Bern, Switzerland, 30/05/1999 (from the Freaks list by Max Murgia) Dear Freaks, Friends, Companies etc. etc. Well, I guess you all know what happened in Geneva last Saturday , so let's take a step forward and see what happened the day after in bern ( or, for precision's sake, in Rubigen ). The italian freaks patrol ( that's me, ML, Roberto "Magpie" Meloni, Sabrina and Massimo ) hit the road once again on Sunday - destination : Bern, where a certain scottish poet was scheduled to play in Rubigen's Mhule Hunzi-how-the hell-it-is-spelled. After a hot afternoon spent wandering aimlessly around the Swiss capital's desert streets, we finally headed for the small town of Rubigen, a few miles from the big city. This Mhule etc.etc. has to be one of the most eye-catching clubs I've ever seen : definitely weird, but surely fascinating. And Fish must have fallen in love with the place, since I've seen him playing here some of his best gigs ever. Anyway, we got into the club and we barely had the time for a wee chat with Onkel and for a couple of pints before show-time came in like there was no tomorrow. Wes introduced the show with a small set of his own, at end of which Fish walked on stage and started the acoustic-party with "Tumbledown", accompanied by Wes on guitar, Tony Turrell on guitar and Elizabeth Antwi on backing vocals. "Somebody Special" followed, and it was nice to see Fish in such a good mood, and so willing to cheer up the audience with his jokes and funny stories. Ask him about all of those single ;o) Next we had "Change Of Heart" and then "Incomplete", which sounds almost as good if not better than the album version. And believe me, Elizabeth has one hell of a voice - geez, the girl CAN sing.... We've got another duet in the form of "Just Good Friends", and then the sweet melody of "Lady Let It Lie", which preluded to the full frontal attack of "Brother 52" - as much as I like the album version, I think that, live, this track doesn't take off as it should. And even less in this acoustic version, but that's just my humble opinion. What REALLY hit the mark big time was the acoustic re-working of Goldfish And Clowns, graced by a *mega* vocal performance by Mrs. Antwi. End of part one, and half an hour for us to catch a big breath of fresh air before the second half of the show - not before a quick chat with Wes however. A beautiful "Solo" started the secon part of the evening, quickly followed by the ever-so-emotional "A Gentleman's Excuse Me" - if this song doesn't move you, you can't say you own a heart! "Tilted Cross" was introduced by Fish with a story so funny yet so thought provoking about penguins and landmines, or better, about penguins used to clear landmines in the Falkland Islands. Sure the way he told the story raised a lot of laughs, but the thought that right now far too many people are doing the penguin in not so foreign shores is quite chilling... Fish left the stage to the brilliant Elizabeth Antwi who delighted the crowd with a fantastic cover of Kate Bush' "Man With The Child In his Eyes". Just in case you haven't noticed, I've been quite impressed by the diminutive lady's vocal skills. "Out Of My Life" rocked the crowd big time, before the shadows of the past were resurrected by "Sugar Mice"...seing Fish singing "your daddy took a raincheck" while staring at Tara, who was standing right at the back of the stage, was another emotional peak. We then got "Lucky" and finally what I was *really* waiting for, the "Plague" section - that's "Raingods Dancing" and "Make It Happen", which were, as far as I am concerned, the highlights of the gig. Fish hired the whole audience for the backing vocals slot, and introduced the band, whose members left the stage one by one, leaving Onkel alone with the crowd, enveloped by *huge* chants of "We Can Make It Happen" which kept on even after Fish had left the stage, only to come back a few minutes later for the first encore - "Internal Exile", complete with the usual jigging-among-the-crowd tradition. More chants called back the band on-stage for a second encore, "Lavander" + "Blue Angel" which closed another great gig, and another great trip to Switzerland. Now, where's the next gig????? Ciao, Max |