July 24, 2000 Blue Balls Festival, Luzern, Switzerland

Report by Sunila and Ismet

Set List: A House Is Not A Motel/ Lazy Me/ Bluebird/ Bummer in the Summer/ Flames/ If I Were a Carpenter/ Darkness Darkness/ Gloria/ Baby Please Don’t Go. 1st encore: We’re Gonna Groove/ Song of the Siren. 2nd encore: As Long as I Have You with Break On Through(!)/ Trouble in Mind/ Season of the Witch.

Another joint review coming from the Swiss mountains with a special guest from Devon…Ismet’s part will be between [ ].

A good side of going to a concert with someone else, especially when it’s someone who has seen the band so often, how many times was that Ismet? [I've lost count, but it must be about a dozen or so times!!! how sad is that??].. is that you can rely on them for the set list, I’m not very good at that.

As I said before, but apparently it’s not just a streak of patriotism–the Swiss concerts have something that you can’t find anywhere else and most artists enjoy it so much. There’s no doubt that this was my favourite PoB concert among the three I saw. We drove to Luzern through the scenic Emmental valleys, after all I had a tourist with me ;-) [thanks Sunila] and after getting lost a couple of times in Luzern.[thanks Sunila] hey we got there in the end didn’t we? . we found the venue and a spot to stay until 10:30pm (!) for the concert to start. How come that every time I go to Luzern it’s pouring with rain? [something to do with the fact that you were in the company of an English man perhaps, at least on this occasion?] Well the last person I went there with wasn’t English.

Most of the audience didn’t know what to expect, the guy next to us even asked us a lot of questions about what they were going to play and who would be there, I think he was more than puzzled when Robert introduced the band! Fashion wise everyone was very elegant ‘Eric’ in with long sleeve shirt and a black velvet coat, ‘Owain’ was in brown-red from head to toe, [what's with the corduroy Owain?] but Robert was still in his ‘pyjamas’ (black with stripes and the first three buttons unfastened :-) same as the previous concerts and a pendant looking like some Viking ship), I hope that like Metallica they carry a washing machine around with them! At one point Robert used the hood on his shirt and pulled it over his head hiding underneath it, I tried to remember what song that was but my brain is beginning to resemble that cheese from the valleys we visited earlier! [I can't remember either. I think my brain was inside one of the holes of that cheese!!!].

I had described the local customs to my guest and especially what I’ve been calling the ‘Swiss Ocean’ for a while now. Once again I tried my best to get the crowd into it but had to wait for Robert’s help: “I’ve played in this country many times in the past and I remember seeing something like this”. I’m so pleased that he still remembers it. [I have to tell you people who have never experienced this strange Swiss custom, it is spooky but creates an intense rapport between audience and band.].

What was that song in which we got a bit of a WLL tease? Robert started singing “way down inside..” and everyone laughed, then ‘Carlisle’ added a small riff, he was having fun tonight and was jumping up and down a lot, he was in a very good mood and when Robert picked up ‘Owain’s’ guitar Kevyn didn’t let him leave it at that, he picked up his telecaster and ‘chased’ Robert until he took it and gave us a very nice demonstration of blues (after all this was a “Blue Balls” blues festival which incidentally brought Robert to introduce one song by telling us that back in the early days he used to have blue balls :-) [He also mentioned that his balls were blue by the end of 1998]

Looks like playing with small bands has some draw backs, and Robert has made a habit of telling us about all the bits and pieces that would need improvement. One amplifier was making strange noises and he explained why, whenever you got too close to the amp and stamped on the floor you got this weird feedback, [good old spring reverb Sunila] this was demonstrated by Robert. Also the stool was a bit wobbly, one of these so called ‘modern’ designs Robert tried some balancing but quickly gave up.

What a great night! The band was so tight and having fun. We got plenty of interaction and smiles from some very happy musicians, they must have been pleased to see a fellow Englishman in the crowd too, and the fact that the crowd was excited but attentive and didn’t shout too much in quiet moments must also influence their mood. [I promise you that this is the first PoB concert I've been to where there have been no calls for old Zep numbers] There was only one point during Darkness Darkness when the song got a bit faster and went back to a peaceful rhythm, that some people started clapping and got a sign from Kevyn that it wasn’t over yet. [I know that we have harped on about this song in past reviews but I've got to tell you that this was an exquisite rendition. Kevyn truly transcended his usual performance and raised the vibe to new levels here]. On the other side he also pushed us to sing along a bit later.

[Some of the more recently introduced songs such as 'Song of the Siren' and 'As Long as I have You' are becoming very special moments in The PoB show. The former showcases Robert's skills in Asian/exotic singing with quarter-tones recalling the important ingredient in the music of that other band he was once a member of, whose name I can't remember right now! The latter (ALAIHY) has the now well known device where Robert weaves in some 'Houses of the Holy' lyrics into the reggae section and the whole piece moves through tempo changes and 'light and shade' ...stupendous!!!] For me Song Of The Siren was new and I must say I was really impressed, I discovered yet another side of Robert’s voice, the only word that comes to mind there is ‘wow’!
I’m glad we got to say a quick thank you, to the band because it was an amazing performance. And if you read this guys, thanks for making this little detour through the misty mountains of my country!

article courtesy Sali, who allowed the contents of her Calling to You website to be added to ManicNirvana.com.