Trieste, Italy, 12/06/98
This was not a show we had planned to go to, but looking at a map of Europe on the flight over to Munich, we realised that we could make this show as well as the Monsters of Rock in Turin the following day. Driving down through Germany and Austria, we got into Triest a good hour or more before the band were due to play, and straight away, found a row of cars with flyers for the gig placed on their windscreens. Armed with this, we could at least point to the name of the place we wanted to go, even if we couldn't speak a word or Italian between us (not including tres bier).
Pity we got sent in six different directions by the six people we asked, but we eventually got into the venue seconds before the band took the stage. The venue was pretty weird - it looked like a half-built stadium, with the stage facing one of the longer sides. There was a seating area here, and a smaller area for those wanting to stand in front of the stage. Oh...and the music was LOUD - much louder than usual for a DP show.
The set list was a little different from the norm, with any Fule being done instead of 7th H -
Hush
Bludsucker
SKOW
Ted
Pictures from Home
Fingers to the Bone
Almost Human
Woman from Tokyo
Watching the Sky
Any Fule
Guitar Solo
Smoke
Evil Louie
Keyboard Solo
Lazy
Perfect Strangers
Speed King
Black Night
Highway Star
The band played well, though they have sounded a lot better - though this may have been down to the sound system - for a lot of the time, the sound was pretty distorted down at the front.
When I first saw the set list, I was a little dubious, but both SKOW (which I saw live for the first time tonight) and Lazy worked a lot better than I expected they would. The stuff from /-\ is also working very well, and seems to be getting a life of its own quicker than the material from _|_ did in 96.
I don't know if 7th heaven was due to be played as an encore or not, but as the audience were singing Black Night long before the band re-appeared for the encores, they may have just kicked into it.
One other point that no one seems to have mentioned in any reviews I have read is the new stage set-up. Rog and Steve have swapped sides again, and so have Paicey and Jon - the latter being more central with Little Ian off to the left.
Anyway, got back to the hotel, all ready for a nice relaxing beer or six, only to find that the hotel bar was closed, as were all the bars in the area (it was only about midnight).
I thought this was meant to be a civilised country??? ;-)
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