Live Review: Rock Meets Classic - Düsseldorf 2016

Mitsubishi-Electric-Halle, Düsseldorf, Germany
6th April 2016
Rock meets Classic with Joey Tempest (Europe), Steve Walsh (Kansas), Midge Ure (Ultravox), Ricky Warwick & Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy), Andy Scott & Pete Lincoln (The Sweet), Dan McCafferrty (Nazareth) and Doro as very special guest plus Mat Sinner Band and Bohemian Symphony Orchestra

Pure goose bumps are guaranteed in spring 2016 again! World hits of rock music are fused with bombastic, classic music to an unforgettable, top-class show experience for the seventh time already. The Manfred Hertlein GmbH sends the Mat Sinner Band and the Prague-based Bohemian Symphony Orchestra on the sixteen greatest stages of the nation again, together with those personalities who have coined rock history with their voices forever.

This time, Joey Tempest (EUROPE), Steve Walsh (KANSAS), Scott Gorham and Ricky Warwick (THIN LIZZY), Midge Ure (ULTRAVOX), Dan McCafferty (NAZARETH) as well as Andy Scott and Pete Lincoln (THE SWEET) are among the performers. The German metal queen DORO and the classic singer EILIKA have been confirmed as special guests. ROCK MEETS CLASSIC has established itself as a successful trademark long ago which stands for very special show evenings. The bombastic symbiosis of classic orchestra, an excellent rock band and world stars excites auditors every year and lures a constantly growing visitor number to the shows. There will be 16 dates next year. The unparalleled, musical journey wants to top the sensational success of last year's tours which included performances of world stars like Alice Cooper, Steve Lukather (Toto), Paul Rodgers or Lou Gramm (Foreigner).



Music & Performance
For the first time, the Rock meets Classic show, a combination of hard rock and classical orchestral music accompanied by the MAT SINNER BAND, was taking place in Düsseldorf. Around 2,000 spectators did not want to miss this three-hour concert. The evening was opened by the 42-member Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague, under the baton of Bernhard Wünsch. Steve Walsh, ex Singer of KANSAS, joined in the orchestra with the two top hits ‘Carry on Wayward Son’ and ‘Dust in the Wind’ in the evening. As Andy Scott and Pete Lincoln of THE SWEET entered the stage with ‘Action’ and ‘Fox on the run’, the hall turned into a boiling pot for the first time on this evening. The local hero DORO PESCH animated the audience to sing along with her songs ‘Für Immer’, ‘Love´s gone to hell’ and ‘All we are’. The Irish Hard Rockers Rick Warwick and Scott Gorham of THIN LIZZY presented hard songs to the audience with ‘Jailbreak’ and ‘Rosalie’ in their first appearance. Afterwards, the BSOP brought the audience back to earth with a classic version of ‘Star Wars / Game of Thrones’.



Dan Mac Cafferty, singer of the band NAZARETH was already taking part in the first editions of the show and showed the audience now his legitimation to return to the event’s stage with ‘Dream on’ and was making the audience revel ins nostalgia. Midge Ure burned down the first real fireworks of the evening. With the monster hits ‘If I was’, ‘Vienna’ and ‘Hymn’, latter ones by his band ULTRAVOX, he made the audience dancing. Gabriela Guncikova, lead singer from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Sascha Krebs, together with the Mat Sinner Band, heated up the audience after the break once more with the WHITESNAKE hit ‘Here I go again’. The second fireworks were ignited by Andy Scott & Pete Lincoln from THE SWEET. People were jumping from their seats during ‘Love is like oxygen’ and ‘Ballroom Blitz’, latter one vociferously supported by DORO. With Steve Walsh and ‘Dust in the Wind’, there was once more some time to take a breath. In it was urgently needed because Steve and Scott were rocking again with the THIN LIZZY hits ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ and ‘The Boys are back in town’.



When Dan Mc Cafferty sang ‘Love Hurts’ together with Midge Ure on guitar, he could win the audience once more with his charisma. When Midge Ure started ‘Dancing with tears in my eyes’, no one could stay seated and anyone jumped from their seats. EUROPE’s singer Joey Tempest swept like a whirlwind on stage. The spark jumped over to the audience. With a huge performance, people were burning from hits like ‘Rock the night’, ‘Superstitious’, ‘Days of Rock & Roll’, ‘Carrie’ and ‘The Final Countdown’. The whole evening was supported by the excellent MAT SINNER BAND consisting of Mat himself on bass, Alex Beyrodt and Tom Naumann on guitars and Zlatko Jimmy Kresic on keyboard. The band was really in playful mood and supported the legendary guest singers virtuously. For the last song, LED ZEPPELIN’S ‘Rock and Roll’, all musicians were united on stage and delivered a great final of the evening. The musical concept has worked again very well tonight. Da Capo Rock meets Classic!



Setlist



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All pictures by Roland Oder (www.lightandshadow-photography.de)