Blackmores Night - Birmingham Town Hall

Full set list:

• Locked within the crystal ball
• Queen for a day
• Under a violet moon
• Soldier of fortune
• Durch den wald zum bacchaus
• Diamonds and rust
• All the fun of the fayre
• Renaissance fayre
• Solos/carmina burana
• Strawberry girl
• Journeyman
• Loreley
• Greensleeves
• Home again
• Clock ticks on
• Toast to tommorow
• Village lantern
  

The great man himself with 'Strat'


The only downside on an otherwise grat night was the total ban on photography. However as you can see I managed with some cunning to sneak a few. We were treated to a great cross section of songs from the twelve albums released. With Ritchie playing everything from guitars, mandolin, domra, to the hurdy gurdy. With the occasional blast of the famous Fender Stratocaster. Candice also played various pipes whistles and tambourine. Highlights for me were the haunting version of the Joan Baez classic 'Diamonds and Rust, along with 'Soldier of Fortune' written by Ritchie Blackmore and David Coverdale (Whitesnake). The first two rows were reserved for the fans who had all dressed in medieval costume which really added to the atmosphere.



Support was in thye ample form of Albert Dannemann of German Renaissance band The Geyers. Albert also plays in the current line up of Blackmores night along with:

Bass - Earl Grey of Chimay
Keyboards - Bard David of Larchment
Drums - Squire Malcolm of Lumley
Violin - Gypsy Rose

Albert played a variety of pipes from across the world.



The venue is Birmingham Town Hall. A Grade 1 concert venue established in 1784.It was refurbished between 2002-2008 into a proper concert Hall


Ritchie Blackmore & Candice Night in Rennaissance costume.




Not every day that you get to see a genuine Rock legend such as Ritchie Blackmore. He is best known for his role in Deep Purple and for later fronting his own band, Rainbow. He was one of the first guitarists to fuse Classical music elements with rock. In the late 1990s he retired from hard rock to concentrate instead on the traditional folk rock project Blackmore's Night, which features his wife Candice Night on vocals.
The band has released a new studio album about every 2 or 3 years and performs in small, intimate venues. The musical style differs radically from DP and Rainbow with inspiration from his favorite Renaissance music which blends well with Night's lyrics about medieval themes. It features a mixture of Renaissance-themed songs, contemporary songs, arrangements and instrumentals. Richie plays mainly acoustic guitar and various other medieval instruments including a Hurdy-Gurdy! Perhaps not surprisingly for those who know about his reputation there has been a large turover of backing musicians, around 25 so far.