For the farewell a mad solo

The "holiday stress some dance their way "off their souls, as one fan called it. Others reminisce – to songs by the beatles, the who, santana and other heroes who conjured up the sixties and seventies: to the 15. Times buried on 4. January, the first rocks of the french blues and rock scene celebrated the new year in the live club with a joint concert: the second try bluesband and the united beat band, who started this tradition before the turn of the millennium.

More soulful than before
"Of course we have changed over the years: we play more soulful than before, the united beat band harder than in the early years", says elmar pfister as head and motor of second try, who accompanies the event series since 1999. A change that is backed by loyal fans. "A good third of the concert-goers are now regulars, while the rest mix up again every year, says the blues bard. Pfister is looking forward to the date in the upper sandstrabe for another reason as well. "It means a farewell and at the same time a new beginning."

Let it rip
Farewell? Yes, after almost a decade robert hausner leaves second try. "New blood arrives: "lukas, as pfister reports. Due to family reasons, the drummer will in future only drum for the success of the united beat band instead of driving on two tracks as he has done for the past eight years. "With second try, robert wants to let it rip again at the end – with at least one insane drum solo."

Fortunately, a substitute could be recruited quickly: alexander wild, whose participation in today's concert is still in question. "By alex the strullendorfer-bandfraction becomes dangerously coarse, on the other hand the age average sinks by some", pfister muses. Last year the formation had already opened the three-iconic-meeting with a new and re-entry: besides harald schuberth, who strengthened the troupe as singer, guitarist and keyboarder, frank matkovic returned as guitarist and singer after a long abstinence. Like in some years perhaps also the now retiring drummer …

The right groove
"Luckily robert decided to join us and stay with the united beat band", says harald rost as bassist of the second dreikonigs-group. Whereby he appreciates second try as a formation "with which we harmonize humanly as well as musically in the best way". The interplay of beat-tunes, rock and blues-rock is exactly the groove that gets french fans into the legs and drives them to the dance floor at the meetings.

So the united beat band and second try are supposed to take turns on the stage in 45-minute intervals again. "Almost four hours until the finale, which they all perform together with ,mustang sally' by the commitments and ,walking by myself' by gary moore."

In front of closed doors
what are the memories of the band members, who became "three kings" again in the live club? Play? Some people must be thinking of wolfgang pfister, who died in the tenth year after the first meeting. On its homepage, the united beat band dedicated "wopfi a chapter of its own as the former "soul of the ensemble". Maybe some people will remember the gig that elmar pfister mastered as a sanger despite lung inflammation. Or an evening when both formations had to be patient before the sound check: "a technician who was supposed to let us in had gone out to eat. Two bands stood in front of closed doors for a long time", elmar pfister remembers.

But all this is yesterday's snow. Because the next concert is coming up, to give fans a "real rockin' beat evening with a good dash of blues" from 9 pm in the live club to prepare. Served ballads by bob dylan, latin rhythms by santana, rocking tunes from steppenwolf to the who and many more coarse, dragging the sixties and seventies into 2013.