By Carl Begai
Ingolstadt, Germany: March 10th, 2015
So, show #1 of Rock Meets Classic 2015 is in the books. As expected there were the usual first show glitches, missed cues and general stiffness, but it promises to be one of the best RMC tours yet (and the last two years are pretty damn hard to top). Looking forward to see how this monster grows.
Noteworthy bits and bites:
– by far the best intro performance Rock Meets Classic has ever had. Doing up ‘Thunderstruck’ Apocalyptica-style = brilliant.
– Marc Storace of Krokus singing ‘Long Stick Goes Boom’ backed by an orchestra? Gold.
– Asia frontman John Wetton sounds exactly the same as 30 years ago. Killer.
– Mat Sinner smiles a lot.
– Mr. Big vocalist Eric Martin has way too much fun for one person. By mid-tour ‘To Be With You’ is going to be epic. The backing vocalists blew the roof off on ‘Green Tinted Sixties Mind’ (nice going Amanda, Tiffany, Kolinda and Sascha… mind blown).
– hails to guitarist Oliver Hartmann for remembering “the note” during the solo for ‘To Be With You’.
– watching conductor / mad scientist Bernhard Wünsch get into the music continues to be entertaining, as it is every year.
– keyboardist / hat model Jimmy Kresic is also a drum / percussion god.
– before tonight I had no bloody idea who Gianna Nannini is. Turns out she’s Italy’s answer to balls out rock at age 60… one of the high points of the whole production. I am in awe.
– Nina and the metalhead flute player Gloves Of Doom….
– Rick Parfitt (Status Quo) is a seriously underrated guitar player. He brought the rock in a front-end loader and dropped it on the audience.
– Dear Germany…. friends don’t let friends clap on 1.5 and 3. Seriously, stop it.
– the Bohemian Orchestra Prague is always well dressed, right down to the hats and sunglasses at the appropriate time (this year for Henry Mancini’s ‘Peter Gunn’).
– Ian Gillan brought pyro, brimstone and Deep Purple classics, lit the stage on fire (literally), and gave guitarist Alex Beyrodt even more of a reason to shred ’til yer dead. The performance of ‘Perfect Strangers’ was über-epic.
– a Guinness delivery is in planning for Neil (guitar tech with excellent taste in Y&T tour shirts).
– photographer Heiko Roith was a rally car driver in his other life.
– it’s nice to be welcomed back by this whacko extended family.
For information and updates on Rock Meets Classic 2015 go to this location.
Remaining tour dates are as follows:
March
13 – Neu-Ulm, Germany – Ratiopharm Arena
14 – Würzburg, Germany – S. Oliver Arena
15 – Zürich, Switzerland – Club Hallenstadion
17 – Sursee, Switzerland – Stadthalle
18 – Kempten, Germany – BigBox
20 – Stuttgart, Germany – Porsche Arena
21 – München, Germany – Olympiahalle
22 – Linz, Austria – Tips Arena
23 – Wien, Austria – Stadthalle
25 – Leipzig, Germany – Arena Leipzig
26 – Berlin, Germany – Tempodrom
27 – Regensburg, Germany – Donau-Arena
28 – Nürnberg, Germany – Arena Nürnberger Versicherung
29 – Frankfurt, Germany – Jahrhunderthalle
31 – Passau, Germany – Dreiländerhalle
April
1 – Bamberg, Germany – Brose Arena
2 – Halle/Westfalen, Germany – Gerry Weber Stadion
