and again an almost double concert wherby I want to mention the supportband in each case. As I have checked out this band at this year's Bang Your Head festival in Balingen and have been totally stunned. Okay, it's not quite true, because, I have seen Vengeance before in 1989 at the London Marquee Club. And I remember a good, - a very good concert indeed. At this time Arjen Lucassen was still with them and the general line up was a bit different anyway. 


                                                

But never mind, the little funny sod Leon Goewie is still holding the mike and also guitarist Jan Somers has survived all those years. And to be real honest with you, - Leon is the turning point for a Vengeance show, nothing else. The rest of the group is consisting o Barend Courbois – Bass, Hans In’T Zandt – Drums, und Peter “Slash” Bourbon – guitar. Don't get me wrong now. They are all great musicians, who know how to play their instruments for many years as well. And they got this certain stage presence aura and rockstar image. But in the end it's Leon again doing the job what makes Vengeance.J )))
  
Anyway, beeing troue stars at the  Bang Your Head Festival next to Foreigner, and many of us remember this hell of a gig very well, the expectations are set very high.- But....  it's not quite like that tonight. Sorry, it's gotta be said. It's not only the short time, they have got for their slot and little Leon hasn't got the time to develope his complete action on an outspreading level, also not having the space on this little stage to live his action. It's also the voice, beeing not in full shape tonight, out of whatever for reasons. Only those fans in the audiance, who haven't got a chance to compare it to the Balingen stint, luv it from the start. And these are quite a few. But howsoever, the dutch guys are playing their butts off with their happy party rock'n'roll  and good mood music. 

And when Mr. Goewie put on his turban in the end for the one and only 'Arabia', and spills 2 pints of beer over his head, like he always does in the end, then no eye stays dry. I for my part think: take it easy, everyone  has got a bad day now and then (in this case it's the voice suffering) but what's up to the general vibe and party effect of easy listening, the slogan of Vengeance still is: ‚Rock ‚till You Drop’.


One more time Axel Rudi Pell. How often have I seen him playing live on stage yet. That's the first thing coming to my mind, when the mastro comes on stage with his serious face expression like usual and starts his overture. 'Mystica' is the motto, though only 4 songs found their way on the setlist of this tour. Whatever is's up to the product promotion, but the  'Die Hard Pell Fan' wants to listen to his familiar classic tunes, he loves so much and he can sing along with. Before I forget to mention, it's sold out here, which means 700 people. Not bad for Munich and german Heavy Metal.

Another thought comes to my mind every time I listen to a Pell stint... - what a voice! It's on the same level like the guitar playing of Axel. Johnny Gioelie is the name of the vocal talent, we all know of course, also beeing busy with a group named 'Hardline' in the states, but beeing with the Pell band for many years now at the same time. Every time he looks younger and younger, thanks for his cute short hair look. If you have a close look, it even starts to look similar to Mike Terrana's  hairstyle :-))) And this man I wanna name as the best drummer, the german hard rock world has got at the moment. No doubt about that. Whereby Mike is actually an american, who currently lives in Denmark and is the best spagetti cook in the world, as he says so of himself. Only workwise he is still present in Germany. But this is the point ain't it?! He is an animal and simply phantastic on his drums. Last but not least we got the two dots on the i left, who is Ferdy Doernberg on Keyboards and Volker Krawczak on bass, who are pretty enegetic, even it doesn't seem so. Enough of those individual descriptions, who work so well in harmony and every way.

Short and painless, a Axel Rudi Pell concert last about 2 1/2 hours and includes a 20 minutes acoustic set for getting a little change inbetween. Otherwise it's the symphonic bombast metal ruling the scenery, Pell's guitar and the voice of  John Boy Gioeli. For me it's in some ways a bit too long stretching out. But again, maybe it's only my personal impression, because I've seen this band so often before. The true Metal fan is definately very happy and totally fascinated by his hero and celebrates the concerts with a lot of headbanging and applause. And that's the goal, ain't it?!
The grand final is dominated by honouring my journalist collegue Andreas Schoewe on stage for his dedication to this lot. Okay, a nice move, and to be honest.... there's something about it - Schoewe on stage - J)))
 
Cheers and 'till  next time
                                                                           For Aftershow snapshots like always  click  Diary