Aug 2022
Great Review of Colosseum open air gig in Oldenburg, Germany
18/08/22 22:06 Filed in: Band
Review from NordWest Zeitung Newspaper – Oldenburg
That was a spectacular start to the Oldenburg cultural summer: the first two concerts drew around 8,000 people to the palace square. Started with the British band Colosseum. The ancient Colosseum in Rome is a ruin with great popularity. The musical Colosseum was also demolished - but this band is back six years later, popular as ever. This was proven by the start of this year's Oldenburg cultural summer, which the Colosseum turned into a great spectacle in front of almost 5,000 people on the Schlossplatz.
It was interesting to see what has developed from the British jazz-rock institution after the group said goodbye to the stage in 2016 and their founder, outstanding drummer and leader Jon Hiseman died in 2018. The tension at Colosseum erupted shortly after the concert had started: the band is fresher, more versatile and musical than it has been for a long time; the rarely played live opening song "No pleasin'" was just as powerful and precise, just like in the past and “completely different” – because the great talents of the musicians were given far more solo space than in the past.
New band members
The reason for the new, old direction of Colosseum is certainly also due to the new members of the band. Nick Steed (organ/piano/synths) and Malcolm Mortimore (drums) keep the sound of their fellow musicians, who love to improvise, together perfectly, while saxophonist Kim Nishikawara is always good for exciting solo interludes. "He's as good as our first saxophonist, the late legendary Dick Heckstall-Smith," said a weary Dave "Clem" Clempson after the show.
He was right to be exhausted, because the guitarist Clempson was assigned the role of bandleader and playmaker in the new Colosseum formation. This allows him to taking the freedom that his playing of the strings, strongly coloured by blues rock, always needed, but which earlier in the group was only allowed to flash briefly.
Emotional songs
Not to forget Mark Clarke. The bass player plays the solid one with his instrument and complex background for Colosseum's sometimes tracked compositions, on the Schlossplatz stage he was also enthusiastic and entertaining. And finally the man on the microphone: Chris Farlowe, the singer, who even at almost 82 years of age dares to play at every point of the musical scale. "A doctor? I don't have to!" he grinned.
The Englishman turns a song into an experience with his voice, and the blues in particular lives through him in Colosseum's work. In Oldenburg Farlowe proved his talent for soulful songs with his indestructible "Stormy Monday Blues" and the newly arranged "Need somebody".
Great enjoyment
Of course, Colosseum also had all those popular hits in the program, for which the band has been loved for decades. Some of the “Valentyne Suite”, “Lost Angeles”, “Rope ladder to the moon”, “Walking in the park” or “Theme for an imaginary western” had fresh arrangements, and the brand new one by Mark Clarke's daughter Paige sang "Hesitation" - the two hours of the cultural summer opening were a sheer delight. With this start, hardly anything can go wrong.
Von Klaus Fricke
NordWest Zeitung Newspaper
That was a spectacular start to the Oldenburg cultural summer: the first two concerts drew around 8,000 people to the palace square. Started with the British band Colosseum. The ancient Colosseum in Rome is a ruin with great popularity. The musical Colosseum was also demolished - but this band is back six years later, popular as ever. This was proven by the start of this year's Oldenburg cultural summer, which the Colosseum turned into a great spectacle in front of almost 5,000 people on the Schlossplatz.
It was interesting to see what has developed from the British jazz-rock institution after the group said goodbye to the stage in 2016 and their founder, outstanding drummer and leader Jon Hiseman died in 2018. The tension at Colosseum erupted shortly after the concert had started: the band is fresher, more versatile and musical than it has been for a long time; the rarely played live opening song "No pleasin'" was just as powerful and precise, just like in the past and “completely different” – because the great talents of the musicians were given far more solo space than in the past.
New band members
The reason for the new, old direction of Colosseum is certainly also due to the new members of the band. Nick Steed (organ/piano/synths) and Malcolm Mortimore (drums) keep the sound of their fellow musicians, who love to improvise, together perfectly, while saxophonist Kim Nishikawara is always good for exciting solo interludes. "He's as good as our first saxophonist, the late legendary Dick Heckstall-Smith," said a weary Dave "Clem" Clempson after the show.
He was right to be exhausted, because the guitarist Clempson was assigned the role of bandleader and playmaker in the new Colosseum formation. This allows him to taking the freedom that his playing of the strings, strongly coloured by blues rock, always needed, but which earlier in the group was only allowed to flash briefly.
Emotional songs
Not to forget Mark Clarke. The bass player plays the solid one with his instrument and complex background for Colosseum's sometimes tracked compositions, on the Schlossplatz stage he was also enthusiastic and entertaining. And finally the man on the microphone: Chris Farlowe, the singer, who even at almost 82 years of age dares to play at every point of the musical scale. "A doctor? I don't have to!" he grinned.
The Englishman turns a song into an experience with his voice, and the blues in particular lives through him in Colosseum's work. In Oldenburg Farlowe proved his talent for soulful songs with his indestructible "Stormy Monday Blues" and the newly arranged "Need somebody".
Great enjoyment
Of course, Colosseum also had all those popular hits in the program, for which the band has been loved for decades. Some of the “Valentyne Suite”, “Lost Angeles”, “Rope ladder to the moon”, “Walking in the park” or “Theme for an imaginary western” had fresh arrangements, and the brand new one by Mark Clarke's daughter Paige sang "Hesitation" - the two hours of the cultural summer opening were a sheer delight. With this start, hardly anything can go wrong.
Von Klaus Fricke
NordWest Zeitung Newspaper
Colosseum 'Restoration' Vinyl
18/08/22 22:04 Filed in: Band
The long awaited Vinyl will now be available on the start of the September German tour