Oldies

Actually that weekend should have been a double feature - but then it started with one of the blackest Fridays I ever had to face - My cat had turned sick and I had no choice but to release him from his suffering - so I had to let go of that Friday show in Halle. But I was determined to go to Wolfsburg - to get my mind off it all, to meet some friends and draw some strength from it for the upcoming hard weeks...
Wolfsburg itself was a quiet city for a Saturday and although we went to the entrance of the hall only one hour before opening time there were only the five of us for at least one more half hour - well, Necdat and myself killed some time by playing guitar in front of the hall...
Anyway, it was a leisurely "run" into the hall at opening time and it was very comfortable in the First row with enough space for everyone to dance and sing during the whole evening. So finally at eight o´clock the Animals opened the Show !

At first was just puzzled - I had seen some photos of them somewhere else - but those guys looked completely different - well later I found out that there seem to exist two bands that call themselves the Animals...

"Hey, where are those spotlights ?"

But nevertheless, they played all the hits and although I did not know all of them and the sound-mixture was not at its best they were a great warm-up !

Nice color-effects with the fog...

They really put up a fine show - with the frontman singing his heart out and their guitarist doing some great solos.

My favorite was their last one - a very rocky version of their song 'We´ve gotta get out of this place'

"I'll find that note..."

After the Animals there was a short break to prepare for the next band - the highlight of the evening: Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich ! We had already spotted Beaky watching the last songs of the Animals and then he brought us the first big laughs - first trying to fix his cowbell to those timbales (must really be difficult to fix a few screws) and then even toppling one of the stands for the micros....
When everything was settled and one of the organizers announced the band - or at least tried to - we started giggling again - even Tich (probably reminded him of the Dozies first song on their first LP - DDD-BMT... - "Huh ?!?") who - when Rudi Hauptmann started a long speech - moved around behind him like winding a barrel organ....

Beaky behind his fixed Cowbell - not really straight but it held and worked...

Starting with the usual Hold Tight Intro and Hideaway they immediately got everyone joining in !

Right: Even Dozy was wide awake and rocking around !

"Try to play that note with your bass drum, Mick ..."

Those four guys really had their fun onstage - somehow I got the impression that without Dave Dee they are much more relaxed

Four rocking friends - Beaky, Mick, Tich and Dozy

Left: One of my favorite moments during their show: the get-together after Hideaway...

And now we have - a classic dark blue suit - buy it now and get those fabulous drumsticks for free !

... this time even with a special modelling photo offer from Mick [only way to top this would have been a leopard loincloth ;-) ]

Right: it´s not easy to get a good photo of Tich - he is always moving around too fast

After Hidaway they started with some other great songs of the 60s like Bend me shape me or Sweets for my sweet - with Tich trying to play a trick on the audience again (and I almost fell for it again - grrrrr, someday....)

What I really like about them is how everyone gets his songs to sing - and they all have phantastic voices !

Although that cowbell had a precarious tilt it withstood Beakys forceful drumming during Save me...

"Faster Tich, faster !"

During the instrumental parts of the songs Beaky and Tich really rocked the house !

One of the very few songs where we really missed Dave was the legend of Xanadu ! Without that bullwhip on stage it´s just not the same...

But the enthusiasm with which they performed it surely made up for that !

"Hey buddy - don´t start a sit-down strike now !"

After a few more 60s songs and Last night in Soho their show reached it´s peak: Bend it...

...with Dozy making jokes about Tich´s "little instrument"...

Nevertheless Tich still raised hell with that mandola and got everyone joining in once more.

Tich running from side to side...

The guys really had their fun during that one

Everyone had a goood time

The grande finale was of course Hold tight !

So they lined up again and gave full power once more ! Just great !

After those 50 minutes (or even more, I don´t remember) we were really exhausted ! It was such a fun and such a forceful performance that we enjoyed the next break.
It was a bit longer this time because they also had to switch the drumset (both bands had a left-handed drummer) so we had enough time to get something to drink and refresh ourselves. After that we prepared for the Spencer Davis Group, another one of the golden 60s.

Although the Dozies had played Keep on running as well we enjoyed it at full lengh this time.
It was good to see that every one of them also got his song to sing.

The one who impressed me most was their bass player - smiling all the time and yet singing and playing with such a versatility that even Suzi Quarto would look like a beginner.

The phantasttic drum solo was one of the biest parts

Although they stretched the instrumental parts very much it was just great. For the last song they even put up the timbales again...

Well, I had seen SDG for the first time and they were much better than I had thought. Friendly folks and musically really fine ! Even Beaky and Tich watched them for some time....
Then it was time for the last break, and when the roadies brought the last set of guitars onstage I was the one bringing the big laugh for the First row - Except for the Dozies all bands had Fender (or at last Fender-like) guitars and so I said "So Tich´s guitar was a really beautiful sight tonight - well, actually both !" - and only when the others looked at me with question marks in their faces I added "GUITARS !" But I guess that was too late....
Anyway with that happy mood we prepared for T-Rex then...

With Ex-Smokie Alan Silson and a wild animal on lead guitar they presented quite a different style than the other three bands that evening...

They played their hits with a frontman called Rolan Bolan

Although he put up a good show it was just not my style - sometimes it was just NOISE

In the end it was after midnight when we finally left the hall and joined the bands for some drinks. It was a friendly atmosphere with some of the T-Rex fans celebrating a birthday and everyone talking and laughing and just enjoying a nice night. One of the running gags that night was "BOB" - and of course John (the Dozies´ Mick) brightening the evening with a candle in his hands and chanting "OOOMMMMMMHHHHH" over and over again !
While Tich told us a few stories of the 60ies and 70ies T-Rex arrived and it was really funny when Alan Silson entered the lobby with a blonde at his side and two or three fans jumped up shouting and running over to - well, just hug the girl - with Alan standing there alone with a huge question mark on his face !
One of the T-Rex Fans had brought a so-called guitar (well it was not full-size and absolutely awful to play, needed re-tuning every five minutes....) for autographs and after he had collected them Tony (Beaky) snatched it and started to play some Beatles songs. He really must love making music - although he complained about that guitar all the time he kept on playing songs for maybe two hours ! Great !
In the meantime we talked with Tich and John - when he wasn´t OMMMHing (no, he did not drink KrOMMMMHbacher beer that evening) - about their families, about the time when Tich was playing with the Troggs and about You´ve got me on the run. It´s really a pity that they think that they could not perform it again just because the old Beaky´s voice would be missing...

Occasionally someone shouted "Bob !" again and somehow I realized it must have come from Tony - well later I got him to tell me that joke as well - he must have told that one maybe 30 times all evening he said [No I won´t repeat it here !] so no wonder everyone was on the inside on that one...
Later he even proposed to John to change his chant from OMMMH to BOOOB - without success of course [hmmm, maybe John was already ordering breakfast - an OMMMMMHelette ? Hihi, with TOMMMMMHatoes surely ;-)]

The evening ended really fine and funny - with the T-Rex bass player almost toppling a big plant on Tich and Tony complaining about a brick of a sandwich - and with Tich even offering his right knee when I asked for a photo !

So in the end I had really not been crying all day - that concert really had helped me a lot and just in case I have not said that before: Thank you ! To everyone who cheered me up that evening: Necdat, Anja, Ela and most of all the Dozies ! THANK YOU !