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... and
immidiately you think about Toto - what else?! And though Luke, as he is
called by friends, is certainly an outstanding guitarist with an
individual reputation, his name has always been connected first of all
with Toto. No surprise though after more than 30 years of bandhistory.
Although he definately now wants his name to stand for itselves apart
from the rocklegend. In front of this Munich show he says: " I have
enough strength invested into Toto, so right now my solocarriere comes
first of all. It has taken long enough anyway for him to play in Munich,
though he's been with Toto in Benedictbeuren last summer for a very
rainy open air.
But now he is here on his own with a brandnew studiorecording in his
luggage.
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’All’s Well that
Ends Well' is the title of this new soloalbum and also the slogan of
this tour. Luke seems to be in a very happy mood, and if you ask him,
how he's doing, then you get to know everything within 5 minutes - that
he's clean,sober and healthy now, but also that this year has been a
total desaster for him. He's 53 years old now and has probably lived his
life 3times as much as some other's.
Let's
put it that way, I know luke now personally for a long time. And I think,
he's still not a 100 percent okay. But maybe all these experiences have
given him the creativity to make such a great soloalbum now. And that
one is the reason for this tour.
Strangely, while Theraphy next door in the much bigger Backstage Werk
have only pulled around 350 fans, here in the smaller Backstage Halle it
is completely sold out with about 700. Holy shit, who would have thought
this.And there are not only Toto fans, but also many guitarists of the
local scene and insiders of the munich scene. I assume, I don't have to
mention, that also Mr.Mandoki has found his way here tonight. And even
the recordlabel boss has shown up (to whom I say sorry, that I have kept
Luke that long away from him for our smalltalk)
Well at 9 o'clock it's showtime and Luks stands in the pole position.
There's no supportact. It's not needed anyway.
His audiance welcomes him warmly and is looking forward for an almost 2
hours session - Lukather pure - but no Toto. And I think this is good
so. Because we are not here tonight to listen to 'Rosanna' and 'Africa'
for the 145th time or so, but we wanna hear Luke and nothing else.
Long live Steely Dan. And that's probably the only thing, what bothers
Luke. Because compared to his Toto collegues David Paich and Jeff
Porcare, he never had the pleasure to stand on one stage with the,
probably best band in the world. Therefore we get to hear at least one
hour Steely Dan music before the beginning of this concert.
Unfortunately not many people know how to honour this.
Luke starts his show here in Munich with the first song from the new
album 'Darkness In My World'. Generally this album has a somehow morbid
touch, at least what's up to the song titles. On stage there is a rather
happy mood developing around Luke, and Steve Weingart (keyb.), his
wife Renee Jones on bass and Eric Valentine on drums. All of them are
great musicians. But well, let's face it, Luke would'nt cope with
anything else.
Back to
this musical cocktail, which includes four more songs from the new baby.
The rest are older tracks, whereby there is no songs from the very first
solorecord included and I also miss the great 'Jammin With Jesus' track
from 'Ever Changing Times'-
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But
never mind now, as Luks is showing us his skills and a huge variety of
musical styles, from hard rockin' tunes, emotional ballads or smokey
blues. Inbetween he entertains the audiance with witty comments and part
1.403 of his live story - from the death of his mum and his new single
life, and that he becomes a dad for the fourth time soon. But it's
probably all this for what we love him for.The good news are, that his
health is in a great state right now, and prefers his Sushi and ginger
tea.
Anyway, Luke is a very talkative man and let people take part on his
life. Another man, Luke would never forget within one of his concerts,
is his mentor and former best friend Jeff Porcaro, who sadly passed away
in 1993 much too early aged only 39. Dedicated to Jeff is the track
'Song For Jeff'. And Luke pays also hommage to Jimi Hendrix with 'Little
wing'.
On the whole his performance is a pretty entertaining well done show,
whereby his musical skill who are situated on a high level are neither
over perfectioned or distanced.
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Although
some of the local guitarists in the audiance are now probably frustated
because of such a great talent, as Luke owns.
To describe him briefly: what Steve Vai is for the upper class society,
Luke is for everybody, as he is so wonderful normal down to earth. And
that's why I luv him so much. I could draw some more comparisons, but
let's leave it. It is actually this closeness to the audiance giving the
cake the icing.
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In
each case, this here has been a great evening with a whole lotta fun.
and as I always use to say: a concert is great in that moment, when you
don't watch the time and you don't feel your feet hurting from a long
standing. And that's exactly, what's all about around a good gig.
By the way Toto: yes of course Luke will tour with Toto again, but their
won't be another new album. That's done and the chapter is finished. But
for right now ...... yeah of course - All's Well, That Ends Well......
http://www.stevelukather.net/
PS: this Live Review iis once again dedicated to JP |
