So this was the second time I got Dry County and again it didn’t blow me away like I always imagined it would. Last September I saw my first open air show of my friends from Bounce and got a version of the song that absolutely stunned the shit out of me! No, there guitarist doesn’t always play it note by note and 100% identically but he poured the same soul in it that Richie does (or did) and made it spectacular that way. Not to speak of the singer kickin’ Jon’s ass nowadays. This just showed me that without the right feeling to it this song is worth nothing. Nothing.
Wanted followed, Jon asked the fans to hold up their cell phones and sing the first verse and that created an amazing atmosphere. Phil actually did a decent job, but it was the audience that fed of Jon’s energy and vice versa.
On Have A Nice Day they reworked some of the screen animations and made them look a lot cooler! The guitar tone was quite edgy and rough and pumped the audience. During the final verse Jon’s voice seemed to fade again for a moment (right before “When this world tries to drag me down…”) and just as this happened the cameras switched to David and his face expression showed some concern. It can be seen at around 14:35 on Ronny’s video:
Prayer was the song they had chose to basically end the show. This one is always a sure-fire tune to make the crowd go completely mad in Munich and I had the feeling that with Phil X it regained some of it’s punch and energy. Awesome!
The official setlist ended there and the audibles were: In These Arms, Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night, Always, These Days and Blood On Blood. Minus the latter all of them built the 2nd encore. David got to sing the first verse of In These Arms, but by the time they had adjusted his microphone volume properly Jon appeared out there on the circle and took over on the chorus. During that performance he seemed to get back a bit of confidence into his voice as we was holding the final note longer than he usually does nowadays. He picked up his guitar and started strumming the E-chords of Saturday Night which resulted in the fans overpowering him in the first part of tune. The solo was disappointing though as it was more or less just a repetition of the basic chords. I’m sure with Richie by his side Jon would’ve gone for an improvisation, but here he pushed back to the final chorus and then walked back to the stage. Tico immediately hit the drums for Always and Jon gave his all on that one, going for all he had left and making it a great performance, even though his voice was shot to pieces by the end of it.
He then paused to enjoy the applauds and seemed to think what to do. Then he pointed at a sign in the front row and David started These Days. He added a little thank you speech and then mentioned “We’ll get through this one together. It’s called These Days”. It really was a great moment and the audience carried the song all the way through, knowing it word by word.
When the final bows were done and the band turned around Jon kept waving behind his back like “get a little louder and we’ll give you one more!” For a crowd in Munich that’s the least of a problem and they did a third encore with which they ran over the curfew.
And, setting aside that Jon usually plays I Love This Town because he can get cheers easy that way, Munich is one of maybe 3 cities in the world where I believe him in meaning that song. He pushed it on and on and then they called it quits with the concert clocking on 190 minutes exactly.
I was exhausted but had had great time, especially with Marc who sang along to each song as enthusiastically as I did. All of my credits go to the band though and especially to Jon who didn’t let the slow beginning ruin his mood, but worked his ass off and gave 130% until the very last minute. This even covered for most parts his fading voice and I’ve never seen this guy working harder on stage for the fans respect.
Did I miss Richie? Sure as hell! Did I have a great time? I had an amazing experience, regardless of the bad start and my lack of motivation beforehand and I even go that far and say that out of the last 3 concerts in Munich this one was the best.
We afterwards took some photos, caught something to drink and then everybody disappeared into the night. I had been thinking about selling my Stuttgart ticket before but after this night I made my decision to go. No, I’m not happy with Richie being replaced but with a band that delivers as hard as they did I don’t feel the need to let them down.
Any who knows the odds? Maybe the King of Swing will be back in 4 weeks (I know the chances are rather slim). Anyway, I’m looking forward to it!!!