Stuttgart - Porsche Oldie Night 18. March 2005
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

Photos and review by Sandy
[click on the pictures to enlarge]

It was the first concert in 2005 in Germany, and to beat it even with Dave Dee on stage again ! 

Arriving at the hotel guess who we saw taking a bath in the sun ? Right: Beaky ! Well, we decided to join him there and had a great time ! Those were the first really warm spring days and to sit there in the sun, enjoying some cold drinks and a good conversation was unbeatable ! We also laughed a lot - first at Tonys consternation when I told him I wanted to get a real Beatles-typical Rickenbacker guitar - in turquoise ! Although he usually grabs every guitar immediately he boasted he would "NEVER !!!" play a turquoise Rick. We´ll see... And then again we guffawed when he pulled out his "purse" - a big transparent plastic zip-lock bag containing some Euros !

Well, we were also joined by some more fans and after another hour started out to the hall - although it would not have been necessary to be there before official opening time we were a bit restless as usual - due to the big line-up we expected a lot of people. 

After another hour of talking inside the hall then, the show began with the Rubettes feat. Alan Williams - bringing the house down with a grandiose show. The second act, The Three Degrees managed to keep up the phantastic mood, and the breaks were filled with good Oldie music from the speakers. It promised to get a fine evening - although a long one: the Dozies were set as last band !

The next band made me think of John (Mick) at some point - when the Legends of Doo-Wop presented a song called "Papa oom mau mau" - which slightly reminded me of that show in Wolfsburg a few months ago... Well, although the band was okay the mood seemed to go down. Somehow the Rock´n´Roll that Freddy Cannon next played made it only worse so it was up to Suzi Quatro to wake us up again. I had not seen her for a long time and actually enjoyed her performance - with a Status-Bass, the same that Dozy uses - only that Suzi´s bass had a decent head for a change... Well, after another dulling performance - Dave Edmunds - we finally could look forward to "our" guys.

In the meantime I had finally learned how to avoid those two camera-cars running in front of us during all performances. Sometimes they would be in the way of a great shot but that´s a photographers life.
So during this final break I readied my camera and when they brought forward the set of timbales and cowbells we already thought they looked weird, but we would soon find out...

Dave captured the audience immideately. Altogether they burst on stage with "Hold tight" and suddenly everyone was in action again !

The weird looking cowbells

"Does it really hurt that much ???"

Their voices were phantastic during the show - all five of them - such harmonies are great to hear.

"Hey Tich, I see a wrinkle ..."

"Zabadak" was the first big one involving the audience - everyone had to sing along. One of the fan´s daughter was a big fan of Dave and when he pulled her up on stage to sing with him that was a wonderful moment for her - although she was too afraid to sing herself...

Left: one of the rare moments when Tich is not whirling around Right: rocking Dozy - with his headless Status bass...

Even Dave could not believe what he heard there...

...but when he started to hit the cowbells for "Save me" they just produced an odd "plok-plok" !! The whole band looked over to Beaky, but they had to muddle through.

"Huh ? What´s that ??.."

"One more joke and I´ll punch my guitar right into your face !"

The highlight as usual was when Dave brought forth his bullwhip for "Legend of Xanadu" - chasing Beaky almost off the stage

"I thought you liked it ???"

For "Bend it" Tich switched from his PRS to the mandola. This song always winds up the audience. They had us singing along a big part and it was just phantastic to be part of it.

See additional photos of this show on page 2

Unfortunately that also was the moment I had used up my last roll of film, for the grande finale of Hold tight ! The five guys were giving full power again and the audience was shouting for more. But of course every show has to have an end and so finally I think after 1 o'clock we were on the way back to the hotel - exhausted but happy.

Since we had been till the end most of the others had already gone to bed and so it was one of the quieter evenings in the bar (okay, except for the two glass-crashes that we suspected were a means of the only waiter to say I wanna close up now). Well, we all talked a bit but then went to bed quite early - we still had a second day ahead of us.

The next day though was a leisurely one. Staying in one hotel for two nights has its advantages - the fans saw most of the bands whirling around, and were easily catching almost everyone for a little chat and autographs.
We also talked with the Dozies again - who were on the way to the city - Tich telling us he needed to get to a music shop - and my alarm bells started to ring ! He surely looked a bit sad - what had happened was that he had made the small mistake of not closing his guitar bag - and then picking it up - BANG ! His PRS guitar had fallen down and a small part was broken for that he needed a replacement. Well, Tich was lucky - first he managed to get that part and second, that guitar did work without trouble for the second night, he later told us - also mentioning that this second show had been even better than the day before. 

See additional photos of this show on page 2

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