The Dead Daisies (plus: Mike Tramp, Beasto Blanco)
subota, 16. 11. 2024., od 19.45 h do 23.10 h
Beč (Wien) / Simm City / Austrija
(For an English version, please scroll down the bar)
Teško je zaobići turneju koja u jednom paketu spaja imena The Dead Daisies, Beasto Blanco i Mike Tramp. Zapravo je grijeh zaobići takvu turneju kad se održava u Europi. Prošle smo godine The Dead Daisies gledali čak i u dupkom punoj ljubljanskoj Cvetličarni, a godinu prije toga također u Ljubljani, kad su otvarali za Judas Priest. Bend koji uvijek isporuči vrhunsku rock’n’roll predstavu i potpuni žurku.
Sat je petnaest do osam navečer, Simm City u Beču još je prilično prazan, u dvorani je jedva kojih 250 ljudi. Mike Tramp je u društvu gitarista Markusa Nanda izašao na pozornicu da nam u pola sata odsvira nekoliko White Lion klasika kojima se davno upisao među besmrtne heroje glam metala. Tramp nije skrivao činjenicu da je njegov budžet na turneji skroman. Bubnjevi, bas gitare, klavijature i prateći vokali bili su snimljeni. Uživo su svirale samo obje gitare i naravno Trampov vokal. Tramp se pokazao kao čovjek izuzetno očuvanog glasa. Oštro odjeveni vokalist dobro zna kako zapaliti publiku. Te su večeri poznati White Lion klasici to napravili posve sami. U prvim redovima bilo je nekoliko doista nabrijanih pristalica i poznavatelja grupe White Lion, koji su stihove znali do u detalj. Svoje je isporučio odlični Markus Nand, koji je izgledom kratko podsjetio na Stevena Perryja (Aerosmith). Nand je savršeno prostudirao solaže za koje je u White Lion nekoć bio zadužen nezaboravni Vito Bratta i cijela je stvar, unatoč tome što smo na pozornici gledali samo duo, djelovala vrlo uspjelo. Drugih petnaest minuta s tri hita s albuma Pride: Tell Me, When The Children Cry i Wait. Uffff….. Naježili smo se. Nadajmo se da će se Tramp upustiti u europsku klupsku turneju s kvartetom, kao što se to dogodilo davnog studenog 2006., kad smo ga uspjeli presresti u Muggii kraj Trsta.
Beasto Blanco relativno su nova grupa, koju zastupaju iskusni glazbenici. Grupa održava vezu s Alice Cooperom, i to ponajviše zbog dvoje članova. Prva je vokalistica Calico Cooper, kći slavnog glazbenika, a drugi je upravo njegov dugogodišnji basist Chuck Garric, koji u Beasto Blanco vodi glavni vokal i svira ritam gitaru. Ne treba mnogo nagađati da je grupa sa svojim scenski grotesknim nastupima, koji naravno izazivaju i pomalo horror shock teatra, mnogo toga u svoje usmjerenje prenijela upravo iz svega po čemu je Alice postao slavan, a posebno je u zadnjih nekoliko godina sve to nadogradila. Calico je na pozornici prava podivljala amazonka, dok Garric ne treba mnogo da ga proglasiš drugim čudovištem na pozornici – dovoljni su njegov jezivi osmijeh i dijastema. Bend je stasito grmio u raspoloživih tričetvrt sata i strogo zabavljao inače zahtjevnu publiku, koju je ubrzo pridobio na svoju stranu, pa je ona konkretno sudjelovala u svakoj pozorničkoj budalaštini koju su smislili Calico i Chuck. Kvintet je prošao kroz materijal sa svoja četiri izdana albuma te dolio ulja na vatru Alice Cooperovom Feed My Frankenstein, kojom je predstava dosegnula svoj vrhunac. Splet krajnje zabavnog razvrata i nesputanih ludorija, na granici punokrvnog provociranja, oduševio je u svemu.
The Dead Daisies pak su te večeri za većinu posjetitelja bili najiščekivaniji izvođač. Zanimljivo je da se prostor, koji je još u pola devet zračio relativno skromnom posjećenošću, do njihova dolaska konkretno napunio. U vrijeme kad je na pozornicu izašao Mike Tramp, dvorana je bila još više nego pola prazna. The Dead Daisies su ona grupa koja danas zahvalno popunjava praznine hard rocka, koje nastaju ‘popuštanjem’ upravo onih sastava koji su ostavili trajan trag na sceni. Samo provjeriš godišta rođenja članova pa ti odmah postane jasno od koga su učili. Ali ne bi bilo ništa bez srčanosti, velikog entuzijazma i financijskih injekcija australskog financijskog mogula Davida Lowyja, vlasnika zrakoplovne tvrtke, strastvenog pilota i, što je za nas najvažnije, gitarista i šefa grupe The Dead Daisies.
Na našim dosadašnjim posjetima koncertima te grupe zanimljivo je to da bismo teško našli dva uzastopna koncerta koja smo pogledali, a da je postava grupe na oba ta koncerta ostala nepromijenjena. Ista. I ovaj put je bilo tako. The Dead Daisies su u razdoblju zadnjih jedanaest mjeseci prvo mijenjali bubnjara. Novi je Tommy Clufetos, prije je bubnjao Brian Tichy. Druga promjena dogodila se nedavno. Grupa je naime protiv svoje volje gurnuta u situaciju u kojoj se morala prisilno prilagoditi kako bi spasila najavljenu “Light ‘Em Up” turneju. Tu je turneju ozbiljno ugrozila vijest da gitarist grupe Douglas Aldrich boluje od raka grla. U pomoć je grupi za “Light ‘Em Up” turneju tako priskočio nitko drugi nego Aldrichev kompić iz Whitesnake vremena, izvanredni Winger gitarist Reb Beach. Vidjeti dakle u Europi Reba Beacha kako svira na Aldrichevu zlatnom Les Paulu s crnom pločom? Neprocjenjivo. Možemo reći da bolje rješenje The Dead Daisies nisu mogli naći. Reb se inače kroz listopad ove godine ovako ili onako vucarao po Europi sa svojom pratećom grupom na samostalnim koncertima, pa je bio već prilično dobro prilagođen Europi.
Uz Davida Lowyja, preostala dvojica u ekipi su vokalist John Corabi i basist Michael Devin! Na svojim standardnim pozicijama. Bend je izašao na pozornicu u pola deset navečer i isporučio točno ono po što smo te večeri i došli. Savršenu, besprijekornu kanonadu pjenušavih rock’n’roll ludorija i bezgranične zabave. Sve je to pratila vrhunska, u dlaku uigrana egzekucija. Tommy Clufetos, s više nego upola manjim setom bubnjeva od prethodnika Briana Tichyja, pokazao se pravom neman kad je šamarao i ‘šamarao’ te pretvarao u ruševine opne i činele, dok su iz palica frcali čačkalice. Michael Devin, čija brada kroz godine sve više i više podsjeća na pčelinje gnijezdo, imponirao je izuzetnom muzikalnom zveckavošću dok je divlje kopao po bas gitari, a oba gitarista, posebno Lowy, koji je imao više nego upola manje posla od Beacha, aktivnije su koristila raspoloživ pozornički prostor. Koliko ga je ostalo slobodnog, jer tu je bio i silno agilni jezični doktor, koji je te večeri svoj jezik izdašnije naoštrio. To je vrhunski frontman John Corabi, koji je u pauzama neprestano sipao neslane šale i tako također brinuo za malo vedrine i dobrog raspoloženja. The Dead Daisies doista djeluju kao dobro nauljen stroj! Lowy je uza se izabrao samo najbolje. I to vrijedi i za privremenu zamjenu na poziciji jedne od dviju gitara (najbolji za najboljeg). Zašto? Jer može.
Nastup je tekao velikom brzinom. Zvuk vrlo dobar. Sve jasno čujno. Bend je u repertoar uključio baš sve svoje albume, pri čemu je, očekivano, blagu prednost dobio zadnji među njima – “Light ‘Em Up” (RockLine recenzija). Grupa je u svoj juriš krenula kar s naslovnom skladbom novog albuma, a nakon nje su došle “Burn It Down” točke Rise Up i Dead And Gone. Popularna Make Some Noise dolila je ulja na vatru i s grupom je tako rekuć plesala baš cijela dvorana. Dupkom puna, ali ne posve rasprodana. Corabi se držao vrlo, vrlo dobro. Naravno, reinterpretacija klasika snimljenih s Glennom Hughesom na vokalu priča je za sebe i ti nisu ‘zagrabili’ s takvim intenzitetom kakav na pozornicama i u studiju može izvući samo slavni ‘Voice Of Rock’. U tom zadatku posrne svaki, pa i najkvalitetniji vokalist.
Slijedi bubnjarski solo i tri uzastopne šamarčine: Lock’N’Load, I’m Gonna Ride i Born To Fly, gdje je Corabi morao ponovno razgibati glasnice. No već u sljedećoj točki opet je došao do daha. Grupa si je naime usred showa priuštila dulju točku predstavljanja članova, koja nije bila ni približno tako duga kao u Ljubljani prije nepunu godinu dana. Potom je uslijedio drugi dio, opterećen obradama, a općenito je u uho zapela Muddy Watersova I’m Ready. Uvodno je Corabi rekao da tijekom zadnjeg snimanja nisu snimili samo album “Light Em Up”, nego je nastalo toliko materijala da grupa već ima spreman novi album. I to će, po Corabijevim riječima, biti blues album. Jedva čekamo, naravno. Slijedi vrhunski finale! Najprije je to Fortunate Son, gdje s Corabijem refren pjeva cijela dvorana, potom dugo iščekivana i silno zabavna Mexico, a za njom tornado s još jednom dugo iščekivanom obradom koja ne smije nedostajati na repertoaru grupe – to je Midnight Moses, pri čemu se Alex Harvey veselo smješkao iz rock’n’roll neba. Za veliki finale ostala je naravno Long Way To Go, što se dobro poklopilo s činjenicom da je bečki koncert bio predzadnji na cijeloj europskoj turneji i da nakon njega slijedi dug međukontinentalni zračni let. Helter Skelter – s njom ne možeš promašiti. Nikad. Pogotovo u režiji The Dead Daisies. ‘Bezglavo’ s tim The Beatles proto-metalnim ‘nacrtom’, The Dead Daisies zaključili su svoj sat i 40 minuta dugi koncertni show na najvišoj izvedbenoj razini! Simm City je pucao od sve naelektriziranosti visokooktanskog izgaranja koje je zapalio kvintet!
Ravno i bez okolišanja! S potresnom vehemencijom i izvedbenim karakterom koji oduzima dah. Kad se takav koncert završi, samo se još pitaš: “Kad i gdje će biti sljedeći?” Bez brige. Kako je grupa nagovijestila, novi album već ima u džepu. Dakle? Polako se već možemo početi osvrtati prema datumima kasne jeseni sljedeće godine.
Autori: Edita Klemen & Aleš Podbrežnik
Fotografije: Aleš Podbrežnik
English version:
It’s hard to resist a tour that combines the names The Dead Daisies, Beasto Blanco and Mike Tramp in one package. In fact it’s a sin to turn your back on such a tour when it’s taking place in Europe. Last year we even saw The Dead Daisies in a packed Cvetličarna in Ljubljana and the year before that they opened for Judas Priest in Ljubljana as well. The band always delivers a top-notch rock’n’roll show and a complete party.
It’s 5.30 p.m. and Simm City in Vienna is still quite empty with only about 250 people in the hall. Mike Tramp accompanied by guitarist Marcus Nand takes the stage to play us a few White Lion classics in half an hour with whom he made his name among the immortal heroes of glam metal long ago. Tramp has made no secret of the fact that his budget for the tour is modest. The drums, bass guitars, keyboards and backing vocals were prerecorded. Live were both bguitars and of course Tramp’s voice. Mike proved to be a man of exceptional vocal preservation. The sharply dressed vocalist knows well how to fire up the crowd. On this night, the well-known White Lion classic tunes did it all by themselves. In the front rows there were some really tight White Lion followers and connoisseurs who knew the verses to perfection. The excellent Marcus Nand who looked vaguely reminiscent of Steven Perry (Aerosmith), delivered his part. He did the spot-on solos that the unforgettable Vitto Bratta was once in charge of at White Lion. The whole thing worked very well despite the fact that we were only watching a duo on stage. Another fifteen minutes with three Pride hits: Tell Me, When The Children Cry and Wait. Goosebumps! Let’s hope Trump gets a European club tour with a quartet like he did back in November 2006 when we managed to intercept him in Muggia near Trieste.
Beasto Blanco is a relatively new group consisting of experienced musicians. The group maintains a link with Alice Cooper in particular because of two of its members. The first is vocalist Calico Cooper who is the daughter of the famous musician and the second is his long-time bassist Chuck Garric who provides lead vocals and plays rhythm guitar for Beasto Blanco. It doesn’t take much guessing to say that the band with its grotesquely grotesque performances that naturally evoke a bit of horror shock theatre has taken a lot of its direction right from everything Alice was famous for and especially in the last few years has built on it all. Calico is a freaky amazon on stage while Garric doesn’t need much to get you to declare him the second monster on stage – his creepy smile and diastema are enough. The band thundered into the available three quarters of an hour rigorously entertaining the otherwise demanding crowd who was soon won over to their side to concretely engage with every onstage antics Calico and Chuck pulled off. The quintet covered material from their four released albums and added fuel to the fire with Alice Cooper’s Feed My Frankenstein, which brought the show to its climax. A combination of utterly entertaining debauchery, unbridled antics, bordering on full-blooded provocation, it was a delight all round.
The Dead Daisies were the most anticipated act of the night by most of the visitors. Interestingly, the venue which still radiated a relatively modest attendance at half past nine, had filled up by the time they arrived. The Dead Daisies are the band that today gratefully fills the gaps in hard rock created by the ‘letting go’ of the very bands that have left a lasting mark on the scene. Just check the members’ birth years and it becomes immediately clear who they learned from. But it would be nothing without the heartfelt enthusiasm and financial injections of Australian financial mogul David Lowy, airline owner, passionate pilot and most importantly for us, guitarist and boss of The Dead Daisies.
What is interesting about our visits to the group’s concerts so far is that it would be difficult to find two concerts in a row that we have seen, and yet the line-up of the group on both of those concerts remained unchanged. This time it was the same. The Dead Daisies have changed drummers over the last eleven months. Tommy Clufetos is the new drummer preceeded bi Brian Tichy. The second change happened recently. The band was thrown into a situation where they had to adapt against their will in order to save the announced “Light ‘Em Up” tour. This tour was seriously jeopardised by the news that the band’s guitarist Douglas Aldrich was suffering from throat cancer. So the band has enlisted the help of none other than Aldrich’s Whitesnake sidekick the great Winger guitarist Reb Beach for the “Light ‘Em Up” tour. To see Reb Beach in Europe playing Aldrich’s gold Les Paul with a black plateau? Priceless. It’s safe to say that The Dead Daisies couldn’t have found a better solution. Reb has been roaming Europe with his backing band on solo gigs in one way or another throughout October this year so he was already pretty well adapted to Europe.
In addition to David Lowy the other two members of the team are vocalist John Corabi and bassist Michael Devin in their standard positions. The band took the stage at half past ten in the evening and delivered exactly what we came for. A perfect and immaculate cannonade of outrageous rock’n’roll antics and boundless fun. All of this was accompanied by a top-notch, hair-brained execution. Tommy Clufetos, with a drum kit more than half the size of predecessor Brian Tichy, proved to be a monster as he slapped and ‘clapped’ and idolised brass and cymbals while toothpicks whizzed out of drumsticks. Michael Devin, whose beard has become more and more like a bee’s nest over the years, impressed with a remarkable musical rasp as he dug wildly at the bass guitar. Both guitarists, especially Lowy, who had less than half the work as Beach, made more active use of the available stage space. What was left of it was free as there was also the forcefully agile tongue doctor, who sharpened his tongue more abundantly that evening. This is the superb frontman John Corabi who was always shaking off unsalty jokes during the breaks and in this way also kept the atmosphere cheerful and good humoured. The Dead Daisies are a well-oiled machine! Lowy has chosen only the best to be at his side. And this also applies to the temporary change in the position of one of the two guitars (the best for the best). Why? Because they can.
The performance was very fast-paced. The sound was very good. Everything clearly audible. The band included all of their albums in the repertoire with the last one – “Light ‘Em Up” (RockLine review) – taking the lead, as expected. The band went on the offensive with the title track of the new album, followed by “Burn It Down”, “Rise Up” and “Dead And Gone”. The popular “Make Some Noise” added fuel to the fire and practically the whole room was rocking with the band. Packed, but not completely sold out. Corabi held on very, very well. Of course, the reinterpretation of classics recorded with Glenn Hughes on vocals is a story in itself and they didn’t ‘grip’ with the intensity that only the famous ‘Voice Of Rock’ can conjure up on stage and in the studio. Any vocalist, no matter how good, will fail in this task.
A drum solo and three consecutive Lock ‘n’ Load, I’m Gonna Ride and Born To Fly followed. Corabi had to retune his vocal cords but came up for air again at the very next point. The band had the luxury of a longer member introduction in the middle of the show, which was not nearly as long as in Ljubljana less than a year ago. Then came the second part, heavy with covers, and in general Muddy Waters’ I’m Ready stung the ear. Corabi opened by saying that during the last recording session not only did they record “Light Em Up” but there was so much material that the band already has a new album ready to go. And according to him it will be a blues album. We can’t wait, of course. A superb finale to follow! First the Fortunate Son with the whole hall singing the chorus with Corabi, then the much-anticipated and hugely entertaining Mexico, followed by Tornado with another much-anticipated cover that shouldn’t be missing from the band’s repertoire. It was Midnight Moses with Alex Harvey happily mooing his way out of rock’n’roll heaven.
For the grand finale, of course, there was Long Way To Go, which worked well with the fact that the Vienna gig was the penultimate one of the whole European tour and that it was followed by a long intercontinental flight. Helter Skelter – you can’t miss it. Never. With this Beatles proto-metal ‘plan’, The Dead Daisies concluded their hour and forty minutes concert show at the highest performance level! Simm City was ablaze with all the electrifying high-octane combustion ignited by the quintet.
Straight and without turns! With breathtaking verve and a performance character that takes your breath away. When such a concert comes to an end, you just have to ask: “When and where will the next one be?” Don’t worry. As the band hinted, they already have a new album in their pocket. So? Slowly, we can already start looking towards dates in late autumn next year.
Authors: Edita Klemen & Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Mike Tramp – setlist:
1. Living On The Edge
2. Broken Heart
3. Little Fighter
4. Tell Me
5. When The Children Cry
6. Wait
Beast Blanco – setlist:
1. Il Nostro Spirito (taped intro)
2. Run for Your Life
3. Freak
4. Grind
5. Nobody Move
6. Feed My Frankenstein (orig. Alice Cooper)
7. Machine Girl
8. Honey
9. Lowlands
10. Blind Drive
11. Breakdown
The Dead Daisies – setlist:
1. Bitch (orig. The Rolling Stones, taped intro)
2. Rock and Roll (orig. Led Zeppelin, taped intro)
3. Light ‘Em Up
4. Rise Up
5. Dead and Gone
6. Make Some Noise
7. I Wanna Be Your Bitch
8- Unspoken
9. Bustle and Flow
10. Drum Solo
11. Lock ‘n’ Load
12. I’m Gonna Ride
13. Born to Fly
14. Take a Long Line (orig. The Angels)
15. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Seven Nation Army / Children of the Grave / Living After Midnight / Join Together (Band Introduction)
16. I’m Ready (orig. Muddy Waters)
17. Fortunate Son (orig. Creedence Clearwater Revival)
18. Mexico
19. Midnight Moses (orig. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band)
—dodatak—
20. Long Way to Go
21. Helter Skelter (orig. The Beatles)
