KEEP ROCKIN' 19-24
Angus (XIX)
Angus Young from AC/DC is, of course, also something of a ‘must’ in this series. For us kids of the late 70s and early 80s, AC/DC was something completely new, similar to a ghost train, a slight thrill, but it had to be done. Today, T.N.T. is my mobile phone ringtone. And in 2024, after missing them several times in previous years, I finally managed to see them live in Nuremberg on the PWR UP tour. Even if the countless Instagram posts and other posts by the Bavarian Prime Minister saying that he was also there (and probably quite close to me) clouded the experience a little afterwards...
Manfred (XX)
Manfred Mann and his Earth Band can actually be described as the most successful cover band in the world. Most of the songs that made them famous are cover versions of other artists' songs (and let's generously draw a veil over their own compositions such as ‘Ha Ha! Said The Clown’ or ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy’). But, and this is what justifies Manfred Mann's place in this series, he has given many a Springsteen or Dylan song its own special and very rocking character. The blur of colour this time is the human aeroplane on the runway from the cover of my favourite Mann album, ‘Watch’, a drawing that fascinated and inspired me even in my younger years. I had the pleasure of seeing Manfred Mann's Earth Band in Giessen in 1991, at a somewhat quirky open-air concert in the courtyard of a local brewery in 2011 (together with Ten Years After and The Sweet) and at Tollwood 2025 in Munich.
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Mark (XXI)
The little-known but highly esteemed by me Mark ‘Truey’ Trueack is a British-Australian climate and peace activist and rock singer. Mark Trueack, together with his congenial partners Sean Timms and Steve Unruh, is the head of the band Unitopia and the wonderful, global music project ‘United Progressive Fraternity (UPF)’. Even though he flies under the mainstream rock radar, Mark Trueack definitely belongs in this series. Together with about 100 other nerds, I had the privilege of seeing him and Unitopia, including Sean Timms, Steve Unruh and former Genesis drummer Chester Thompson, after waiting years for a tour, at the unique Colos-Saal in Aschaffenburg in 2023, and then chatted with Mark, Steve and Sean afterwards. The advantage of perhaps having an extra-eccentric taste in music here and there, and a unique experience for me! The blur of colour is the ocarina he plays at concerts.
Steve (XXII)
I have a somewhat ambivalent relationship with Steve Howe and Yes that I can't quite explain myself: there are phases when I like Yes' music, then there are other phases when I don't like listening to it so much, and there are phases when I like the rockier albums from the eighties and then again other phases when I like the more playful albums from the seventies. At the same time, as a child of the eighties, I naturally also like the stuff Steve Howe did with Asia and GTR. I got to see Yes with Steve Howe at the Admiralspalast in Berlin in 2016. As a blur of colour, I pinned a Yes button on his jacket.
Andy (XXIII)
Andy Scott and The Sweet are similar to Manfred Mann's Earth Band: it's best to draw a veil over their early years. After that, starting with the single ‘The Ballroom Blitz’ in 1973, The Sweet released some excellent rock albums and singles in the second half of the 1970s. Andy Scott's opening riff to ‘Love Is Like Oxygen’ is still the best riff in rock history for me. Significantly, I saw The Sweet in 2011 at the same quirky open-air concert in the courtyard of a local brewery as Manfred Mann. I would describe that performance as ‘bizarre’. That's why I didn't hesitate when Andy Scott came back to Regensburg with The Sweet in 2025. And lo and behold: it was a really cracking rock concert! As a blur of colour, I just had to dress Andy Scott in a 70s shirt to go with his hairstyle, which had remained unchanged over the years...
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Michael (XXIV)
Michael Sadler is the frontman of the Canadian band Saga, which, surprisingly has enjoyed its greatest success in Germany, Sweden and Puerto Rico (!), but may not be as well known in other parts of the world as we in Germany think. I had the opportunity to see Saga in 2017 at a concert with an impressive ‘unplugged’ section in Regensburg and again in 2022 together with the New Roses and Foreigner in Munich. No offence to my cousin, who has attended more than sixty Saga concerts in her lifetime. As a blur of colour, I dressed Michael Sadler in a fan shirt with the typical Saga logo.
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