Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Faak Am See / Harley Davidson Bikers Week / Austria
Concert date: 08.09.2012
Attendance: 1000
Ticket price: €0.00 (free admission)
And so it rolled into our neck of the woods for the fifteenth year running! The European Bike Week, with the Harley Davidson factory as its main sponsor, is the biggest gathering of its kind on European soil, bringing together fans of steel horses. As always, the organizers lined up a colorful program of concerts across the whole week, as the famous spot in Austrian Carinthia near the village of Faak Am See, on Faaker See, close to Villach, once again turned into a proper biker village.
As every year, we were drawn to the lake again for the highlight of the concert lineup, announced for the second-to-last day of the event, when the schedule slotted in Sarah Bohnam, the sister of the late »Bonzo« – John Bohnam (Led Zeppelin), the legendary British art rockers 10CC and, last on the bill, Snakecharmer, a band made up of rock history superstars gathered from every corner of the globe to offer Whitesnake fans a real revelation, since the leading figures of this outfit are Micky Moody and Neil Murray, both former »Whitesnake guys«.
10CC:
The first band to take the stage in the middle of this special event, while bikers from all over Europe were having their beer party and we music nerds were waiting impatiently for the two main attractions of the night, were the legendary British art rock greats 10cc, who these days only rarely wander this far south, or anywhere outside their British home turf. The sound of the utterly unique 10cc is easiest to describe as extremely intelligent, melodic, varied, socially sharp and witty rock music right on the border between art rock and pop rock, closest to everyone who swears by the legacy of the Beatles, McCartney’s Wings, Supertramp and Electric Light Orchestra.
Of the original 10cc lineup, only bassist/vocalist Graham Gouldman is still around, still excellent on both bass and vocals, along with drummer Paul Burgess (over his career a member of bands like Jethro Tull, Camel, Magna Carta and The Icicle Works). Keeping them company on stage were longtime guitarist/vocalist Rick Finn, the hugely charismatic multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mick Wilson, whom we last saw in July in Trieste as the singer of Three Friends, and keyboardist/vocalist Mike Stevens. The latter two have been in the band since 1999, which means they’ve become ‘old cats’ by now.
They opened the show with the unforgettable evergreen from »Sheet Music« (1974), »The Wall Street Shuffle«, and won us over completely within the first minutes with their magical combination of hypermelodic vocal harmonies, where Mick Wilson’s falsettos stood out most, layered guitar passages and mighty symphonic arrangements that mark most of their best work. Wilson’s insanely high falsettos shone especially on the doo-wop burlesque »Donna«, while the excellent rendition of »The Things We Do For Love« really showcased the virtuoso chops of the individual multi-instrumentalists. The gorgeous ballad »I’m Not in Love«, on the other hand, brought out their subtler side.
The classic from »The Original Soundtrack« (1975), »Life Is a Minestrone«, ‘blew our heads off’ down by the stage with its cheeky tempo and sardonic lyrics, where British humor with a heavy Beatles stamp once again peaked through wonderful vocal multi-harmonies. The highlight of the show, as expected, was the evergreen reggae hybrid »Dreadlock Holiday« with its legendary, ultra-sarcastic lyrics about a ‘holiday from hell’ in Jamaica as seen through the eyes of the average (spoiled) English tourist. The atmosphere was extremely intense and almost magical throughout. Even the proverbially laid-back ‘biker’ crowd, mostly locals, eventually started breathing as one with the band. For the encore they played »Rubber Bullets«, which comes from 10cc’s 1973 debut, and then slowly left the stage to stormy ovations that were in no hurry to die down, handing the spot over to Snakecharmer, the evening’s next concert attraction.
Thanks to an incredibly tight performance backed by ideal sound, 10cc were by every measure the real stars of this concert night, and they proved that while celebrating forty years of existence (a special box set is in the works to mark this round anniversary in style) they are still in excellent form and, despite the mostly graying heads of some members, are pulling their train toward new challenges at full steam. Who knows, maybe a new 10cc studio album will finally drop in the 21st century, the first one we’ve been waiting for since 1995.
SNAKECHARMER:
After 10CC, the stage got a bit roomier for Snakecharmer. Mick Wilson’s (10CC) percussion and Paul Burgess’s (10CC) drums were carted off it! Snakecharmer is a lineup made up of true masters of their craft. They arrived at Faak Am See in a slightly modified lineup, though. On keyboards, the seasoned master John Young stood in for this show for the band’s regular member Adam Wakeman, otherwise Ozzy Osbourne’s keyboardist and the son of the notorious »Yes guy« Rick Wakeman. Young has worked with a whole galaxy of well-known names on the world rock map, such as Scorpions, Bonnie Tyler, Greenslade, Asia, John Wetton, Fish, The Law, Paul Rodgers, Qango, Uli Jon Roth, Roy Wood, Lucio Battisti and Jon Anderson, and since 2002 he has led his own group, The John Young Band. Snakecharmer also had to find a replacement on drums, where Jimmy Copley (The Bad Apples, ex-Manfred Mann’s Earth Band) jumped in for regular member Harry James (Thunder, Magnum). The rest of the band is, of course, made up of the extraordinary blues master Micky Moody (ex-Whitesnake), bassist Neil Murray (Colosseum II, Giglamesh, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Peter Green Splinter Group,….) and another guitarist from the classic annals of rock, Laurie Wisefield (Wishbone Ash, Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Roger Chapman), while vocals are handled by the excellent singer of the British AOR rockers Heartland, Chris Ousey! A combination, in other words, whose names alone can’t and won’t let it down. A real treat was in the cards.
True to the band’s name, Snakecharmer hammered out nothing but Whitesnake repertoire! But the band was in for an unpleasant surprise. Sure, the biker crowd doesn’t come to these gatherings primarily for rock concerts, but what awaited Snakecharmer in front of the stage felt like the misery of all miseries of mankind as we know it. People had come to the front of the stage only to wait for the raffle results. The prizes were three Harley Davidson motorcycles. Once the raffle was over, they started marching off briskly even before 10CC played. The space had already visibly thinned out during 10 CC, and when Snakecharmer stepped on stage, only a dozen or so rock fans were left waiting, and a good number of those visibly drunk and staggering. Around 100 people, that is. At a gathering that draws over 10,000 visitors. Ridiculous, really.
Snakecharmer kicked off the show with Walking in the Shadow Of The Blues. Over the next hour or so the performance gradually lost intensity, which wasn’t the band’s fault but the audience’s unresponsiveness and apathy. You could feel it, and notice it especially in Chris Ousey’s performance, that the guy wasn’t using all his power. He sang quite a few lines very sloppily, or didn’t sing them at all, as in Fool For Your Loving. A bit more enthusiasm from the crowd could be felt during Here I Go Again, which was included in the set solely to get the crowd on its feet, otherwise Micky Moody would definitely never play it live. Still, all Snakecharmer got during Here I Go Again was the uncontrolled howling of two plastered coyotes leaning on the barrier. Sadly.
Anyway! These old cats have too much experience to show weakness. The main man dragging the sluggish mood, as triggered by the reach of Snakecharmer’s playing, up from the bottom was undoubtedly Micky Moody that night. This hugely charismatic stage statue has that soft, moaning blues touch you could search for in broad daylight with a lit lamp and still not find. Control, focus! Micky is a man of elegance and wisdom who knows how to chisel golden blues notes! His solo showed it best, as it slowly flowed from the opening »rag time« tune into a proper »slide show« escalation of »delta blues« rhetoric, where Micky reminded everyone that he’s still one of the most refined »white bluesmen« ever to sprout on this planet in the history of rock.
Besides the Whitesnake classics, the guys also played two originals, Smoking Gun and, to close, the sprawling Turn Of The Screw, into which they wove a short drum solo. A studio debut is clearly on the horizon. Sound-wise things worked nicely, only Young’s keyboards were set too quiet, which spoiled the impression especially in the verse of the ultra Whitesnake hit Here I Go Again. A confident and tight performance, but still with quite a bit in reserve.
The handful of people who found themselves in front of the stage that night solely for the 10CC and Snakecharmer concerts didn’t need to consult the venerable Albert Einstein to reach the closing conclusion on their own: that night, 10CC stole the concert night from Snakecharmer with the pinky of their left hand!
Setlist
SNAKECHARMER:
1. Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues
2. Ready an’ Willing
3. Ain’t Gonna Cry No More
4. Smoking Gun!
5. Micky Moody guitar solo
6. Slow N’ Easy
7. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City
8. Here I Go Again
9. Fool for Your Loving
10. Turn Of The Screw
Photo gallery
