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Doro/Wishbone Ash - Rock Classics festival - Chateau de Beaufort (LUX) - 26/07/2014
Text & pics: Geert Ryssen
Rock on a beautiful historical site, it makes a difference! Even in bad weather, the historical medieval site of Chateau de Beaufort is a beautiful place to organize open air concerts. For three weekends in a row, the site is the place to be for classic rock fans. On July 26 it’s time for some good metal and who would be the chosen one? The only metal queen herself of course! The special guests for tonight are one of the great seventies ‘classic rock’ bands.
Wishbone Ash are still going strong with original guitarist Andy Powell in the driver’s seat. Under a pouring rain, they play a great one hour set with a good balance of classics and lesser known and more recent songs and pieces. The twin guitar principle was invented by this band and second ‘Les Paul’ guitarist Muddy Manninen fits in very well and brings a nice contrast to the crystal clear sound of Powell with his more rootsy approach. The rhythm section of Bob Skeat (bass) and Joe Crabtree (drums) is nothing less than excellent. It was nice to see this great band once more, but it was clear that the majority of the audience came for Doro.
Although this is a beautiful site, it’s also quiet ambivalent for the bands if the seats in front of the stage are not all taken. A lot of people watched the bands from a distance, high up the site. The bands wanted them to come down, but these requests were unsuccessful. Hundreds of people were there, but they were spread all over the site, so it looked rather empty. The people in front of the stage were all standing so that left a lot of empty seats. Doro’s diehard fans – and they are many – were right in front of course and that gave her all the energy she needed to perform a blistering performance. It had stopped raining by the time she took the stage and the full band was in high spirits and at the top of its game. Besides Doro herself, the star of the show is drummer Johnny Dee who put the icing on the cake with one of the best drum solo’s I have ever seen and heard. Guitarists Luca Princiotta and Bas Maes move and run around like they were bitten by some killer bug but along the way they never miss the right string. Bassist Nick Douglas is one of my all-time favorite musicians and he blends with the rest of the band in a fantastic way. Sideman Harrison Young gets more and more space in the set and takes care of technical matters and plays keyboards when it’s needed. Great guy and showman. For half of the show I was in front of the stage and it’s staggering to watch how this band functions and most of all, how Doro performs her songs flawlessly with all the mayhem going on behind her. This was a show never to be forgotten. Thank you Doro for your never ending love for your music, your band (they all get hugged by her before they hit the stage) and your fans. She’s been touring for almost two years now and every show she’s up there again with the same energy and enthusiasm. Her dedication for her metal mission and her fans deserves so much respect. More people should have been there, for the music, for the site, for the atmosphere. Great festival, great stress free organization. We’ll be back!
Written by Geert Ryssen
Geplaatst door Vera op zaterdag 02 augustus 2014 - 00:32:11
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