Location: Teatro Verdi / Muggia (Trieste) / Italy
Concert date: 11/18/2006
Attendance: 700
Ticket price: €15.00
And finally, Trieste at last. Well, right next door to Trieste, in Muggia! There’s something special about heading out to the coast this late in the year, when ice cream is no longer in fashion in November and the bora can blow savagely cold…
The view of the theater foyer held a surprise. By 7:40 PM a nice crowd of Italian citizens had gathered there. The organizer calmly waited for just the right moment to let us in. Around 8:00 PM we trickled inside in cascades of five heads at a time. Massimo and Bojan almost fell into each other’s arms right away! Massimo, the concert organizer, had made such liberal use of the gift of gab Mother Nature gave him that by the time we arrived he had lost his voice completely. A devoted White Lion fan, he put this show together entirely on his own. Apparently he was innocently chatting with Mike on the forum a few times, and that’s how they hit on the idea of the band playing right by the Slovenian-Italian border!
The little hall of Teatro Verdi had been cleared of chairs. Only the mixing desk and the bar were left “keeping each other company.” Watered-down beer at €2, whose effect was impossible to feel even after a few rounds, dampened the mood a bit, but the sight of a well-filled hall was otherwise more than encouraging.
SIN HERE: 8:25 – 9:05 PM
The Italian quartet with a female singer offered original material rooted in melodic hard rock. The band wrestled with problems all through the set, and the bassist and the likable singer got off the cheapest. With her alto vocals, or rather her tone of voice, she’d fit perfectly into some “mainstream” alt-rock band with detuned guitars and “straight” rhythm. The drummer was a special kind of embarrassment for the band, “jazzing” it up in the middle of songs built on the simple melodic template of hard rock, where at most explosive fills in the transitions are allowed. Was he doing it on purpose? Because it literally tore the band’s sound apart! No need to point out that the band derailed from mutual tuning a few times too. A horror show. The second embarrassment factor was the guitarist in “Alcatrazz-era Malmsteen” getup (read: pink little jacket and spandex). The guitar tone was all wrong! It sounded muffled and dully growling, perfect for playing “punk rock.” Even after he swapped the capo for the classic (the cable). Like the drummer, our guitar buddy overcomplicated everything and burned with the desire to show off every last bit of the skill he’s armed with. As already mentioned, the performance of the material suffered for it, which proved that the quartet doesn’t yet breathe together for a common cause and that the band has no clear musical direction or defined development goal that would instantly tell the listener what the band actually wants. At the same time, the singer remains the band’s untapped potential. Oh well, it’ll get better. Someday… The band closed with a Van Halen cover, Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love, a seriously bold decision, and in it the drummer at least had his hands “tied” for five minutes and played the rhythm line mercifully. Hallelujah.
KILLJOY: 9:20 – 10:00 PM
As the name itself says, they came to “kill the joy.” And boy, did they. Although the opening of their set gave no hint of it. As for original material, the guys offered a rather bold selection of riffs of raw hard rock explosion, a touch of Y & T, a touch of early Whitesnake,… and yet, damn it. So where did they go wrong? In the choice of songs played. In wanting to throw the crowd a party by playing covers. First they bored us to death with Dead Or Alive’s You Spin Me Round (Like a Record), which came out sounding hardcore and, in the hands of hard rockers, totally innocent. Rock N’ Roll All Night by The Kiss lifted the average a bit just as the Killjoy ship was starting to sink, but then the guys tested my patience again with Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode) W.T.F.? Depeche Mode, hell no… and the band’s blunder hit new heights with Enter Sandman (Metallica), topped off with Aces Of Spades (Motorhead). The crowd dug it… But the band? Of all the covers, Aces Of Spades was the most acceptable, though the singer got thoroughly “bent” on vocals a few times trying to slip into Lemmy’s shoes. That Metallica are generally too heavy for hard rockers needn’t be stressed this time either. A piece of raw meat wouldn’t hurt you, guys, if you ever plan to take on that band again! Too bad they’d rather not play more original songs at their shows, because the set would surely have earned a higher grade. At least we were spared the sound mishaps.
TRAMP’S WHITE LION: 10:20 PM – 12:20 AM
A full 15 years had passed before we Earthlings could once again hear White Lion classics on stage. Mike Tramp, Danish by origin, now living in Melbourne (Australia) and, alongside former White Lion guitarist Vito Bratta, the main owner of the White Lion name, brought along a truly international lineup: guitarist Jamie Law (Australia), keyboardist Hennig Wanner (Jaded Heart, Germany), drummer Troy Patrick Farell (USA) and bassist Claus Longwood (Denmark). It’s a completely new band and, as Mike said, this group plans to record a new album together next year. He also added that the four White Lion albums are the past, but what all of us gathered at Teatro Verdi were watching on stage is the band’s present, a legitimate continuation of White Lion.
Mike looks to be in excellent shape even today. The voice is intact and the singer wasn’t off in a single moment, and the trademark, that recognizable slightly raspy vocal approach, is preserved too. At a solid 40-something, the guy can brag about a youthful look. Of course he didn’t forget his authentic “sleaze” gear, makeup included. Tight shirt, showing off his extensive tattoos, while the other guys were at the very least smeared around the brows and lashes. Tramp’s White Lion finally brought to the stage what we came for. “Boooooom” right to the head!
Down in front of the stage, a group of approx. 10 Slovenes, loyal fans, already had their heads properly buzzing. They’d first built up their courage by loading up on alcoholic brews, which drew some attention. Quite the novelty for Slovenian metalheads, right? The band on stage was obviously thrilled by the response, and the racket spread from the little cluster of joyfully elevated Slovenes in all directions across the hall, and soon the Italians started happily wiggling and jumping too. Time and again the crowd greeted the White Lion classics with loud outbursts. The guitarist’s quality spoke for itself, as with his explosive playing and such immersed soloing and riffing he managed to cover an incredible amount of the sonic picture. Tramp was backed on the “backing vocal” lines mostly by keyboardist Henning, with Claus and Jamie pitching in a few times too. Jamie would have deserved practically flawless marks for his playing, if he hadn’t looked visibly stoned. Pupils maxed out, hollow, empty stare, and he laughed through the whole show as if he’d been hit by a real bomb of laughing gas. The band made no visible mistakes during the set. Mike’s vocal is superbly preserved, and together with masterfully tuned backing vocals the band managed to conjure that necessary recognizable trademark of their version of melodic hard rock. As a unit, Tramp’s White Lion are truly tight. Experienced and convincing at every point. Mike’s immersed and emotional approach only built on the general good vibes filling the hall. Above all, the sight of a happy congregation was something very encouraging. All the misery brought by the support acts was paid back by White Lion. The band hit with Light And Thunder and the crowd went wild instantly. Through the string of classics Hungry, Broken Heart, Fight To Survive, Little Fighter, Wait, Lady Of The Valley, Lonely Nights, You’re All I Need, El Salvador, Till Death Do Us Apart, All The Fallen Man, Valhalla, All You Need Is Rock’N’Roll, If My Mind Is Evil, Farewell To You, It’s Over, Love Don’t Come Easy, the concert, with great contact between crowd and band, which Mike handled with total confidence, was packed to the brim. Time flew at exponential speed. The band had the right sound, though somewhere in the middle of the hall it still wasn’t optimal, or rather it diffusely hid holes in the sonic picture (guitar, vocals). Maybe the position of the main monitors, pushed a bit too far forward of the stage and above the crowd, was to blame, but that’s just guessing. In fact the sound was optimal right at the back, at the mixing desk about 40 m from the stage. It was also right at the very front. Still, it wouldn’t have hurt to bump up the vocal a bit, which was nevertheless a shade too quiet.
Mike took the opportunity to emotionally thank the crowd, and pointed out the difference in how the point of rock music is perceived in the USA and in Europe, where the Americans of course got the short end of the stick. Apparently one of the people there came up to him after a show somewhere in the USA and said: “Holy cow, man. You guys haven’t played these songs in White Lion for more than ten years.” So they don’t even know it’s not the same band anymore, which the band’s name alone makes clear. The band did one encore, kicking it off with the ballad When The Children Cry, followed by the punchy Radar Love. Songs that simply must not be missing from the TWL repertoire! The concert was stretched to a full two hours, which you don’t get every day, especially not when the ticket costs a measly €15.
The atmosphere was optimal. People visibly happy. Organization tip-top. Location great for this kind of event. The whole thing was also well advertised, as Muggia was decently plastered with posters. Massimo took care of the little things too. One was neat laminated passes for both journalists and photographers, with first and last names even printed on them. Details that maybe aren’t important at first glance, but they testify to the organizer’s tremendous initiative, precision and care in pulling off the event to the max and hitting the goal. Mike also took a few minutes during one of the breaks on stage to give a heartfelt thanks to Massimo and his brother for everything they’d done for the band, and invited them up on stage.
The dream of all White Lion fans came true in the best possible scenario. Let’s hope this wasn’t the last event of its kind in Muggia! It’s very important for the Slovenian audience that Italian organizers bring melodic hard rock bands, a genre that is evidently waking up again, closer to Slovenia. Rumor has it there’s already talk of a joint visit to Muggia by power metal bands Kamelot and Italian locals Rhapsody.
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