Hi folks,
the following article is taken from a german local paper,
called "EXPRESS" from Cologne.
It is about the Chuck Berry concert which took place yesterday in Bonn, the former capital city from germany.
It says that the show was a scandal as CB just playd 60 minutes , and he totaly @#$%& up half of the show by not knowing the text, stopping the songs and starting again, complaining about the soundsytem.
during "Little Queeny" he seemed to play so out of key that the rented professional drumer had to play very loud to safe the song somehow.
But CB was so confused that he "fired" the drumer immediately and asked the crowd if there was a drumer among them...finaly he was "bouhd" of the stage...and most of the 1200 crowd wanted their money back after the show.
Good old Chuck...
This is the whole article in german only:

Der König ist enthront:
Chuck Berry musste nach seinem Konzert in der Bonner Beethovenhalle sehen,
daß er Land gewinnt.
Aufgebrachte Fans wollten ihrem Idol an den Kragen...

Um 21.03 pm betrat der 79-jährige die Bühne.
60 Minuten und 14 sekunden später verließ er unter Buh-Rufen die Halle.
" Ich bin fassungslos. So etwas habe ich noch nie erlebt",
so Veranstalter Jürgen Harder.
Nach dem Auftritt wollten viele der 1200 Zuschauer ihr Geld zurück.
Kein Wunder, bei Eintrittspreisen bis zu 50 Euro.

Die ersten Songs spielt CB noch normal.
dann vergisst er die Texte, bricht Lieder ab.
er verliert mehrfach sein Gitarrenkabel, bastelt an den Verstärkern rum,
meckert über den Sound.
" das ist ja lächerlich" schimpft Ralphie, der extra aus Amsterdam angereist ist.

der Höhepunkt der Entgleisungen: Berry kommt bei einem Song voll aus dem Timing...und schiebt die Schuld dem Schlagzeuger Rainer Kind in die Schuhe.

EXPRESS sprach mit R.Kind, der auch für " Guildo Horn" und " Mathias Reim" spielt ( na ja) und am Luxemburger Musik Konservatorium Jazzschlagzeug-Dozent ist:
" Das war eine absolute Arschloch-Nummer von Chuck Berry.
Mit ihm zu arbeiten ist der gefährlichste Job auf diesem Planeten"
(ähem..Keith kann ein Lied davon singen..)

Es habe gar keine Proben gegeben, dafür Chaos total.

" bei Little Queeny lag er sowas von daneben, daß ich extra laut spielen mußte...das hat ihn wohl gestunken."
Der alte Mann krakeelte laut: " Ich brauch einen neuen drummer"

Da hat Rainer Kind die Nase voll..." ich bin aufgestanden und gegangen"
Und was macht Chuck Berry?
Der schanppt sich einen Fan aus dem Publikum, der den Profi ersetzen sollte..

by the way....TOO TOUGH, didn`t you go to CB some months ago ?!
Maybe it could have been you, who could have replaced the drums at the Bonn show...
What an experience...going to watch a CB show....und suddenly you find yourself playing the drums for him..

love it! Good ol' Chuck is still fiesty at 79....

>> " Das war eine absolute Arschloch-Nummer von Chuck Berry.
Mit ihm zu arbeiten ist der gefährlichste Job auf diesem Planeten"
(ähem ... Keith kann ein Lied davon singen.) <<

:E i like that part! "Arschloch-Nummer" indeed :E
thanks for the news, Salar! i think i'll put on Hail Hail Rock & Roll tonight to mark the occasion.


"What do you want - what?!"
- Keith

ouch - that really hurts.
To get kicked in the middle of the show - omg. poor drummer.
He forgot the lyrics, started songs again - oh dear, what a mess.

I saw Chuck last week in Berlin. He played exactly 1 hour too, no problem.
He did a major @#$%& up on Memphis Tennessee, it was only Chuck playing the wrong chords, the rest of the band looked bewildered but kept on going. The rest of the songs where ok.
The sound was a problem in the first half hour, after that it got better but far from brillant.

Seems like Chuck Berry does get a little confused these days, but maybe its like the old days

Sounds like nothing new,. Chuck's been pulling shit like this since the '50s

I went to see him about 18 years ago.
The man didn't want to start the show because there were people taking pictures.

Everybody started singing "Ay ay ay canta y no llores"
something like "Ay ay ay sing and don't cry".

The poor devil thought it was a compliment to him and began playing the melody with his guitar.

Then the whole audience burst with laughter, he understood what was it all about and got really annoyed.

So we didn't listen to much music, but we laughed a lot lot lot.

Chuck's one of the original "punks"

hell - makes ya think, how many things can go wrong in a gig.

Oeps, thought of going to Paris

ChrisM Wrote:
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> Sounds like nothing new,. Chuck's been pulling
> shit like this since the '50s


You gotta watch putting "shit" in the same sentance about Chuck Berry. People are likely to misinterpret your point.

So, anyone wanna guess what "Wee Wee Hours" was really about?

I'm not sure I follow you Under. I'm a bit shagged today so I'm a bit slow on the up take. Could you clarify what is you mean?

I think he is referring to Chuck getting caught with cameras in the bottom of some women's outhouse. I remember hearing something about that. Can anyone elaborate.

That's not the first time he fires one of his musicians during a show.
He fired his piano player a few years ago.
This guy is total @#$%&.

I saw Chuck in Münster on November 6 and it was much better than what was reported from Bonn. He had his son (guitar) and daughter (harmonica and vovals on some songs) with him and his bass player who has been playing with Chuck for 32 years. Drummer and pianist were locals from Münster. The bassplayer directed the drummer sometimes to play quietly or stop, but it worked very well.

Chuck was in a good mood and looked more like a 50 year old. He even did the duckwalk. He played for only one hour but I had't expected any more. He invited some chicks to join him on stage for the last number. And that was of course a totally different picture compared to when I saw him around 1979 (next door in the large Hall), when girls in petticoats and Rockabilly type guys were dancing around him.

Back then I also had climbed up the stage and joined the party. The song ended, Chuck and band left the stage, the crowd demanded "we want more, we want more..." I moved to the Chuck's mic and after shouting "we want more" twice I was kicked off the stage by a roadie. No encores from Chuck.

I saw Chuck Berry in Zürich last Monday and although the reviews he got in the papers were not good I felt his concert was much better than another one of his I went to two years ago. Chuck was playing with his son (guitar) and daughter (harmonica and vovals on some songs) who partly took over when Chuck needed a break. The Drummer was from Hamburg, the pianist from Swizterland and there was the bass player from the USA who has been touring with Chuck for more than 30 years.

Chuck was in a very good mood and was clearly enjoying the show and for a short time also did the duckwalk. Chuck played for only a bit more than one hour and did loose the words of the songs now and then. At times his guitar playing was not the best either but his famous guitar solos were great and the harmonica playing of Chucks daughter was a great plus. Chuck had several young fans join him on the stage, which they and Chuck clearly enjoyed and the same thing happened again when Chuck came back for a short encore.

I have seen Chuck Berry live several times over the last thirty years and his concert this week was clearly not his best but certainly not his worst either. I though for a 79 year old he put on quite a good show and it was nice to see the legend in person enjoying himself an giving joy to others.

I once saw Johnny Winter in concert, in 1970 in L.A. and he was auditioning drummers during his set! There was one song in particular during which several drummers played. I asked one of his roadies what was going on and he said that they were looking for a new drummer. It was really odd. Also, Johnny became angry with a couple of them when they didn't play the way he wanted them to.

Chuck Bery is a mean son of gun, one time he gave Keith Richards a black eye when Keith went up on stage to jam and Chuck didn't recognized him.
He is still cool at 79

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

I was there tuesday night,and it was terrible the man was loaded with booze, couldn't play one tune right, mixed the liricks from Carol and little Queenie,lost the gitar connection several times, his son and daughter tryed to save the show but they failled, Berry blame al his mess on the drummer and sent him 2 times away and then the poor man left, Berry's son asked for a drummer in the audience, I saw disapointed people cry, I clocked the show it was exact 48 minutes not one minute more, If This Was Only Rock And Roll I Didn't Like It.
John

ROPENI Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Chuck Bery is a mean son of gun, one time he gave
> Keith Richards a black eye when Keith went up on
> stage to jam and Chuck didn't recognized him.
> He is still cool at 79
>
> "MANOLO, SHOOT THAT PIECE OF SHIT"

And the rest of the story is, the next time he saw the Stones he apologized to Ron Wood for the incident. He thought Ron was Keith! I guess they did look sort of alike in those days, but c'mon!

Sometimes people is very bad to Chuck. That is not fare. He is an excellent live performer. This time, in Bonn, it was a bad drummer. That was it. Bad is bad. Period.

Chuck Berry - The King of Rock'n'Roll

Johan

Quote
allaboard70
Sometimes people is very bad to Chuck. That is not fare. He is an excellent live performer. This time, in Bonn, it was a bad drummer. That was it. Bad is bad. Period.

LOL, it took you more than 2 years to come up with that answer?

The article is dated:

10th. Nov. 2005 !!!!!!!!!!

how can u spend money to see this guy, hasnt written a song in 40 years, shows up with no band and expects the house band to know his songs, wtf, and then has the nerve to act like he is the victim, what a disgrace of a person, only plays an hour and charges a ridiculous sum of money to boot, i would get my money back too, you call that being cool, i call it being a miserable old frustrated fool



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-03-09 16:44 by melillo.

i think you guys are fortunate to see chuck. to be rocking at 79 in any state of mind is a thing to admire - if we can all be so lucky.

Quote
Koen

Quote
allaboard70
Sometimes people is very bad to Chuck. That is not fare. He is an excellent live performer. This time, in Bonn, it was a bad drummer. That was it. Bad is bad. Period.

LOL, it took you more than 2 years to come up with that answer?

Well, at least he took the time to look up the thread!
Something I've been guilty of not doing before.

yeah your right its fortunate to pay money to see chuck play the music to one song and sing the words to another, my mistake

>>play the music to one song and sing the words to another<<

hey don't get him started into this idea - he might charge double.

ha, i know , chuck likes his money doesnt he, only problem is he doesnt like to work for it

Quote
salar
Hi folks,
the following article is taken from a german local paper,
called "EXPRESS" from Cologne.
It is about the Chuck Berry concert which took place yesterday in Bonn, the former capital city from germany.
It says that the show was a scandal as CB just playd 60 minutes , and he totaly @#$%& up half of the show by not knowing the text, stopping the songs and starting again, complaining about the soundsytem.

Sounds like a current Jerry Lee Lewis show except the Berry show was about 30 minutes longer.

>> one time he gave Keith Richards a black eye when Keith went up on stage to jam and Chuck didn't recognized him. <<

the Department of Historical Accuracy is pleased to have this opportunity to note
that that statement conflates two different stories: Chuck threw Keith offstage in 1972 for playing too loud;
it was a different occasion when he punched him in the face backstage after some gig
(and yeah, he apologized to Ronnie afterwards). on yet another occasion (in 1983 i believe)
Chuck set Keith on fire - just a little, but still!