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I’m a great Saga fan since around 1980, attended my first Saga
concert in 1983, and since then I’ve thought of them to be one
of the coolest live bands, I’ve ever seen. So when singer
Michael Sadler announced this to be his farewell tour, I was
sure I’d go, no matter where in Denmark they would play. They
had scheduled two shows in Denmark, one in Copenhagen (where
some of the legendary “In Transit” live-album was recorded), and
in Odense the following night. The shorter distance from my home
to Odense, and the fact that the mentioned show was on Friday,
made me choose that.
Furthermore I got an interview set up with Michael Sadler
through the Danish promotion company, so everything looked just
fine…
Actually I thought that The Urge was supposed to play as pre
band to Saga, but I never saw or heard anything…maybe they
played while I was talking to Jim Gilmour and Ian Crichton
upstairs? I doubt it. What had happened that they had been
removed from the bill I don’t know, but no matter – it was Saga
I had driven close to 200 km by myself to see.
At about 21.30 the guys entered the stage in front of an
audience that counted around 450 people (the venue sadly not
nearly full) and was received with some cheering, but the
audience wasn’t overwhelmingly enthusiastic to begin with. The
average age of the attendants was well over 30(!); I guess Saga
doesn’t draw that many new fans in Denmark these days. Many here
had obviously come to hear the classics, and Michael Sadler
“promised” at the beginning, that they’d only play two tracks
from the new album (turned out to be three), so in general I
guess the audience got what they came for.
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Set list: |
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Intro |
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The Interview |
(Worlds Apart) |
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That's As Far As I'll Go |
(Trust) |
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You’re Not Alone |
(Images At Twilight) |
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What’s It Gonna Be |
(Silent Knight) |
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I’m OK |
(Trust) |
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Can't You See Me Now? |
(10,000 Days) |
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Book of Lies |
(10,000 Days) |
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The Perfectionist |
(Saga) |
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Drum solo |
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The Flyer |
(Heads Or Tales) |
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The Security Of Illusion (a ca pella version) |
(The Security Of Illusion) |
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Time’s Up (piano and vocals only) |
(Worlds Apart) |
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Piano solo |
(Jim Gilmour alone on stage) |
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Scratching The Surface (Jim Gilmour alone on stage) |
(Heads Or Tales) |
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On The Air |
(Network) |
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On The Loose |
(Worlds Apart) |
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Careful Where You Step |
(Silent Knight) |
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10,000 Days |
(10,000 Days) |
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Wind Him Up |
(Worlds Apart) |
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Encores: |
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Humble Stance |
(Saga) |
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Don’t Be Late |
(Silent Knight) |
The sound level was reasonable, not too loud, and that gave room
for the finer details in the music.
Maybe the band seemed a little rusty to begin with, but after a
few numbers they were “up and running”. They delivered, but
maybe because of the somewhat tame audience (they did
sing along, but it was never quite convincing), it never boiled
the same way as other Saga concerts I’ve attended.
Due to Brian Doerners illness (he suffered a heart attack after
this tours first gig in Canada) the drums was handled by Chris Sutherland from Kim Mitchell's
band, and thinking of the reasonably short notice he had to
learn the numbers, I think he did a quite good job. Also an ok
drum solo, although I have a slight problem with drummers that
want the audience to go along with “oooh oh oh ooohe” – not
quite up to the Saga standard if you ask me, but maybe
appropriate for getting this audience a bit more on their toes.
In Michael Sadler Saga has (had) a very charismatic front man,
and in spite of 30 years of singing, and being in his fifties,
his voice is still quite powerful (quite good a ca pella version
of “..Security…”). This night he seems to pull the band up to an
above-average live performance. I wonder what Saga will do and
how they’ll come across live, when they have to replace him. –
it will be interesting to see who they can get, that can fill
the gap after his departure from the band after this tour.
Fare well in your new life, Michael.
This was definitely not the best concert experience I’ve had
with Saga, but as always it was very nice to hear the classic
tracks.
Rating: 80 |
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