Burg Wilhelmstein / Würselen

Report by Paul Deblond and Daniel Olsson.
Publishing with kindly permission by Paul Deblond.
Original on www.blackmoresnight.nu

We arrived about 90 minutes before the show to get the best seats at the amazing Burg Wilhelmstein in Würselen. It's a beautiful old castle with the stage set up against one of the castle walls. We got the best seats and literally sat ON stage. That's why I didn't take so many photos, didn't feel to place a camera in Candice's face, besides the no-camera guards. However, go to Photos for some exclusive photos from the tour. A new opening act was introduced to us, La Zag an Italian Medieval/Renaissance band that played extremely interesting music during their 35+ min performance. So thanks to the Ferrarese family for bringing on such a good show.

Blackmore's Night kicked off the gig in the same fashion as in Wuppertal. The band seemed to be in a good mood, especially Ritchie and Bob (who suffered from jetlag at the Wuppertal show). The setlist was slightly different from the previous night (and unfortunately shortened 25 min due to the curfew and the bad weather.) Anyway, three new songs were added, 16th Century Greensleeves (yes!), Home Again, and a rain song (added because it actually rained cats and dogs for 20 min). During the lower part of Home Again I shouted "Sweden!" and they started to play the Hall Of The Mountain King theme, which is Norwegian as Candice correctly pointed out. Anyway it was close enough and I was happy as a kid. The sound was really good, much better than Wuppertal. To our delight Ritchie used the hurdy gurdy to play the intro to The Clock Ticks On. Overall, the gig was somewhat better than Wuppertal and the venue was amazingly beautiful.

Showtime: approximately 1 hour and  45 minutes

Setlist:

Intro
Cartouche
Play Minstrel Play
Under A Violet Moon
Past Time With Good Company
Minstrel Hall
Soldier Of Fortune
16th Century Greensleeves
Diamonds And Rust
Mr Peagram's Morris & Sword
"Rain song"
Village On The Sand
Durch Den Wald Zum Bach Haus
Ghost Of A Rose
Renaissance Faire
The Clock Ticks on

Encore:

All For One
Difficult To Cure/Self Portrait
Home Again