AXEL RUDI PELL

‘One Night Live’ was filmed at the ‘Rock of Ages’ festival that was held at Rottenburg in Germany in July of last year. Aside from Pell on guitar the line up for this gig was vocalist Johnny Gioeli, Ferdy Doernberg on keys and the rhythm section of bassist Volker Krawczak and Mike Terrana on drums. The setlist consists of ‘Tear Down The Walls’, ‘Strong as a Rock’, a medley made up of ‘The Masquerade Ball’, ‘Casbah’ and ‘Tales of the Crown’, a drum solo (!), ‘Rock The Nation’, ‘The Temple of the King’, ‘Mystica’ and a combination of ‘Fool Fool’ and ‘Eternal Prisoner’. Not being familiar with Pell’s work, I’m not entirely sure which albums these songs are taken from but I’d take an educated guess that this is pretty much a greatest hits set, with the exception of ‘The Temple of the King’ which is a cover of a track from Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow’s first album. It is not surprising that there is a Rainbow cover in the set as the Rainbow/Dio influences are plain to see, from the Dio-esque lyrics to the blatant way that Pell models himself on Blackmore, including the all black attire and the use of a white guitar. I’m not sure if it’s a Fender Stratocaster however (Blackmore’s trademark)! Personally, I don’t have a problem with the similarities as I am a huge fan of both Rainbow and Dio. The show begins in daylight and it seems that Gioeli is struggling a little to get much audience reaction. However, by the time the set draws to a close in darkness, with the light show shown to full effect, the crowd appear to be fully involved and enjoying themselves immensely. This enjoyment is mirrored by the band who, with the exception of Pell who maintains a Blackmore-esque aloofness pretty much throughout, seem to be having a great time onstage. Gioeli is an engaging front man and does his utmost to ‘work’ the audience whilst Doernberg performs his backing vocals with gusto while pounding the hell out of his keyboard. As I have already said, I’m not familiar with Pell’s work and, as such, didn’t quite know what to expect. As I result, I was really pleasantly surprised by this DVD. The music is great, especially for Rainbow and Dio fans, the sound is pretty good seeing as there are no overdubs, and the band are tight and professional. If, like me, you don’t know much about Axel Rudi Pell, check this DVD out as an introduction to him and his music. Again, like me, you might be tempted to delve into his back catalogue to uncover whatever gems may be found there.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Steamhammer/SPV

DVD

ONE NIGHT LIVE

Review by Dave Uphill

RUNNING TIME:

80:00

RELEASE DATE:

1st March 2010

TRACK LISTING

1) Tear Down The Walls
2) Strong As A Rock
3) Medley: The Masquerade Ball / Casbah / Tales Of The Crown
4) Drum Solo
5) Rock The Nation
6) The Temple Of The King
7) Mystica
8) Fool Fool / Eternal Prisoner

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Germany

"...the sound is pretty good seeing as there are no overdubs, and the band are tight and professional."