From: hjv@phil.ruu.nl (Hendrik Jan Veenstra)
Subject: pH/TNR in Rovereto, Italy
Organization: Department of Philosophy, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 14:04:50 GMT


Finally, a bit later than planned, here is the review of the Peter 
Hammill/The Noisy Room concert in Rovereto, Italy on friday, december 
11th, as Marco already promised you :-).

Marco and I are very good friends for some time now, but for various 
reasons hadn't been able to meet face-to-face yet.  So I was very 
delighted when, a few months ago, I was invited to come to Italy in order 
to witness the pH/TNR concert.  This would not only be a good opportunity 
to meet one of my dearest friends 'live', but it would also mean enjoying
a unique double concerto by two artists I highly admire, _and_ (last but 
not least :) it would be an opportunity to meet the one-and-only Peter
Hammill 'in persona'.
So on thursday, 10th, my girlfriend Marjan and I jumped in the car and 
drove the approx. 1200 km from Holland to Italy.  I'll spare you the 
story of the joy of meeting Marco for the first time, and finally being 
able to shake hands on the stairs of his father's hotel, but will jump 
straight to friday, the day of the concert, instead.

Friday was rather chaotic, as was to be expected.  Marco and his 
guitarist Fabricio did a short rehearsal, while Marjan and I were still 
asleep (1200 km is quite a distance, esp. when you're living in a 250 x 
350 km country like Holland :).  It was decided that I would make some 
pictures during the day, so I accompanied Marco and Fabricio when they 
brought their instruments to the theatre.
The theatre itself (some 500 seats) was beyond expectations -- something 
I only knew from films.  Old-Italian style, bell-shaped, with 4 rows of 
balconies on top of each other, lots of small pillars, and all painted in 
old-blue, old-pink, white and gold.  Really a marvelous place.
In the meantime Fabricio got quite nervous, which isn't so strange IMO if 
you have to be the opening-act for someone like Peter Hammill :).  While 
dragging the instruments around, we heard that Peter had arrived at the 
hotel, so we decided to leave the gear alone and go and say hello. (BTW, 
Marco's father owns a hotel, so all places of action are either the 
theatre or the hotel.)

As you probably know, pH makes quite serious music, so my image of him 
was more-or-less that of a rather serious person.  I couldn't have been 
more wrong :).  Peter is a rather small, very thin man and is very 
talkative -- he even seems to suffer from the Italian habbit of talking 
more with his hands than with his mouth...  During the day he was full of 
jokes and laughs and he made the impression he was feeling very much 'at 
home' here.  Well, of course he _is_ a serious kind-of-guy, otherwise he 
wouldn't write the music he actually writes, but at least he definitely 
has a quite 'normal human' side too -- which is as pleasing as his 
musical side.

At 1800 there was a smal press-conference in the theatre for Peter, Marco 
and 3 journalists.  Nothing much spectacular, although it did give me a 
few nice pictures...  After the press-conference it was time for sound-
checking, which of course was a bit boring for us, guests.  The only 
funny thing was that I came to the conclusion that I hope Peter will never 
issue a record with his sound-checking noises on it... Marco understands 
what I'm talking about :).  After Peter was finished it was time for the 
TNR soundcheck, and while Marco gave a cute rendition of some Wakeman 
stuff, Peter (apparently as much fascinated by the place as I was) 
inspected the theatre and from time to time popped-up on the various 
balconies.

Finally the clock struck 2100 and a few minutes later (2120 I think) the
concert started with Marco on keyboards (Roland piano and Korg 
wavestation) and Fabricio, still nervous, on guitar.  The TNR gig was 
rather short (too short IMO) and all songs were taken from TNR's new CD 
"The Chessboard".
The songs (in order):

             Seasons End
             Cross And The White Shield
             When A Friend Goes Away
             The Beat Of A Different Drummer
             Where Are You (When I Need You)

Compared to the record versions, the live versions with mainly piano and 
guitar were very 'stripped-bare', but also (probably because of this) 
very powerful.  One could compare it to the difference between pH's 
records and his solo shows.  I won't go into all the details and all the 
songs -- partly because I tend to listen to concerts 'as a whole' and so 
tend to forget most of the details anyway, and partly because I think 
giving a minute-to-minute report of a concert is hardly useful.  However, 
there are two songs deserving special attention.  First of all 'Cross And 
The White Shield' was IMO _very_ impressive and powerful.  This was -for 
me at least- a typical example of a song that got 'bigger' thru the use 
of less instruments.  Almost wish there was a version like this on the 
CD... 
The second song worth mentioning is 'When A Friend Goes Away'.  As you
maybe remember, Marco's friend and sax-player on "The Chessboard" Ciro
died some week before the concert in an avalanche in the mountains.  So
Marco dedicated 'When A Friend Goes Away' to Ciro -- for obvious reasons.
Marco himself wasn't too satisfied with the way he played and sung the 
song, because he had the feeling he got too emotional, but I can assure 
you that he is mistaken.  Of course it must have been very emotional to 
sing a song for a friend you have just burried 2 days ago -- and this 
emotion could be heard too.  And it may have been technically imperfect
-- but this is *music*, not computer-science...  Really, Marco, no need 
to worry or regret anything.  As a last gift to Ciro it was just plain 
wonderful.
TNR did a very good job IMO, and the rest of the audience seemed to agree 
(as they should :).

After a short break it was pH's turn.  The usual solo-show-setup: 
keyboard (EMU proteus -- in case someone wants to know), guitar and (of 
course :) vocals.  Peter seemed to be very relaxed and gave a show that 
largely mirrored this.  Not too many 'wild' peaks, but a rather calm, 
ballad-like show, which was very beautiful.  It appeared that he talks 
Italian rather fluently (at least to _my_ ears, which in fact hardly says 
a thing...) and all the songs were announced in Italian -- which of 
course was appreciated by the non-Dutch part of the audience (approx. 
99.5 %).
The songs that were played (again in order -- and thanks to Marco who 
refreshed my memory quite a bit):

             My Room
             Just Good Friends
             Curtains
             His Best Girl
             Shell
           * I Will Find You
           * Something About Ysabel's Dance
           * If I Could
           * Been Alone So Long
           * Last Frame
           * Patient
             Mirror Images
             A Way Out
             Traintime
             ---------
             Stranger Still

Songs with a * were done on guitar, the rest on keyboard.  IMO the first 
few songs were a bit too 'friendly', calm and smooth -- but probably this 
is just a matter of taste.  My real attention was caught when he grabbed 
the guitar -- somehow I like many guitar versions better than the 
keyboard ones, probably also because I'm not too fond of the EMU's piano 
sound...  Last spring, Peter gave a concert here in Utrecht, using the 
same instruments.  Only then he used more of the 'symphonic' sounds of 
the EMU (partially mixed with the piano sound), which IMO made many songs 
a bit stronger.  Five songs with just electric piano was a bit too much 
IMO -- but again: I suppose this is purely a matter of taste.  And don't 
get me wrong: I didn't say the first 5 songs were not _good_, cause they 
really were.  They only didn't 'drag me away'.
The most impressive part (again IMO) consisted of the last 4 songs
(starting with Patient).  One of the reasons for my being impressed 
probably is the fact that those four songs are 4 of my pH-all-time-
favourites; another reason is that I somehow just found them the most 
impressive :).  Mirror Images was as beautiful as ever, and A Way Out 
gave me shivers -- as it always does, also on the record.  However, this 
too is one of those songs that grows bigger through the use of less 
instruments.  Just vocals and piano and... o my...  And Traintime... was 
just Traintime, brilliant as it is in itself.  Last year I happened to 
see the only continental David Jackson concert (ex-VdGG sax player) where 
he played an instrumental version of Traintime (ever seen someone play 
two saxes at the same time...??? %-> ), and even though that was very 
impressive (boy, he _is_ a musician), I know for sure I very much prefer 
the pH versions...
And then there was one (only one :( ) encore: Stranger Still.  At the end 
of a very powerful version, Peter jumped up from behind the microphone, 
walked to the front of the stage and ended the song by repeatedly 
shouting the famous "a stranger, a worldly man" into the audience -- no 
mics, no amplification -- just this tiny man on this large stage, 
shouting his lungs out, and eventually jumping up and down, and... well, 
should I really spell the reaction of the audience out for you? Don't 
think so...
I had expected him to play a few 'Usher' songs (like he did in Utrecht), 
but he apparently had refrained from doing so because this was his first 
visit to Italy in 4 (5?) years, so in fact there was 'too much' to play. 
As I said, a _relatively_ calm show, but very worthwile IMO -- as always, 
I would say.

That was the concert, and for most people the night was over.  Not so for 
us, lucky few :).  After everybody was dressed up, hands were shaken and 
flowers were distributed, TNR & crew & ladies, Peter & Paul Ridout (pH's 
technician) & Patrick (some kinda crew member too), a few people from 
the press and your personal reporter and lady :) were heading for the 
hotel again where a fantastic midnight dinner was awaiting us. The hotel 
was closed, so the diner took place in a very quiet ambience, with only 
some 19 people (including Marco's parents of course, which BTW are very 
charming people).  Of course everybody was hungry (what would you be at 
0:00 without having had dinner...?) and so the food was more than welcome 
-- accompanied by terrific Italian champagne.  At the end of the dinner 
there was a very special dessert: a made-for-the-occasion "Peter Hammil 
cake", made of chocolate cake with pink cream, and the pH logo (the "M" 
in a circle) printed on top of it.  Photographs and much applause from 
the guests -- and it didn't only look great, it tasted great as well. 
Marjan had the 'honour' of sitting next to Peter, which was rather funny 
since she was the only 'non-fan' present.  Anyhow, I think she has proven 
that the Dutch can be more than talkative and entertaining...
And so finally at about 4:00 everybody headed for their beds, full of 
food and alcohol and very tired...

The next day (or rather: the same day, a few hours later) Peter and crew 
departed after having had breakfast and Marjan and I stayed at Rovereto 
for another few days, finally driving home on monday -- after 3 terrific 
days with a great concert, lots of talking, lots of alcohol, even more 
food (the Italians *do* eat quite a lot) and too many cigarettes -- 
completely exhausted, but who cares...?

--
Hendrik Jan Veenstra    hjv@phil.ruu.nl  *  How can I save my dreams
Dept. of Philosophy                      *  in the nightmare, in the flood
University of Utrecht                    *  But I try.
The Netherlands                          *