Description

Limited 3 dvd digipack edition The weather gods smiled on Axel Rudi Pell on that memorable magic evening of July 11, 2014 at the Bang Your Head festival in Balingen, Germany: There had been a severe weather alert, but in the end the floodgates of heaven opened only during the last song of the German guitarists regular set, the Rainbow classic Long Live Rock N Roll. That was Ronnie James Dio crying from above, promoter Horst E. Franz speculated while bidding his farewells to the almost 15,000 drenched-but-happy fans at the festival site. Three hours before, the sun went down, creating a beautiful atmosphere at Bang Your Head, where Axel Rudi Pell celebrated his 25th anniversary as a solo artist with a once-in-a-life-time performance. This release documents a show that is unlikely to ever be seen again in this constellation — a special present the protagonist had worked hard for. It took almost a year to set everything up. The actual organization started in the summer of 2013 when the promoter and I went public with the idea of this event, Axel says with obvious relief. He's still happy about how things have turned out. With a little help from his friends at his booking agency, the Bochum guitarist set up an extraordinary line-up. It was mostly all about personal contacts, because, after more than 30 years in the business, Axel Rudi Pell is not only well-known, but also well-respected in the worldwide rock community, so the affix And Friends is not one of those usual exaggerations. Almost all of his favoured candidates agreed on this one July date. As Axel is an early bird, the whole organization was fairly easy. Of course, there were rehearsals, but only one day before the show. Over fifty minutes worth of footage from those remarkable sessions are featured on the DVD and Blu-ray versions of this package. During those sessions, Axel realized that something unique was happening. Everybody involved had a blast and was right on track, he remembers. Unfortunately, Doogie White had a prior engagement with Michael Schenker on that rehearsal day, but was replaced with Axel Rudi Pell frontman Johnny Gioeli. And except for Charlie Huhn, who had already agreed to play a gig in the USA with his current band Foghat, Axel's former singers turned out in full force: Rob Rock (1991) and Jeff Scott Soto (1991-1997) alongside longtime Axel Rudi Pell drummer Jorg Michael (until 1998) took the stage by storm after a historical four-song Steeler reunion at the beginning of the show. Axel's current line-up put on a best-of show with a blisteringly atmospheric version of the Neil Young classic Hey Hey My My and a few epic Axel Rudi Pell classics like Mystica, The Masquerade Ball, Casbah and Into The Storm. You could feel those goose bumps spring up, and the climax was still to come: after a furious battle between drum gods Vinny Appice and Bobby Rondinelli, a long list of rock legends took the Balingen stage: stepping in for Joe Lynn Turner, who was tied up with business affairs, Pretty Maids frontman Ronnie Atkins performed a superb version of Deep Purples Black Night, including an audience singalong. Then John Lawton, the former voice of Uriah Heep, demonstrated why he still deserves a lot of Sympathy (Uriah Heep), and he was still looking for some Tush (ZZ Top). When ex-Rainbow keyboard player Tony Carey joined in for an emotional Mistreated, the now-available Doogie White and Johnny Gioeli set the roof on fire. Graham Bonnet, another Rainbow veteran from the glorious Down To Earth era, remembered the good old times with Since You Been Gone and, of course, the aforementioned Long Live Rock N Roll. At the end of those three hours, all guests (and friends!) gathered on stage for the grand finale, Smoke On The Water. A legendary evening drew to a spectacular close. Are you happy, Axel? Of course! he says. I could have played at least for another hour. Track listing: 1. Call Her Princess-Steeler cover 2. Night After Night-Steeler cover 3. Rockin The City-Steeler cover 4. Undercover Animal-Steeler cover 5. Nasty Reputation 6. Warrior 7. Fool Fool 8. Burning Chains 9. Strong As A Rock 10. Long Way to Go 11. Hey Hey My My 12. Mystica 13. Into The Storm 14. Too Late / Eternal Prisoner / Too Late 15. The Masquerade Ball / Casbah 16. Rock The Nation 17. Drum Battle-instrumental 18. Black Night-Deep Purple cover 19. Sympathy-Urian Heep cover 20. Tush-ZZ Top cover 21. Mistreated-Deep Purple cover 22. Since You Been Gone-Russ Ballard cover 23. Long Live Rock n Roll-Rainbow cover 24. Smoke On The Water-Deep Purple cover 25. Fool Fool-rehearsal 26. Sympathy-Urian Heep cover-rehearsal 27. Black Night-Deep Purple cover-rehearsal 28. Long Live Rock n Roll-Rainbow cover-rehearsal 29. Mistreated-Deep Purple cover-rehearsal 30. Smoke On The Water-Deep Purple cover-rehearsal