98 Tour Reports

Praying Mantis - Bears Epsom 24 Oct 1998

I don't think l have ever gone to a gig so on edge. I have no logical explanation for it. But l guess 17 years without ever having seen them play live builds up a lot of desire (Let's face it l have also got to be slightly of my head to have decided I will be attempting the Japanese what with the expense and my ill health) I have of course seen the Captured Alive In Tokyo City video and in my view that was great. But tonight's gig is the first of four UK warm up gigs and I have no real idea of what the venue will be like. l expect it to be small hopefully with a little stage but who knows? As for the Audience I again find it hard to imagine. A couple of fans have said they will be going but will their be a local turn out or just friends and family of the band? I doubt there will have been much publicity.

I am also curious to see how Tino and Dennis will mess around when there is unlikely to be any room or point to them dashing about in there usual style.

I will find out in six hours I guess

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Well What a cracker!

Bears in Epsom is a typical UK pub that has bands in. I suspect the most it will hold is 100-150 in the corner is a triangular stage area about 4 Metres by 4 Metres. As is to be expected there are six members of the band tonight. The addition for the tour being Leon Lawson on keyboards. As the band were settling up they must have blown the circuit about 10 times.

This created a slightly tense atmosphere and people were wondering if they would get chance to play at all. It was eventually worked out that Leon's keyboard rig was the problem and he was therefore reduced to one keyboard for the night. Never mind it still sounded good to me.

There were about 50-70 people in the place. Some locals but mainly friends of the band and two people from the internet Ger Lemmens from Holland and Derrick Sheldon who discovered the gig was happening two days before.

With the problems setting up the band had to adjust the balance and volume as they went along. The volume overall was really too loud for a pub but it was good for the band to get out and play to some real people.

Having just interviewed Bernie Shaw and hearing all his comments about Tino "Dripping charisma" and doing any thing for a performance it came as no real surprise to me that Tino was the putting his all into it even if it meant bouncing up and down on the spot due to lack of room. This in turn rubbed of on Chris. I was really amazed at how much concentration Bruce puts into his playing. It was clearly visible on his face throughout . I mentioned this to him and this was apparently because he was trying to play quietly. Tony sang really well but neither he or Dennis were in Tino's arena performance mode. There approach was what you would expect with the lack of space in a little pub.

The music was every thing l hoped it would be and I let myself get into. Roll on next Sunday at the Kings Head Putney!

One further thing the band were very tolerant and allowed Ger and me flash away on our cameras they even posed for us. Gers photos should be better than mine as he was moving round to get his. I will no doubt be adding some to the pages before I go to Japan. They also patiently signed all our CD sleeves.

Chris had indicated this would be a better gig for people to attend. From that I figured the venue would probably be a dedicated Band room and that it might hold several hundred. When I got to the venue (1hr later than I intended due to traffic) I was pleased to see the band had a proper stage set up including monitors. I had been told by the venue the band might go on and play around 8.30pm. Since I got there at 9pm I was pleased they did not go on until 9.30.

It also gave me a bit of time to meet the fans I know through the net. Yoko had traveled over from New York as I expected but when I met her she introduced me to Ko Yamada. He had come over from Tokyo just for this gig. He has been quite a good contact for me in Japan helping to keep me up to date with news articles and TV appearances. I had no idea he was coming over so I was absolutely gobsmacked to meet him. Derrick Sheldon had made the gig again this time bringing his daughter along. Rick Gillyon from Tyne & Wear and also made with gig with his brother. This therefore made an interesting start to the evening for me. The audience overall I would guess was only 50 but I saw no sign of any advertising and I don't think the band had as many people along this time.

Right now for the music. Well I was extremely happy to have seen the band at Epsom but this gig was so much better. Everyone was a lot more relaxed and confident about the sound. I think I will work left to right. Leon Lawson had his full keyboard set up tonight. And the Venue had a dry ice machine which was behind him and kept making Dennis and Leon disappear. I have to say I did not really notice what he was playing so much tonight. I was just enjoying the overall presentation. Dennis was a lot more relaxed and into it tonight and did not let a broken guitar string during the first number put him off. The band did have to take five to give him time to sort it out. Tony have some effects on his voice tonight and he really let rip. I thought he was having to hold back a lot at Epsom because of the sound and volume problems and this proved it. There was still no room for running around on stage etc. so it is still difficult to see exactly what Tony's stage manner is going to be like. He was certainly a lot more expressive with the Mic stand and his hands tonight though. Bruce still looked very concentrated. And I have to confess I did not pay much attention to him tonight either. Chris seemed to be a lot more up for this gig from the start and at first I thought Tino seemed a little subdued but I think I was probably just remembering how up for it he was towards the end of Epsom. IE it was just a problem with my preception. I sat probably 10m back from the band this time. At Epsom it was probably 1m. It is surprising how even that sort of distance changes affects perception. I think that is why I was watching the band more as an overall entity and not so much as individuals.

The band played much the same set as they had at Epsom. The did do two numbers different both of the last album and nothing of Time Tells No Lies. Tony dedicated three songs tonight. One each to Yoko and Ko and one to a friend that sadly died before last Saturday before making it to a gig that I know he was looking forward too. I was very moved that they should do this for him. I am sure he would have been very happy.

This is apparently Dennis's local pub and from the posters he plays here in a band called the Clangers most Sundays. I was expecting I will find it hard to find things to say about each gig but each gig so far has had a completely different character.

The swift is a very small pub. Basically the room is an oblong with a squarish bar section in the centre of the long side and a slight raised area on the other length. I guess at most it was 2-3m deep so the band were spaced out along its length. I was sat at the side of the room so I could not really see Tino or Chris. It was back to a basic pub set up again so there was no echo on Tony. Leon did get to use all his keyboards though. Since I was sat right behind him I got a very good view of what he had to play which was nice. Being Dennis's local the crowd was very receptive and seemed to contain a lot more Rocker/Biker types. Dennis's also bought his son Jack along. He also did more of the between song chat and seemed happy. Tony seems to be getting more relaxed and again was able to scream without fear of being too loud. Bruce was facing in Chris's direction so I could not see how much fun he was having and from the little I could see of Tino and Chris they were having a good time as you would expect. This was defiantly the most photographed gig. The crowd of I guess 70 really enjoyed it. At one point even an old guy went up front and had a drunken dance around.

The band have now a rough idea of the running order of the set and we were treated to two more songs not played so far this time. One thing is for sure I don't think anyone will guess the set list. It has certainly surprised me. It is excellent just surprising. It is beginning to look like this tour should be sub-named the "Bruce wrote this" tour as that is becoming the standard joke :-)

Set List

Wasted years
The Messiah
A Cry For The New World
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark
Remember My Name
Valley Of The Kings

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Praying Mantis - Royal Standard 4 Nov 1998

This was a very good venue for the last warm up gig. The Standard was the biggest venue they had played and is what I would call a rock house. I reckon the place could hold 400-500 people and tonight must have had 200-300. The venue had a good set of PA equipment, lights and monitors. It also had some room on stage so tonight we experienced Tino's first run down to Dennis's position.

I suspect the crowd were mainly neutral rock fans and while they seemed to enjoy it but I thought the crowd at the Dean Swift piped them overall on volume. The set list was the some as the previous night with one exception they came back and played Smoke on the water as a final, final encore. They did not start playing until 9.40 so I was very surprised when the decided to break the set into two halves again. That meant the and 2nd set did not start until around 11pm and I am sure the crowd had thinned down a bit (perhaps because they have work to go to etc? I struggle to believe it would be because of the music but I was interested to hear not all Mantis fans like Tony's vocals. I think the majority do though). The ones that remained however were really into it. I noticed a lot of the same faces from the Dean Swift and Dennis had bought Jack again. He and a friend of Dennis's had been head banging all night and during the last number of the official set list Dennis tried to get Jack to join him on Stage. Jack was to shy so a couple of Dennis's mates worked on him for a few minutes and he finally went up. The crowd had really warmed up by end of the encores and still wanted more hence for a laugh they did a totally unrehearsed Smoke. Bruce had actually started going into the audience before he realised another encore was required. There was a good 20 people up the front head banging and dancing to this.

There were rumours Gary Barden and Phil Moog might attend I don't know if they did but some one who was in the crowd was Dave Potts. He was happy to give me his phone number so when I recover from Japan I will interview him. Overall it was a cracking gig and now it is Japan's turn!

Wasted years
The Messiah
A Cry For The New World
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark
Remember My Name
Valley Of The Kings
Rise Up Again

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Sendai Ma.ca.na

Wow this place is small I would be surprised if it is bigger than the Dean Swift after the bar area is removed. Mind you there is a lot of equipment. I reckon 70-100 lights. The stage I think is about the size of Walthamstow. I went into the gig about 10 minutes before the start and was amazed at how full the place was. It was packed.

The place holds 200 and 150 tickets were pre-sold so I guess 200 were there . And very enthusiastic they were to. They were singing and arm waving all night. It was great to see how different Mantis were to such a friendly crowd. From the moment they stepped out on the stage they were a different band to the one in the UK. Dennis and Tony in particular but Tino and Chris too. Even Leon was able to look up from his keyboards more. I again forgot to look to see how Bruce was looking.

Wasted years
The Messiah
A Cry For The New World
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark
Remember My Name
Valley Of The Kings
Rise Up Again
Forever In Time
Turn The Tables
The Day The Sun Turned Cold
Best Years

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Banana Hall - Osaka - 11 Nov 1998

This was a nice venue maybe 50m x 20m. The front 10m was standing only. Then there was some normal height seating and then further back higher stools. The crowd initially looked a little disappointing I believe about 220 tickets were pre-sold. But by 7pm and show time the Audience looked more evenly spaced. I believe there was still only 300 there though. I was expecting the gigs in Japan to be about 1000 a show but never mind the show set up was a lot more professional than in the UK so the venue size did not effect the show. Ticket prices seem incredibly expensive at 6300 yen and a couple of fans I spoke to before the show were complaining of this and wondering why Sendai had been 500 yen cheaper.

The stage here was full size so everyone was on radio leads and fully mobile. At one point Tino even decided to go and play behind Bruce. The crowd were keen but I suspect the Sendai atmosphere was better. It was difficult for me to gauge though as I could not see anywhere suitable to sit in the main hall. I therefore decide to watch the main set from the spotlight rigging about 10m in front of the stage and in the ceiling. This made for a good view and I was able to observe Leon and Bruce a lot more easily. I stupidly forgot to take my painkillers to the gig so by the end of the main set my back was killing me and I decided to go and stand for the encores that's when the change in the crowd from earlier grabbed my attention. It is getting hard to comment on the bands overall performance now as I enjoy them so much. I therefore won't try.

I clearly meet Masami Mizutani after the show as I took her card but it doesn't have an E-mail address and I did not take a photo so I need reminding as to why I got the card.

Set List

Wasted years
The Messiah
A Cry For The New World
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark
Remember My Name
Valley Of The Kings
Forever In Time
Turn The Tables
The Day The Sun Turned Cold
Rise Up Again
Best Years

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Bottom Line Nagoya 11 Nov 1998

This gig was a very hard one for me to enjoy from my personal health level as I had decided to rest from the extra painkillers I was taking while in Japan. I was getting very fatigued by this gig so there was not enough adrenaline flowing through my body until Tony, half way through the show, complained no one upstairs was singing. Upstairs was closed to the public so I was the only fan up there. This effectively personal comment had a remarkable effect on increasing my enjoyment from that point on.

The hall was much the same size and shape as Banana Hall except the stage was length ways. The audience was not as big as it could have been. Nagoya is apparently a tough city to play for a lot of bands. For some reason the fans there aren't as keen on hard rock as in other places. The band did not let a little thing like a disappointing crowd put them off though.

While the show was not quite up to the previous two nights for me Tino commented after Tokyo he thought he had played better at the previous night so it could well have been a better gig music wise. The sound was definitely better though. Leon's keyboards have been struggling in the mix at times (IMO) but tonight I could hear what he was playing. During Can't See The Angles Tony surprised everyone, me included, by disappearing from the stage (still singing) and reappearing upstairs. While everyone one was looking for him the band switched the chorus to "Can't see Tony from here". At the end of the encore Bruce got to wear Chris's bass guitar so he decided to give us a 'solo' in true Bruce style.

Wasted years
The Messiah
A Cry For The New World
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark
Remember My Name
Valley Of The Kings
Forever In Time
Turn The Tables
The Day The Sun Turned Cold
Rise Up Again
Best Years

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Tokyo -Club Citta -12 Nov 98

Being the Final gig of the tour and by far the biggest I was very much looking forward to this and I think the band were too. Anyone having seen the Captured video or the TV special from an earlier tour will have seen the size of Club Citta. I guess it is about 50m wide by 100M and holds just Over 1000 people. I believe there were 600-700 in tonight but from the stage it looked full. The lights to me were the best of the tour but apparently not as good as previous tours. Again the signs of the economy in Japan. It is probably a good place to mention that the band were very unhappy with ticket prices. At most gigs they seemed to be one of the most expensive on the forthcoming events posters. The band have stated in an interview that next time they would like to reduce their costs and therefore ticket prices. This assumes though that the costs the band can effect are significant in the final ticket price. And I am not sure they are.

The gig was being filmed so that it might be possible to show an MTV gig review quality recorded song on Masa Itto's TV show. I have to confess I am slow writing this gig up (it's the 16th today) so I am struggling to remember the differences between this gig and previous ones. Looking at my photos I think one was that at the start of one song Dennis and Tino decided to sit on the drum riser to do their quite intro. Tony also decided to sit on the floor for "Remember My Name" and on a Monitor for a latter song. There was a 1m gap between the stage and the audience and on a couple of occasions Tony jumped into the gap. The 2nd time walking from end to end shaking hands. The band enjoyed Bruce's bass solo the previous night so they got him to do it again. There was also a professional photographer at work for this gig. That is something I have found really strange about the Japanese gigs. In England Photos aren't allowed and cameras are often searched for but people still use flash cameras during gigs. In Japan the same rules apply and yet I never saw one flash (except my own). Does that mean people never take photos here or just that they wisely keep their flash turned off to avoid attracting attention? Given Japan's reputation for bootlegging I am sure Japanese fans can't be completely law abiding.

I got to meet a 3 more of my e-mail contacts after this gig which was nice. I have of course become aware of a lot more fans during my trip and hopefully I will get to chat with a few by email. Some it has to be said a far more dedicated than me waiting around for hours just to see the band for a signature at a train station or Hotel etc. It amazes me how well the fans discover the bands movements.

Set List

Wasted years
The Messiah
A Cry For The New World
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark
Remember My Name
Valley Of The Kings
Forever In Time
Turn The Tables
The Day The Sun Turned Cold
Rise Up Again
Best Years

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I have heard that one of the UK venues was interested in having Mantis play again soon so I might not have to wait for a new album to see the play again. This is the first time the feedback in the UK has been so positive. A good sign for the future I hope. The band have certainly been extremely happy and relaxed on this tour and really want to get on with a new album to solidify what they consider to be there strongest and hopefully most stable unit to date.