There is one
little thing irritating me a bit. And that's the fact, that everybody
talks about an outstandings so called intimate clubshow here. I mean, you
can take it as you want. But 1) the Kaminwerk in Memmingen in the county
of Allgäu,Bavaria, is surely no dustbin room with it's capacity of aprox.
1.000 people at a sold out house. And 2) I've honestly not been aware,
that Edguy seem to hit superstar status or something like it. Or do I just
live behind the moon? Or am I used to a different level? - Hmmmm hard to
say. But I've seen the Rolling Stones at a surprise show in London's Hot
Club 100 in front of only 50 visitors who were there by a pure coincident
sometime in the Eighties. Well, that's what I call a club show. Okay, this
is a pretty hard comparison. But all I wanna say is, that I won't call
this event tonight not neccesarelly a clubgig, however big the band
popularity is. Anyway, Memmingen is affected by the Edguy fever and not only them, but as we can spot at the parking slots outside there are many cars from all over Bavaria and even from beautiful Innsbruck in Tirol,Austria who have found their way to here. We write late of October. It's chilly in the evening, but at least we don't have any snow disasters yet, which shouldn't be nicklected here at the Allgäu, just in case it happens.... Okay, back to our stars of tonight, who are currently on their Age Of The Joker tour. Robin Hood says hello and shoots his arrow onto his devoted damirers, including Little John and Brother Tuck. Who cares, as our german outlaws are counting almost 20 years of band existence so far. Time for an anniversary next year. Almost unbelievable, if you think, that our quintet has started off in their teens to conquer the music world. Edguy have managed to put out nine studio recordings within these 2 decades, whereby I won't list all the EPs, Singles, DVDs, Compilations and Livealbums here in addition. The Age Of The Joker says what it's meant to be and in not the first ace of this kind. I'm thinking of 'King Of Fools' and 'Superhero'.- But the biggest joker is probably Little Toby Sammet himself, who outed himself as a brilliant allrounder over the years, whether it's with this combo or with his other baby Avantasia. He's always the last one to arrive at a venue, while his mates are already there long before showtime. But I don't think it's because of possible superstar moods or ego trips or even a shyness. No, I have to admit, that this boy is one of the funniest and nicest guys in the biz. But he does fight pretty often with colds and voice problems. So he's gotta take care about himself. And that might be the reason for his late arriving. Never mind. Until this very day our twittering nitingale allways arrived in time. |
So what? The
magic starts in time at 8 p.m. with the support act. And that one is
named Kottak. Slowly the name gets familiar here in Germany as a soloact,
thanks to the fact, that frontman James Kottak is also the drummer of
Germany's biggest Rock export, and this for the last 16 years. And as we
all know, those are currently on a fairwell tour, which, according to
James, will last at least 2 to 3 years with lots of breaks, so as we say
so: no end in sight yet. And it's those interruptions, our american
sunny boy uses for his own action trying to establish his band
baby Kottak. Life goes on, even after the Scorpions, and he' gotta
take care about that. But of course he's gotta back smaller bread as we
say so with this here. Last time Kottak were here about one year ago,
they didn't even fill the Backstage Club in Munich and only about 50
lost souls found their way to check him out. Here on this tour, Kottak
is only supporting, but therefore they get a little more attention
thanks to all the Edguy fans. You still can't meassure it with Scorpions
levels but it's much better than last time. There are some changes in
the band line up. And on of those is a different drummer, as Athena Lee
is not with them anymore. But therefore we got another girl named
Stephanie on guitar. Anyway, James Kottak as frontman seems to feel as well as behind a drumkit. And he takes quite an effort to entertain his audiance. To be honest, he owns a pretty extraordinary humor. And he's doing well to use this humor to hide the little weak bits and pieces. Maybe this line up ain't tuned to each other a 100 percent yet. Though James believes, that this is the best line up ever. Inbetween of course he performs an energetic drumsolo - no need to mention I guess. Apart from that the fever level in the crowd is rising. And James continues to play the Clown, wearing about 10 shirts over each other, just to strip one after the other off with a differnet message. This is ending in the slogan of James: 'Rock'n'Roll Forever', which is shown on his very last shirt, and then.... as a monster tattoo on his back staying there for the rest of his life. And this always takes care for quite an impression. In each case it's a
pretty funny Rock'n'Roll Party, Kottak is giving us here. It just
doesn't come across with that intensivity just as last time in Munich's
tiny Backstage Club. But you can turn it upside down however your want
and as I mentioned before... tonight this lot gets a lot more reaction
from a wider range of fans.... I'm curious, what's coming next....and in
the future of course...
|
Two minutes
pre showtime, a quick cigarette is enjoyed up there on the balcony
together with some V.I.P's. just as we don't belong to the whole thing.
And then our boys walk down the aisley to present themselves a
crowd, who slowly gets a little impatient. The place is packed. So I do
prefer to collect my visuall impresson from up there on the balcony, and
this ain't easy, also because of some flury light conditions. The Edguy
show is the prove, that too much light for photographing ain't good
either. Mainly when the camera doesn't want, as I want it to work... if
you know what I mean....
Meanwhile the oven is
heated. And while outside the Temperature has dropped to minus
centogrades, in here it's getting too hot, mostly for the enthusiasm of
the fans, when Little eagle eyes heads off the Allgäu tropical storm to
the front and this in a warm winter coat. |
|
There is
something which is different here tonight to other Edguy shows on the
current tour. And this is the local fact, that the band has to dismiss
some show effects, due to the smaller venue as usual. But Toby stays
cool, and says to his fans, that the most important thing is, that they
are here at all and have fun to play. Although it is undenieable that Edguy is, despite the great musicianship, mainly Toby himself. As small as he is in body size, so overdimensional is his aura and stage presence and of course his talents, not ta mention his condition. Just remember those 3 hours Avantasia shows in the past. But back to the action tonight and the missing show elements. Toby makes good for it, that he runs off stage around the building, coming in backstage again, upstairs speeding along the balcony down again on stage to deliver a hell of devotion of his fans. And so he's proved, that he's almost fit for the next ironman on Hawaii... yeah well - almost! The magic is closed down
by one encore including 2 pearls, and how could it be anyhow else - then
receiving the voluminous 'King Of Fools' - Amen! And while other artists
head straight to their dressing rooms , in here some of the guys stop
over on the back of the balcony with the V.I.P.'s smoking yet
another cigarette. Guitarist Dirk owns a great coolness and watches to
venue getting empty slowly. Only our front sparrow heads straight
to the backstage rooms to regenerate before the real party shoots off
here:-))) |
Offstage
Snapshots can be found in the Diary
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