FIT AND FUN ROCKNIGHT – CRYSTAL BALL

Totally seen I didn´t know what will come to me after 2 hours of driving my car. Because I was told by Crystal Ball singer Mark a few weeks before, this concert should be something different: Sports! Mark said, there will be some sports before Crystal Ball were playing! Yes, you read right. Before the concert there should be some sports. But don´t be afraid, not the guys had to do some sports and the fans either (except in the shape of headbanging maybe…), but some sportsmen should do some sports… Let´s surprise…

Doors´ open at 7 pm. But there weren´t too much Crystal Ball fans or even parents (of the sports doing kids). Step by step this was changing. And step by step we had to hear some awful music (Jamiroquai!!! I even don´t know, if I wrote that the right way!). Hopefully it will start in a time, then we will have been gone through it… 8 pm, but no start… Why doesn´t time run faster?!

Finally, 8:45 pm the kids section started! Swiss clocks don´t seem to be that exact how they are known. Or the other way: Punctuality is not that important howadays. A motorbike is standing on the stage. But the kids, what should do the kids with that?

The hall (with chairs!) were not that full. Not even the half of the 2000 people held Chärnshalle was full (Mark told me that Chärns meens centre or core). I can tell you that about the rest of the program: dances by a dance school, afterwards a karate show, Tae Bo and a special dance: erotic and then powerful. But let´s come back to the heart of the happening (although I really have to say that I thought, the two hours before Crystal Ball would have been much more worse! Actually it was great! But it didn´t fit together. Butt hat was planned by the organizer): With a lot of delay (which was compensated by that cools show!), Crystal Ball started with their set at 10:55 pm:

¯ Hellvetia, went ahead with
¯ Forever and eternally, played the third song
¯ Opposites attract, did the
¯ Dance with the devil, asked themselves
¯ Am I free, sang about
¯ My life, found a
¯ Soulmate, wanted everything with
¯ Want it all, wanted to:
¯ Stare at the sun (that could be cancelled on the setlist, if I could say something)
¯ One day at a time, put garbage in our mind with
¯ Savage mind (with U.D.O.´s Princess of the dawn) and asked then to dance the
¯ Last dance, before they just invited us to be a
¯ Private visitor

This should be the last concert in Switzerland for keyboardist/second guitarist Tom Graber, which we celebrated: Tom was carried on the shoulders of two men. Tom felt embarrassed, but the audience was celebrating him.

Looking back to the show, it was a very cool concert of the Swiss guys. The little number of hard rockers appreciated that! Of course, nobody was sitting on the chair, but was banging the head or singing along! I tried hard to understand Mark´s announcements which he did in the Swiss German language. After the concert he asked me with a smile on his face: “Did you understand my Swiss German this time?” And – a miracle! – most of it I really understood! 🙂
After the concert Mark said to me full of pride: „I just posed for you!” But I don´t know, where this pic is. Hm… In any case, this concert was a full success, even when there could have been more than those few people. Butt he sound was okay (just Mark´s microphone didn´t want to be used twice, but that was it), the song choice was great and the fans had fun while rocking! This was my 11th Crystal Ball concert and it won´t be my last one!

Line Up:
Vocals: Mark Sweeney
Guitar: Scott Leach
Drums: Marcel Sardella
Bass: Dany Schällibaum
Keyboard/Additional Guitar: Tom Graber

www.crystal-ball.ch