ULI JON ROTH Joined By DORO PESCH, RAGE's SMOLSKI At Germany's ROCK MEETS RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL

Legendary guitarist Uli Jon Roth's official web site has been updated with a report from his performance at the Renaissance castle Schloss Beck in Bottrop-Kirchhellen, Germany on October 9. Performing several pieces with SKY ORCHESTRA were Doro Pesch, Victor Smolski (RAGE) and Liz Vandall. The report reads as follows:

"ULI JON ROTH & SKY ORCHESTRA gave an open-air concert at the first Rock Meets Renaissance Festival at Castle Beck (Schloss Beck) in Bottrop-Feldhausen, Germany.

"This concert was designed to be somewhat of a test-run for a series of similar ones which are to be held next year and had only been advertised briefly in the local press at relatively short notice. Therefore only some insiders and avid Internet surfers had the chance to know about this event beforehand.

"It came as no surprise then that due to the combination of a general lack of promotion, coupled with the biting cold, only a few hundred people turned up, but those who did were rewarded with a unique visual spectacle and lots of great music. The first five minutes of the show were being broadcast live by WDR television and included an interview which Uli had given onstage just prior to the start of the concert. The sound throughout the evening, mixed by Georg Feltes, was excellent and crystal clear.

"The first half of the concert consisted of an almost complete rendition of 'Metamorphosis of Vivaldi's Four Seasons'. This was interspersed with various explanations and comments by Uli about the music in between the main sections of the piece.

"Uli commented several times (only half-jokingly) about the chilly temperatures and how he felt that it was nigh-on impossible to play properly in such semi-arctic conditions.

"The cold and damp also strongly affected his tuning, because the strings and tuning pegs kept recalcitrantly refusing to cooperate in the cold, which is why Uli had to re-tune the instrument a lot in between songs while making jokes about it over the microphone.

"At one point during 'Tales of the Summerwind'Uli even forgot to switch off his tuning device, started to play and looked puzzled for a few seconds as to why there was no sound emanating from his guitar until he realized what had happened. While a look which was a strange mixture of smile and exasperation swept over his face, Uli quickly stepped onto the pedal to rectify the situation and to get back his sound so that he could continue to play.

" 'Metamorphosis' received intense applause and was followed by an intermission, which gave the performers a chance to finally warm themselves up. The organizers had also not mowed the lawn in front of the large stage, and the long, wet grass slowly turned many a pair of feet in the very patient and enthusiastic audience into blocks of ice.

"U.J.R. & SKY ORCHESTRA opened up the second half of the show with two Mozart pieces, 'Rondo Alla Turca' and 'Queen of the Night', an aria from Mozart's opera 'The Magic Flute'. Uli then announced the first of the very special guests, Liz Vandall, who proceeded to sing 'Falling From The Sky', a piece she had just recorded for a solo album she is currently working on. Uli improvised a guitar solo over the intro of the song and Liz gave an amazing vocal performance. Liz still suffered a little bit from a cold which had affected her throat only a couple of days before, but this did not seem to impede her singing tonight. Next she sang the haunting introduction to 'Hiroshima' with the backing of SKY ORCHESTRA, before Uli launched into the main part of that piece.

"After this it was Victor Smolski's (RAGE) turn to brave the cold. He performed two pieces written by Johann Sebastian Bach from his new album 'Majesty & Passion' (which also features a guest appearance by U.J.R.) and one of his own. This created a lot of excitement and got the audience fired up.

"Clad in only a thin shirt Victor also made funny comments to the audience about the cold onstage before launching into a vicious guitar solo which he delivered flawlessly at break-neck speed.

"This was followed by Uli's new orchestral version of 'The Sails of Charon' which also featured Liz Vandall on vocals and was challenging the dexterity of the players of SKY ORCHESTRA, particularly at these temperatures.

"Uli then introduced the next guest, Doro Pesch who chose as her first song 'I Rule the Ruins'.

"This was followed by 'Fuer Immer' and her beautiful new single 'Let Love Rain On Me'. Doro was in great form and traded some impromptu exchanges with Uli, who answered her voice with superb feeling on the Sky Guitar. All three songs were performed with the SKY ORCHESTRA who played string arrangements by Oliver Palotai and Doro received tons of applause.

"After that Uli played a driving version of 'All Along the Watchtower', which he announced as one of his personal favourites. The evening closed with two special songs the first of which was a slightly extended version of 'Bridge To Heaven', for which Liz Vandall gave a stunning first-time vocal performance and Victor Smolski improvised a solo in the finale which followed Uli's classic Wah-Wah lead.

"All three guitarists — Uli, Victor, as well as John Boswell, who played rhythm on a few songs — were battling to keep their instruments in tune all night long because of the chilly temperatures. In fact, both Victor's and John's guitar had gone so much out of tune before the last song that there was no time to retune for them, particularly since Victor was using a tremolo locking system, which takes more time to set up. As a result it was left to Uli to play the final song alone without the other two guitarists.

"The final song of the night was 'Angel', which Uli had last performed in 1991 at the Jimi Hendrix Concert in Cologne. Doro and Liz each sang a verse and then largely shared the refrains. There had been no chance to rehearse the song beforehand and the two vocalists smiled at one another while improvising and figuring out harmony parts onstage. After this the audience clapped really hard to obtain an encore, but unfortunately no further songs had been prepared and the four main soloists as well as SKY ORCHESTRA bowed together before they left the stage.

"Since the show several promoters for castles in Germany and England have expressed their wish to stage Rock Meets Renaissance next year. Hopefully this will take place at a more benevolent time of the year and at more humane temperatures."

Download the set list for the performance in PDF format at this location. Photos from the event can be viewed here.