Artist:  Gotthard

Venue: Rios, Bradford

Date: 8 October 2005  

Once again I have to travel down to Bradford Rio a venue that is rapidly becoming my second home. This time it’s the Swiss phenomena that is Gotthard, a band that are simply massive in Europe and are somewhat less well known in this country. Which is a shame because they are a great band on album, just check out their latest release Lipservice, and live they are just as good, if not better, as if that were possible! So I count myself among the lucky ones who were here tonight to witness this prestigious occasion.

With there being no support band for tonight's show the crowd, myself included, just had to wait what seemed like an age given the early door opening times, in anticipation for the band to come on.

The band opened up with 'All We Are' and immediately the quality of the band shone through. The sound quality for a start was simply stunning, the best I've ever heard in this venue and I've been to more than a good few shows here over the years. The band showed their true star quality with a show full of tracks both old and new. There was no need to warm this crowd up because by the looks of it more than a few had already purchased and fully digested the bands new album prior to the gig. In fact I dare suspect a healthy proportion also had a fair sprinkling of cd's from their wealth of musical back catalogue.
 
With vocalist Steve Lee showing what great vocal range he has, the rest of the band just couldn’t put a foot wrong. The guitars of Leo Leoni and Freddy Scherer were just majestic on 'Dream On'.   And the keyboards on 'Hush' were something wondrous to behold.  The crowd's reaction nearly left Steve Lee speechless as he went into one of my favourite tracks off the new album ' I've Seen An Angel Cry'. Graciously offering it to all the angels who had turned up to see the band tonight, every word he spoke was like liquid gold to the ears.

'Top of the World' and 'I Wonder' just seem to flow from the stage effortlessly. The band powered through each song with the kind of degree of professionalism that is second to none.  They really know how to put on a hell of a show.

With each track, the band just got better and better, and as the crowd cheered along to each song so loudly, which seemed to further fuel the band into giving their all.  Tracks taken off the bands new album 'Lipservice' got as good a response from the crowd, as did the older ones.  With a couple of covers thrown in for good measure, the overall set was nothing less than superb.

Gotthard are a band I wouldn’t hesitate to go that extra mile to see and I would encourage anyone to go and check them out.  I'd expected this band to be good, but I'd never dreamed in a million years they'd be this magnificent.  If ever there was a strong contender for a slot on the next Hard Rock UK festival, you know which one I'm talking about, then this band has got to be it. 

With not just one but two encores, what more could you ask from a band who had given 200% from start to finish.  This may have been the first gig on these shores for more years than an elephant could remember, but my goodness the crowd were with the band every single step of the way, right from the first note of the first song, to the very last one.   Tonight these guys came and conquered everyone in the room big style.  I could have quite happily stood there all night and cheered my little heart out till the dawn came around, because tonight my world was well and truly rocked to the core. 

We can only live in hope that next time they return to the UK they do a lot more shows.  That way perhaps I might be lucky enough to catch them on more than one gig.  Sadly with London being the next stop on this particular visit, it was just a tad too far to travel.  However after tonight's outstanding performance, who know, next time I might just make that gig as well.

Once again superb stuff can't wait for more.

Setlist Included:  All We Are, Dream On, Hush, I've Seen An Angel Cry, Top Of The World, I Wonder, Said And Done, One Life, One Soul, Let It Be, Sister Moon, The Other Side Of Me, Firedance, Cupids Arrow, Mountain Mama, Mighty Quinn.  Encore:  Heaven, Lift U Up, Anytime Anywhere.  2nd Encore: The Immigrant Song

 

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