Ever since Ritchie Blackmore speculated about doing a couple of Rainbow shows in 2016, hopes and expectations have lead to very emotional disucssions between fans. To the disappointment of those hoping for one of the former lineups to reunite for the gig, Blackmore didn’t go the easy way and - as often - assembled a new team of musicians to accompany him on this adventure.

The band finally announced consisted of current Blackmore’s Night drummer David Keith, former Blackmore’s Night bass player Bob Nouveau, Blackmore’s Night contributor Jens Johansson and LORDS OF BLACK singer Ronnie Romero, which lead to even more discussions between fans and even former Rainbow members with Joe Lynn Turner claiming the planned lineup will be “a Ritchie Blackmore band, but certainly not Rainbow” overlooking the fact that RAINBOW has always been what Ritchie Blackmore wanted it to be.

Three shows took place, two open air shows in Germany at Loreley and Bietigheim while the third show was staged at the Genting Arena in Birmingham, UK. While the two German shows were recorded on audio and video for a later (November 18, 2016) release, the UK show wasn’t recorded, which is unfortunate as it did not only feature the most consistent band performance of all three evenings but also was the only show featuring “Soldier Of Fortune” and “Burn”.

Sadly, the CD booklet doesn’t explain which song has been taken from from Loreley and which song has been taken from Bietigheim which is odd as the second CD contains some bonus tracks from the “alternative night” (which one?) and introductions like “You wanna sing with me, Loreley?” are still included.

Despite all the discussions about the musicians on stage, the setlist had been the major point of criticism, including way too many DEEP PURPLE songs while leaving out a bunch of Rainbow classics. I won’t repeat details about the performance which have been already covered in my review of the Loreley show, but one of the major surprises on the CD is Jens Johansson which - now being clearly audible - does a far better job than my memories of the show suggested. For a current release, the CD offers an enjoyable sound with clear dynamics and a well-balanced mix between each instrument.

Is “Memories in Rock - Live In Germany” an album worth buying? That’s a question hard to answer. It’s a good live album, but for a band as Rainbow, good just isn’t good enough. There are more impressive live versions of almost every song out there which leaves the group of potential buyers to completists, people being curious how Rainbow sound in 2016 and those who attended at one of the shows now being offered a perfect souvenir.

Ziemlich genau elf Jahre liegen zwischen meiner ersten EPICA-Show im Le 5 in St.Avold und der “The Holographic Principle”-CD-Präsentation im 013 in Tilburg. Elf Jahre, in denen sich bei Epica jede Menge getan hat: war die Band seinerzeit unterwegs, um den Zweitling “Consign To Oblivion” live zu präsentieren, so ist man nun fünf Studioalben (den Soundtrack “The Score - An Epic Journey” nicht miterechnet) und einige Besetzungswechsel weiter, wobei das aktuelle Lineup seit rund viereinhalb Jahren zusammen agiert.

Große Brüche sind in der Historie von Epica auch durch die Besetzungswechsel nicht zu verzeichnen. Seit dem Erstling “The Phantom Agony” entwickelt die Band ihren Sound kontinuierlich von Album zu Album weiter und verfeinert konsequent ihre Trademarks. Gleichzeitig ist - beginnend mit “The Quantum Enigma” auch eine gesteigerte Experimentierfreunde hörbar: egal, ob das coole Keyboard-Intro von “Natural Corruption” oder das griffige “Omen - The Ghost Malady” - was auf dem Vorgänger nur einige Momentaufnahmen waren, findet sich auf “The Holographic Principle” deutlich häufiger wieder und gliedert sich stimmig ins Gesamtkonzept.

Epica haben den Spagat geschafft, mit “The Holographic Principle” gleichzeitig progressiver, härter, aber auch poppiger und eingängiger zu werden, eine Entwicklung die - wie bei manch anderer Band auch (OPETH, anyone?) - nicht von jedem Fan der ersten Stunde begrüßt wird. Orchester und Chor sind an vielen Stellen mehr als schmückendes Beiwerk und bei einem Song wie “Beyond the Matix” neben dem Bass die eigentlich treibende Kraft, die Mischung aus cleanen Vocals der Leadsängerin Simone Simons und den akzentuiert eingesetzten Grows von Mark Jansen gibt dem Album eine stimmige Balance zwischen Melodie und Härte.

Als ungewohnt spannende Dreingabe entpuppt sich die Bonus-CD “The Acoustic Principle”, die mit insgesamt fünf komplett neu arrangierten “The Holographic Principle”-Tracks einen nicht unbedingt rockenden, aber dafür umso mehr rollenden und groovenden Mehrwert liefert. Spätestens, wenn aus dem “Universal Death Squad” das mit Akkordeon und Akkusikgitarre untermalte “Universal Love Squad” wird, ist man auch als Metal-Fan versucht, mit einem breiten Grinsen im Gesicht mitzuschunkeln.

Während die meisten Bands meist im Gegensatz zu früheren Zeiten neue Alben nur noch im Abstand von Jahren statt jährlich veröffentlichen, haben sich Neuauflagen früherer Alben zu einer einträglichen Nebenerwerbsquelle entwickelt.

In der Regel mit dem Aufdruck “Remaster” versehen und mit ein oder zwei Bonustracks angereichert, haben - nach einer kurzen Euphriephase - die entsprechenden Sticker inzwischen eher einen abschreckenden Charakter auf einen Teil der potentiellen Käufer. Zu oft wurde einfach nur die Lautstärke bis knapp unter die Verzerrungsgrenze angehoben und mit massiv eingsetzter Dynamikkompression jegliche Dynamik und Details vernichtet um die ursprünglichen Tracks für die Generation iPod zu optimieren - die ABBA-Remasters sind ein “schönes” Beispiel dafür, was man beim Remastern alles falsch machen kann und warum gut erhaltene Exemplare der ersten CD-Auflagen inzwischen bei Sammlern heiß begehrt und somit auch teurer als die kaputtoptimierten Nachpressungen sind. Leider ist das auch bei der “Special 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition” von Judas Priests “Defenders of the Faith” der Fall, deren Studiotracks sich im Vergleich zum Original als klangmäßiger Totalausfall enpuppen.

Trotzdem ist die Neuauflage auch für Sammler nicht uninteressant, denn sie liefert ein komplettes Konzert auf 2 CDs mit, das bisher nur in Fragmenten als Bonustracks auf den 2001 erschienenen Neuauflagen offiziell erhältlich war. Die Show, aufgenommen am 5.Mai 1984 in der Long Beach Arena in Kalifornien bietet so ziemlich alles, was das 80’er Judas Priest-Herz begehrt.

Im Gegensatz zur 1987 erschienenen “Priest … Live”, die auf der 1986’er “Fuel for Life Tour” mitgeschnitten wurde und passend zum be-tour-ten Album “Turbo” recht poliert und elektro-lastig daherkommt, sind die Aufnahmen von 1984 deutlich bodenständiger und transportieren eine Atmosphäre ähnlich dem legendären “Unleashed in the East”-Album. Die Gitarren sind Priest-like auf die beiden Stereokanäle aufgeteilt, was besonders das Hören über Kopfhörer interessant macht und den ein oder anderen eher schwachen Vocal-Einsatz ebenso verzeihen lässt wie die phasenweisen Geschwindigkeitsübertretungen, bei denen unweigerlich die Frage durch den Kopf schießt, welcher Musiker denn so schnell von der Bühne wollte.

Der auf den 2001’er Remaster enthaltene Bonustrack “Turn On Your Light” wurde für die Anniversary Edition wieder gestrichen - eine nachvollziehbare Entscheidung, da dieser aus den 1985’er “Turbo”-Studio-Sessions stammte und somit keinerlei Bezug zu “Defenders Of The Faith” aufwies.

It has been quite a while since the last “Monsters of Rock” festivals and so the Rainbow rising again seems to be a perfect opportunity to bring the trademark back to life. Originally advertised as “Ritchie Blackmore´s Rainbow and Guests” the guests revealed shortly after were Thin Lizzy and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

According to German newspaper FAZ, about 15.000 fans attended at Loreley which brought the location to its limits: people had to wait for more than half an hour to get into the festival area while slipping on a muddy something that might have been a green field a few days ago and had to wait for ages until being able to leave the parking areas with their cars.

Thin Lizzy

As there’s no “real” Thin Lizzy these days, the band performing the songs consists of the two authentic members Scott Gorham on guitar and Darren Wharton on keyboards, accompanied for quite some years by Ricky Warwick on vocals and Damon Johnson handling the second guitar. While Aerosmith is on hold for quite some time, the band members seem to look for interesting side jobs and so the bass spot is taken by Tom Hamilton while the originally announced Mikkey Dee, currently helping out the Scorpions, is replaced by Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis.

Thin Lizzy concentrate on playing well know stuff including “Jailbreak”, “Dancing In The Moonlight”, “Bad Reputation”, “The Boys Are Back In Town” and “Whiskey In A Jar”, surpassing most visitors expectations and leaving quite an impression on the majority of the crowd.

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band

Second band of the evening is Manfred Mann’s Earth Band featuring the still “new guy” Robert Hart (although being in the band since 2011) on vocals and a drummer who doesn’t look like Jimmy Copley who’s still listed on the bands official site as being their drummer.

The Earth Band plays a solid set with no big surprises – neither in the songs they choose nor in the solo parts. Especially the first half of the set feels way to relaxed and laid back for being a “Monster of Rock” and so the vibes need until “Blinded By The Light” to catch most of the audience. This might also be caused by the lack of a real frontman. Robert Hart is a good singer and team player, but lacks some of the positive aspects of the lead singer’s disease which you need to enthuse such a large audience.

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow

The announcement of “Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow will be performing the music of Rainbow and Deep Purple” should have already told people there will be some Deep Purple material in the setlist – however using “Highway Star” as first track following the classic Rainbow intro feels like an awkward choice. Singer Ronnie Romero does an OK job on the vocals, but his voice might not fit too well to the MKII vocal parts, a problem Joe Lynn Turner also experienced during the “Slaves and Masters” era. The instrumental section also scores nothing higher than an OK, with especially Jens Johannson staying behind expectations.

Things improve with “Spotlight Kid” as second track, a classic Rainbow tune and the vocals being a perfect match for Ronnie Romeros voice. Same goes for “Mistreated” and “Since You’ve Been Gone”, followed by “Man On The Silver Mountain”, a song which Ronnie Romero dedicates to the original man on the silver mountain – Ronnie Dio.

During the first chords of “Catch The Rainbow” it is already clear that one of the highlights is about to come and the performance offers nothing less than the highlight of the evening. “Difficult To Cure” opens the solo section which ends with “Perfect Strangers”, another Deep Purple tune showing the same weaknesses as “Highway Star” at the beginning of the set.

Next in line is “Child In Time”, a song not played for quite a while by Deep Purple, followed by “Long Live Rock’n’Roll”, a Rainbow tune including some heavy sing-along with the crowd. During an interview prior to the shows Ritchie Blackmore had already announced that the set would include “Stargazer” which follows as the second highlight of the show.

Sadly, when the majority of the audience still is close to heaven on top of the wizard’s tower, a crash landing starts with the final tracks, “Black Night” followed by “Smoke On The Water” – songs played way too often by Deep Purple themselves and any cover band on this planet.

This ends the evening with some mixed feelings.

The lineup consisting of Ritchie Blackmore on guitars, Ronnie Romero on vocals, Jens Johansson on keyboards, Bob Nouveau on bass and David Keith on drums created a memorable night seeing the Rainbow rising again. Besides some glitches and instrumental weaknesses (which are IMHO perfectly normal for a band that is standing together on the big stage for their first show) the time flew and the concert was quite enjoyable.

The setlist on the other hand was disappointing. Leaving out a couple of Rainbow must haves (“Temple Of The King”, “Street Of Dreams”, “Sixteenth Century Greensleeves”, “Kill the King”, “Stone Cold”, …) and playing stuff that Deep Purple still include in every single show feels like a waste of time.

However – being able to experience “Catch The Rainbow” and “Stargazer” live was alone worth the trip to Loreley.

Rainbow live beim Monsters Of Rock Festival auf der Loreley.