The Hollies - Concert Review

Munich, Germany, 8^th October 2004 - by John Truman

RADIO ARABELLA OLDIE FESTIVAL – OLYMPIAHALLE, MUNICH.

It was 1979 when I was first in Munich. Then it was to see Nottingham Forest beat Malmo to win the European Cup for the first time. Now 25 years on, here we are in Munich again, this time to see my other favourite team, the Hollies! Sadly, Brian Clough (the man at the helm of Forest’s mighty triumphs) and Carl Wayne (another great showman) are no longer with us but are very much in our thoughts.

We spent Thursday, Friday and most of Saturday sightseeing. Munich, according to a tour guide, is the third largest city in Germany, next to Berlin and Hamburg, so there was much to see (once we had conquered the underground system!).

On Saturday afternoon, we made our way to the Olympic complex and arrived at the Olympiahalle at 5.00pm on Saturday (wearing our Hollies shirts of course) just as the doors were opening. We knew what to expect, as we had attended the concert in Zurich last year. The ‘Oldie Festivals’ are held about 5 or 6 times a year at different venues usually in Germany, occasionally in Switzerland.

The show started at 6.00pm and by that time the stadium was filling up. The German compere announced that we were in for over 6 hours of music. And he was right!

First on the bill was ABBA Cover. As the name suggests, there were 4 people dressed up in white catsuits singing well known ABBA songs for 30 minutes. The sound wasn’t quite right but they carried on singing Waterloo, Mamma Mia, SOS, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme and finally Dancing Queen.

After each artist, the stage crew took about 10-15 minutes to get the equipment ready for the next one.

Next on were Smokie. I’m not sure how many original members are left in the band but they did well and the sound quality was definitely improving. Smokie appear quite regularly on the continent and are bigger than the Hollies in Germany. They sang all their hits including I’ll Meet You At Midnight, Lay Back In The Arms of Someone, then a medley of It’s Your Life/Take Good Care of My Baby/Mexican Girl/For A Few Dollars More. They also sang If You Think You Know How To Love Me, Don’t Play Your Rock and Roll, Oh Carol and a good version of Creedence Clearwater’s Have You Ever Seen The Rain. After about 45 minutes, Smokie finished off with Living Next Door To Alice and the crowd gave them a very good send off.

On came the stage crew followed by someone called Drafi Deutscher and his band (looking very much like the people from ABBA Cover!). He sang in German for about 30 minutes so we took the opportunity to leave our seats and buy some refreshments and the longest hot dog I have ever seen.

At about 8pm, Dave Ashby came on stage. I’d never heard of him either, but it turned out that he was a singer who kept the crowd warmed up by singing meddlies of well known songs. I remember hearing American Pie, Barbara Ann, Surfin’ USA, Lollipop, Yesterday Man, Wimoweh, Brown Girl In The Ring and Yellow Submarine.

While this was going on, I noticed a few familiar faces on the stage checking that the equipment was in the right place. Then the compere introduced The Hollies, who came on stage to a terrific round of applause. We waited in anticipation to see how Peter Howarth fitted in. We had seen Peter before as one of Cliff’s backing singers, although we didn’t realise who he was back then. Now he is our front man and he looked pretty confident as he sang I’m Alive, quickly followed by Here I Go Again and Jennifer Eccles. On A Carousel was next with Alan Coates’ vocals ringing around the stadium and Peter shaking his maracas! Just One Look and Bus Stop were next, with Ian Parker moving to the front of the stage playing his accordion and sharing the harmonies. Blowin’ In The Wind was next and Peter’s vocals on this one were amazing, bringing the audience to life who I thought had been a bit subdued until now. The next song was Carrie Anne with Ian Parker ‘playing’ his steel drums, followed by Long Cool Woman. There wasn’t much time for talking as only 45 minutes had been allocated Next came the magnificent He Ain’t Heavy and once again Peter excelled on this, even though it did appear to take a few extra seconds looking for his harmonica! This song went down extremely well with the crowd, who brought out lighters and even sparklers in some cases. Tony then reached for his banjo so we knew what was to come. He did his solo which the crowd appreciated then it was straight into Stop, Stop, Stop which the crowd loved. Out came the lighters and sparklers again as The Air That I Breathe. Again, terrific vocals from Peter. The lads got a terrific and well-deserved ovation. Finally they sang the first verse of It’s In Everyone Of Us, with Bobby taking photos from every possible angle you could think of. The harmonies wowed the audience and Bobby thanked them and said goodbye. It was now 9.20pm.

The Hollies had, once again, put on a very professional performance and Peter fitted in really well. In fact, it was like he’d been with them for ages. Bobby was the usual powerhouse. I couldn’t help thinking that Ray’s Tiger Feet would have gone down extremely well with that crowd. Still, the audience had experienced a class act!

Now it was the turn of Suzi Quatro who soon got the crowd on their feet with her brand of rock and roll and those red leather hotpants she was wearing. She started off with Let’s Go Back, followed by Tear Me Apart, She’s In Love With You and The Wild One. She then sang No Choice, a song from her forthcoming new album, then Stumblin’ In. Unfortunately during the next song, 48 Crash, while Suzy was wandering across the stage, she fell over (this would have been more appropriate during the previous song!) but quickly recovered her composure. Can The Can and Devil Gate Drive were next. She played the piano, did a bass solo and also played the drums. So much energy for a little lady! She finished with You Can’t Give Me Love then Sweet Little Rock And Roller. The audience loved her.

Next on the bill was supposed to be Boney M but they did not appear. The compere made an announcement and I think he must have said that Liz Mitchell, their lead singer, was ill.

So, next on the stage was Sweet. I had seen this band in the early seventies on several occasions when Brian Connolly was lead singer and Mick Tucker was on drums. Unfortunately, those two have since passed away. Andy Scott is the original left in Sweet, as Steve Priest (the one who wore the make up) is no longer with them. Anyway, they played all their hits, starting off with Hellraiser, Wig Wam Bam, Little Willy and Love Is Like Oxygen (which Andy dedicated to Brian and Mick). Blockbuster, Fox On The Run and Ballroom Blitz finished their set.

Dave Ashby returned to the stage and entertained the crowd with The Boxer (the Simon and Garfunkel song), Take Me Home Country Roads and Hey Baby – with the audience joining in with the oohs and ahs.

Last on were the Tremeloes and they started with Suddenly You Love Me, Here Comes My Baby, Helule Helule and Me And My Life. Then back to 1963 with Do You Love Me and then Dave Munden, the singing drummer, took the front stage for Angel Of The Morning. They finished off Twist And Shout, My Little Lady, Silence Is Golden and finally Even The Bad Times Are Good.

It was now well past midnight so after 6 hours of non stop music, we decided to make our way back to our hotel in central Munich. Luckily, the underground was still running at that time of night.

After an early breakfast at our hotel, we checked out and made our way to the airport to catch the plane back to Stansted.

We thoroughly enjoyed our long weekend in Munich and experienced for the first time seeing Peter Howarth perform with the Hollies, which we thought was a great success. I’m sure most fans will think the same in the forthcoming November tour.

Incidentally, we saw an advert for another concert in Cologne on 5 March 2005 at which the Hollies are scheduled to appear. No doubt Rob will confirm this date in due course.


JOHN AND HELEN TRUMAN

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