Teatro Puccini / Florenz

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

A fairly small theatre, not really very nice. At least there were a lot of people in costumes, so I hoped it might turn out a good show. And it all began well... although Ritchie kept in the background most of the time, not really looking at the audience (maybe confused by the die-hard fans having been given seats on the left), everything he played was very nice. Minstrel Hall was superb, despite the very short intro. Ritchie played really well, added a few unusual songs (Ocean Gypsy, Wish You Were Here-no medley), and then came 'Village On The Sand', the first indication that something was wrong. He never picked up the strat during this song, kept playing the mandolin, sometimes so far away from the microphone that I wondered if people a few rows back could hear it at all.

Ghost Of A Rose once again was great and Renaissance Faire seemed nice as well, but maybe he did not like the fact that all the audience ran to the stage and remained there instead of just standing up, dancing and sitting down after it was over. Anyway, he swiftly started playing Home Again (no time for the keyboard intro) and decided to leave it at that. No single note being played on the strat does NOT mean it has to be a bad show (just remember the 3 hours at Rabenstein), but ending the show after just 80 minutes, with not a single encore might tempt people to use stronger words than disappointing...

Showtime: 1 hour and 20 minutes

Setlist:

Intro/Cartouche
Play Minstrel Play
Minstrel Hall
Under A Violet Moon
Past Time With Good Company
Soldier Of Fortune
Mr. Peagram's Morris And Sword
Diamonds And Rust
Durch Den Wald Zum Bach Haus
Ocean Gypsy
Wish You Were Here
Wind In The Willows
Village On The Sand
Ghost Of A Rose
Renaissance Faire
Home Again

Encore:

none