Tante
Olga, Randers
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My Little Red Book |
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This was the third show in Denmark, and the second one this time for me.
The club, Tante Olga (Aunt Olga), is a very small club and Mike told me it reminded him of
Bido Lido. This time I knew what to expect so I wasn't so anxious to what was going to
happen, but as I new almost 90 percent of all in the audience I could see that they all
was so excited about what was going to happen. As the reviews in the papers of the 2 first
shows has been really good they knew this was going to be fantastic, so everyone couldn't
wait to get the show started.
As the band entered the stage at 9.30pm, it was getting really hot in the small room and
we were all trying to get in front of the very small stage. As in Odense, the beginning of
My Little Red Book got everyone clapping their hands and breathless with excitement.
Once again I felt so happy seeing Arthur in such a good mood and delivering his songs with
such an intensity and power, that I was feeling touched by being able to withness this.
(This is really something that is hard to express, but I hope you know what I mean).
As the concert got going I watched the audience and everyone was singing along and it
looked like they knew all of the lyrics to the songs. Arthur talked quite a bit between
the songs, made jokes with the audience and the band, he really injoyed being on stage.
They played almost the same setlist as in Odense, adding Stephanie Knows Who, maybee
because some guy shouted out for it. There was not really any encore, the band didn't
leave the stage but started playing again after a short break, maybee because it was so
hard to get backstage and then onto the stage again.
After the show Arthur went to the bar and signed autographs for quite some time, then he
dissapeared backstage only to show up again shortly after and as in Odense he sat at a
table and talked.
I left the club around 1am and as I was driving back to my home it felt
like leaving some friends that I would not see for a very long time, feeling a bit sad,
but thankfull for knowing such fine persons and being able to share some moments
together with them.
Thank you - Arthur, Mike, Dave, Rusty, David and Gene.
Torben
Concert: Arthur
Lee & Love
5 stars
Can I have a fresh
pair of undies? Mine are completely soaked, said an English speaking gentleman after
legendary Arthur Lee’s show with 1960s band Love.
Indeed, Saturday
night’s show at Tante Olga in Randers – one of the smallest venues Arthur Lee
& Love are doing on this spring tour of Europe – was an emotional experience for
all concerned.
This man wrote
some of the most beautiful rock ballads this world has ever heard. On top of this he has
– or had – a wonderful voice. A voice that impressed – but also caused
enough problems Saturday night to only allow the show five stars. Lee may have been one of
the brightest stars, but he fails to reach the higher notes. In Andmoreagain everything
fell apart for him.
In other songs he
went all the way – Alone Again Or was one of them – and the audience went into
the orange skies with him. This was rock at its best. As opposed to old wine which, as it
gets better with age also gets more expensive, Arthur Lee charged only 125 kroner – a
price I’d happily have paid to hear just one of the songs; 7 And 7 Is. Damn, this was
good – the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention! Gorgeously full rock,
well-played and loud, well-sung and with melody. What else could you ask for?
The audience
didn’t realise Lee had problems. Most of them are Love-afficionadoes – they know
all the words, they sing along and play their air guitars. They’re old, they’re
male. Strangely there’s ten times as many men as women - last time I checked Love
wasn’t gay music. The men wear their hair either long or thin, some even combine the
two. And everyone gets what they came for. Although only a 70-minute show, we get 18 songs
in all, including seven from Forever Changes, easily one among the 20 best albums ever
(not to mention being among the top five from the 1960s). A regular desert island choice.
Less than six
months ago Arthur Lee was released from prison after serving six years of a 12-year
sentence for shooting a gun into the air. Saturday night in Randers was only the fifth
time he met his audience since his release, and he has earlier explained how scared he is
to get back onstage again. In Randers he appeared to have boosted his selfconfidence with
a bit of grass before the show, which would account for the unsteady delivery during the
first half of the show. As his selfconfidence returned, the second half saw him putting
his foot wrong just once.
Athur Lee enjoyed
a close rapport with his audience. He freely chatted to both his musicians and the crowd
– not very hard when there’s only half a meter betrween them. After the show he
settled in the bar and shook hands with everyone around him.
The band deserves
compliments – Love, or whoever they were. They certainly had nothing to do with the
drug addicts Lee played with in the 1960s. This was a boyband. A group of young men with
firm musical skills. Easily they could all have been sons of the audience and grandsons of
the maestro. But Lee had trained them well, especially guitarists Rusty Squeezebox and
Mike Randall, who supplied very authentic Love sounds. With their eminent guitar playing
they were weaving sound tapestries that made you forget the Tijuana-trumpets, string
ensembles and flamenco guitars from the original recordings.
In spite of his
late age of 57 Arthur Lee is a man on the rise. I predict that on the back of his
repetoire of world class songs he will soon be treading larger stages. The songs may be 35
years old, but if Lee gets his self-confidence under control he could be heading for
larger venues and bigger money soon.
Mistakes, warts
and all, it was great seeing the legend again – and then in Randers of all places.
Tante Olga deserves kudos for pulling Arthur Lee & Love to our part of the country.
The rest of the European tour visits only larger cities and capitals.
By Max
Melgaard
NORDJYSKE Stiftstidende, (newpaper in Aalborg, Denmark)
Translated by
Rasmus Heide
More photos from Randers: 1, 2, 3, 4