Supertramp in Berlin, September 27th 2010

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   On Monday I was on the concert of Supertramp. Last time I saw them was in 1986 and I was disappointed. So I did not expect anything.

Before the start of the concert Jethro Tull came from the loudspeakers: Living in the Past. That was promising and it fits, I thought, and at the same time I was looking at the 40+ audience in the only half filled hall.
The lights went out, "You started laughing.", and a 9-piece band started to play: next to Rick Davies, John Helliwell and Bob Siebenberg also his son Jesse, and the long time members Cliff Hugo, Lee Thornburg and Carl Verheyen. New were a man with hat and a woman, whose names I found out later: Gabe Dixon, who plays keyboards and sings, and Cassie Miller, who is only a background singer.

John played as fantastic as ever. Not always the same thing, he varied his play, put in some old tradititional themes here and then. Also Rick put a part of our national anthem in "Bloody Well Right". While I was freaking out, no one reacted, though, did the others notice it?
Rick's extended solo in "Another Man's Woman" was in fact not as brilliant as back in 1977, but still worth listening and watching. But I was a bit distracted by the fact, that during the whole song an aged man in a bathing suite sat on stage under a parasol and was reading something that looked like the "Bild" newspaper.
The bass player Cliff Hugo played very inconspicously, while the second wind instrument player Lee Thornburg added a good brass sound, and his highlight was playing a 'closed' or 'capped' trumpet in "Poor Boy", which replaced the vocal imitation of it from the original.
Carl Verheyen is normally an excellent guitar player, which can be seen in his solo works, but on this tour, I think, he plays below his possibilities. Also I think, that Roger Hodgson's sophisticated guitar riffs fit better to this music than the bluesy sound of Carl's guitar.
Bob's son Jesse is a real multi-instrumentalist. On Roger Hodgson's concerts he plays the full drum kit. Here with Supertramp he sings some of Roger's songs (Breakfast in America, Give a little bit, The Logical Song, School), plays guitar, keyboards, piano and percussion. Amazing. A few of Roger's songs were sung by the man with hat (It's raining again, Take the Long Way Home, Dreamer). It was nice to see and hear Rick playing the harmonica on these songs. 

Supertramp never were much communicative to the audience. This was no exception. Only very few well-considered speeches of John. One interesting thing he told was, that he played saxophone on American air bases in Germany and saw Supertramp performing "From Now On" before he joined the band. 
The show was, as always, perfect, musically and with good light effects and some videos. "Downstream" was with an atmospheric view from a lakeside. And during "Rudy" they show the same video that they show for more than 30 years now, perfectly timed with the music.
I do not mind that they played nothing newer than "Cannonball". Quite the contrary, I do not like the newer albums, anyway, and I liked the selection of songs. It was only a pity, that they did not play "Brother Were You Bound", instead of some of Roger's songs.

It was close to perfect for me. The only thing I missed was Roger's voice and guitar. But, after all I have to say, that I had a good time and enjoyed it. 
Do we become less demanding in time, as another thread suggested? Maybe...

Here you can see my feeble attemps to record something of the show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3kAiS15h2U

And here is the playlist:

01 You Started Laughing
02 Gone Hollywood
03 Put On Your Old Brown Shoes
04 Ain't Nobody But Me
05 Breakfast in America
06 Cannonball
07 Poor Boy
08 From Now On
09 Give a Little Bit
10 Downstream
11 Rudy
12 It's Raining Again
13 Another Man's Woman
14 Take the Long Way Home
15 Bloody Well Right
16 The Logical Song
17 Goodbye Stranger
18 School
19 Dreamer
20 Crime of the Century

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Formentera Lady Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: August 20 2010 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 1829	Topic: Supertramp in Berlin, September 27th 2010 Posted: October 01 2010 at 07:18
	On Monday I was on the concert of Supertramp. Last time I saw them was in 1986 and I was disappointed. So I did not expect anything. Before the start of the concert Jethro Tull came from the loudspeakers: Living in the Past. That was promising and it fits, I thought, and at the same time I was looking at the 40+ audience in the only half filled hall. The lights went out, "You started laughing.", and a 9-piece band started to play: next to Rick Davies, John Helliwell and Bob Siebenberg also his son Jesse, and the long time members Cliff Hugo, Lee Thornburg and Carl Verheyen. New were a man with hat and a woman, whose names I found out later: Gabe Dixon, who plays keyboards and sings, and Cassie Miller, who is only a background singer. John played as fantastic as ever. Not always the same thing, he varied his play, put in some old tradititional themes here and then. Also Rick put a part of our national anthem in "Bloody Well Right". While I was freaking out, no one reacted, though, did the others notice it? Rick's extended solo in "Another Man's Woman" was in fact not as brilliant as back in 1977, but still worth listening and watching. But I was a bit distracted by the fact, that during the whole song an aged man in a bathing suite sat on stage under a parasol and was reading something that looked like the "Bild" newspaper. The bass player Cliff Hugo played very inconspicously, while the second wind instrument player Lee Thornburg added a good brass sound, and his highlight was playing a 'closed' or 'capped' trumpet in "Poor Boy", which replaced the vocal imitation of it from the original. Carl Verheyen is normally an excellent guitar player, which can be seen in his solo works, but on this tour, I think, he plays below his possibilities. Also I think, that Roger Hodgson's sophisticated guitar riffs fit better to this music than the bluesy sound of Carl's guitar. Bob's son Jesse is a real multi-instrumentalist. On Roger Hodgson's concerts he plays the full drum kit. Here with Supertramp he sings some of Roger's songs (Breakfast in America, Give a little bit, The Logical Song, School), plays guitar, keyboards, piano and percussion. Amazing. A few of Roger's songs were sung by the man with hat (It's raining again, Take the Long Way Home, Dreamer). It was nice to see and hear Rick playing the harmonica on these songs. Supertramp never were much communicative to the audience. This was no exception. Only very few well-considered speeches of John. One interesting thing he told was, that he played saxophone on American air bases in Germany and saw Supertramp performing "From Now On" before he joined the band. The show was, as always, perfect, musically and with good light effects and some videos. "Downstream" was with an atmospheric view from a lakeside. And during "Rudy" they show the same video that they show for more than 30 years now, perfectly timed with the music. I do not mind that they played nothing newer than "Cannonball". Quite the contrary, I do not like the newer albums, anyway, and I liked the selection of songs. It was only a pity, that they did not play "Brother Were You Bound", instead of some of Roger's songs. It was close to perfect for me. The only thing I missed was Roger's voice and guitar. But, after all I have to say, that I had a good time and enjoyed it. Do we become less demanding in time, as another thread suggested? Maybe... Here you can see my feeble attemps to record something of the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3kAiS15h2U And here is the playlist: 01 You Started Laughing 02 Gone Hollywood 03 Put On Your Old Brown Shoes 04 Ain't Nobody But Me 05 Breakfast in America 06 Cannonball 07 Poor Boy 08 From Now On 09 Give a Little Bit 10 Downstream 11 Rudy 12 It's Raining Again 13 Another Man's Woman 14 Take the Long Way Home 15 Bloody Well Right 16 The Logical Song 17 Goodbye Stranger 18 School 19 Dreamer 20 Crime of the Century

Icarium Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: March 21 2008 Location: Tigerstaden Status: Offline Points: 34055	Posted: October 01 2010 at 08:14
	tell me how the finall song was live (I have allways wonderd about that since it is the most magestic finale ever recorded)


nela593 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: October 06 2010 Status: Offline Points: 1	Posted: October 06 2010 at 15:29
	Well, I was on their concert on Sunday, the 3rd Oct. in Cologne. It was very good, The programm was exact the same as in Berlin. There were a few differences, though... Gabe Dixon, the "man with the hat ", was not really good... He sung momentally a little bit not in the pitch. Ricks solo was too long and without a real concept... The light effects, hmmm .... stroboscope is not very new, isn't it ? And the smoke machine - what for ???? Allthough - worth to see and listen to !!! The price ( VIP backstage ) horrible... I payed it with enjoyment, really Regards Nela