When this show was announced early 2020 Alcatrazz had just released their surprisingly strong comeback album Born Innocent. On vocals we had the very typical voice of Graham Bonnet which is so important to the band sound. I remember that I was in heaven that they came to Musicon as somehow I always managed to miss them live so far. As a bonus I thought Girlschool would be a nice warm-up and Asomvel received great critics from many directions. Fast forward to 30 August 2022 and everything would be pretty different. Asomvel was no longer part of the package, Alcatrazz would open the evening to my surprise and Graham Bonnet had left the band with Doogie White now on vocals, also on their 2021 album V. Still looking forward to finally seeing Alcatrazz I combined with Marko, Magchiel and Ton a trip to Musicon on this Tuesday evening.
At 20:30 Alcatrazz walked through Musicon towards the stage. Alcatrazz meant Doogie White on vocals, Joe Stump on guitars, original band members Gary Shea on bass and Jimmy Waldo on keyboards. Finally they had a new drummer who was introduced, but I do not remember his name. The band opened with a new song of their latest album Grace of God. Then Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live followed. Next was a Rainbow cover of the album that Dooge sung on. A new Alcatrazz song was followed by a Michael Schenker song which Doogie sung originally. So there was a pattern. Strangely Doogie sung with similar Rainbow and Schenker as Graham Bonnet did. In the past Alcatrazz would include cover songs from those bands in their set. Now the big difference is, that where Graham Bonnet sung on albums that are generally considered to be among the very best of Rainbow and MSG, with Doogie that is not really the case. So we got treated on several songs by Rainbow and MSG that you hardly remember. Not necessarily a bad thing but with also three songe from their latest album there was no time for classic Alcatrazz songs from their first two album that I loved. Only Jet to Jet and God Blessed Video would be played. Now we are talking on playing the band was tight. Jimmy and Gary had no issues while the new drummer did hit hard. Joe Stump turned out to be the hero of the evening. Either his own work of the last album or songs that originally held abolute guitar masters like Schenker, Yngwie, Blackmore and Vai he played it all seemingly with no effort. his solos were fast and furious and he kept the level up. On Doogie's performance opinions were more divided. I liked it, even though he missed some high notes. Others thought it missing too much and thus reducing the fun of the evening. At the end when I was hoping for a Kree Nakoorie or Starcarr Lane we were treated on Rainbow's Temple of the King. Initially disappointed it turned out to be the absolute highlight of the evening. Doogie dedicated this song to the people we lost and at the end he got emotional, before the audience was asked to keep on singing the melody (whooooohowhowho whooahowhoooo) and he remembered Jimmy Bain, Cozy Powell, John Lord and Ronnie James Dio during the song. What a beautifull end it turned out to be of an overall good show. Now I was among those people who never saw Alcatrazz live. So yes I am disappointed to not get many songs from No Parole and Distubring the Peace. If I would have seen Alcatrazz ten times before I would have loved this bold move. From the covers especially Ariel and Take Me to the Church worked very fine. Now I am going to play me some Kree Nakoorie, Island in the Sun, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Stripper, Painted Lover, Sons and Lovers and Dangerous Games. Who knows next time I get them live. After the show I decided to get the V CD for completion reasons and also a solo album by Joe Stump, which is a shred fest and sounds like eighties Yngwie instrumentals.
Then it was up to Girlschool to follow this up. I expected a problem, but I was wrong. It turned out that more people had shown up for Girlschool than for Alcatrazz. Suddenly it got packed before the stage and arms and voices participated throughout. Now I was never really into Girlschool myself. Already 40 years ago I thought their music a bit too simple and straightforward. Live this works though as most people seemed to be enjoying the show. Demolition and Let's Go opened and soon you noticed how
most songs includede endless repeat of the chorus which was an invitation for shouting along. A funny singalong moment came when the band asked us to do so and Jackie Chambers starting shouting Matrix Den Haag. Noone new what she was on about, until Kim McAuliffe told her that she was in Musicon (and no longer in Bochum) as they could read on the bright shining logo behind them. If already a succes with the audience with Bombers included, they could do nothing wrong with most. I liked watching their set, but musically kept on wondering how they were headlining over Alcatrazz. Still a good evening was had by all and luckily even on a Tuesday night and national rail on strike, many people found their way to Musicon. What's next for me? Wound Collector 23 September.
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