Live report GOTTHARD / PRETTY MAIDS, Ratiopharm Arena, Ulm, 11.02.2017

Swiss-based hardrockers Gotthard recently released a new album called "Silver", a record that also celebrates 25 years of the quintet from the Tessin.

The celebration continues with Gotthard embarking on a tour through Europe, playing shows mainly in Germany with some more gigs in Spain, Italy and so on. The third concert on this tour brought the guys to Ulm, Germany. As exciting as the headliner show is the special guest that joins the Swiss on this tour. Legendary Danish metal institution Pretty Maids is part of the game as well and it was up to them to raise temperature in the Ratiopharm arena. The venue is actually the home base for the local basketball team but this night it was turned into a convert hall with a surprisingly good acoustic.

To my surprise the show wasn't sold out, a fact that might has to do with the show in Ravensburg two days earlier, a city that's just 40 minutes away from Ulm.

Anyhow, Pretty Maids started the night through metal at 20:00 and it was obvious that the Danes had quite some fans in the audience. Solid riffing from Ken Hammer, a great voice of Ronnie Atkins and a bass player being in constant motion dominated a set of almost 60 minutes. What made Pretty Maids even more powerful was the keyboarder Chris Laney who took the rhythm guitar once in a while.The new songs worked as a springboard for what came in the last third of the show. The new tunes are good but the old ones are great. "Back to Back", "Red Hot and Heavy" and "Future World" are classics in metal and it wasn't a surprise that the crows celebrated every single note played. Talking about "Future World", the album celebrates its 30th anniversary and how great would a classic Pretty Maids set be for the old school fans.

All in all the Danes ignited a metal firework and was more than just a special guest. Horns up.

After a stage rebuild it was time for Gotthard. The show was a journey through 25 years of Swiss-made hardrock and after having had some mainstream years the band went back to their roots with playing harder stuff again. No doubt, catchy melodies are still in focus but also the guitars are back in forefront which makes the tunes again more exciting for headbangers.

The stage scenery was kept very straight-forward. The drum kit was surrounded by wall of speakers with a big lettering of "Silver" right in front. A big 'Gotthard' backdrop completed the picture and it was obviously the music that should get the attention rather than a lot of frills and decoration. 

“Silver River” and “Electrified” have been two great songs to start the show with and also the Billy Joe Royal cover “Hush” is a fix part of each Gotthard show. Fans were enjoying each of these songs and the concert became more a Saturday night party.

Half way down the road the quintet added an acoustic part to their show, which was OK, but it also felt like a break in an energizing rock'n'roll night. Furthermore this night became an unforgettable one for at least one girl who was invited for a dance on stage with frontman Nic Maeder during “Miss Me” was played. Up to this moment in time the show was good and solid but the real moment of turning the hall into a madhouse was with "Top of the World" when the crowd joined the chorus as being a big choir and also clapping hand filled the Ratiopharm arena.

Setlist Gotthard:

1. Silver River
2. Electrified
3. Hush
4. Stay With Me
5. Mountain Mama
6. Remember It's Me
7. Feel What I Feel
8. Sister Moon
9. What You Get
10. One Life, One Soul (acoustic)
11. Let it Be (acoustic)
12. Angel (acoustic)
13. Heaven (acoustic)
14. Miss Me
15. Firedance
16. Everything Inside
17. Top of the World
18. Lift U Up
19. Medley (Come Together, Make My Day, She Goes Down)
20. Anytime, Anywhere

Setlist Pretty Maids:

1. Mother of all Lies
2. Kingmaker
3. Face the World
4. Rodeo
5. I.N.V.U.
6. Bull's Eye
7. Little Drops of Heaven
8. Back to Back
9. Red, Hot and Heavy
10. Love Games
11. Future World

Location: Ratiopharm Arena, Ulm, Germany

Date: February 11^th, 2017