Musikhuset / Aarhus

Report by Ronny Persson
Publishing with kindly permission by Paul Deblond.
Original on www.blackmoresnight.nu

Just arrived back to Sweden after a short visit to Århus, Denmark. Århus is Denmark's second largest city. The reason to the visit is of course (even if Århus is a beautiful city) that Blackmore's Night made a quick stop and did a show at Musikhuset last night. Musikhuset showed up to be an excellent venue for concerts with a superb atmosphere and excellent ambience. The sound was one of the best I have ever heard indoors.
The audience was the common mix of hardcore fans in medieval suits (like myself) heavy metal fans with old washed out Deep Purple T-shirts and new BN fans in all ages.

The show started up with some excellent performances from Sisters Of The Moon and Lord Marnen. I am no expert of the noble art of violin but I can tell that Lord Marnen is a VERY skilful player. After a short break BN started the show with Cartouche. I have only heard it a couple of times before from the Ghost Of A Rose album and it's a great tune. But I must say that I miss Ritchie's fantastic slide in the old opening act Shadow Of The Moon. I do believe that Way To Mandalay is a better opening act. Ritchie seemed to be a bit low in the beginning and didn't really got in the right mood until Greensleves. In a couple of years ago that would have been a catastrophe for the show but not anymore. The band is very tight (Ritchie, Malcolm and Robert has played together for quite a while now) and Candice has made some great developments and is now a world class singer and artist. After Greensleves Ritchie got in a good mood and showed everybody why he is THE guitar God. The setlist included some (six) new great songs and Ritchie used his strat on seven (!!) tracks this night. It really turned out to a great rock concert at the end and the crowd went mad.The audience was by the way, fantastic. Silent when the band played and enthusiastic and applauding after the songs. Thanks Denmark. That's how it should be!!

If this show is an appetizer for the shows in Germany this summer you could all expect a skilful tight band, some new great songs, the best guitar player in the world and a fantastic songbird in Candice. Don't miss it.

Ronny Persson
 

Showtime: 2 hours and 30 minutes

Setlist:

Cartouche
Play Minstrel Play
Under A Violet Moon
Past Times With Good Company
Soldier Of Fortune
16th Century Greensleeves
Diamonds And Rust
Village On The Sand
Durch Den Wald Zum Bachhaus
Queen For A Day
Ghost Of A Rose
Mr. Peagram's Morris And Sword
Renaissance Faire
Fires At Midnight
I Still Remember
The Clock Ticks On


Encore:

All For One
Writing On The Wall (incl Burn)
Difficult To Cure
Self Portrait
Rainbow Blues
Beyond The Sunset
Home Again