Gloria, Cologne, Germany7th October 2022
Levellers - “Increasing The Peace Europe” 2022 - Support: Nick Parker And The False Alarms
“Increasing The Peace” ... The world needs the LEVELLERS. More than ever. So, it was great that the Englishmen are finally back on tour in Europe and also play a few gigs in Germany. From this year on they are playing in a slightly different line-up. Guitarist Simon has not left the band “but he is stepping back from touring due to personal reasons”. As new guitarist and singer Dan Donnelly is now a permanent part of the LEVELLERS.
Nick Parker And The False Alarms
The first act in Cologne was NICK PARKER AND THE FALSE ALARMS. The music of singer and guitarist Nick Parker is somewhere between Singer / Songwriter and folky Pop / Rock. And the band really made a lot of fun from the first song on. The singer and his band presented themselves as a very likeable band which was very well received by the audience. Between the songs, Nick Parker repeatedly made contact with the audience and won the hearts of everyone attending at the very latest when he and the band performed ‘Hier kommt Alex’ by the DIE TOTEN HOSEN as the second to last song, as well as his song ‘Es tut mir leid’ at the end, which of course invites people in Germany to sing along thanks to the chorus in German.
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 9
Light: 7
Sound: 9
Total: 8 / 10
Levellers
The LEVELLERS are known as an incredibly good live band. For over 30 years, the band has shown itself to be very eager to tour, also performing regularly in Germany and thrilling the fans again and again. This has not changed in 2022. The Englishmen still inspire, and even the change in the line-up can’t change that.
Music & Performance
The set started with ‘Liberty Song’ from the album ‘Levelling The Land’, the LEVELLERS milestone from 30 years ago (during the evening the band played a total of 8 tracks from this album). And directly with the first song the atmosphere in the almost sold-out Gloria was there. This was not surprising, because from the first note the band performed on the highest level and an incomparable passion. Again and again, singer and guitarist Mark and the new guitarist Dan duelled in the middle of the stage. On the left, violinist Jon jumped almost constantly, on the right, bassist Jeremy once again delivered a wonderful show. The man lives music. What a show. The songs, which were sung by Simon on record and live so far, are taken over by Dan in the new line-up. And even though the new man in the band has a different timbre than Simon, his vocals also fit the LEVELLERS quite wonderfully.
In the approximately 90-minute performance, the band touched on classics like ‘One Way’, ‘The Boatman’, ‘The Riverflow’, ‘Fifteen Years’ and thus invited alternately to stage diving and singing along. As mentioned above: the atmosphere was simply terrific. And so, the concert became a 90-minute triumph of a very wonderful band.
Setlist
01. Liberty Song
02. England My Home
03. Food Roof Family
04. Generation Fear
05. Sell Out
06. Truth Is
07. The Road
08. Far From Home
09. The Boatman
1O. One Way
11. World Freak Show
12. Hope St.
13. The Men Who Would Be King
14. Carry Me
15. Dirty Davey
16. The Cholera Well
17. The Riverflow
18. Another Man’s Cause
19. Fifteen Years
20. Beautiful Day
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Light: 8
Sound: 10
Total: 9.5 / 10
All pictures by André Wilms
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