OFF: Deep Purple/Dr. Feelgood in Schweiz

[Henderson Keith]

Hi Folks...

Well, I've attended my first concert in a foreign country where English is
not the primary language spoken.  Of course, it *was* the primary language
spoken on stage, which was an interesting twist.  I'm speaking of the 2002
Schupfart Rock Festival held outside the 'city' limits of the bustling
metropolis of Schupfart, Switzerland, which has no traffic lights and a
population of something like 250, not including dairy cows.  It does,
however, have a small airstrip which hosted the festival (though I never
actually saw tarmac and but one low-flying plane coming in for landing).

Since I've only just arrived here, I hardly know anyone's name let alone
their musical taste, and plus I've never hesitated to wander off on my own
for concerts and such.  So I simply found out what the nearest train station
was, and jumped aboard the west-going train with my backpack full with tent
and sleeping bag (I did email the organizers just to make sure camping was
available, knowing I couldn't return on the train late at night from such a
distant locale).  I alit at Eiken station (just past halfway between Zurich
and Basel) and had no problem finding the road south to Schupfart (it was
the *only* road out of town).  Unfortunately, I then learned that not all of
Switzerland is equally friendly toward bicycling/hiking as is this area
around the River Aare!  This narrow, winding two-lane road had almost no
shoulder to speak of, and the Swiss often drive for 'sport' from what I can
tell.  Potentially dangerous.  However, very little traffic was coming down
the hill toward me on my four-mile hike, whereas I noticed (as the hour
passed and it came closer to starting time) that there was a hell of a lot
of traffic passing me from behind on the other side of the road!  Short of
counting cars, I came to the conclusion that this event was going to be
larger than the 2,000 or so I expected to be there when I first considered
going.  I mean, Basel (30 miles away) isn't really a booming metropolis and
there probably weren't five locals under the age of 50, so...

But when I finally reached the summit, I could see that this was indeed a
festival of some note.  I came to the gate to discover where tickets could
be purchased and inquire about camping.  Upon paying my 69 SFr. (a little
steep but worth it in the end), I gleaned "No problem, no charge for camping
and camp wherever you like (over 'that' way)" from the few English words
that were offered in response to a sputtering word or two in German
('zeltplatz?') from myself.  Well, of course, like every other experience
I've had on trains and such here, I ended up planted firmly in someone
else's reserved spot, so eventually I trudged down to the open spot near the
end and set up my camp as dusk was setting.

I was still thinking this was truly 'open-air' but then I discovered that
they'd erected a huge tent next to the airstrip (hence, no tarmac visible)
and when I got inside saw that the dimensions were large enough to hold five
figures.  And I'd guess in the end that there were about 10,000 jammed into
there.  It was a cool night, but it was plenty warm from body heat and from
the sausage grill.  Lots of beer was available and reasonably priced ($3
equivalent for a half-liter) compared to the food which was much steeper.  I
didn't bother much with that, and stuck with the liquid refreshment. Some
Swiss band called Mash was up first and they'd started by the time I
entered...pretty lame stuff really, *very* AOR pop-rock white bread stuff -
somewhere between Huey Lewis and Journey.  They had a gold disc ceremony
(however many that is in Switz. with a pop. of just 7 million I dunno)
before their closing number and they did seem to be fairly popular in the
area.  In fact, the next day I saw their CD prominently displayed in a local
store so I guess they're not just a bunch of no-names (though they should
be).

Dr. Feelgood was up next after just a short break.  As I suggested before,
I'd never heard of them before, but they are indeed an old UK blues-rock
band of some note.  And they were quite fun and people really liked them
too.  They did a mix of more up-tempo rhythm & blues with the occasional
more-sultry delta blues jam.  On those, guitarist Steve Walwyn (I had to
look that name up - sounded like Steve Woolery to my ears when he was
introduced) would take over for long periods of time on his vintage
Telecaster...not much slide action, but it was typical blues guitar and
nicely done.  "Down at the Jetty Blues" was the one 15-min. jam that worked
really nicely and people really liked.  There was one short single-length
track that I thought I might have recognized, and it got a lot of applause
too...might have been "She's a Wind Up" I dunno.  I know they played that
one anyway, as well as one called "Down at the Doctor's."  Robert Kane is
the group's new vocalist, and I guess he's been associated with the Animals
at some time in the past.  OK voice, more of an asset on harp though IMHO.
Bassist PH Mitchell and drummer Kevin Morris I guess are original members as
well as Walwyn, so with the passing of the previous lead vocalist I suppose
this is as legit as they can be.

A bit of a longer break till Deep Purple, and right on Swiss time, they
started at 11:00 PM on the nose.  I'd just seen them six weeks ago in
Pittsburgh, and so this wasn't going to be a big eye-opener or anything, but
I was happy with some set changes throughout the show.  In particular, my
favorite Deep Purple song "Mary Long" I *finally* heard played live, and it
was a pleasant surprise (they'd dropped it before the Pittsburgh show and so
I didn't think I'd hear it this time either).  I didn't really like what
Steve Morse did in the guitar break there in the middle, but I didn't care -
I just wanted to hear Gillan sing it and he sounded good there.  Actually,
he held up really well thoughout the 1:50 performance....nothing like the
last 30 minutes of Black Sabbath a few years ago when Ozzy (who was doing
just fine for an hour) suddenly lost it completely and couldn't hit a single
note of any song the rest of the way..."Paranoid" was a trainwreck!  Well,
anyway, surprisingly they put "Space Truckin'" back in the set (toward the
end) which is pretty challenging and he didn't lose it there either.  Didn't
project like he used to either, but no audible flaws.  The audience was
really jacked up throughout and it was quite fun to be there where music can
be the communicator between people whereas the German language isn't (for
me, at the moment!).  Don Airey is doing better as Jon Lord's replacement
these days I think, and the tete-a-tete between he and Morse during things
like "Speed King" was, it seemed, as interesting as Blackmore-Lord.  Only
two newer tracks were offered, just like in the USA, including "Ted the
Mechanic" and Morse's solo piece "Well-dressed Guitar" which I both like.
And I wish there was more new stuff.

After receiving a diminishing response during each successive US tour of
Morse's pre-Smoke on the Water 'radio-dial flipping' (where he'd crank out
20 seconds of every classic guitar riff known to man in advance of those
three famous chords), he finally bagged it by the time that they came to
Pittsburgh.  On the internet, *everyone* was saying they were tired of this
nonsense (I kinda agreed).  But here in Europe I guess, they still like it,
'cause it was back and even longer.  And the crowd ate it up...and much to
my dismay, most of the excitement came from 'Sweet Home Alabama' as opposed
to Hendrix or Whole Lotta Love or Won't Get Fooled Again...   But then maybe
that's because the Saturday night event at Schupfart was the 'Country' fest
and lots of folks were planning a whole weekend there?  I dunno, I get the
weird feeling that Europeans associate country music with *all* of America.
And even though I'm from just north of the Mason-Dixon line, the cities I've
lived in (Pittsburgh, Philly, Cleveland, Columbus) aren't just that way.
Not like Nashville anyway.  Nothing terribly wrong with southern-flavored
rock, I even like Skynyrd in certain doses, but...I dunno, I guess that's
all I have to say on the matter for now.

Well, so around 1 AM the event came to close as the final strands of Highway
Star were echoing off the neighboring hillsides, and we filed out to our
various destinations.  I sat up for awhile with my tent flap open watching
the trail of red lights stream out into the distance while the cool fog
settled in the valley.  I fell asleep in a second upon finally laying down
and woke up refreshed and only put off by a full bladder.  That resolved, I
folded up a wet somewhat-muddy tent (to be dried in my temporary room here
in the PSI frat house as I've come to call it) and set off on a pleasant
hike back down the hill to Eiken and parts east.  One of the best things
about this show was that I picked up a flier for a nearby club called Z-7
(in Pratteln, much closer to Basel) where it seems most of the cool bands
come to play.  Anthrax is listed there, so I assume that will also have
Motorhead on the bill?  Oddly enough, Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner (Deep
Purple vets both) were playing there the night before Deep Purple at
Schupfart.  But the interesting show coming (for me) is Birth Control and
Jane doing a show together on October 18.  I would say my first 'krautrock'
concert here, but I hope to travel to Stuttgart on October 5th to see Guru
Guru before this, so probably my second.  Alice Cooper is coming as well.
And I think the Gathering will show up shortly according to my sources.

Well, that's my concert report, completely unrelated in any way to Hawkwind
or Blue Oyster Cult, but there you have it.

Grakkl (FAA)