| Bielefeld, 27 June, Jens Pielawa
The Stadthalle wasn't filled completely, I would estimate a 75% use of capacity, but it was a wonderful audience though. The opening act Luka played just for half an hour only, and Mike started at approx. 8:45 p.m., playing the same tracks as listed several times before.
In my opinion it was a well balanced choice of music, finding a highlight with the shortened version of Ommadawn. The only tracks who didn't fit in were "Family Man" and "Shadow on the wall" partially. My wishes for tracks instead should have been "Out of mind" or (yes, speaking seriously!) "Make Make", which would bring Mike into limelight.
Also some parts of TBII have been missed by me. But the opening with LTBL was simply wonderful and amazing enough. Crystal Clear sounded somehow enhanced to me.
Some words to occasional mistakes: Pepsi should learn a simple song lik Moonlight Shadow, because she was missing two complete lines there, just waving arms helplessly... Mike didn't find the right start to play two or three times, because of a slow change of guitars or forgetting to turn on the volume. But he played well, even at Serpent Dream. It was a fine show with a stormy applause at the end, good to see MO
back after my last concert with the brilliant TBII in 1993.
Just my two cents to the tour business, greetings from
Jens Pielawa
Berlin, ICC 23 June Stefan Köchling
As you know the concert started with 4 excerpts from The Songs Of Distant Earth. The impressive performance was underlined with nice light projections. It featured elaborated guitar playing and very good vocal parts. The percussionist didn't pretend to play the drumcomputer-loops, which were exactly the same like on the album, but he played additional percussion.
Crystal Clear was more powerful and less boring than on the album. A really pathetic and magic atmosphere was created.
Shadow On The Wall was really poor. Pepsi jumped into the front of the stage and shouted 'come on', 'hey' and things like that. Shadow On The Wall, the album version , is a lively song that features a perfect combination of acoustic and electric instruments. The new version ignores this matter of fact: There is no reason to use two keyboard players if at least one of them could play rhythm guitar. The sound was not very differentiated: With Carrie, Mike has a really good bass player, but she was mixed down and was only part of the very monotonous synth-layers. As I know it is very convinient to use midi-drums. It worked very well on some tracks like the opener, e.g. .But on Shadow On The Wall the sound was dull and monotonous.
Ommadawn Part 1, I was waiting for ages to hear this live. In the beginning most sounds were samples of the original album. So we heard a harp sound, that came from Mike's midi guitar, the voices of Briget StJohn and Clodage Simonds, that came from .. where do I know, but it was not Pepsi. Like on the Crises-Tour the final was directley added to the beginning-section, without the bridge (slow part with pan pipes). After improvising on electric guitar Mike started playing on midi percussion instrument, that featured a marimba sound. Pepsi's vocal performance on this track was very poor. You can't compare it to the impressive performances of Maggie Reilly, who created a more celtic-like feeling. Very bad again the dull drum sound. If there are also drum- backing tracks from tape, and they came from tape, it would be more interesting to add more masterly acoustic percussion.
But there are also good aspects: Claire's distorted guitar chords and Mike's guitar solo.
The songs of Guitars were very impressive, also I don't like the album very much. Muse was premiered in Berlin. It was played by Mike alone. The other songs were highly attractive with mighty chords, synth layers and of course brilliant solo guitars.
With excerpts from Tubular Bells III the lowest level of the show was reached. Mike anounced a mixture of Tubular Bells 1 and III. That sounded very interesting, but is was a fake! The only bit of Tubular Bells 1 that was played was the opening piano tune in the beginning of Secrets. Mike tried to improvise on keyboards (you can compare it a little bit to the live version of 81'). The Source Of Secrets was a really good performance in London last year, also a lot of music came from tape. The new version is really bad. The essential percussion parts were missing (finger cymbals, timpani, and so on). Most of the music was not played live. The sound balance was not very good, not differenciated.
The Watchful Eye was ok. Jewel In The Crown featured more improvised guitar parts with a different sound. That made it more attractive. Unfortunately the highly attractive percussion parts featured on the album version were missing.
Outcast. This is a good example for creating illusions in alive performance: Claire played 6-string acoustic guitar which starts the song. But what we heard was a good mix of at least 3 acoustic guitars. The actors played guitar, keyboard, guitar, keyboard, guitar again. Everything is so perfect like on the original album...
Serpent Dream was good although Mike's guitar playing was a little bit unprecise.
The Inner Child is not one of my favorits from TB III. But this version was brilliant. Astonishingly, Pepsi sounded, really good and Mike played instead of electric-, acoustic guitar !
Far Above The Clouds. Indeed it was a powerful performance! Mike's assistant Caroline helped him to hit the bells. Please correct me if this is a wrong statement: I don't think that these set of chimes, used in the concert, is a real instrument! I could not see any microphones at all. The sound was the album sound. If you compare it to the Edinburg concert video, you will see, that you have to muffle the tubes to avoid feedbacks and that the sound is not too precise. What we heard is a kind of hyper sound, that can never be achieved with acoustic intsruments!
I like Moonlight Shadow very much since I got the 7' on my 11th birthday. It was presented live in quite good versions, if you consider the Crises -Tour, or the acoustic version of the Columbia Vulcano Concert in 1986.
But yesterday they presented a very cold and superficial version. I am sorry, but Pepsi is defenitely not the right singer for Mike's music. By the way her voice is out of tune sometimes. The guitar solo was one verse longer than at the premier concert in London.
Family Man had a very good instrumentation and powerful guitar palying.
Last track :Who wants to hear a track twice in one show? Far Above The Clouds was played in the same way like the in the first time...
If you come to the show just to listen to Mike' s guitar playing and to some familiar tunes, you might be right. But if you like to listen to a pretentious concert with musical challenges you are completely wrong.
The Mike Oldfield I appreciate is a myth that can be admired on ancient videos and soundrecordings but the man on stage has become a musical automatism.
stefan
Böblingen, 21 June, Ralf Erhard
Just back from the fantastic concert in Boeblingen.
WOW, what a show, I'm absolutely impressed how Pepsi performed the song Shadow On The Wall. I think no one could do it better. Moreover, Pepsi gave this appearance a special note and it did fit perfect to the music. No wonder because "she has gone on to work as an actress in theatre in London's West End and in films."
Well Summit Day still gives me the creeps and even we didn't hear Out Of Mind, Outcast was powerful and perfect again like in London.
Great to hear powerful percussion here, a nice compensation for the naked Guitars album ;-)
Ommadawn is amazing and after this concert I like TSODE a little bit more.
Good to see Mike in a good mood, walking around on the stage, smoking a cigarette, talking and smiling much and joking with Pepsi and the man behind the Tubular Bells who played the parts when Mike had to play the guitar. At the end Mike knocked his head with the hammer. :-)
The audience and atmosphere was fantastic and I think Mike was impressed about the enthusiasm! He did need some tries until he was able to talk to us because of the loud applause.
Maybe he feels free now with a new manager and I think that there's a closer cooperation with the DS fanzine because:
Paul Harris wrote the texture for the concert booklet!!! It's obvious that it was written by a fan not by someone from the record company. ;-)
THANKS Paul!
Unfortunately there was no chance to get him back on stage after the last encore of FATC. Man In The Rain was missing very much :-(
Hanau 20 June Michael Scholz
Right now I´m totally dazed from what happened a few hours ago! Now it´s 2:30 at morning and I really can´t sleep now.... because I WAS THERE !!! I could have touched him. I sat only 3 to 4 meters away from Mike at the Hanau-Concert, today at 21.00 to 22:38 in Germany. Wow...wowowow. It was amazing. He played really well. And for me it´s the second time to be on a Mike-Concert. But this time it was incredible....he played right in front of me because I was in the inner middle row , and that was pure luck with the tickets..so good I can´t believe it...phew.
I don´t want to say too much about the tracks he played; some people mentioned that before and I think it will be the same playlist on the whole tour.
"At the beginning Mike created the heaven and the earth..." oh stop ...am I confused ? So at the beginning Mike made us a short and nice welcome. Then the band started with the music:
1) In the beginning
2) Let there be light
3) Supernova
4) Crystal Clear
(Mike made some funny gestures while playing . For example he raised his forfinger waiting for the magic words "crystal clear")
After that Mike introduced the complete band . After that he said Mike Oldfield couldn´t be there tonight and therefore he must play now! Quite funny and I think it worked; there was a "good feeling" around ,Mike was really funny this evening.
5) Shadow on the Wall
Yeah Pepsi wanted to encourage the audience and for myself it worked. We all clapped our hands like idiots....:-)
6) Ommadawn Part one
Still perfect. He made some very nice variations in it. It was perfect...wow...
7) Embers
8) Summit Day
9) The source of secrets
10) The watchful eye
11) Jewel in the crown
12) Outcast
13) Serpent dream
14) Inner child
15) Secrets
16) Far above the clouds
Mike played all these pieces really good. And in all of them he made little variations that made them really unique masterpieces. In the first 5 minutes there were some little mistakes, but then he got hot ;-) !
17 )Moonlight shadow
18) Family Man
Yeah these to pieces were remarkable because after saying : "...now he plays some older stuff ..." the audience stood up, clapped there hands and then after a while moved forward to the stage. So suddenly all people stood up and moved to the front. And now I was only 2 meters away from Mike. Yeah ! that´s it. I don´t forget it anymore...it was sooo near .
And it was so cool...almost a "familiar" feeling because Mike played right in front of us for us. And he tried really hard and did it perfectly -wonderfull-. brilliant !!!
But unfortunately that was it. But after a lot of clapping our hands and a lot of shouting: "Zu-ga-be" clapp clapp "Zu-ga-be" clapp clapp
Mike and band returned to stage and finally played
9) FATC again.
And that was unfortunately the last song. I found it a little bit frustrating that they all went away very fast from the stage. No chance to get an autogram...;-((
Ahh before I forget:
The opening act was a nice young girl with an acoustic guitar. She played the guitar and sang very good. She said " I play under the project called luka" Hmmm whatever that means, but it was very good.
All in all it was an amazing concert ! It couldn´t be much better, but a little bit longer ! That´s the only negativ thing to report. Ok now it´s after 3 this morning and I think that´s enough for today. Maybe I fall back to "lurking mode" but maybe sometimes I dare to write some comments ..?!
For then and now many greetings,
Michael Scholz
PS: If there are some other oldfieldians from Karlsruhe(+/-) in Germany , don´t hesitate to contact me !
Hanau, 20 June, Stefan Schelling
I visited the Hanau concert yesterday and in general I really enjoyed it. My exepectations weren't that high since I read the concert reviews of Budapest and Vienna before (Thanks Ferenc and Tom). So I wasn't surprised that the playlist was exactly the same. Even the cigarette before "Source of Secrets" was the same :-)
The sound was very clear and his guitar playing was also very good. But 90 minutes is definitely too short. Especially when FATC is played twice!
The highlight for us was that the stage was only 1m in height and we stood only 3m away from Mike during the encore. He seemed to be very relaxed yesterday and made some jokes and smiled very often (although I have a little feeling that his gestures, jokes and smiles are not spontaneous, but well planned, because it was the same as in Budapest and Vienna).
However, the fact that the stage crew started with removing the instruments right 30 seconds after the end of the concert was disappointing (Kaza described it very good in his review). Why doesn't Mike give the audience at least the illusion that he is interested in them?
Vienna, 19 June, Andrea Kapavik
Yeah, in Vienna he was pretty happy too. After TSODE and SOTW he started to speak in German language he said "thank you, good evening and again thank you very much." In English "It's nice to be back in Vienna..." and he mentioned that it's 15 years ago when he last was there ... the broadcast over here is really nice...
Then he said "after a few songs from TSODE and SOTW from the 80's we'll play
.... it's Ommadawn.." It sounded really very well and it seems that I was the only one who really applauded and cried loud Uhh.. :-) for the forthcoming song. Oh yes, since I had a front row seat I almost sang SOTW together with Pepsi who performed it IMHO brilliant... Pepsi gave me signs to sing the refrain.. oh dear, I was nearly about to jump up on the stage and use my voice for background singing... :)
Well, after Ommadawn Mike introduced the band (in English :) and said that now we'll play two more calme extracts from his new album Guitars, that's Embers and Summit Day. I think they are nice pieces but it would have been heavier if he played Out of Mind... :)
Well, after this performance he took the microphon again and talked (again) in German language! It sounded soooooo cute, since he used the words "Melange" and "Gulasch" which are famous for Vienna :) Also, he said something about TB3, in German of course, and made a small addition.. 3+1, 4, 1 ... it was a bit difficult to understand since he talked so much... in German language... I was so impressed ...
Well, after all they played the already mentioned tracks of TB3 which was absolutely the culmination!!!!! Pepsi has a quite good and powerful voice... I like her! Outcast is one of my favourite tracks and therefore I cried out loud when the song started!!!! FATC was overwhelming since Claire Nicholson played the guitar soooooo perfectly, she's really good. Yeah, when MS started people ran to the stage (me too!! :) and we all sang MS together with Pepsi very loud (especially the refrain) ... she does a really great show performance... better than at HGP. Well, after two boys succeeded in getting an autograph of Mike (they jumped up on the stage and went to Mike who just was going back... it didn't seem that he was shocked, he gave them kindly an autograph) he returned with his band members for another FATC...
So, as a conclusion I can say that blond Mike appeared very happy to play in Vienna and talked really alot - his German isn't too bad - he smiled very often at audience and looked healthy :-)
The concert in Vienna was so far my greatest and highest excitement.... :-) very much look forward to London. Btw, does anybody know how I get tickets for the concert in Munich???
Gorgeous regards,
Oola :-)
Budapest, 18 June, Nemeth Laszlo
This is the short descripsion of the first concert of Live Then and Now '99 Tour. Budapest, June 18th.
In the Beginning
The musicians came to the stage, and started to play the intro of The Song of Distant Earth. During this song Mike ran in.
Let There Be Light
Crystal Clear
Mike made some mistakes during the song. For example, he played on guitar and we heard nothing. It was only once! The solo was simplier than the album version.
Shadow on the Wall
Pepsi was great! Her voice, her moves was fantastic! She really felt the song!
Ommadawn
This was the beginning and the end of Ommadawn Part 1. The solo was different but the Ommadawn feeling stay. I really waited this song, and it was fantastic, of course. Mike smoked during the song.
Two tracks from Guitars:
Embers
Summit Day
Started with 3 guitars + bass + drum, but than Adrian played on keyboards instead of guitar.
Tubular Bells III follows.
The Source of Secrets
The Watchful Eye
Jewel in the Crown
Outcast
I'm looking for the one who played the most effective guitar part, but I didn't found. I think, it was a sample from the synthesizers.
Serpent Dream
The Inner Child
Secrets
Big suprise! The basic of the song was the same, but the piano arpeggios was the arpeggios of Tubular Bells 1! What an idea! Nice mix.
Far Above the Clouds
One of my favourite! There was a bonus man ; he played on tubular bells while Mike played on guitar, so he was in the back of the instrument. When the solo ended, and the TB bass started Mike back to the Bells, and played. Once he tried to hit the other bell player with the hammer. :-))
Moonlight Shadow
Family Man
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Bielefeld, 27 June, Juergen
I am 31 and a fan of Mike since 82 when five miles out hit me and changed my life in many ways - it showed me what music is capable to do for you, your feelings and your thoughts - it is so much more than just notes and technique. It even made me picking up the guitar myself and I suppose some of the members here know what I mean.
To be honest, after listening to guitars I was not very much excited about going to Oldfield concerts anymore - I was on some of them in the eighties, the TB2-tour and in HGP but never had expected what I experienced the last two days: I went to the concerts in Bielefeld and Bonn.
I think he played Cochise in Bielefeld for the first time, which is great to hear it live as with all the songs he played from guitars - they all benefit from the arrangement with "real drums" and "real" keyboards, imho of course. He played muse just alone, with no backing guitar to accompany, he wove the melody into his picking and I love it if he changes things like that - by the way, he played some of the songs totally different in Bonn than in Berlin - I did not expect that, he improved the track Embers, which I found boring on CD, with great extra-voicings on guitar and, as someone said before, summit day with an extra screaming guitar line - if only he had done that in his studio !!!! I think somebody asked about where he played TB1 - he mixed it in in the secrets-tracks just before far above the clouds - and totally different in the last encore !
As for the band: for me the best one he ever had - not just to look at ;-))) Pepsi is the ultimate front-girl Mike needed for this tour - I was not impressed with her on HGP but this time it is just pure power - she is born for the stage, she reminds me in her movement a bit like Tina Turner (no joke !) Shadow on the wall is a KILLER with Pepsi.
I think nobody mentioned before that when Mike hits the gong in supernova it is "earthmoving", especially if you stand just 1 meter from the speakers;-). For me, Mike seems to be in good form and I hope that I will make it to the Munich concert in two weeks aswell - I just cannot get enough !
I like Guitars much more after hearing some tracks of it live , strange...
![]() Hamburg 25 June Amarock@t-online.de
First I must said, that the atmosphere in the north of germany was very cool. The arena was filled up with ca. 5000 people who was very cool.. It was only a small open air arena.
I came there at 6pm and so I was one of the first people who entry the arena. I take a place on a litlle wall that was breasthigh in front of the stage. I'll be only 3m away from the stage.
The Equipment on the stage was very small. Only one drums, some guitars, some keyboards, a great GONG ;-) Some midi-sequencers and the bells. It look likes to be a very small concert with a minimum of Instruments to make a lot of money. Remember the TB2 Premiere in Edinburgh !!!!!!!!!! That was an Equipment !!!!!!!
At 15 minutes past 7 LUCA came out and begin to play. She was pretty good, but her sound look like Tracy Chapman or Alanis Morissette. After she played two songs she said who she are, but first must came the question about her name from the audience. She played 30 minutes pretty good. I think she will have a big karriere. It was 15 minutes to 8 when Luka was finished.
At 8pm the band came out and at last Mike. The Audience are clapping the hands very well an my heart was beating fast. I 'll never saw Mike so near. He looks a little bit nerved. (I think every day in a different town is not good to make great concerts). He make a short welcome, smile like a Robot , take his guitar and then TSODE starts. And I´ll never heard it so good before. I close my eyes and think I am in space. Live it is absolutly great.
After CRISTAL CLEAR Mike say's "hello" and "es ist schön in Hamburg zu sein". The only talk to the audience was to introduce the band and to tell us what songs are playing now. Now jokes like the Hanau concert : -(((((
SOTW sung by Pepsi who will bring power in the audience. She was very good, but I think, Pepsi better sing Rap as powerful Rock-songs (Maggie and Roger was missing)
The Track-List are exactly the same as in Berlin. OMMADAWN was great. Thank U Mike !! Then he played alone on an acoustic-guitar MUSE. Amazing !!!!! EMBERS and SUMMIT DAY are follows.
The audience are clapping their hands very long. Mike gave us only a little tired laugh ;-((
The songs of TB3 was powerful. Mike plays sometimes a strong guitar with a powerful hand : -))))))))
Wrong was, that many pieces came from tape and as the voice from the tape say´s : "and the man in the rain picked up...." pepsi will say it too. But that was not the same time she starts and so it came bad. Sometimes seems like Mike has the wrong notes on the midi-percussions. As Mike the Bell hits, we are clapping like idiots. That was amazing !!!!!!!!!
Then Mike and the Band leave the stage. It was 15 minutes past 9.
Soon after a long applause they came back and played MS and Family Man. Pepsi sung it very good and the cool north-germans are clapping their hands.
Now the band leaves the stage again. I saw they on the backside talking together. The arena are cooking. Then they came back to play FATC again. This was finaly the last time they played.
It was 38 minutes past 9. TOOOOOOO SHORT !!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was it. No chance to get a autogramm. No words of thanks to the audience from Mike : -((((
No songs from Voyager (good) no excerpts from Amarok (bad)
And........ MITR was missing very much ;-((((((((( So I take two shirts (one with the bell and one with Guitars) and the little necklage. However very expensive. All in All it was a good concert. Great to standing so near to Mike : -))))))))
But I am a little bit desilusioned. Mike show no feelings. He looks like a music-robot, but he is genius !!!!!!
Thank U Mike for a good evening
Berlin, ICC, 23 June, Michael Weigmann
I've been to the concert in Berlin and it was also very impressive. It was actually my first concert that I've visited and it will probably also be the best for years (up to the next Mike Oldfield concert). I don't wanna tell much more because things seem to be similar but one was not so cool at all. As the young woman of project Luka? said to perform the last song the crowd began to cheer enthusiastically. Hey, she was really good! She did earn more than that.
My rating: 10 for all
Like Arthur C. Clarke already said: Mike lived up to my expectations...
Berlin, ICC 23, June Lise
Back from a 4 day vacation in Berlin - ending with a concert on Wednesday night. The concert was the best part!
Bits and pieces, in no particular order.
They had no program. Sold out? I bought a necklace. It's stamped silver directly on the bell. If anybody figures out, whether is's silver or not, I'd sure like to know.
20-20.30: Luca playing. Reminds me of Tracy Chapman - a little. "Julias ordinary day", "Magic jacket", "Homeless", "Strong enough" (cover version), "Alright now" (no, not that one!)... Applause when she ended! She was good, and I might buy the CD, if there ever is one.
20.30-21: Boring! Backstage people walking across the stage. Some people in the audience tried to start a wave - not much success... (BTW: I was sitting in a very active group of Danes, on the so called 4th row (it really was the 12th!!!), on the right side. People on all sides of us kept looking at us strangely because we sang along, applauded, shouted and so on.)
21-22.45 (?): Music!
He was sitting center stage, not on the left as he's done a lot lately. Once he walked over the left part of the stage.
Supernova really rocked me....
Ommadawn: synth-choir and guitar-harp? Ah well... And during the non-active bits: picking his ear?!?
The heart-beat drums of Ommadawn really got to me - I think this is one of the first times Ommadawn has really touched me.
Muse was a nice surprise. Very simple - also very touching. I almost cried... But it made Embers and Summit Day seem boring in comparison. (BTW: some times I really felt a lot of emotions. So much so, that I had to "rest" and ignore some music for a while, just to get ready for the next
wave... Can't say I've tried that before...)
While introducing the other musicians, he misspoke - and promptly slapped himself on the cheek, before he started over.
I loved that TB became a part of TB3 - although I had a hard time placing all the references, and sometimes was just confused: what is this he's playing now? I hope a bootleg will emerge, so I can listen to this again.
The music was loud, but not too loud.
Best concert in 15 years? Best concert for me so far! More varied selection of music than TB2 and HGP. Errors, yes, but also life, feeling and joy!
Really looking forward to seeing him in a month, in Denmark! I get the feeling, that this tour will get better and better.
Hanau, 20 June, Claus-Henning Hofmann
For me it was the second Oldfield concert after TB2 in Frankfurt and I must say it was much better. The auditorium was full of real fans. It was the first time in my life that I had the feeling that I'm not the only one loving Mike's music. I met a few Amarokers standing in front of the stage (hi Rainer, Marcus !) before taking my seat in Row 8. The seat was perfect. I had a good view and the sound quality was really good.
Oh yes, Project Luca was really beatiful. But I think the music was a little bit boring. In principle I hate opening acts so I was really happy as the band entered the stage. Mike was missing first but then an old man with white hair and a little belly (is this the right word for the thing you get after drinking two Guinness daily and making no sport at all ?) entered. It seemed that most of the people were not sure if this is Mike or not. So they started to applaud with a little delay !
To start with TSODE was perfect but I couldn't understand why the voice came from tape. It's not too difficult to say "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, ... in the beginning Mike created the heaven
and the earth..." I think. But never mind.
Shadow on the wall was really ok with a female voice but at least one guitar was missing to get it the hard way the song needs to be played.
I was so happy that Mike played Ommadawn. It was the highlight of the evening. And he did it again. He made the same mistake again playing the acoustic guitar (the same mistake you can hear and see on the Knebworth video). After playing the very high notes he went down on the e-string instead of using b- or g-string and played the wrong note. I wonder why he doesn't take a teacher :-) But as far as I have seen this was the only mistake. The rest was perfect, e.g. the solo of moonlight shadow.
Okay, my points from 0-10:
Play list: 8 (too short and too much TB3, no Amarok, no Incantations/Hergest Ridge mix)
General Performance: 8 (one guitar missing, to much coming from tape)
Musicians: 10
Atmosphere: 11 :-)
Light show: 6
Sound quality: 9 (row 8 !)
Merchandise: 3 (too expensive T-shirts, no posters, no CD's !!! - terrible !!!)
Opening Act: 10 soooo beautiful (and 5 points for the music)
Price: 5
All together: 95 %, a fantastic evening.
Highlights: Ommadawn, TSODE
Disappointsments: excerpts of guitars
Hanau, 20 June, Rainer Muenz
We could listen to a few minutes of the soundcheck (bits from Distant Earth and a few other tracks), but the security closed the doors after a while. The stage was far away and the backdoors had been locked or full with guards, so we couldn't say hello to Carrie :-( I think, this would have been more interesting than talking with Mike himself, hehe :-))
The doors were opened at 6:30 pm, earlier than I thought. We had enough time to buy some merchandise products. I've bought a tour booklet (written by Paul Harris, hi Paul!), a T-Shirt, and the necklace. The tour booklet is very nice, but almost all pictures are already well-known. Interesting to read some facts about the musicians. Price was 15 DM. There had been 3 or 4 different T-Shirts, 40 DM each. I have only bought a dark blue one with silver bells. Another had the Guitars guitars in a circle on front on dark blue or black colour, and one or two more. The necklace claim to be real silver, but I think it's just cheap plastic bells (very small, 1 square cm) on a metal chain. Will check that in my laboratory (no, I will not solve it in nictric acid, but I will check the density and weight). Price was 30 DM, so it can't be silver (okay, silver is not expensive, but merchandise products are...). Later I've also bought a bootleg Guitars T-Shirt in front of the hall (20 DM) :-)
After that we searched our seats, they had been numbered. My place was seat No. 5 in first row, right side. Wow, we looked really important with our tickets for the first row :-)) Mike performed only 3 meters away from my place (how old he looked with his white hairs!), but unfortunately I did not have a good view to Carrie and Claire (which looked much better...) - there was always this guy called Mike Oldman (or something like this) in front of them :-))
The concert starts with an opening act - it was a very very very beautiful singer and guitar player called Project Luca (or perhaps written a little bit different). I had already seen her in local TV, but did not know her style of music. Wow, she was sitting in front of me, so my place was the best :-))) She performed a few love songs with her acoustic guitar only; her voice was wonderful (would love to hear Moonlight Shadow with this voice), but the sound quality in first row was bad (distorted). She played exactly 30 minutes... hehe, she told us that she will perform 30 minutes, and she checked the clock 2 or 3 times :-) She was perhaps a little bit nervous and insecure, but she did her job perfectly, and she certainly won a lot of fans - great! Want to see her again... but in a pub :-)))
After some minutes of re-construction and checks Mike and the band appeared, and they started with Distant Earth. By the way, they played some intsrumental music in the break - perhaps some parts of the Millennium Bell???
Only a few comments about the tracks: TSODE was great! I love this album, and it was fantastic to hear it live (especially Crystal Clear). I was a little bit disappointed that there was much from tape (e.g., the voices). Later, Pepsi sang Shadow On The Wall - and to be honest, this version was fantastic! The best version I ever heard, so it really worked with a female singer. A little bit boring had been the Guitar tracks, but I was happy to hear Summit Day (this is my favourite Guitars track). Tubular Bells III was very good, especially FATC and Outcast (the beautiful Claire did a great job on the guitar, wow, what a girl!), but I think there was not much at all mixed in from TB 1 and TB 2 - and TB 4 and TB 5 (like Mike announced with a smile). Highlight of the concert was of course Ommadawn; a very rocky version, absolutely fantastic. It doesn't matter that there might had been some technical problems (also in other parts), it was still a wonderful atmosphere - only the joints had been missing :-)
General comments: Perfect musicians, especially Claire (who was more in the foreground than the others), but bad sound quality in first row (was probably better behind us). Great play list (my favourite tracks) - nothing from Voyager, so I was happy. Too short of course. Other artists play 2,5 hours for less money!!! Light show... not a very professional light show, just a few bells on a wall and some coloured lights - perhaps very good in 1980 or so, but boring in 1999. This is okay for me - I don't visit a concert because of the light show. Of course Mike was far away (although I've seen him from a distance of 3 m) - sometimes, when he had nothing to play standing in front of the big gong (lunch time now), reminds me of a very arrogant Klaus Kinski - I'm the master, you are my fans, I'm divine. Also his joke(s) had been studied a long time in front of the mirror: Mike Oldfield couldn't come, so I'm here instead of him. Okay, we all know this, and we like the music, that's it. By the way, Andrea, he wear a white T-Shirt (no picture), brown (? hard to say because of the lights) trousers, white shoes.
Okay, points from 0-10:
Play list: 10 (too short)
General Performance: 9 (-1: tapes, technical troubles)
Musicians 10
Atmosphere: 10
Light show: 4
Sound quality: 4 (first row)
Merchandise: 7 (too expensive, no posters at all!)
Opening Act: 10
Price: 5
All together: 90 %, a fantastic evening.
Highlights: Ommadawn, Claire Nicholson
Disappointsments: Family Man (because I never liked it), sound quality, no chance to meet Carrie
Okay, this was my personal view of the event. Hope to see another tour of
Mike with a new album - and these musicians.
Budapest ,18 June, Ferenc Klezli
Before the great day we had an extremly bad wether for the past 10 days. Every day raining and storm, sometimes ice storm. On this day we had only a half an hour rain at 3.00pm and after we got sunshine, light wind, partly blue sky. So somebody made a great deal with the Good. Thanks.
At the starting time you could not see any empty seat or any free square cm on the arena, rough 10 000 people were there. All the fans were so "hungry" for Mike's musik.
The podium was so simple, normal lighting solution, black background colour. This is the right solution for this kind of musik. We could focus on Mike, and I think this was the goal. They did well.
The event started at 20.15. I tried to put notes about the song's order, but you know I am not a journalist, I am a Mike fan, during the last 21 years.
So, the songs
1. In the Begining (TSODA)
2. Let there be light (TSODA)
3. Shadow on the Wall
4. Omadawn (two tracks)
short introduction of the band
5. Embers (Guitars)
6. Summit Day (Guitars)
7. Several tracks from TBIII, where the last one was the Far Above the Clouds. These part was app. 25minutes.
short (1 min) break
extra
8. Moonlight Shadow
9. Family Man
End.
The concert ended at 21.45.
So this was only 90 minutes.
Mike is the Yehudi Menuhin of the guitars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is a great composer, a No.1 in the World for the instrumental music, he created history for this musik.
I will never forget him for ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was waiting 20 years for this opportunity to see him front of me with his great music.
I can not tell you any this kind of dream of my life for the next 35 years (I am 38). Only one, to see him again!
Anyhow I would like to put some comment,
Mike had this kind of tour 6 years ago and 15 years ago. He had several single concert in the following years, like last year for TBIII. The people was so exciting for him.
Until the first short break he did excellent music. I was litle bit crying with several people around me, like a big man (190cm, 120kg, hairless) next to me. We more than enjoyed !!!! We were in the sky, and not on the seat.
And after we got the next two songs, and end.
The arena was full with the people, and we could not accept, this is the end. It was several minutes consternation, when we recognised, this is really the end. We asked Mike, as usually on a concert, to come back, and play something more.
What we have seen, several staff members started to remove the sets, cables from the playing area. They could not wait like additional 20 minutes, when we start to leave the arena, and they can do their job. This is like they do not trust the fans, they have a job, and they need to do. I was on several concert, like Tina Turner, Rolling Stones, Qeen, and I never seen this kind of situation.
I know Rolling Stones had 3 sets of the instruments, and accessories with 21 tracks.
Thousands of people give so negative feedback, and I think during this time, when I write this mail, they are making some analysis of the concert.
Budapest was a great trial for the tour.
My recomendation is to change the program a little bit, like move the Shadow on the Wall and Summit Day from the firs block and make two extra blocks with two-two songs, like close with the Summit Day. The people can be satisfied. Now we have a small whole at the end.
I think Mike can not the this one in London, or in Munich.
Anyhow I can have some imagin, why Mike has a new manager now.
I think Mike heard the feedback, and he has know two thinks in his mind,
- the Hungarians are not normal people,
- How can I play in Wienna, do they give me the same feedback as in Budapest?
This is a hard think.
Anyhow, I already started to plan a short trip for the next concert, may be Munich or Prague.
Unfortunately I could not bring any camera for the concert, this was prohibited.
Mike Oldfied
Dear Mike,
If you read this comments, excuse me. This is the life. I am still a fan, and I would like to be in Berlin at January 1st.
See you soon!
Thank you very much for this event!!! I am so happy!!!!!!!!
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