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German guitar wizard Axel Rudi Pell started the second leg of his tour to promote the latest release "Into the storm". The journey also brought him to The Netherlands. As a support he had the young Germans from Rebellious Spirit with him on the road. This power package rocked Zoetermeer on a Saturday night very well I must say.
The young Swabians from Rebellious Spirit had the task to warm-up the crowd and they did a good job. Having released their last album a few days ago, the guys blew their sleazy hardrock into the crowd; full of enthusiasm and energy. As I wrote already in the review of their album "Obsession", they remind a bit to Kissin' Dynamite. But however, they had fun that night and transfered this to the fans. A good job as an opener and the crowd was looking forward to Pell & friends.
Quater to ten Axel Rudi Pell and his band entered the stage and started a two hour show. The guys proved that you can have quality AND quantity. Since some bands don't play longer than 70 minutes nowadays, it is great to see a band on stage for 120 minutes - and enjoying every single minute of it.
From the very first song on the powerful sound was perfect and crystal clear. Eventhoug the Gioeli stated a few times that the band couldn't hear themselves the sound for the audience was excellent. Better than the other way round.
A look on the setlist shows that Pell did a great mix between old and new. And I think it is a smart idea to do the medley's of some songs. By having such a huge amount of released tracks it is the best way to bring most of the 'hits' on the setlist. There has been the old stuff like "Nasty reputation" from the debut as well as some new material like "Into the storm". But also the band classics like "Mystica" and "Eternal prisoner" have been performed. Needless to say that "Call her princess" was performed too. For me this is the best Pell song and actually it could become an own song in the live set instead of being part in a medley.
But the songs are one thing- the performance is another one. A good song can only shine on stage while being performed in a good way. And ARP did a perfect job this Saturday night in Zoetermeer. Johnny Gioeli is a frontman you can't stop. Next to the fact that he is a great singer he is also a real frontman that also entertains the crowd. Not to forget the keyboards from Ferdy Doernberg and the tight rhythm section with Volker Krawcak and Bobby Rondelli. By the way, as Gioeli joked, "Bobby is the only drummer who can play a drum solo and chew chewing gum at the same time".
And last but not least the master himself - Axel Rudi Pell. It was a pleasure to listen to his guitar. It was also great to see that he gave so much space to his band mates. It was not about him, it was about the band. He didn't want to get more into focus than the others, which is really great to see. I think, that this unit called ARP is also the secret of the long lasting success of the six-stringer and his band. This is a hands-on band with great song and no 'I am the rock star' attitude.
To spend a Saturday night with sich a concert with two powerful bands was a great experience. The tour still continues and if you have the guys are coming to your time - don't think twice. Give them a warm welcome and join the show.
Setlist Axel Rudi Pell:
- Burning chains
- Nasty reputation/Strong as a rock
- Edge of the world
- Before I die
- Oceans of time
- Hey, hey, my, my
- Warrior
- Keyboard solo
- Into the storm
- Drum solo
- Mystica
- Too late/Call her princess/Jam/Eternal prisoner/Too late
- Masquerade ball/Casbah
Setlist Rebellious Spirit:
- coming soon
Location: De Boederij, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
Date: 20.09.2014
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CD review REBELLIOUS SPIRIT "Obsession" - Markus' Heavy Music Blog
(7/10) Does Rebellious Spirit know the guys from Kissin' Dynamite? They are at least based in the same area in Germany - Swabia. And they play a similar kind of music, which is 80's based hardrock ...
http://mwiemetalblog.over-blog.com/2014/09/cd-review-rebellious-spirit-obsession.html