|
|
Utrect, Tivoli, 14
April 1997
Support: Blue Rose
Band:
Paul Wrightson - Vocals
John Mitchell - Guitars
Clive Nolan - Keyboards, Backing Vocals
John Jowitt - Bass
Mick Pointer - Drums
Setlist:
William Tell overture
Valley Of The Kings
Out Of This Wilderness
Fools Gold
Midas Vision
The Healer
Medusa
Sirens
Isolation
Jericho
Solomon
---
Crying For Help IV
Welcome To The Cage
---
Grendel
Personal Rating: * * ½
Arena: The last time
Damian Wilson (ex-Landmarq) zou het voorprogramma doen, maar die bleek op het allerlaatste moment niet bij z'n nieuwe baas Treshold weg te kunnen, dus had de organisatie op het allerlaatste moment nog een amateurbandje uit Utrecht weten te strikken. Klonk voor geen meter, ze zagen er niet uit, kortom, *HET* perfecte voorprogramma :-)
Arena begon (zoals gewoonlijk) met Valley of the Kings. In het begin kwamen de bas zang en synths amper door, dus hoorde je alleen maar gehamer van Mick Pointer en gebrul van die nieuwe gitarist. Die nieuwe gitarist is overigens niet slecht, het is alleen jammer dat hij totaal geen eigen inbreng in de songs heeft (mag hebben?) Hij speelt alle nummers *precies* (gewoon griezelig) zoals ze op de albums staan.
De eerste helft van het concert viel
een beetje tegen. De zaal kwam moeilijk op gang en het geluid was niet
zo best. Pas toen Paul Wrighston tijdens Sirens op het podium vastgeketend
werd en er 2 prachtige "disco-duizend-kleurtjes-spots" op hem gericht werden
kwam de sfeer er een beetje in. De set eindigde met Jericho en Solomon
en het daarbij behorende pogo-werk.
De eerste toegift was Crying for Help
IV (dat als Colin's Helmet op de setlist stond) en Welcome to the Cage.
De tweede toegift, jawel, GRENDEL!!!! (Crying for Help IV op de setlist,
stond tussen haakjes)
Ze speelden het ouwe beestje perfect. Paul Wrightson kan dus best zingen. Hij probeerde wel een beetje Fish te imiteren met een beschilderd gezicht (drie rode lijnen a la Lion's cage) maar het viel me honderd procent mee. Nooit durfen dromen dat ik ooit dit nummer nog eens woord voor woord mee kon brullen op een live-concert.
Het feest was helemaal compleet toen na het concert de diskjockey begon te draaien: radiogeluid, het geluid van een zender zoeken, dan opeens "I'm a market square hero" toch niet, weer zoeken, en dan "TO YOU!" deng deng kada deng deng kada deng deng Armalite, Streetlights, Nightsights, search on the roofs for a sniper... de perfecte afsluiter voor zo'n feestje! Met een groepje hebben we ook dit nummer woord voor woord meegezongen.
Zoals altijd kwam ik weer met de nodige
souvenirs thuis: Een plectrum van John Jowitt en een setlist. Jammer dat
de setlist geprint is en niet geschreven...
Derk heeft nog een drumstokje
gekregen van een roadie, ik bedankte er voor - heb er al 1 :-)
Als je lid werd van de fanclub kreeg
je 2 kaartjes voor de afterparty, eveneens in Tivoli. Daar heb ik toch
maar voor bedankt, ik kon die 25 gulden wel beter besteden denk ik...
(Bart Jan vd Vorst)
Arena
in the afternoon
First of all, let me give you a bit
of an insight in what my opinion about Arena is. I absolutely adore the
first
album. I like the second one, but I
don't think it's as good as Songs From the Lions Cage, but that's just
my
opinion. Nevertheless Pride contains
a lot of good stuff. I preferred the voice of the original singer John
Carson, but I'm beginning to get
used to Paul Wrightson.
This is the third time I saw Arena live. I saw them before at the Planet Pul festival in Uden last year and with the Pride tour in Amsterdam. Unfortunately I missed most of the acoustic gig they played at a Marillion fan club convention a couple of years ago.
Damian Wilson was originally planned
as the support act. Unfortunately it was canceled a couple of days prior
to the concert. His place was filled
by an unknown band called Blue Rose. Their style was more heavy
metal/grunge than prog rock and I can't
say I liked them; not really my cup of tea. Nevertheless, a lot of people
stayed in the hall and really seemed to
enjoy their music. A member of Arena (I thought it was Paul) would later
describe them as 'the noisy people' when
they introduced themselves to him.
Somewhere between a quarter to 5 and
5 o' clock the William Tell Overture sounded through Tivoli. As far as
I'm concerned Arena can use a new intro
tape by now. New tour, new intro tape - don't you agree?
As with the two previous concerts I've
seen they launched right into Valley of the Kings, followed by Out of
the Wilderness. During Valley it became
apparent that the band had really grown since last year, in spite of all
the changes in personnel. It sounded quite
good, whereas I didn't like it that much when they played it in
Amsterdam. I cannot get used to the
live version of Wilderness though; when performed on stage it becomes
clear that the bass/drum duet in the intro
is rather dull and not very professional sounding. It just doesn't sound
like it does on the album.
Mick Pointer was introduced and he immediately
walked up to the front stage with two long rubbery sticks
which he used to show the audience
at which tempo they should clap their hands. He walked back to the drum
kit and the band went into a version of
Fools Gold, which was played quite well, except for a few minor
mistakes.
A strange keyboard ditty got me a bit
confused until the rest of the band started playing what turned out to
be Midas Vision. It sounded a bit
weird to me without the telephone bit and the abrupt start of the album
version.
The rest of the performance of the
song was great though.
A new song, The Healer, followed. This was quite a catchy tune which I liked very much. I thought it was better than the version which appears on mini-album The Cry, where the same tinny voice effects are used as in Empire of a Thousand Days. I didn't like them then and I don't like them now. Sorry.
A perfect version of Medusa was the next song on the setlist. This is a real live track, played flawlessly. Once again I was struck by the 'Shadowlandish' sound of the track.
While Paul Wrightson stood amidst some
nice light effects and the band started playing Sirens a roadie dressed
in a monk's habit came on stage and attached
some chains to Paul's arms. Nice ! Is this the return of theatrical
prog rock ? I wouldn't mind at all. The
music of Arena is perfect for that kind of stuff and I hope they will
develop further ideas.
When the Floydian solo came new guitarist
John Mitchell took the center stage and proved that he is a perfect
replacement for Keith Moore. His guitar
play was splendid for most of the gig, although it could be noticed that
he still needs to get used to the wild
audience response. John Jowitt seems to have found himself a new playmate
though.
After the great performance of Sirens
Mitchell proved his abilities once again when he played an acoustic piece.
As far as I know this acoustic song
was neither the old Crying for Help I nor the new Isolation piece which
appears on The Cry.
Empire of a Thousand Days was the next
song. I like the live version a lot better than the rather 'tinny' sounding
album version with those awful vocal effects.
Also, I've never been that keen on the 'Manowarish' lyrics. The live
version sounded great.
The main set was closed with two of
my favorite Arena songs. First they played Jericho. With this song the
stage always turns into one big party,
as well as the front part of the concert hall. Jowitt and Mitchell were
dancing around on stage while the band
brought a fabulous live version. The other track was the stunning
Solomon. The performance of this 15
minute piece brings out the best in the band. Tracks like these are the
reason why Arena is as popular as they
are. During the energetic middle piece John Jowitt lay on the ground,
playing his bass while Mitchell ran in
circles around him.
The first encore contained a nice version of Crying for Help IV with a rather heavy instrumentation during the 'Rothery' solo. Welcome to the Cage followed and once again both stage and front audience turned into one big party. Jowitt was wearing a long hat and Paul had put on a silly jacket.
After a marvelous applause the band
came back for a second encore. And there it was ... the song everybody
had been waiting for .... Theme From Bonanza
!! At top speed ! This was quite hilarious and such fun that they
played it twice. Jowitt almost went into
the 'cha cha cha' version of IQ's Came Down but sad enough he quit
after a couple of notes.
Seriously, the real song everybody
had been waiting for closed the set; a nearly perfect version of Marillion's
18 minute epic Grendel, a song Mick
pointer co-wrote. During previous gigs Arena had played the end part, now
they played the full length version. Paul
was wearing the monk's habit during the first couple of couplets. It was
great to hear a live version of this song
and it was extremely well done. I would have liked some more theatrics
during the later parts of the song, but
then again, you can't win 'em all, can you ?
After more than two hours the concert ended. All in all, it was a very nice afternoon with some great music. If Arena keeps on growing like they are doing at the moment, if the next album is a bit stronger than Pride and if Mick tries more daring drum parts magnificent things can happen ....
After the show I went to the After Party of the Cage for a couple of minutes. I had my Cry CD signed by the band, got to hold Clive's notorious bottle of Jack Daniels for a couple of seconds and finally had the opportunity to give John Jowitt a copy of the IQ FAQ and the Lush Attic pages.
I'm looking forward to the next concept
album and tour.
(Ed Sander taken from DPRP's Concert Review
Archive)
Paul Wrightson (Sirens)
Clive Nolan (Jericho)
John Mitchell (Isolation)
Mick Pointer
John Jowitt
John Mitchell
Paul Wrightson
