Rockpalast '79

[superval99]

Since being at John Illsley's concert, I have been having a little trip down memory lane, visiting both Alchemy and Rockpalast '79.   

I must admit to not having watched Rockpalast for quite a long time and I was reminded of what a fantastic show it is.    Mark was so full of energy and the songs sounded so wonderful.   It was strange that he played Sultans twice, apparently because the first attempt wasn't good enough!   Actually, I enjoyed it better than the second attempt, when the tremelo arm dropped off at the beginning, but it sounded fine too.   

If Mark did do a concert of DS songs these days, I feel that we would be very disappointed and it couldn't live up to the likes of Rockpalast, or other concerts of that time.   Mark is best doing what he is comfortable with these days.  It's good that we can look back at these old concerts, though.

[the visitor]

Interesting post thanks Val.

I think he could do DS songs but would have to be new interpretations of them : Water of Love at Vaison 96 is a good example , even if that is over 20 years old now too !

[Jules]

Sorry for being an ass but, it's Rockpalast 79

[superval99]

Sorry for being an ass but, it's Rockpalast 79

Corrected!   

[ds1984]

I watch it from time to time.

WDR are releasing some of their Rockpalast archives but it seems they still do not have the green light from the power that be to put that one out.

[rmarques821]

If I recall it correctly, Mark decided to play Sultans again because he started playing the last solo when he was supposed to be playing the first.

[Kris-b]

I think he said: "Let's do it properly now" ,or something like that.

[Love Expresso]

If I recall it correctly, Mark decided to play Sultans again because he started playing the last solo when he was supposed to be playing the first.

Those were the days. Nowadays he just plays wherever his fingers lead him to and somehow finally will reach the twiddly bits, however he will get to them! 

LE

[dmg]

If I recall it correctly, Mark decided to play Sultans again because he started playing the last solo when he was supposed to be playing the first.

I don't think it was quite as drastic as that.  I can't recall the exact reason, but you are almost right; didn't he play the first solo in the wrong key, or something like that?  It was a mistake that most people wouldn't even notice.

As LE says: not quite the perfectionist these days!

[JF]

it's excatly what rmarques821 said : after the verse "sultans played creole", Mark started to play the last solo instead of the first one.
All other 3 members were right, but he made the mistake. So that's why he played it again, syaing "let's do it properly" it's a shame because we don't have southbound again on video because fo this !

for those who remember, I told some months ago that it did happen almost the same thing at my wedding when I played sultans : when I played the last solo, other members played the verse chords progression, so it  did the same result, but the difference is that I wasn't wrong !

[superval99]

I just listened to them both again and quite honestly I couldn't hear much difference between the two.   I wonder would the audience have noticed at the time?   

[Lis]

it's excatly what rmarques821 said : after the verse "sultans played creole", Mark started to play the last solo instead of the first one.
All other 3 members were right, but he made the mistake. So that's why he played it again, syaing "let's do it properly" it's a shame because we don't have southbound again on video because fo this !

for those who remember, I told some months ago that it did happen almost the same thing at my wedding when I played sultans : when I played the last solo, other members played the verse chords progression, so it  did the same result, but the difference is that I wasn't wrong !

A (nearly) Rockpalast wedding!
 

[dmg]

it's excatly what rmarques821 said : after the verse "sultans played creole", Mark started to play the last solo instead of the first one.
All other 3 members were right, but he made the mistake. So that's why he played it again, syaing "let's do it properly" it's a shame because we don't have southbound again on video because fo this !

for those who remember, I told some months ago that it did happen almost the same thing at my wedding when I played sultans : when I played the last solo, other members played the verse chords progression, so it  did the same result, but the difference is that I wasn't wrong !

Listened to them both last night and yes, he started with the first few notes of the last solo when he should've been playing the middle one, however managed to quickly recover and play the solo as normal.  No harm done.  Surprised he wanted it played again.

[Jules]

it's excatly what rmarques821 said : after the verse "sultans played creole", Mark started to play the last solo instead of the first one.
All other 3 members were right, but he made the mistake. So that's why he played it again, syaing "let's do it properly" it's a shame because we don't have southbound again on video because fo this !

for those who remember, I told some months ago that it did happen almost the same thing at my wedding when I played sultans : when I played the last solo, other members played the verse chords progression, so it  did the same result, but the difference is that I wasn't wrong !

Listened to them both last night and yes, he started with the first few notes of the last solo when he should've been playing the middle one, however managed to quickly recover and play the solo as normal.  No harm done.  Surprised he wanted it played again.

Probably because it was for TV broadcast in the years where they were fighting to achieve success. He thought the WDR would use the second take of SOS but never imagined they would use both, LOL

[Ingo]

He thought the WDR would use the second take of SOS but never imagined they would use both, LOL

Yes, Mark messed it up as he played solo 2 where solo 1 was supposed to. Both solos run over a different chord pattern and are not 'compatible' for this reason (the first two bars were not too bad but when David and John reached the A chord Mark was in C which really sounded strange).

So they recorded it again and in fact only that second version was used for TV. It was decades later that Rockpalast rebroadcasted the full gig, including both versions of Sultans for the first time.

There was another problem with the 2nd Sultans version as well: Mark's tremolo arm became defective, apparently the thread was broken and the arm turned loose. The band started with Sultans but Mark was not ready yet, so they had to start again. This is also only included in the 'full' version, and the interview with the band is not included in most broadcasts, not sure if this was used in the original broadcast at all or only in the later full broadcast

Unfortunately the 2nd Sultans was played instead of the normally last encore 'Southbound Again' - no live video of Southbound for this reason