Live in Hamburg, Oct. 11th 2013
Let me begin by stating officially that radio programs in Germany are proper crap. You hear the same hits from the current artists all the time, and should one good guitar solo come during the middle of the song, it gets "edited" away. Never mind a guitar solo at the end of a song, that one fades into oblivion. Gary Moore's "Still got the blues" in german radio would last only about a minute twenty. Once, just once, did one DJ play "Hotel California" in its entirety, and stated at the end: "Whoever doesn't play air guitar at the end of this song... he has no soul!"
With that as my background, I started hearing some internet radios, and I stumbled upon Planet Rock. They have quite some good shows, Alice Cooper is a DJ couple of nights a week (hilarious!), and they used to have shows with Guy Pratt and even Gary Moore back some time ago. I decided to get an internet radio device for my kitchen, where I spend some of the time, breakfast, dishes, cooking, and set up Planet Rock as one of my favourites.
Beginning 2012, can't remember when exactly, I heard "Only Friend" from "The Temperance Movement". I searched for them on Wikipedia, but at that time they didn't exist there yet. Then came "Ain't No Tellin'", and, man, they were cool songs. First I thought of this Lynyrd Skynyrd meets AC/DC mixture, I guess Black Crowes describes their musical direction better. Hard blues, I'd say.
So I got the "Pride EP" (signed!) and I tried to get "The Temperance Movement" album signed, but for that I was too late.
I found out that they started their Europe Tour a few weeks ago (October 2013), and I didn't hesitate to get a ticket for the Hamburg show last Friday. Well, to be fair, I did ask for my wife's permission, which she granted happily. The venue was at the Molotow Club in Hamburg, at the beginning of the Reeperbahn (the street with the night clubs and other amenities).
And what a great show it was! They invited a supporting act, whose name I cannot remember (sorry guys), and as far as I understood correctly, they were supposed to play on TTM's gear (at least the drums). Problem was, TTM was on their way from Cologne still and had a mechanical problem with the van, which is why they arrived actually half an hour after the show started. They improvised drumkit was the guitar case and a stool.
TTM arrived some time afterwards, and immediately started installing equipment, doing sound checks and the like. About 20 minutes later they started the show with "Midnight Black". I was lucky to be on the front row, but that was no big deal really, since there were only about 70 people in the bar. You'll notice from the pictures that there wasn't much space.
The rest of the show was great. Even thou the left guitar was screaming in my ear (but what a sweet scream it was) the performance was great. On "Chinese Lanterns" they do this bit where the singer steps down the stage with the guitar player, absolutely unamplified, and start playing in the middle of the audience. He had to ask us to keep it quiet for a moment. Then they finish the song on stage.
What can I say, great show. I wish they had played a cover or two of their favourite artists, maybe as an idea for a next show, but still, it was great, and if they are playing near your favourite club somewhere, do yourself a favour and go see them.
Let me begin by stating officially that radio programs in Germany are proper crap. You hear the same hits from the current artists all the time, and should one good guitar solo come during the middle of the song, it gets "edited" away. Never mind a guitar solo at the end of a song, that one fades into oblivion. Gary Moore's "Still got the blues" in german radio would last only about a minute twenty. Once, just once, did one DJ play "Hotel California" in its entirety, and stated at the end: "Whoever doesn't play air guitar at the end of this song... he has no soul!"
With that as my background, I started hearing some internet radios, and I stumbled upon Planet Rock. They have quite some good shows, Alice Cooper is a DJ couple of nights a week (hilarious!), and they used to have shows with Guy Pratt and even Gary Moore back some time ago. I decided to get an internet radio device for my kitchen, where I spend some of the time, breakfast, dishes, cooking, and set up Planet Rock as one of my favourites.
Beginning 2012, can't remember when exactly, I heard "Only Friend" from "The Temperance Movement". I searched for them on Wikipedia, but at that time they didn't exist there yet. Then came "Ain't No Tellin'", and, man, they were cool songs. First I thought of this Lynyrd Skynyrd meets AC/DC mixture, I guess Black Crowes describes their musical direction better. Hard blues, I'd say.
So I got the "Pride EP" (signed!) and I tried to get "The Temperance Movement" album signed, but for that I was too late.
I found out that they started their Europe Tour a few weeks ago (October 2013), and I didn't hesitate to get a ticket for the Hamburg show last Friday. Well, to be fair, I did ask for my wife's permission, which she granted happily. The venue was at the Molotow Club in Hamburg, at the beginning of the Reeperbahn (the street with the night clubs and other amenities).
And what a great show it was! They invited a supporting act, whose name I cannot remember (sorry guys), and as far as I understood correctly, they were supposed to play on TTM's gear (at least the drums). Problem was, TTM was on their way from Cologne still and had a mechanical problem with the van, which is why they arrived actually half an hour after the show started. They improvised drumkit was the guitar case and a stool.
TTM arrived some time afterwards, and immediately started installing equipment, doing sound checks and the like. About 20 minutes later they started the show with "Midnight Black". I was lucky to be on the front row, but that was no big deal really, since there were only about 70 people in the bar. You'll notice from the pictures that there wasn't much space.
The rest of the show was great. Even thou the left guitar was screaming in my ear (but what a sweet scream it was) the performance was great. On "Chinese Lanterns" they do this bit where the singer steps down the stage with the guitar player, absolutely unamplified, and start playing in the middle of the audience. He had to ask us to keep it quiet for a moment. Then they finish the song on stage.
What can I say, great show. I wish they had played a cover or two of their favourite artists, maybe as an idea for a next show, but still, it was great, and if they are playing near your favourite club somewhere, do yourself a favour and go see them.
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