Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Munich / Backstage (Halle) / Germany
Concert date: 07.10.2013
Attendance: 500
Ticket price: €30.00
Denmark’s Pretty Maids are one of the few »survivors« of hard-hitting melodic hard rock craftsmanship, stubbornly holding their ground on the scene ever since the early eighties. The last two albums especially, »Pandemonium« (2010) and this year’s »Motherland« (2013), prove that even after more than thirty years of perseverance Pretty Maids are still one of the finest hard rock institutions in the business, regularly delivering a superb musical creed of the noblest melodic hard rock. The inspiration isn’t fading. The band keeps maturing, and its two main men, singer Ronnie Atkins and guitarist Ken Hammer, are now true rock gurus of their craft.
On the first leg of the new Motherland tour, Pretty Maids were joined by the excellent German hard rockers Pink Cream 69 from Karlsruhe. Well, at the start of October a different name showed up as the opener on the second leg of the same tour, and it doesn’t sound one bit less enticing. Bonfire, German hard rockers from Ingolstadt, have by far the most mileage of all the bands mentioned. So the devil gave us no peace, and after catching Pretty Maids and Pink Cream 69 in Salzburg on 26.09.2013 (RockLine report HERE), we just had to feed our restless curiosity in Munich too, where at exactly eight o’clock the veterans of German, or let’s just say European, hard rock Bonfire took the stage.
There’s basically no Bonfire without singer Klaus Lessmann and guitarist Hans Ziller. This creatively defiant duo of pillars behind the Bonfire story keeps going strong in the new era, even though Bonfire can hardly boast a regular, or let’s say consistent, run of new studio releases that don’t swing wildly in quality. Their latest album, »Branded« from 2011, is thankfully a very solid effort, but the band is sorely short on those in the new era. The one before it, »Double X«, came out way back in 2007.
Anyway. The lineup of Lessmann (vocals), Ziller (guitar), Chris »Yps« Limburg (guitar), Uwe Kohler (bass) and wet-behind-the-ears drummer Harry Reischmann, who replaced his predecessor Dominik Hülhorst last year, opened the show with one of the better moments of the ill-fated 2009 album »The Räuber«. That was the song Bells Of Freedom. The crowd closed ranks and thrust fists in the air for the »home team«. The first question on my mind was about Lessmann’s vocal form. Back in 2007 in Treviso he left a rather sorry impression. He disproved my doubts instantly. Treviso was obviously just a bad day for the singer. Right from the start his voice was building power beautifully through every stretch of hammering out the lead melodies.
The rest of the gig played out almost entirely in classic Bonfire style. The first of the classics to ring out was Tony’s Roulette from the album »Point Blank« (1989). From there things unfolded just the way a true fan of the band could only wish. Bonfire confirmed that they have a crystal-clear grasp of vocal harmonies even in the lineup that works in the new times. Everyone does harmonies except drummer Harry. And that’s one of those polished virtues that gives this band real »soul« on stage too. Next came a song with one of the strongest riffs on »Fireworks«, the classic Never Mind, with a new, grabby chorus that kept the crowd flying high. Bonfire held the concert mood at an outstanding level as they went on, and after Hot To Rock and Don’t Touch The Light they cooled down the red-hot room with the ballad Fantasy, one of the band’s most famous ballads from the golden age of the eighties. The fantastic participation of the jam-packed Backstage club, with a good 400 heads in it, was fired up by the lively Klaus Lessmann, who cleverly used the somewhat extended breaks between songs to scatter all sorts of colorful jokes among the people. He mockingly compared the crowd reactions at Bonfire shows in various German cities, then explained that they deliberately gave him a black towel so that when he wipes himself with it during the gig, nobody can actually see how filthy he is, and so on. A few times he literally cracked the crowd up. To each of his »Danke schön«, the audience thundered back in one voice: »Bitte schön!« Klaus then tried variations with thank-yous in English and Italian, hoping to find out how many foreign fans were in the room, but he always got only the same »Bitteschön« back. And when he finally said »Danekschön« once more, the crowd »destroyed« him with a booming English »Thank You!«. Obviously a well-tested ritual of Bonfire shows in Germany, though the band only nurtures it on home stages and nowhere else. You could feel that unified spirit. That extraordinary bond between the German crowd and Bonfire and the band’s music. And it’s true that Lessmann is an exceptional frontman who has the crowd eating out of his hand in an instant. Effortlessly. A man of tremendous charisma.
The elder statesman Ziller and his younger partner in crime on guitar, »Yps«, again showed superb chemistry in laying down guitar lines and a superior seasoning of solo acrobatics. Among the newer songs, Just Follow the Rainbow from »Branded« (2011) was also on the menu, slotting in perfectly with the band’s classic material and proving as a composition that it can hold its own on a set list. The band made up for what was missing from the debut album »Don’t Touch The Light« in the closing stretch of the show, when they tackled the ballad You Make Me Feel, and the crowd once again followed the verses with fervor. Then came the »cheerleader« Proud Of My Country, instantly easy to sing along to, which Lessmann introduced as a song meant for every Earthling. Then a theatrically bombastic finish with the quietly expected Sweet Obsession. This excellent »Fireworks« classic announced the end. With it, Bonfire chiseled out an outstanding performance and proved that even in the new era they’re an experience well worth seeing. The only problem for Slovenian fans is that they don’t tour all that often, and never anywhere near Slovenia. So this chance in Munich was one we couldn’t let slip away! And thankfully, we didn’t. It’s interesting, though, that Bonfire are more or less their own roadies. They do have a tech who handles most of the work on his own, but the most basic stuff is set up before the show and packed away afterwards by the band members themselves.
Pretty Maids needed a solid three quarters of an hour to take over the stage. That break was an (unpleasant) surprise already in Salzburg, Austria, and there’s no logical explanation for it. Normally the time »gap« in which they »change over« the stage for the next band is 15 minutes at most, 20 tops. Well, Pretty Maids are obviously in no rush. The venue filled up to the last corner, and the German crowd, used to order, even started whistling during the uncomfortable wait. What surprised me was the sheer number of people around 30 years old (give or take a year), and there were quite a few younger hard rock fans too, ones who had barely turned 20… Of course, the core of the audience was made up of mature rockers and (inevitably) mature rock chicks, who were already drooling in the front rows during Bonfire’s set.
For Pretty Maids the stage grew even more »in depth« and »in width«, and the quintet literally exploded in all directions when they finally took it at fifteen minutes to ten! Since it was already clear at the Salzburg show that Ronnie Atkins’ voice isn’t as fresh as it used to be, Pretty Maids dropped the vocally more demanding Why So Serious from the second half of the set list, so the title track of the album took over as the Motherland representative, and in the middle of the set they tucked in the easier-on-the-voice, universally loved classic ballad Savage Heart, which lit up the German crowd’s heads like a flash. The expected highlight was also the cover of Sykes/Lynott’s Please Don’t Leave Me This Way, which Ronnie again used to rest his overheated vocal cords, with the crowd singing the choruses all by themselves once more. What really works about Pretty Maids is the band’s incredible energy. Hardly anyone can stand next to them in that department. And that was also the main trait with which they overshadowed Bonfire’s set before them. Besides huge charisma, Atkins as a frontman also has that rare gift and element of total commitment. When he’s on stage, he gives everything he’s got. And you can feel it easily. That’s what outweighs everything. All the expectations, all the quiet wishes you have every time you show up at a gig of your favorite band. The band’s »kinetics« are further boosted by the wild bassist Rene Shades, who keeps strolling over to Ken Hammer on the right and Atkins in the middle throughout the show. Shades, the latest permanent member, has fit into the band brilliantly! The bestial drummer Allan Tschicaja pitches in too. In short! Fire from every angle. Atkins again squeezed out gallons of sweat, and by the end of the regular part of the set, sweat was literally dripping from his clothes and hair.
The band once more built the repertoire around the first two and last two studio albums. And that was enough. The crowd was delighted, and Pretty Maids kept raising the atmosphere as the show unfolded. The great Little Drops Of Heavben from the album »Pandemonium« has become a real classic and a repertoire staple in the three years since that studio release. It’s incredible to witness the wildly enthusiastic reaction of the crowd when Ronnie announced it. That’s why Pretty Maids wisely save this song for the obligatory encore, and in that way bring the crowd to face ecstasy before the closing round, delivered by the expected Future World.
Another outstanding show by the seasoned Danish hard rock aces, who have once again proven that they’re going through a real bloom of maturity! The fanatical crowd did its part too. German audiences are proverbially a bit reserved. Devoted, sure, but they don’t lose their composure and their heads the way, say, the temperament of the Mediterranean countries dictates. They’re nowhere near as »stiff« as the Austrian crowd, but given how »spoiled« they are when it comes to gigs, they don’t exactly experience catharsis at shows. The Pretty Maids concert completely proved me wrong on exactly that point. This time the crowd was an outstanding ally! Loud, devoted, fanatical. Even wild! Traits you don’t normally experience with a German crowd. And so another ride with Pretty Maids brought the closing expression of an exceptional concert spell, the kind that only the best shows deliver.
Setlist
BONFIRE:
1. Intro
2. Bells Of Freedom
3. Tony’s Roulette
4. Never Mind
5. Hot To Rock / Don’t Touch the Light
6. Fantasy
7. Just Follow The Rainbow
8. You Make Me Feel
9. Proud Of My Country
10. Sweet Obsession
PRETTY MAIDS:
1. Mother of All Lies
2. I See Ghosts
3. Love Games
4. Motherland
5. Sad to See You Suffer
6. Yellow Rain
7. Drum solo
8. It Comes at Night
9. Savage Heart
10. Rodeo
11. Please Don’t Leave Me (cover)
12. I.N.V.U.
13. Red, Hot and Heavy
—encore—
14. Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Carmina Burana)
15. Back to Back
16. Little Drops of Heaven
17. Future World
Photo gallery
