Live in Enger, Germany, 30.08.1997
Text written by André Wilms
Photos taken by André Wilms
Together with an old friend and fan of Tribe After Tribe, I arrived very, very early hoping to see the soundcheck and talk to Robbi Robb. We were the first two fans waiting in front of the back door of the club, of course. Well, when the soundcheck started, a very friendly man told us that we weren't allowed to enter the building since there are free drinks for the musicians standing around and everybody could take them. As waiting got more and more boring and we couldn't see Robbi, we decided to go to the next pizza shop at the corner of the street.
It was 8 p.m. when we came back - the entrance opened at 9 p.m. so we were still very early. We didn't have to wait much longer until we finally saw the band going out of the small venue. I rushed to the van where the guys were standing and asked Robbi Robb and Doug Pinnick (King's X) who joined Robbi on his European tour wether I could take a photo of them. Sure I could and so I took some pictures ..
Robbi told us that the tour was going great. Each night he had ca. 300 fans going to his concerts. Then he said that
he wanted to buy my t-shirt for 40 German marks. When I told him that the price for my shirt was 20 german marks he
tried to get it as a change for the two pictures I took of him and Doug. Funny guy! Doug and Robbi were very nice, very
modest. Well, since they were hungry they left the place and drove to the same pizza shop where we had our dinner
only a couple of minutes before .. bad timing ..
Some minutes after 9 p.m. the front door opened. About 30 people were around at that time. At 10.15 p.m. the local support band named Privacy opened for Tribe After Tribe. The played for nearly one hour and did a good job. Especially the drummer played very well.
It was 11.50 p.m. when Robbi Robb entered the stage. I waited for this special moment more than six years! He started the set all alone playing 'Bury Me' from his latest release Pearls Before Swine. One by one the rest of the band came and joined Robbi performing this song and the rest of his set. Doug Pinnick played bass guitar, Richard Stuverud and Mike Hansen (who used to work for the Pointer Sisters!) played drums and African percussion.
The four musicians performed 10 songs: 'Remember', 'Build A Subway', 'Out Of Control', 'Ice Below', 'Boy,' 'Lazarus', 'Fire Dancers', 'Bury Me', 'Hopeless The Clown', 'Uh-Oh'. The played for 90 minutes (too short!). One should mention that they didn't just play the songs. Whenever possible they improved parts of instrumentals and jammed with one another. It was obvious that the musicians had lots of fun. Robbi and Doug smiled at each other while playing. Doug played with his eyes closed and constantly moved to the tribal rythms of the songs. Robbi danced with his very personal style to every song. It was real fun to watch these guys perform! The two drummers did a fantastic job and were smiling throughout the entire set while fighting against the drum patterns of the drum partner.
Robbi Robb recognized me as I stood there in the first row. He raised his arm twice and pointed to me. That really made my day :-)
The highlight of the set was 'Lazarus'. Two or three times before doing this song, Robbi invited us to take parts of his African percussion to join them playing. When performing 'Lazarus' the girl next to me eventually took an African drum lying around and started drumming being the third drummer! And she was great! Robbi did a wonderful job giving instructions how to play (soft, agressive, loud, ...) and the band listened to his gestures.
All in all, it was a great night! The atmosphere in this venue was awesome, the 100 fans were dancing, shouting, singing and having a good time. I couldn't believe that only 100 people can make such a noise. This was most probably the best concert I have ever seen - for less than 10 US dollars!
