibly energetic show despite the modest turnout and the criminally limp response from the crowd, with top-notch renditions of some longtime favorites as well as a few cuts from the current album. The longtime fans got the most out of classics like the fiery “Kiss Like Judas”, the nostalgic “Yellow Christian”, the romantic “Midnight” and the rousing “Calling All the Heroes”, which closed the set, while the new songs came across more than convincingly too. Mitchell handled the tough job of replacing Dunnery with flying colors and served up a heaping helping of his trademark, highly melodic guitar solos. As a singer, with his “Gabriel-esque” tone, he gets better year after year, though compared to Dunnery he’s a bit short on theatricality and charisma. Between songs, of course, he couldn’t resist a few witty jabs of typical English snark about the poor turnout, which, along with the unsuitable size of the hall, was really the only thing worth wasting words on that night. Sadly, It Bites played for only forty minutes, so just as the crowd started showing signs of waking up, they had to leave the stage. With their one-of-a-kind blend of instrumental complexity and pleasant melodies, they left an extremely professional impression and filled the hall with good vibes. For some of those present, their set was no less convincing than the headliners’, so I hope this wasn’t our last encounter with Mitchell’s unstoppable foursome.
By the time the Canadian prog rock institution came on, the front rows had filled up a little, but compared to Sadler’s farewell show in December 2007 in Munich, where you couldn’t move in a hall packed to the last corner, the view from behind was downright sad. The atmosphere noticeably suffered for it during the set, since communication between the stage and the crowd wasn’t at its usual level, but that didn’t faze the band’s thoroughly phenomenal performance or the good mood of every member one bit. The sound was at an enviable level throughout the entire show, except for a minor problem for guitarist Ian Crichton during the classic “Humble Stance”, when his rig needed fixing.
As expected, Saga opened with the title instrumental from the new album. Weaving together parallel guitar and keyboard melodies and some supersonic simultaneous runs between Ian Crichton and keyboardist Jim Gilmour, they thoroughly dramatized the atmosphere in the hall within the first few minutes. Then came the moment most of the fans were waiting for with bated breath: Mr. Moratti strode onto the stage and slipped his vocals smoothly into a sudden transition to the unforgettable classic “The Flyer” from the legendary album “Heads Or Tales” (1983). All doubts about his vocal abilities vanished in an instant, and the crowd greeted his remarkably successful take on the Saga classics with open relief. Of course, Saga with Moratti will never be the old Saga with Sadler, but even so, they’ve already managed to build an outstanding chemistry on stage. Moratti, who gets strong encouragement from his seasoned bandmates, was understandably a little shy during the show and didn’t quite know how to talk to the crowd. For now he’s still sorely lacking Sadler’s charisma and he’s not yet used to his new role in such a big band, but I believe that in time he’ll surely find his own way of connecting convincingly with the audience, without any canned phrases or needless mush. As for his excellent singing, I had zero complaints through the whole show, since he was more than convincing on both the new songs and the reimagined classics.
In the first half, the reworkings of the ancient standards “Wind Him Up” and my personal favorite “Careful Where You Step” came off especially well, while some of the newer songs like “You Were Right”, “On the Air” and “Book Of Lies” came alive with a completely new yet very interesting stamp. The perennially ailing drummer Brian Doerner, who recorded the current album with them, was once again replaced by occasional touring drummer Chris Sutherland, whom we first met at Sadler’s farewell show. The Crichton brothers are always a chapter of their own when it comes to instrumental performance and stage charisma. That goes especially for guitarist Ian, who over the last three decades has become not only one of the best guitarists in progressive rock but also a potentially very rewarding movie character. His waistline widens year by year until he looks more and more like Meat Loaf, while with his ever-longer hair, after years of rocking a short cut, he’s going through a proper second puberty. He backed up that freshly renewed adolescent energy during the show with plenty of high-energy, almost “metal” acrobatics and colorful grimaces. His forever “serious” brother Jim, who is also known as one of the most respected modern producers, kept a constant watch while switching between bass guitar and synthesizer, making sure Ian didn’t accidentally tangle himself in his guitar cable during his wild stage dancing and his trademark heavy use of the tremolo bar.
The crowd’s main darling, though, is without a doubt keyboardist Jim Gilmour, the eternal good-natured joker who, since Sadler’s departure, has also been successfully filling the role of the show’s main host for now. Jim’s star moment came with his signature creation, the nostalgic ballad “Scratching the Surface”, which was once again one of the highlights of the night. Jim’s emotional turn as lead singer wasn’t spoiled even by the fact that drummer Sutherland helped him out with the low notes in the chorus. From the new album they also played the excellent “Step Inside”, where Moratti’s vocals felt especially at home, and “You Look Good To Me”, which was written specifically to get the crowd going at shows.
In the second half it was time for another shower of Saga classics, starting with the ancient “Humble Stance”, which not even the stiffest Austrian wooden statues could stay cold to. Moratti’s mid-song stroll over to the synthesizer was a real surprise, since unlike his predecessor he has no instrumental skills worth mentioning, though I had the feeling he was just improvising in that role. If nothing else, it brought back some of that trademark magic of their synthesizer duels, which both Jims once again took care of diligently. They closed the main set with the indispensable classics “Don’t Be Late” and “You’re Not Alone”, during which the crowd, at least in the front rows, breathed as one with the band by singing along. The encore, which they opened with the newer song “It Never Ends”, surprised plenty of people, but in my opinion it was a very fitting choice given the lyrics and symbolism of the song. With the eternal anthem “On the Loose”, a return to their most beloved album “Worlds Apart” (1981), they said goodbye far too soon, after thoroughly satisfying the appetites of even the most fervent die-hards. Worth mentioning: that night they skipped two songs from the new album, “Now is Now” and “Crown of Thorns”, which they played on most of the previous tour dates.
With their sonic perfection, outstanding stage energy, tight chemistry and well-chosen set list, the “new” Saga thrilled in every way and proved that they’re carrying on their saga live with undiminished force. This is a band that’s always a pleasure to watch live, because on one hand you roughly know what to expect, yet they always surprise you with their total onstage spontaneity and the dynamic between them. Even after more than three decades, with their latest revitalization they’ve got plenty of new live and studio victories ahead of them, so there’s no reason to worry about their future. It might be interesting if, someday down the line, they decided to rework some of the classics in the studio, arranged specially for Rob’s vocals and released as a special edition, which would make it easier for fans to get used to his takes on the longtime standards. Personally, I have a feeling Sadler will come back sooner or later, but until then Moratti remains a very fitting replacement who only needs to polish his stage approach a little to go down in the hearts of all the longtime fans for good. The magical night, put together by the legendary twin bill of Saga and It Bites, wasn’t spoiled even by the dismal turnout and the generally laid-back attitude of the Austrian crowd, who could learn a lot from their German cousins when it comes to showing up for both bands.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
IT BITES: 1. Kiss Like Judas 2. Oh My God 3. Yellow Christian 4. Midnight 5. The Wind that Shakes The Barley 6. Ghosts 7. Calling All The Heroes SAGA: 1. The Human Condition 2. The Flyer 3. Wind Him Up 4. You Were Right 5. On The Air 6. Book Of Lies 7. Careful Where You Step 8. Step Inside 9. Humble Stance 10. Scratching The Surface 11. You Look Good To Me 12. Don’t Be Late 13. You’re Not Alone —encore— 14. It Never Ends 15. On The Loose
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