This was the only show I attended on this European tour. I have quite mixed feelings about the show and I don't know what I should tell first, so here are some random remarks :

- Daniel McMahon fits perfectly in the band. Everything he does, adds to the intensity of the songs. His voice matches very well with David's, especially on Black Bush... Chilling! His piano parts are very interesting, even on powerful songs like Clogger. I strongly hope he'll become a full member of the band.

- On the other hand, Steve Taylor is highly missed. John Rumley never managed to approach his style and technique. In the best case, he played correctly. But on some songs, I almost had to put my hand on my right ear so as to hear him less (Sac of religion, Poor Mouth, Clogger, For Heaven's Sake, to mention only 4). Thankfully, the sound engineer didn't put too high of a volume on his instruments, so that helped. I won't say the songs sound empty without Steve Taylor's parts, as the rest of the band played in a really good and intense way, but I would rather see no 2nd guitarist than somebody who's, IMHO, in need of some guitar lessons. Moreover, he doesn't seem to belong to the band, he seems to need a lot of concentration to play his parts correctly. He doesn't move, and this goes against the inspiration of the moment that is one of the strongest characteristics of Steve Taylor, and other 16hp members in general (including Daniel McMahon). He didn't play (too many) wrong notes, but he sometimes played out of tune, and what he plays is just not what he should play. No life. In a word, I just felt like I was looking at a beginner. If Steve Taylor doesn't come back, I hope they'll find someone better for the next tour. It's not very difficult...

- Anyway, above this, there were many technical problems, especially with the banjo and the bass connection (no bass sound during 2 sentences of Clogger and a complete verse of Black Bush). We had some a cappella versions of some verses of a few songs, when the banjo didn't want to work. Interesting... ;-)

- But, as amazing as it seems, despite all this, it was a hell of a show and 16hp remains one of the best onstage bands these days. The setlist is very good (exactly the same as usual), though I think one can expect more than 18 songs after 4 albums. The come back of the old songs, especially the encore + Black Bush, is very nice. The versions (Heel on the shovel with David Eugene Edwards (DEE) solo, McMahon's parts...) are quite different in a very interesting way. Daniel McMahon tried to play the mandolin on Sac Of Religion but a technical problem stopped him.

- I don't like the last album too much, but the way they play these songs live is sometimes amazing. The songs are played in a much more electric way (Sinnerman, Flutter...), and it sounds sooooo much better (IMHO).

- DEE, Jean-Yves Tola and Pascal Humbert played very very well. Pascal was especially impressive on For Heaven's sake, and Jean-Yves on Black Bush. DEE was in a good mood. I never saw him laugh so hard as in the middle of Brimstone Rock: towards the end, when he screams before the last strong bit, he (or the sound engineer) forgot to press a pedal to put a distortion effect on the voice. As a result, his voice sounded so clean and weird that everyone in the band started laughing. And DEE couldn't stop. Very funny!

Quite a good show after all. Still very strong and intense.

By Arnaud

Setlist:
Hutterite Mile
Outlaw Song
For Heaven's Sake
Black Bush
Beyond the Pale
Alone And Foresaken
Sinnerman
Blessed Persistence
Clogger
Single Girl
Heel On The Shovel
Flutter
My Narrow Mind
Splinters
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Brimstone Rock
Sac Of Religion
Poor Mouth
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Horse Head Fiddle