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After I
seeing IQ at a rather small venue in Berlin last year and enjoying every
second, I thought it might be a good idea to travel to the rather small town
Reichenbach in Saxony/Eastern Germany to see R.P.W. L. and Arena in a
double programme open air. Was it a good idea? It was a brilliant idea!
(P)Rock im
Park was what every fan should experience once in a while. Where else, if not
in a smaller venue, do you have the chance to get chatting to the artists, to
see them walking around having a snack (John Jowitt savouring one of the famous
Thuringia bratwursts) or standing in the first row with us “normal” folks
listening to R.P.W.L. (John again). A snapshot with the band? No problem,
here’s Mick, Clive, John, Paul and John (Mitchell).
Since I’m
not familiar with the work of R.P.W.L. I can’t say much in the sense of
comparing studio to live work. But they did a magnificent job there at
Reichenbach, rocking away on the small stage like it was something more in the
vein of Wembley or Shea Stadium. Rocking away in front of what? 250 to 300
people? Can’t have been much more, which is a shame, for not only did the bands
do an incredible job, but the organizer of the whole affair, Uwe Treitinger, does
his very best to bring the cream of Prog to Saxony on a regular basis. With an
attendance like that he’s prone to loose money on a big scale. Mind you,
admission fee was only 24 to 30 euros.
But let’s
get back to the music. After R.P.W.L. had finished their act after roughly one
and a half hour and a short intermission Arena hit the stage. “Witch Hunt” led
into about two hours of amazing NeoProg (amazing if you like NeoProg, of
course). Although I don’t recall the complete setlist, I can tell you that for
my liking they left out nothing. “Crack in the Ice”, “Bedlam Fayre”, “The Eyes
of Lara Moon”, “Hanging Tree”, “Ascencion” – you name it, they played it. Plus
some material from their new album, which will be out on November, 1st.
And let me
tell you something: Paul Manzi is an awesome vocalist! In my opinion it can be
quite problematic for a band to install a new vocalist, since it’s often the
frontman, the voice you identify a band by (Led Zeppelin with somebody else
than Robert Plant? Are you kidding me?). But Manzi does an excellent job. He
does not even try to imitate his predecessors (and why should he?) but throws
in the weight of his own personality. His voice is different from that of Rob
Sowden or that of Paul Rightson, yes, but he adapts the songs as if it was him
who sang them for the first time.
I’m looking
forward to the new album and I’m pretty sure that you can meet me at
Reichenbach in November, when Arena is back there.
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"We've got to get in to get out"
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