Have You Seen Triumvirat Live?

BTW Presdoug, I been searching for a Triumvirat VCR or DVD for decades, IMO one of the greatest Prog bands ever.

People compare them with ELP, but II believe Illusions and Spartacus are better than most ELP albums, except maybe Trilogy, their arrangements are far more elaborate and the piano skills of Jurgen Fritz are superb.

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: BTW Presdoug, I been searching for a Triumvirat VCR or DVD for decades, IMO one of the greatest Prog bands ever. People compare them with ELP, but II believe Illusions and Spartacus are better than most ELP albums, except maybe Trilogy, their arrangements are far more elaborate and the piano skills of Jurgen Fritz are superb. Iván

They will always be my very favorite band, Ivan, especially Illusions and Spartacus. Would love to have a video of some sort

 I recently found some info on Triumvirat live on the net which i wanted to share
         A couple of people who had seen them open for ELO on the US east coast in 1974 were remembering that they had a quite ahead of it's time light show technology.
              Things like a "robot droid" holding fresnel lights, spinning mirror spots, etc.
           And each tom of the drums had a sensor for a spot underneath the acrylic/clear floor of the drum riser
             And a rotating stage for the drum solo.
          And were talking as far back as 1974 for all of this!
            

Last week, for the first time, i saw the performances from the "St. Louis Progressive Keyboard Extravaganza" taped in St. Louis, Missouri, USA at the Centenary Church, June 5, 1999, and the Off Broadway Night Club, June 7, 1999, from a set of the original limited edition VHS cassettes made at the time, and offered for sale initially by the Triumvirat.net site.
                   The groups Alaska and the Par Lindh Project are there, as well as former Triumvirat singer Barry Palmer, who flew over from England.
                  First time i hear either Alaska or the Par Lindh Project, and was very impressed on both accounts with their own music, real classical rock.
                        Also some early ELP was played, Alaska doing Hoedown, and a partial Tarkus suite, and Par Lindh Project doing Jerusalem and Rondo.
                The most special part of these concerts was with Barry Palmer, who did some Triumvirat backed by Alaska and at times Par Lindh (also some of Palmer's own musicians)-I Believe from Old Loves Die Hard, and Spartacus and The Deadly Dream of Freedom from the Spartacus album. Though Barry was wrestling with a sore throat at the time, he did his very best, and was really polite and nice on stage. And before singing Spartacus, he said "God bless you, Helmut" which i thought was really cool. He made other references to Helmut Koellen, saying  "he felt him giving us a good vibe".
                  Palmer also does some songs that were to be put on a solo album of his, and a single. "Dear John" -a "letter to John Lennon", Night Thoughts, Ghost of a Love, and Miracle Tonight. These songs are featured on Barry Palmer's new solo album "Night Thoughts" just released this fall.


Edited by presdoug - November 12 2012 at 15:18

I remember seeing both Par Lindh and Alaska at a prog festival around that same time.  They played the ELP covers then, too.  I remember "Rondo" very well.  Good times.

I read last week on Barry Palmer's site that when Pompeii was released in 1977, at that time, producer and keyboardist Juergen Fritz was against touring in support of the album. This was frustrating, as Barry recounts, and he never really understood why Fritz wouldn't. Posters of Pompeii's album cover were all over America at the time, but no American tour. Pompeii bombed in America.
                     A while later, though, the album and it's single The Hymn did well in Germany, and there was some touring over there.

Another Triumvirat video has surfaced on youtube recently.
It is when the band were referred to as New Triumvirat, and it is a performance of Dance On The Volcano from Pompeii, and is from 1978. This was taped at the same show that included ELP doing their video Tiger In A Spotlight with the tiger present, and their Fanfare.

Actually, yes. I saw them live quite a few times on the Spartacus (1975?) tour. I can confirm the show happened at Calgary with Supertramp. Also that the earlier (east coast ) show dates were with ELO. I believe the first show after ELO was after we crossed the Mississippi and was at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St.Louis.

I was one of the two-man lighting crew that traveled with Triumvrat for that tour. The lighting effects mentioned here and elsewhere were pretty innovative for "back in the day". We would frequently have an explosion and small fire on top of Jurgen's grand piano to finish the set.  Fun., but a lot of hard work.

John

presdoug wrote: Another Triumvirat video has surfaced on youtube recently. It is when the band were referred to as New Triumvirat, and it is a performance of Dance On The Volcano from Pompeii, and is from 1978. This was taped at the same show that included ELP doing their video Tiger In A Spotlight with the tiger present, and their Fanfare.

         

         


Edited by presdoug - May 22 2014 at 17:35

cstack3 wrote: ^Doug, I really admire your persistence!!  You are the best Triumvirat fan, ever!  They would have loved knowing you!

hey, Chuck, thanks so much.