Author: Urban Bolta
Location: Seebronn / Baden-Württemberg / Germany
Concert date: 28.07.2011
Attendance: 8000
Ticket price: two-day ticket: €75 (presale) / €90 (day of the show)
In the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, a few dozen kilometers south of Stuttgart, the Rock of Ages festival takes place every year. As the name itself hints, the weekend in the little village of Seebronn is dedicated to fans of classic rock in all its colors and shades, and unsurprisingly it mostly lures in a seasoned gig-going crowd that spent its teenage years in the seventies and eighties of the last century. The festival is relatively young, with the first edition, headlined by Twisted Sister and Saga, taking place in 2006, but its youth is no reason to doubt the organizers’ experience. They’re the same people behind the Bang Your Head!!! festival, an event with a much longer tradition that goes down every year in nearby Balingen.
Despite being unsure about going almost until the very last day, the three of us hit the road to Germany anyway. But wouldn’t you know it, leaving early wasn’t enough to get to the festival on time. A 10-kilometer standing traffic jam in front of the Munich ring road wrecked our plans, and the heavy traffic around Augsburg and Stuttgart, where we were racing through right as the working day was wrapping up, didn’t do us any favors either. The jams turned our hair gray, we missed the sets of two young hard rock acts (China and The Poodles), and despite all the rushing we didn’t make it onto the grounds until the middle of Wishbone Ash’s set.
MARTIN TURNER’S WISHBONE ASH
Of course, it’s worth stressing that this was Martin Turner’s version of the band. Guitarist/vocalist Andy Powell fell out with the other original members some time ago over the rights to the name, and the result is today’s two versions of the group. The “original” one with Powell in the lineup, and the other with original bassist Martin Turner in the commander’s seat.
The hour-long set served up Wishbone Ash classics dating exclusively from the seventies, when Martin Turner was a member. The superbly tight lineup makes for an outstanding live outfit, which is exactly what the melodic richness of Wishbone Ash’s music demands. Textbook vocal harmonies and Turner’s vocals, still well preserved despite his 64 years on the clock, carried us back to the first half of the seventies, when English musicians were writing rock history. Most of the repertoire came from the brilliant album “Argus” (1972), with the band slipping in Ballad Of The Beacon, Rock N’ Roll Widow and Living Proof in between. The excellent stage execution was spoiled by the bad weather, as a heavy downpour and a ferocious wind carried the sound away from the crowd and had people grumbling. The guitar attacks and melodies in thirds showed their full power in tracks like Warrior and the closing Jail Bait, pulling us into the mysterious world of Wishbone Ash magic. The band proved to be a well-oiled live machine, and it’s a real shame that Martin Turner (or rather both Turner brothers) won’t join forces with former colleague Powell again – then the experience of seeing Wishbone Ash would have been even more authentic and intense!
SLADE
Slade! A chance to catch one of the leading lights of seventies English classic rock, who with their slapstick performances and distinctive style, alongside David Bowie, T. Rex and Sweet, defined glam rock, is incredibly rare these days. But a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since Slade’s golden days. A drop in popularity in the eighties and the departure of the band’s pillars, Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, in the early nineties ended the success story of the popular rockers. For the last twenty years, the remaining original members, guitarist Dave Hill and drummer Don Powell, have been touring under the same name, reviving memories of the golden era and singing nostalgically along with the crowd about one of the biggest rock bands of the seventies. The lineup is rounded out by vocalist/guitarist Mal McNulty and bassist John Berry.
The stroll through the treasury of eternal Slade hits kicked off right on schedule with We’ll Bring the House Down. Drummer Powell appeared first, before Berry, McNulty and finally Hill lined up across the stage from left to right. Although McNulty is now standing in Holder’s incredibly uncomfortable shoes, the “new” frontman did well. The guy, who visually reminds you of Ozzy Osbourne, built the show on his own ideas and generally steered clear of straight-up imitating Holder’s antics. Vocally, too, he interpreted the songs his own way, and thanks to a unique mix of charisma and likability he didn’t just avoid getting burned despite playing with fire, he confidently and totally credibly did his job. The central figure of the on-stage clowning was the short guitarist Dave Hill. Dressed in a yellow vest and wearing a hat, he looked like a circus clown, deftly used the whole stage and spiced up the show with funny bits as if it were all a joke.
Thanks to their many hits, Slade really have no trouble filling an 80-minute set. The evergreen classics came one after another, and early in the show Slade served up Lock Up Your Daughters, Far Far Away and Everyday, where, surprisingly, John Berry took over lead vocals. Next came Coz I Luv You with its distinctly Beatles-like sound, where Berry’s violin filled out the sonic picture. Gudbuy T’Jane and Mama Weer All Crazee Now wrapped up the main part of the set before the good-humored quartet came back on stage one more time. A romantic detour with the power ballad My Oh My followed, and then a perfect finish with the hit Cum on Feel the Noize. A show of simple musical content, but outstanding message. Even with their credibility badly battered, Slade (II) showed themselves in a good light, entertained the crowd in their own style and satisfied my personal cravings too.
JETHRO TULL
The day’s, and the whole festival’s, headliners were the legendary prog folk rock troubadours Jethro Tull, one of the most unique rock bands ever to roam planet Earth. I can only thank their tireless drive to keep touring that I got to see them for the second time in the last three years. The first time fortune smiled on me was in July 2009 in Udine (Italy), where the legendary Brits enriched the repertoire with songs from the album “Stand Up” for its fortieth anniversary. This time the program was set up differently – but for the same reason. With such a major anniversary, we could look forward to a concert graced by “Aqualung”.
The show began with a partly pre-recorded intro to Living In The Past, which found its way back onto the setlist, this time right at the very start, before the musicians took their places on stage wrapped in mystic fog. Despite the unpleasantly cold gusts of wind, the summer-clad Jethro Tull made it clear from the first moment that tonight was no time to mess around! After the opening track came a performance of the legendary epic Thick as a Brick, understandably in a shortened version, though still a marathon one. After a few minutes the techs managed to optimize the balance in the sound, which during the first song really wasn’t something the band could be proud of. For the first time this evening, Thick as a Brick was spiced up with an abnormal harvest of Anderson’s improvised flute licks, which he strung together one after another over the next hour and a half of hanging out. The constant dancing in his trademark one-legged pose was extra proof of great spirits, not just for Ian Anderson but for the rest of the Jethro Tull crew too. Yeah, playing in front of a crowd of almost ten thousand is no small thing!
Up To Me followed, kicking off the poking around in the “Aqualung” album, which was represented to a much smaller degree than advertised and expected. The nicest little morsels of the evening came from the less frequently played Cheap Day Return and Hymn 43, wedged between the evergreen Farm on the Freeway, Heavy Horses and Mother Goose. Between songs, the man with the scarf on his head, as usual, pulled jokes out of his sleeve with a typical whiff of the English countryside, keeping the relaxed atmosphere among the crowd going. Jethro Tull are old concert tomcats, and it’s a real little miracle how well they manage to hide the daily routine; what’s more, there’s sometimes just no end to the playfulness in the improvisations across the whole spectrum of their instruments. Who’d have thought the guys on stage have been at it for more than forty years!
The show raced along at express speed through the instrumental Bourée, where mostly Anderson’s vocal cords got a rest, then Mother Goose, My God, Budapest and of course the obligatory finish with Aqualung. After they came back on stage again, having taken a rather hefty chunk of time for a breather, Jethro Tull bid farewell to the German crowd with Locomotive Breath, after a long intro on John O’Hara’s keyboards. It exposed Anderson’s battered vocals, but that didn’t dent the strongly positive feelings that filled the crowd after the show.
After the late arrival and the heavy downpour during Wishbone Ash, from the moment my ears caught Martin Turner and company onward, things were going in the right direction. An excellent evening of music masters we’ll be hiccuping over for years to come.. which is exactly why you need to make the most of gigs like these, the kind the Rock of Ages festival offers, starting today, because tomorrow might already be too late!
Photos: Martin Prezelj
Setlist
17:00 – 17:45 CHINA 17:55 — 18:45 THE POODLES 19:00 — 20:00 MARTIN TURNER’S WISHBONE ASH 20:15 — 21:30 SLADE 22:00 — 24:00 JETHRO TULL
MARTIN TURNER’S WISHBONE ASH setlist: 1. The King Will Come 2. Ballad Of The Beacon 3. Rock N’ Roll Widow 4. Warrior 5. Throw Down The Sword 6. Blowin’ Free 7. Living Proof 8. Jail Bait
SLADE setlist: 1. We’ll Bring the House Down 2. Take Me Back ‘ome 3. Lock Up Your Daughters 4. Far Far Away 5. Everyday 6. Coz I Luv You 7. Run Runaway 8. Lemme Love into Ya 9. Gudbuy T’Jane 10. Mama Weer All Crazee Now 11. My Oh My 12. Cum on Feel the Noize
JETHRO TULL setlist: 1. Living In The Past 2. Thick as a Brick 3. Up To Me 4. In the Grip of Stronger Stuff 5. Farm on the Freeway 6. Cheap Day Return 7. Heavy Horses 8. Hymn 43 9. Bourée 10. Mother Goose 11. My God 12. Budapest 13. Aqualung 14. Locomotive Breath
Photo gallery
