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Well, I think, I have described this man
already in my Live
Review
from 2007.
That's why I will spare out on details this time. Actually I did plan to
go to the show in Munich, one day after this one here. But because of logistic
reasons, I can't make tomorrow, so I've gotta take this gig tonight in Augsburg. Let's put it that way, thanks god, Russ is actually playing
Augsburg, otherwise I would not see him at all. But these 45 minutes
drive from Munich to Augsburg ain't no world journey, so I take the chance.
At this point I wanna thank
ASS
Promotion in
Hamburg and the nice lady from the Spectrum
Club in
Augsburg for their help
But first of all, - it
is sooooo hot in here, in Augsburg's No. 1 Rockclub. So you receive a
sauna for free as well, which might be due to the outside
temperature, yeah well partly, but also due to a lack of aircondition, which
might be caused by purpose, so the bar keeps busy nonstop due to a
higher request on liquids. And with about 200 guests, the place looks at
least well filled.
The song which makes the
opener tonight, belongs to one of my earliest memories according to this
man. 'Rene (Didn't Do It') is the song, and it can be found on Russ
Ballard's album 'Barnet Dogs' from 1978. And it was actually that year,
when I bought the record back in Innsbruck, my hometown. It was a
pure coincident. Because at that time I was a huge fan of Roger Daltrey (The
Who) and I collected every soloalbum of him.
Like I mentioned before, his
selfconfidence at playing live has returned completely over the years, but
he's far from beeing perfect up there. He's trying some guitar solos,
which ain't always a 100% clear and the band doesn't always go conform
exactly. But who cares. There is so much fun of playing here, which on the
other hand suffers a bit because of the heat.
Tonight's set is an almost
complete acoustic dejavu experience. Russ reminds us on old Argent days
and the band's biggest hit - 'Hold Your Head Up'. And although some of you
out there might not know Argent. But you most probably know this melody.
Within an medley (see clip below) Russ brings back many songs, he wrote
for other people, who had a hitsingle with it.
This medley is followed by
another track from 'Barnet Dogs' which is 'On The Rebound'. And the the
next song 'Voices' Russ had probably his most successful solohit. With the
next one - ‚God
Gave Rock’n’Roll To You’, he had the most successful song performed
by another artist, which was Kiss. And there is 'Since You've Been Gone',
which is mostly known in the Rainbow Version.
So what? There ain't much more
to say... again - it's not that perfect in it's performance, but on the
other hand it's got so much soul and heart. And thanks to all these
great songs, written by this talented man, we are celebrating here a
sentimental nostalgic party with some fire still burning. And everybody
in here likes it. So what else do you want??
Well, before I forget, there is actually one personal thing I want to
criticice. Like last time, and now again, I miss my personal favorite song
of Russ Ballard, and this one starts witth he words:
„She came in the night, in a raging storm, the wind called her name,and
it rained till the dawn. The men from the town the gathered round, does
anybody know where that girl was found……”
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At the Diary
you find some Aftershow Snapshots |
