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I must mention that i went to this gig ready to be disappointed from this classic band and the only reason i finally went to this concert was because of my friends telling me how great the band was on their previous tour that passed from Greece as well two years ago.I am a huge fan of this band only for their first albums of the 70's with David Byron on vocals and i used to ignore the rest of the albums they released later with other singers which weren't really so good.In the current line up of the band singer is Bernie Shaw who has been in the band for the past 15 years or so.Actually the only members from the original line up are the guitarist Mick Box and drummer Lee Kerslake who also played in OZZY among many others.
The first surprise for me came when i was informed that the gig was sold
out! I never thought the band had still so many fans here and that made me kinda
happy.There were many people outside of the venue looking for a ticket but unfortunately for them there were none
left.When i got inside i saw people from all ages with the old guys taking all the looks on them with their classic t-shirts they were wearing from old 70's bands and some of them having their kids along with them.The most important thing though was the presence of many young people which shows that new rock/metal fans like the old bands that created the music we are hearing today and they respect classic 70's
bands.
The time for the band to hit the stage had come and with no delay they kicked in with the old time classic Easy
Livin'.Unfortunately i don't remember in the correct order the songs that were performed but next we heard another classic song and then they did 4 songs from the post-Byron era.I didn't expect these songs to be so good and they made me think how wrong i was to ignore their rest discography.Songs that sounded like dynamites on stage and one of that songs must have been from the band's previous effort,i really never expected so good recent material.After these 4 songs the rest of the gig was full of old time classic tunes from their golden 70's era.In random order songs that we heard were:July Morning,Sunrise,Bird Of Prey,Wizard,Gypsy,Magician's Birthday,Stealin',Shadows Of Grief,Look At Yourself,Lady In Black.During Magician's Birthday the two original band members played live the studio jam of the song in an amazing way,i felt like i was in the 70's.Mick was improvising on his guitar while Kerslake was playing anything he wanted on the drums.Brilliant musicians both of them.Of course it would be a big mistake to forget Trevor the bass player who was also brilliant and he held the rythm on high standards.Now i will say a few things about the singer(Bernie Shaw) who i thought was going to ruin the gig because he wouldn't be able to sing the high notes of the legendary David Byron but Bernie shut my mouth with his performance.This guy has a great voice!He sang very good the old songs and in 90% he got the high notes of Byron.The band left the stage to come back soon for the encore which was three songs again from their classic albums.First was Gypsy from their very first album back in 1970 and then we got Stealin',probably the best moment of this concert,great performance on a song that is written with a live spirit on it.Lastwas the classic ballad Lady In Black and of course there was noone that didn't know the lyrics for that!
I was happy to be proved wrong about this band,i always thought without Byron they would never sound good live but Bernie did an excellent
job. They must continue to play for many more years,they are old enough but from this gig they seemed to play like teenagers,they just never got tired.After the show i talked with Bernie and he said the band has new material written for the next album and they will get in the studio in spring 2004 to start
recordings. If someone told me before the gig that i will look forward for this album i'd probably laugh with him but after this gig i can't wait for it to be released!
Dimitris
Theodoropoulos 
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Niederrohrdorf
- Switzerland