Teatro Excelsior / Dolo near Venedig

Report by Rainer Klos.
Publishing with kindly permission by Rainer Klos.
Original on www.blackmoresnight.nu

I thought Prague was cold... but arriving in Dolo by train taught me better. A 4 km walk from the station to Dolo (no buses or taxis) is bad enough... if it's cold and rainy it's worse. I was lucky enough to find a hotel which was just a 2 minutes walk from the venue, a theatre with a pit for an orchestra, which meant the audience sat about ten metres away (should have sold binoculars at the entrance). But the lucky seven guests were admitted to the pit right in front of the stage - a bit strange, to have the rest of the crowd so far behind you. (and during Under A Violet Moon I had the band in front of me and Candice singing behind my back, as she walked along the stage extension surrounding the pit). Opening act La Zag did a strong performance once again, playing for 30 minutes. Half an hour later-at 22.15 (!) Blackmore's Night hit the stage with the usual Mandalay Into/Cartouche opener. They had Anna Florina of La Zag as an extra percussionist behind the guitar amps. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, although miles away. Some nice flute again on Play Minstrel Play. No Intro to Minstrel Hall, but a nice ending, making up for it.

The next few songs were nicely played, but with the Budapest show in the back of my mind not outstanding, although some quite interesting parts in the solo of 'Fires'. Diamonds And Rust was once again a wonderful performance by Candice, standing ovations seemed just natural after this piece. The audience then got asked for requests. Having witnessed the sound check I new they had rehearsed 'Where Are We Going From Here' so I opted for it, but with the majority of people screaming for rock numbers the strat won the battle. Straight into Greensleeves this time, another great solo. Peagram was played with the mandola minus one bust string-still a great performance. Home Again was introduced by a long keyboard solo and saw us few in front of the stage dancing whereas the others remained seated. Ghost Of A Rose-another beautiful version, I just love the structure of the song, very dramatic.

Renaissance Faire-the dancers were down to 4... but you could hear the crowd enjoying it. Once again we were asked for requests, which resulted in a 20 second medley of Crowning Of The King and Shadow Of The Moon (too short to seriously include it in the set list). To our surprise Ritchie played Temple Of The King-unfortunately just one verse and no solo... The Clock Ticks On, featuring La Zag ended the main set and it took the band a very long time to come back, although the crowd was frantically shouting for more (by then people had come up to the stage extension-at last. A very nice All For One, Difficult To Cure (the intro without mistake this time, unlike Prague and Budapest) and Self Portrait-this time with an extended, magnificent solo started the encores. An instrumental version of Purple Haze seemed to be the end, Ritchie apparently leaving the stage... only to start Black Night from behind the curtains. The first verse of this song was the last time Candice had to sing that night, and then Sir Robert took over. The song ended with Woman From Tokyo as a sing-along riff and then the Blackmore Blues, Ritchie asking Sir Robert to sing. Fantastic. The last number of the evening surprised everybody-'Sunshine Of Your Love', Bob singing again... great fun, but it ended much too soon... just 1.55, a short show for BN standard... altogether a show full of surprises, with a somewhat distant Ritchie (passing down beer, but no shaking hands this time). Milan tomorrow... what can we expect next? Strawberry Fields? ;-)

Showtime: 1 hour and 55 minutes

Setlist:

Mandalay Intro
Cartouche
Play Minstrel Play
Minstrel Hall
Under A Violet Moon
Past Time With Good Company
Fires At Midnight
Soldier Of Fortune
Durch Den Wald Zum Bach Haus
Diamonds And Rust
16th Century Greensleeves
Mr. Peagram's Morris And Sword
Keyboard solo/Home Again
Ghost Of A Rose
Renaissance Faire
Temple Of The King
Clock Ticks On (keine Drehleier)

Encore:

All For One
Difficult To Cure
Self Portrait
Purple Haze
Black Night
Woman From Tokyo
Blackmore Blues (mit Gesang)
Sunshine Of Your Love