Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Backstage / Munich / Germany
Concert date: November 23, 2010
Attendance: 400
Ticket price: €30.00
Pretty Maids, those indestructible, tough-as-nails Danish hard rockers who never quite landed the big breakthrough in the eighties, can really brag this year about an excellent new studio album called “Pandemonium”. Look across the Pretty Maids discography and there’s not a bad album in it. But “Pandemonium” is the herald that gleefully announces that, despite a very long mileage and its ups and downs, Pretty Maids aren’t giving up in 2010 either! It proves the blood of boyish exuberance and unruliness still runs through their veins. “Pandemonium” is, of course, a proper Pretty Maids album! Flirtatiously wound up, with a dose of melody that’s especially infectious this time around, we could even call it a sort of mini AOR moment for Pretty Maids. When the golden eighties flash before your eyes for a second. With a tailored pinch of wholesome rocker arrogance, naturally.
Anyway, our valiant Danes, who aren’t exactly easy to catch on their tour stages if you’re a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia (nothing new, right?), since they mostly aim at northern Europe, finally confirmed a Munich visit this time! Vacation days get booked. Four butts fill a car. The speedometer needle points sharply uphill, the revs bite relentlessly, the compass needle swings north once more! Through the occasional light flurry of snow. Even the gray tears open in a game with the wind, and around Katschberg a stray ray of sunshine shows up.
And yet everything demanded extra effort this time. Jani and I nearly put down roots waiting for the interview with the band. Then later we even got the honor of chatting with four fifths of the band backstage. But more on that elsewhere. Let’s go straight to the gig. It’s exactly 8:00 p.m.! On stage are Hotwire, who drove to Munich from German Ingolstadt, where they come from. Ingolstadt? Can that city even be known for anything connected to hard rock? Good old melodic hard rock? The word Bonfire is the answer, of course. These youngsters are also walking in the boots of their more famous Ingolstadt “cousins”. They play super relaxed and serve up an infectiously punchy version of the old-school hard rock formula that was popular especially in the second half of the eighties. You could say a fitting choice to warm up the crowd for Pretty Maids.
Pretty Maids are on stage already at 9:00 p.m.! The techs needed just 10 minutes to set up the stage for their set! A record. The band kicks off with the title track of the new album. The Backstage hall shows its teeth right away. Up front it roars out of the speakers, Ken Hammer is decisively drowned out with his guitar, and Atkins’ vocals can’t be heard well enough. The crowd closes ranks. In a hall barely bigger than Gala Hala at Metelkova, an enviable 400 heads gather. Older rockers and all the savvy youth who put melody first in music!
Interestingly, in the neighboring hall at the same location, which holds a good 1,000 heads, there was a package show with Amorphis (plus Orphaned Land, The Ghost Brigade). That gig was jam-packed too, but with a completely different kind of crowd. So it had no effect on attendance at the Pretty Maids show. Well, of course it did. It was harder to find a parking spot. But that’s all.
The Danes showed fatigue from the flu, which had taken a toll on the guys’ health. Even before the show, when we had the honor of chatting, Ken Hammer was a dead ringer for the hoarseness of the iron chancellor Lemmy Kilmister (Motorthead), Ronnie Atkins wasn’t showing signs of excessive good cheer either, and Morten Sandager could boast proper little “pockets” of swollen eyes. So. Even Nordic guys can be caught unprepared by the cold sometimes.
But that didn’t shake the excellent vibes of hanging out with Pretty Maids during their Munich show. The wild rhythm section saved the day this time, with the front line less in the mood. The superb drummer Allan Tschicaja filled a few minutes with a solo spot as well. The new bassist, a former member of the far more notorious Danish outfit King Diamond, Hal Patino, impressed, digging devotedly into his bass and tirelessly swinging his hair. Looks-wise, I could easily slot Hal into some band of “underground glammers” like Pretty Boy Floyd.
The great setlist offered a showcase of classics from the first two albums, like Queen Of Dreams, We Came To Rock, Back To Back, and the even more obligatory ones: Rodeo, Love Games, Future World and Red Hot And Heavy (with the last ones the guys ramped the show up into an intense finish). On top of that they added fuel to the fire with the Thin Lizzy cover Please Don’t Go (originally included as a cover on the album “Sin-Decade”)! The great repertoire was also rounded out by the “Sream” tracks Walk Away and Savage Heart from the album “Jump The Gun”. The rest of the setlist mostly went to showcasing the new studio album “Pandemonium”, from which Cielo Drive came across especially intensely on stage. The excellent single from the new album “Pandemonium”, Little Drops Of Heaven, was something the band saved for the encore.
Despite having to watch carefully what he did with his vocal cords, Ronnie once again proved he’s an outstanding frontman who, with a small investment of energy, can get the audience to trustingly follow him and eat out of his hand. Incredible stage presence, movement, firing up the crowd. Nonstop communication with looks and gestures that doesn’t let you catch your breath. You simply have to surrender to the game Pretty Maids dictate. The guys showed with this performance that their teeth are still as sharp as in the brightest days and that the potency of rock daring and aggression convincingly clings to them. Well. This time with a touch of brake. The flu did its work after all.
From what I saw in Munich, Pretty Maids would definitely suit a much bigger stage better, since they’re a very kinetic band live, barely able to wait to “blow up” on it. An hour and a half of vivid hard rock voltage in the firm embrace of the Pretty Maids rockers paid back every single mile of the new trip to Munich. Even when the show was over, the band invited us backstage for a party, where we clinked a few rounds together. It was another night with no end in sight. Another unforgettable adventure of soaking up unique and immortal rock energy.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
HOTWIRE: 1. Take Me To Your Heart 2. Stay In Motion 3. Talk To Me 4. Waterfalls 5. Danger Is Calling 6. Skytrain 7. Escaping 8. Crying In The Night PRETTY MAIDS: 1. Pandemonium 2. I.N.V.U. 3. We Came To Rock 4. Wake Up The Real World 5. Final Day Of Innocence 6. Walk Away 7. Savage Heart 8. It Comes At Night 9. Queen Of Dreams 10. Drum Solo 11. Cielo Drive 12. Back To Back 13. Rodeo 14. Please Don’t Leave Me 15. Love Games —encore— 16. Future World 17. Little Drops Of Heaven 18. Red, Hot And Heavy
Photo gallery
