OFF: AMON DÜÜL 2 Live

[Andreas Stuewe]

Yesterday played the legendary AD2 in Verviers/Belgium. The poster read: "Amon
Düül 2 - die Lemminge tanzen wieder" (The Lemmings are dancing again).
The band took stage at 10.45 pm and started off with Renate Knaup singing the
last part of _KISS MA EE_ accompanied by some synths only. Then the band
launched into  _EYE-SHAKING KING_, a very chaotic version with the sound totally
unbalanced. Awful! But by the next track, _APOCALYPTIC BORE_ off "Vive la
trance" the mixing desk man got it right. A splendid version with some amazing
violin playing by Chris Karrer, 8 min long. Then came a song I know, but I don´t
remember the title, a very arabic sounding tune, must be from the early 70´s as
well. _DRY YOUR EARS_ was next, sung only by Lothar Meid. Next was _WOLF CITY_
during which John Wenzierl´s guitar playing was outstanding, another highlight.
Another surprise followed: _ALL THE YEARS ROUND_ off "Carnival in Babylon", very
much like the original, but with a percussion solo at the end by a drummer that
must be new in the band, at least he looked some 20 years younger than the rest
of the band. Peter Leopold was also drumming, but he had a very small drumkit.
The climax of the gig was next with the very heavy bass riffing of
-DEUTSCH-NEPAL_! Sung by Lothar it was a monster. The bass was underlined with
great conga playing by the young drummer. It all slowed down and the band played
a very slow reggae version (!) of _SPEED INSIDE MY SHOES_ . Not my cup of tea,
but not that bad. The new drummer was talking something in french, played the
conga again and did a jam with Chris Karrer on acoustic guitar. Lothar Meid
joined them, then the synth player (unrecognised by me) started and the jam went
into _FLOWERS OF THE ORIENT_ (off "Pyragony X") sung by the new drummer and
Renate. Another few minutes of acousic guitar playing by Chris was followed by
_SURROUNDED BY THE STARS_, another classic off "Wolf City". Beautiful! By that
time the band was having pretty much fun on stage and the people (about 250)
were enthusiastic. The song ended in an endless mostly percussive jam. No, it
didn´t end, because they started again with pt. 2 of SBTS. So, this was the main
set, which lasted for about 75 min. They came back for a 15 min encore,
consisting of a faultlessly played _ARCHANGEL´s THUNDERBIRD_ (what else?) and a
new song (I believe) which grew into an absolutely chaotic jam, an incredible
sonic attack. So they ended the gig as they started it.

Overall, this was much better than I expected it. 10 times better than last time
I saw them (in 95 at Burg Herzberg). Go and see them if you can! AD 2 are back!
Here are the dates of the short tour:

13.01: Hamburg, Fabrik
14.01: Berlin, Quasimodo
15.01: Mainz, Kuz
16.01: Nürnberg, Hirsch
17.01: Hannover, Faust

The merchandising stall was selling a lot of japanese AD II CD´s, a glossy
colourful Yeti poster and tickets for the Burg Herzberg and Cornberg festivals.
I bought the poster and tickets for Cornberg. The possible line-up will be :
Groundhogs, Fairport Convention, Them, Arthur Brown, Coloseum, PTree and......
HAWKWIND! But most of these bands (incl. HW) haven´t confirmed yet. Anyway, this
festival is just too good to be missed!


Andreas