“The show must go on.”

Those are words with a deep message. And they describe life pretty much as it is.

The morning we heard of The Big Man’s passing, Martin Praetorius had to get his band on stage in Oberhausen, Germany – to play his first full band show since ages. Presenting his new album in it’s entirety, fighting the BAD weather (you hear a lot of the storm on the sound of the videos, because – unfortunately – my crapy camera has no external plug for a potentially better protected microphone), early in the afternoon for an hardcore and, as it appeared, weather resistant audience…

They did just great!

Here you get the full set – minus one song, “Reason To Believe”, where they paid tribute to the Big Man… empty battery… unforgivable!

You’ll realize, that it is an awful talented bunch of musicians which Martin selected / collected for being his “Innocent Bastards”. I was just impressed how this band managed their first show in that lineup. Markus Segschneider on Guitar even played much of the material live for the very first time – fantastic work Markus! Friends Andreas Schmidgen, Marius Goldhammer & Wolf Simon have been in the lineup when “Affairs Of The Heart” was recorded during the last couple of years already – and so they performed… truly a great band!

Man, I know Wolf since how long? 30 years? I don’t know! He became more gray than I am by now… It’s been a loooooong time!

Beside realizing, that I know Praetorius & some of his friends for so many years as artists, and beside the proven fact – which I, kind of, thought about 25 years ago already – that this man has a tremendous talent as a songwriter and performer, he and his band worked themselves through this set of great songs under some really “tough” conditions.

And… yeah… it’s been Martin’s birthday as well…

Congratulations – again!

Setlist:

Sadness For A Grin
When The Moon Comes Out
Walk On Water
Killin’ Time
The Seasons
She Only Came
Hometown Blues
I Want You Bad
Bullet Through My Head
Home
Affairs Of The Heart

The Innocent Bastards are:

Martin Praetorius – vocals, guitars,
Andreas Schmidgen – keyboards,
Markus Segschneider – guitar,
Marius Goldhammer – bass,
Wolf Simon – drums

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Alright, people, listen: This IS an affair of my heart… ’cause Martin is the guy from around the corner in Essen, who I probably know like for some 25 years now.

They’ve called him the “Springsteen of Essen-Rüttenscheid” at the time – which I didn’t like. He was calling himself “Scooter” as his band was “Scooter & the Streethearts”. I didn’t like the “Scooter” either, but I LOVED the Streethearts. And they really were one great band with not many to compete out of the suburbs of the Ruhrgebiet.

Scooter & the Streethearts have been playing their hearts out, out of Essen, all over Europe… from the smallest bars and clubs to the big stages. Highlights were plenty, most memorable probably their tour with Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers…

From the later nineties, Martin, minus the Streethearts, reinvented himself as a singer-songwriter and went on the road to play each and every Irish pub between Galway and Gdansk, Bergen and Barcelona.

A long journey – where I somehow lost track of Martin’s whereabouts over the years, until a very good friend remembered him and somehow managed to get him on the stage of the first Light Of Day Concert to happen in Germany two years ago – on the shortest possible notice…

So there he was, with only his voice & guitar. Playing and jamming with some of my biggest favorites like Willie Nile, Joe D’Urso & Jesse Malin. Man, how I was amazed!

Martin did not only mature as a man and musician, he’s also sharpened his skills as a songwriter to a degree, which let the title track of his new album-to-be run in my brain on auto-repeat for weeks to come after that show in December 2009.

Now it’s here, finally… after releasing the tracks on his homepage last December, and only 18 month after I’ve met him at that Ballsaal in Melle, the record arrived…:

My favorites, beside the title track:

Hometown Blues, because that hometown I share with Martin, and I still carry a lot of it around with me every day… that accordion breathes the spirit of the greatly missed Phantom Federici.

Sadness For A Grin, because it sound’s like a song Bruce could have had written on a ride on NJ Transit out of the city back to Asbury Park. An easy tune while it’s lyrics creep into the back of your mind… good stuff!

Reason To Believe, well, you’ve got to have the balls for a title of that name in the first place… a strong arrangement, wide sound, chorus and breathless singing by Martin… it might be the strongest piece for a live show with the band…

In fact, that band on the album, The Innocent Bastards, does sound a lot like the folks of the E-Street – intentionally or not, I LOVE ‘EM for that.

Martin Praetorius: vocals, guitars, mandolin, harmonica, low whistle

The Innocent Bastards:
Andy Schmidgen: hammond, piano, accordion
Marius Goldhammer: bass
Wolf Simon: drums

Recorded at Look at Me Studios, Oberhausen, which are now “Tresohr Studios”,
P&M Studio, Bonn,
Working Corners, Essen

mixed at Working Corners by Martin Praetorius
mastered by Fritz Fey at Double-D Mastering, Oberhausen

All in all… Martin wrote, played, lived through and recorded an album, which should receive far more recognition than it probably will generate. But that’s how it is today. And that’s why I’m running this blog.

For me, “Affairs Of The Heart” will be my soundtrack for the summer to be…

CONGRATULATIONS & THANK YOU MARTIN!

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