Rock am Ring
Nürburgring, Germany, May 18, 2002
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Johannes's review
(more reviews coming)
Also See:
The show details.
Neil & Astrid backstage.
The
Confirmed
Set List
- When You Dance
- The Loner
- Differently
- Sleeps With Angels
- Are You Passionate
- Goin' Home
- Cinnamon Girl
- Cortez The Killer
- Let's Roll
- Powderfinger
- Quit (Don't Say You Love Me)
- She's A Healer
- All Along The Watchtower
- Two Old Friends
- Mr.Soul
- Down By The River
Encore
- Fuckin' Up
- Helpless
Rock am Ring
Nürburgring, Germany, May 18, 2002
review by Johannes
Two hours 37 minutes! With a 23 minute Down By The
River!
It was cold... Booker T must have been freezing in his big jacket
(he looked very earnest, but sometimes bored -- until Cinnamon
Girl). Powermachine Neil had on his Fire Dept jacket. But Poncho was
wearing his usual T-shirt, and he was the only one who was smiling at
the beginning. Duck Dunn, with his little Duck on his bass, was stoic.
Astrid and Pegi in the background seemed rather serious too. I think it
took a while for them to get comfortable with the rough weather.
You could really see everyon's breath!
They had a few technical problems in the beginning, and a slight feedback
in a few songs. At the end you could slightly hear the neighbour-show
on the other stage. Here are a few comments about some of the songs...
- On Differently it seemed like Poncho didn't know the lyrics
too well. I think, he nearly missed his part...
- Sleeps With Angels was a very interesting choice.
- Are You Passionate was really passionate...
- Goin' Home was the point where the spark sprung over. Great
solo. And it didn't have a harsh ending like AYP.
- Before Cinnamon Girl Neil was in a real talkative mood:
"We'll do an old song. It takes the space where
we could do a new one. But that's okay. We love this song.".
You could see the fun they had playing it -- especially Booker T.
- Cortez The Killer was another great version.
Before it, Neil said something like "We're
gonna play an old one, from an album we made long time ago called
Zuma." The audience did a bunch of shouting, and
Neil responded, "Is the landlord out there?
This one might take a while..."
- Let's Roll had a creepy solo at the ending -- sort of like the
sound of a plane going down.
- In Powderfinger, I think Neil missed a verse, so they played
another instrumental verse in it. Great solo in the second half...
- Quit was a nice smooth contrast.
- She's A Healer was curious. They couldn't reach the perfect
arrangement on the AYP album, but the guitar solos were great.
The song lasted about 11 minutes.
- Until this moment, my favorite version of All Along The Watchtower
was Jimi Hendrix's one. That has now changed. A magnificat 12 minutes!!!
- With Two Old Friends, Neil showed a real feeling for the
arrangement of the soft songs in his show. Perfect.
- Mr Soul was rockin'!
- The highlight of the show was a 23 minute Down By The River.
Poncho and Neil were smiling at each other, and they just played on and
on and on....
- After the Fuckin' Up encore, Neil seemed to want to play
Like A Hurricane, but his guitar was out of tune. He gave it
to Larry, and a couple of minutes later he brought it back and they
played Helpless. Frank was at the piano.
The show ended after over two and half hours -- a very long set for
a festival! Great show, and I'm glad that it was on German TV, so that
we can enjoy it again and again.
Johannes
-They better say it fast-
(more reviews coming...)