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Photo Collage by Colos-Saal
Review
by Dave Willey
Ten Years
After – Live In Aschaffenburg, Germany / Thursday January 9, 2020 / 8:00 /
10:15
Venue: Colos –
Saal. Our Thanks To Ric Lee, Chick Churchill,
Colin Hodgkinson, Marcus Bonfanti For A Great Concert Tonight – Just Got
Home, Feeling Good, Happy and Blessed To Have Been There, For One of The
Most Exceptional Events of This New Year. Just Like The Old
Days When Ten Years After Were In Their Prime.
Chick
Churchill Was Consistant All The Way Through The Evening. Rarely Have I
Seen Chick So Light Hearted, Visually Happy, and Enjoying Himself With His
Band Mates and The Many Fans Who Approached Him To Wish Him Well. He Looks
Good and Was Happy To See Me – He Greated Me With A Heartfelt Hug, At The
Merchandise Area. Upstairs In The Backstage Area, Chick Asked Me How I Was
Doing?
On Keyboards, He Was Strong and Made His Presence Very Much
Known, As An Active Member of Ten Years After….As He Always Has. We Love
You Chick, Thank You For Every Note That You Play For Us, We’re Very
Grateful Indeed!
Ric Lee Also Looks Great, Rested and
Maintaining His Usual Precision Playing. I Heard His Hobbit, Drum Solo,
But It Was Hard To Watch Him Through The Wall of Audience Members,
Standing In Front of Me. No Problem Though, I Just Wanted To Listen. Make
No Mistake About It, This Is Hard Work Ric and The Band Are Doing For Our
Benefit. The Audience Acknowledged The Bands Efforts, With Hands High In
The Air Clapping Vigorously, With Raw Passion / High Energy and Pure
Blissful Goodness. I’m Talking About The Entire Room, From Front To Back
and Even In The Bar Area, Fans Dancing With Excitement – Great To Watch!
Even Out In The Entrance To The Room, Fans Standing Outside Enjoying The
Experience.
Ric and I Had A Chat Between The Many Interruptions. The Band Wanted To
Leave, The Staff Wanted To Go Home and Ric Was Under Pressure From All
Sides. The Opportunity Just Wasn’t Available This Time Around – You Can’t
Win Them All Ya Know - Laughing!
(I Couldn’t Resist That Line (Shameless I Know 1972 Flashback).
We Talked When We Could, I Asked Him About A Book I Just Read By The
Troggs Lead Singer Reg Presley, Called “Wild Things” An Excellent Read –
Trust Me On This.
I
Mentioned The Poor Health Condition of “Fairport Convention’s Original
Female Singer Judy Dyble (Die-Bull) – The Wife of Count Simon, Who’s
Listed In The “Stonedhenge” Album Credits. Simon Was A Music Reporter /
Reviewer For Melody Maker. Judy Announced Last Week That She’s Suffering
From Metastasized Lung Cancer. Her Husband Died In 1994. Judy Has Been A
Good Friend, For Quite Awhile Now. We Pray For Her Everyday – “Don’t Smoke
Friends and Fans” - Judy Would Be Happy If You Stopped This Deadly Habbit.
Ric of Course Knew Simon, Although Alvin Lee and Simon Were Closer
Friends. It Was So Good To See Ric, Chick and Band Once Again Hugs All
Around – Love Flows!
Marcus
Bonfanti: What A Great Guy As Well As Musician. I Always Enjoy
Talking With Him, and Giving Him A Little Bit of A Hard Time. He Asked Me
Where We Met Before?
I Replied,
I’ve Never Seen You Before – “You’re Messin’ With Me” Yes I Am, and I
Can’t Remember Exactly Where This Took Place. Although We Both Remember
Most of Our Conversation, and Have A Good Feeling About It…and He
Remembered The Backstage Area, and Most of The People In That Room At The
Time. This Was Well Over A Year Ago.
Now, Here We
Are Again But In A Different Backstage Area, and Different Venue, But
Sharing The Same Good Feelings Towards One Another – A Good Feeling To
Know! (From Poco 1972). Marcus Still Wanted To Know The Venue, So He
Asked Ric and Ric Said, “Dave, Who’s The Guy Who Comes With You Very Often
Backstage.” I Said, Oh That’s Reinhardt Pieper and His Friend Thomas.” The
Husband and Wife Friends of Yours Ric, Were There Too.” Now Ric Remembers
and Fills Us In On The Name and Place of The Venue. We Were At The
Rosenhof In Osnabrück, Germany On January 11, 2019 One Year and Two Days
Ago. Give Him Credit For A Good Memory At 74 Years of Age, You Have Our
Respect Ric.
I Told Marcus
How Much I Loved Their New CD, A Studio Recording Sounding Live In Nature.
I Asked Him If He Knew The Band “Cactus” and Their Album “One Way Or
Another” – Sounding Live In The Studio. So Hard To Achieve That Result.
Marcus Told Me How Much He Was Into Making That New Ten Years After Album
/ CD. The Impression I Got, Was That He Ate, Slept and Dreamt That
Recording Session, Through and Through.
He Said, That
As Soon As He Woke Up In The Morning He Was Outside Running As Fast As He
Could Go In Order To Refresh His Brain / Head To Make Room For Brand Knew
Thoughts and Directions – Layers of Sounds Became Overwhelming For Sure.
He Was So Involved and Aiming For Personal Perfection and His Own
Satisfaction! Which He Reached!
I Injected
The Following Thought – It’s Not Just Finding “The Working Grove” To Play
Off of, But It Also Includes The Side Layers That Work Off of Each Other
and “Back-Beat.” The Hook – With Melody.” I Told Marcus, That I
Understood and Appreciated What He Was So Intense and Determined To
Accomplish. That’s What Makes Their New CD So Exceptional / Spectacular,
and I Predict That It Will Stand The Test of Time.
Colin
Hodgkinson: Shook His Hand As He Headed Towards The Merchandise /
Autograph Area. He Remembers Me From Melle Buer, Every Year For Three
Years, We Went To Support Him and Frank Dietz, Known As The “Electric Blues Duo” Every
December 15th Or So For An End of Year Blues Concert. I Asked
Him How Frank Was Doing These Days? “Good, Good” He Says, “I Talk With Him
Very Often, Almost Every Day In Fact, I’ve Been Unable To Play With Him,
Because I’m So Busy With Ten Years After.” He Told Me About His Experience
Playing At Woodstock The 50th Anniversary Concert –Still
Shaking His Head About It. Did You Have A Good Time Over There, I
Asked? “A Great Time” He Replied….
Then We
Became Swamped With The Audience Crowding In For Autograph’s – CD’s Albums
and Ric’s New Book. I Respectfully Got Out of The Way.
Before All
This Happened:
I Moved A
Stool Up To The Stage After The Concert, I Saw A Man With An Empty Record
Size Box. May I Have A Look? (Philip) I Learned Later Was His Name. He
Opened It Up, It Was Empty… “Are You Gonna Get The Cardboard Autographed”
I Asked? “No, My Friend Has All The Albums With Him, He’s Over There At
The Merchandise Line, Waiting For The Band To Come Back Down.” Philip and
His Friend Both Spoke Great English and Boy Did We Have Some Great Laughs
In A Short Amount of Time. We Headed Up To The Back of The Concert Hall
and This Is Where I Met A Lady, A New Ten Years After Fan, Who Was Turned
On To The Band From Her Boyfriend, Who of Course Is Also A Dedicated Fan,
But He Had To Work and Was Unable To Make It Here This Evening. Her Name
Is Alexandra She Is Blind, With A Trusting Nature, and A Great Sense of
Humor. She Teaches German and English, Again Adding To My Good Fortune of
Speaking English. She Wanted The Address To Our Ten Years After Website,
and Asked Me To Write It On Her Concert Ticket As I Was On The Guest List,
I Didn’t Have A Ticket, I Asked Her If It Would Be Possible To Keep Hers
For Use On Our Website. She Thought For A Few Seconds and Said Sure You
Can. She Wanted To Know What Was Available For Sale By The Band, Well,
Ric’s Book Was For Sale (Not An Option Here), A Record Album and Their New
CD. She Was Interested In Their CD, and Wanted To Know If The Same Band
That She Heard On Stage, Was The Same Musicians On The CD. Also If It Were
A Live Recording Or Studio? I Thought That She Would Love It, and She
Asked Me To Get Her A Copy…She Handed Me $50.00 Euro, To Which I Got Her
The CD and Returned $30.00 – She Got In Line To Have It Autographed. She
Had An Open Heart and Wonderful Spirit, I Only Wished That We Had More
Time To Chat, As She Was Fun To Be Around. I Did Give Her Our Website
Address. I Assume That Her Boyfriend Has Sight and Can Help Her Enjoy
It. Nice To Meet You Alexandria, Hope To Meet You Again…She’s From
Frankfurt! I Hope You Find This Concert Review Alexandra, I Should’ve
Given You My Email Address. My Bad – Sorry!
The Songs I
Heard After Arriving Late Were:
- I Say Yeah
– From The Watt Album (1970) With Strong Audience Participation Going
On – With No One Being Left Untouched Or Unmoved.
- I Can’t
Keep From Crying Sometimes – Written By Al Kooper – (1966) With The
Blues Project.
- I’m Going
Home (Medley) - From Woodstock – (1969)
-
Choo-Choo-Mama – Encore – From Rock ‘n’ Roll Music To The World (1972)
I Heard The
Band Members Say; That This Was One of The Best Gigs That They’ve Played.
A Stand Out
and Very Memorable. This Was Between Marcus and Ric. With Me, As A Third
Party Listening, I’m In A Prime Position To Verify That As Fact – From The
Audience’s Point of View As Well – Top Shelf Performance – First Class –
Unforgettable !!!
In
Conclusion:
What A Great
Audience – My First Time At This Venue – The Band Was In Rapid Fire Mode
With Feeling, Power, and High Energy! Full House For This Venue 500 They
Told Me, Tonight 350 to 400 – Perfect For A Thursday Evening! Wonderful
Staff Working There, All Very Helpful, Friendly and Light Hearted.
The Staff Said That They’re Looking Forward To Ten Years After Return Same
Time Next Year, To Which Ric Lee’s Reply Was,
“I’ll Be 75
Years Old By Then”. Hard To Believe That Our Music Hero’s Are Now Our
Mature Elders. The “Golden Boys of Rock ‘n’ Roll” - Thank You For Being My
Friend!
A Belated
Merry Christmas and A Very Happy New Year To One And All!!!
Review By
Dave.
Photo’s By
Elke.
Photo-Shop
Work, Computer Skills and Final Lay-Out By Brigitte.
15.01.20
Ein lebendiger Mythos
Bluesrock:
Woodstock-Veteranen Ten Years After im Aschaffenburger Colos-Saal -
Zwischen Nostalgie und neuem Schwung
Freitag, 10.01.2020 - 20:05 Uhr
Zwei
Generationen, eine Musik: Bassist Colin Hodgkinson (links) und Marcus
Bonfanti (Gitarre und Gesang) beim eindrucksvollen Ten-Years-After-Konzert
im Aschaffenburger Colos-Saal.
Foto: Stefan Gregor
Ein
Blick in den voll besetzten Aschaffenburger Colos-Saal hat am
Donnerstagabend deutlich gezeigt: Der Mythos und der Zauber von Woodstock
sind auch im Jahr 2020 noch höchst lebendig. Ein halbes Jahrhundert nach
dem »Love-and-Peace-Festival« bleiben vor allem einige besondere Auftritte
tief im kollektiven Gedächtnis verankert: Die mitreißenden Rhythmen des
jungen Carlos Santana etwa, die grandios zerspielte amerikanische
Nationalhymne von Jimi Hendrix (»Star spangled Banner«) oder Joe Cockers
mit dem Urschrei gekrönte dramatische Version des eigentlich banalen
Beatles-Liedchens »With a little Help from my friends«.
Mit in
diese - natürlich nicht vollständige - Aufzählung gehört zweifellos auch »I´m
going home« von Ten Years After. Als Zugabe bei ihrem Woodstock-Auftritt
hat der damalige Sänger und Gitarrist Alvin Lee mehr als zehn Minuten lang
sein Instrument bearbeitet. Eine Endlosschleife mit ein paar Schnipseln
Rock´n´Roll (»Blues suede Shoes«), die damals das Bedürfnis der Fans und
Musiker nach ewig langen Songs (wie »Child in Time« von Deep Purple oder »Get
ready« von Rare Earth) befriedigt hat, in der heutigen schnelllebigen Zeit
der Sekunden-Clips aber fast schon sympathisch altmodisch wirkt.
Alter Gassenhauer
Der
2013 gestorbene Alvin Lee hat sich schon vor vielen Jahren aus der Band
verabschiedet. Seine Rolle (Gesang, Gitarre, Mundharmonika) nimmt
inzwischen der erst 36 Jahre alte Marcus Bonfanti ein - und er macht seine
Sache nicht nur bei dem alten Gassenhauer ausgezeichnet. Ein subjektiver
Eindruck dabei: Der energiegeladene Jungspund versteht sich ausnehmend gut
mit den übrigen Bandmitgliedern, die - allesamt 74 Jahre alt - durchaus
auch seine Väter sein könnten.
Die
Ten-Years-After-Gründungsmitglieder Ric Lee (Schlagzeug) und Chick
Churchill (Keyboards) haben mit Bonfanti und dem Bass-Urgestein Colin
Hodgkinson eine Formation auf die Beine gestellt, die den Spagat schafft
zwischen den nostalgischen Gefühlen der Fans und dem immer wieder
notwendigen Aufbruch in eine neuere Zeit. Mögen die alten Herren
inzwischen auch Probleme mit dem Treppensteigen haben - musikalisch ist
ihnen keine Schwäche anzumerken. Man nimmt Rick Lee durchaus ab, dass die
Zusammenarbeit ein Vergnügen ist. »Shake baby Shake« - warum auch nicht.
Eher
eine Randerscheinung bleibt an diesem Abend das 2017 erschienene »A Sting
in the Tale«, das es am Merchendising-Stand in den Versionen CD und Vinyl
gibt: Das Soundgewitter von »Land of the Vandals« lässt zu Beginn den Saal
beben. »Silverspoon Lady« und »Last Night of the Bottle« sind die ideale
Startrampe für »The Hobbit«, bei dem dem Schlagzeuger Rick Lee -
nachzuhören schon auf der 1973 erschienenen »Recorded Live« - traditionell
die Bühne für sein Solo ganz alleine gehört.
Insgesamt 8 der 15 Songs der Setlist stammen aus dieser guten alten
Live-Zeit, darunter »One of these days«, »I´d like to change the World«
sowie die von zahllosen Blues-Künstlern - von Canned Heat über Cream und
Alexis Korner bis zu Ron Wood - gecoverte Willie-Dixon-Nummer »Spoonful«.
Minutenlange Improvisationen, in denen die Musiker ihre Kreativität
ausleben können.
Superpünktlich - als hätten sie keine Zeit zu verlieren - kommen Ten Years
After um 20 Uhr auf die Bühne. Exakt nach 105 Minuten räumen sie wieder
das Feld: Nach den Zugaben »I say yeah« und »Choo Choo Mama« kann sie auch
das begeisterte Publikum nicht zu weiteren Aktionen bewegen.
WOLFGANG DREIKORN
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