Archive for June 2005

The Hooters live in Augsburg (II)

The concert in Augsburg was amazing! The music was just beautiful and the band put a lot of energy and feeling in their performance. Naturally, they played all their hits (including one of my favourite live songs, “All You Zombies”). They also played plenty of new songs. It’s quite impossible to translate the experience and the emotions into words, so forgive me my vain attempts to describe them. Here we go:

The opening tune started out as a straight rock song with a tight groove and a slight country rock-feeling to it (in my ears, at least). Yet, the chorus was 100% Hooters with strong melodies and words that fit the music perfectly. Also, Eric and John did some stellar guitar playing during the middle-part and Rob employed the melodica. Day By Day came next and rocked. The audience was giving the band a warm welcome after another new song (straight to the point rock). After a few more classics came three new songs in a row: “Live To See The Day” had a light feeling and some Beatles- and Byrds-vibes, partly due to Eric playing a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar. Not a hit single in my ears, but a good songs with strong vocals and fine guitar melodies. “That’s The Way I Will Remember” from Fran’s current solo album was one of my favourite songs. It’s signature tune on the melodica and the driving chorus are just great! I don’t really know how to describe “Diggin’ Deeper Down”, which was sung by John. Kind of swinging, folky little song…!? “Safe In Your Arms” reminded me of Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin'”. Still, with Eric on recorder and the whole band to augment the track, it really sounded more like a Hooters-ballad, I guess. By then, the atmosphere was already very good. But as you can expect, people also wanted to hear some more old hits. The Hooters met that demand with Johnny B, Satellite, Karla With A W and And We Danced. Needless to say, that the venue got hotter with every song. It was after Karla With A K, that the audience kinda went crazy. Maybe it was the adrenaline in me, but I can’t remember witnessing such a loud, cheering noise at a concert! Eventually, after the band had left the stage, some people began singing the chorus of Johnny B and soon everybody picked up the tune.

The band returned and Eric searched desperately for his recorder, to join in I assume. But it couldn’t be found, so Rob began playing All You Zombies, an brilliant live track. As always, I was amazed by Erics slide fills and the depth of the song as a whole. The second encore consisted of “Morning Buzz” (like last year only played by Rob and Eric, the latter one on mandolin), “Boys Of Summer” (John joining them on Mandolin – the song sounded awesome, rather quiet, but them very emotional, especially in the chorus; Eric and Rob took turns in singing the verses – WE WANT A LIVE RECORD!!!) and Twenty-Five Hours A Day.

Still, we hadn’t enough, yelled, cried, shouted, applauded and back they came! Rob played Time After Time (Eric joining him halfway through the song) which was just like Boys Of Summer very moving, almost haunting. Then the whole band played an intense version of “One Of Us”. Eric delivered a breathtaking guitar solo and really connected with the song. The last song was another new composition with a 5/4-measure. That made it a bite strange in the first place. But it ended up being yet another wonderful Hooters-song, anyway. They even inserted a little sing-along-part before leaving the stage for good. Of course, people kept chanting for some more time and you could see happy faces all around.

Afterwards the band came out and spent some time with their fans. They were the nicest guys, gave countless autographs, had pictures taken, and talked about the past, the future and the gig. In short: A new album is coming, but not until 2006 – as for the reasons for this, let the words family, jobs, music business, songwriting and recording suffice. Well, speaking of songwriting – Eric spoke about the possiblity of having Until You Dare on the album, whereas Gimme A Stone is less likely. John remarked that Morning Buzz is likely to remain a live song. Fran would be glad to have That’s The Way I Will Remember on the new album, as well. But all of them agreed that it’s to early for any definite decisions, anyway. Here’s the setlist:

  1. Time Stand Still Tonight
  2. Day By Day
  3. Won’t Stop Knockin’ Til You Let Me In
  4. Fightin’ On The Same Side
  5. Graveyard Waltz (slight return) / 500 Miles
  6. Live To See The Day
  7. That’s The Way I Will Remember
  8. Diggin’ Deeper Down
  9. Deliver Me / Private Emotion / Deliver Me (reprise)
  10. Safe In Your Arms
  11. Wild Mountain Thyme (intro) / Johnny B
  12. Satellite
  13. Karla With A K
  14. And We Danced
  15. All You Zombies
  16. Morning Buzz
  17. Boys Of Summer
  18. Twenty-Five Hours A Day
  19. Time After Time
  20. One Of Us
  21. Until I Find You Again

Also worth a mention: The evening began with Billy Goodman playing a bunch of songs. He constantly switched between acoustic and electric guitar. Personally, I preferred the acoustic tracks, especially the potential hit “Over And Over Again”, a very melodic, touching song with a great vocal performance! He was really likeable and his joy at perfoming did show in his playing.He certainly deserved all the applause he got.

John Lilley (The Hooters) live in Augsburg (22. Juni 2005)

The Hooters live in Augsburg (I)

Weihnachten war dieses Jahr bereits am 22. Juni. Der Weihnachtsmann war in Form der Hooters nach Augsburg gekommen und hatte seine Gaben in Form von alten und neuen Liedern an die anwesenden Ohren und Augen verteilt.
In anderen Worten: Die Hooters haben gerockt! Das Konzert war umwerfend, die Musik einfach nur schön. Neben vielen Klassikern (z.B. “Johnny B”, “500 Miles” und live stets besonders genial “All You Zombies”) gab es auch reichlich neue Songs, von denen mir der Opener “Time Stand Still tonight” und Frans “That’s The Way I Will Remember” mit am besten gefielen. Außerdem gab es im Zugabenblock eine tolle, faszinierende Version von Don Henleys “Boys Of Summer” – eher spartanisch nur mit 2 Mandolinen und Keyboard arrangiert. Auch das grandios vorgetragene “One Of Us”, bei dem Eric ein mitreißendes Solo ablieferte und den Text schön modifizierte, war in meinen Ohren einer der vielen Höhepunkte. Kurzum: Wahoo!

Augsburg bekommt zudem von mir die (vollkommen subjektive) Auszeichnung für den lautesten Applaus verliehen, den ich bislang bei einem Konzert erlebt habe. Bei dem Getöse, das nach “Karla With A K” ertönte, dachte ich, mir würden die Ohren abfallen! Nicht weniger verblüffend war, daß nach dem Ende des regulären Programms der Jubel in den Refrain von “Johnny B” überging – und das, obwohl das Stück schon wesentlich früher gespielt worden war! Die Band hatte offensichtlich ebenso viel Spaß und fügte munter Songs ins Programm ein, die nicht auf der Setlist standen.

Erwähnenswert war auch der Auftritt von Billy Goodman. Der Saal war zwar dank des sommerlichen Wetters mehr als aufgewärmt. Doch da Billy solo (nur mit Gitarre) auftrat, stellten seine abwechslungsreichen Stücke eine gelungene Einstimmung auf den Auftritt der Hooters dar, zumal er mit “Over And Over Again” ein kleinen Hit am Start hatte!

Eric Bazilian (The Hooters) live in Augsburg (22. Juni 2005)

TRUE again

Seit meinem letzten Update habe ich zweimal TRUE gesehen und war erneut begeistert von diesem kleinen Filmjuwel! Wahoo!