Pay-TV
in Hamburg, Music Club Live
Tonight will be my first Pay-TV concert. Nobody wants to or can come along but I like the CD "Spicy No. 11" so much I decide to go alone. The first challenge for this gig after deciding to go alone is to find the location's address. Luckily SoTi is very fast in answering my posting in the guestbook (it took her only 4 minutes to answer) so I just have to look it up on my city map. Thanks to Pay-TV I'm learning more and more about the town I'm living in since last summer, I have never been to this part of Hamburg before. The LIVE is rather easy to find and of course there's enough room to park my scooter right in front of it on the sidewalk. A few people are sitting outside the Club because finally summer has come back to Hamburg and it is warm and sunny. Joey and Wolfman are discussing the setlists for the gig and Jamie successfully prevents me from leaving again by parking their van right behind my scooter.
The Music Club LIVE is still nearly empty so I can have a look-around and choose my seat. The small stage is already prepared for the gig, the "www.paytvmusic.com"-banner is hanging in the background und all the instruments are ready. There's foam for acoustical absorption installed above the stage and the whole sound equipment seems to be very good. So I'm curious about the acoustics in here. The club program shows that a gig takes place nearly each day here and I notice some interesting guests for the next weeks. Wolfman gets a beer-tasting so he can decide between two different beers (Lübzer wins), but you can also have Guinnes on tap or some bottled beers, a variety of coffee, soft drinks and some snacks. The location is very likeable and I'm happy I brought my Digicam with me... Unfortunately I left the memory card at home and so I'm the fool of the evening, at least concerning this report which therefore has to be without any pictures. Congratulations! Pay-TV will be playing again on Saturday and guess who will have to go there for some pictures? ;-)
The first set starts with "A little more time" and "Long time coming". Wow, I like them both and write down just one question: When will the new CD be released? "Ordinary Girl" makes me wanting to dance and I especially like the use of the cowbell. It feels funny to me when Joey welcomes us by saying "Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen, we are Pay-TV" because I'm used to this sentence ending with "...the Rockhouse Brothers" whom I have seen four times so far during the last two months. By the way today I realized that there are just a few people knowing about this alter ego band. When I gave the internet link to somebody on ICQ the reaction often was "Hey, the've got a Wolfman, too" or a friend of mine said: "The drummer looks like the Wolfman of the Rockhouse Brothers" when she looked at the Spicy No. 11. Okay, back to the report.
Joey tells us sadly, that the new album won't come out until January although the recording is finished and that's why they play "Caught me on a bad day" next. The Wolfman demonstrates that he's a very well trained drummer *g* by playing a shaker and the Hi Hat with his left hand. The fifth song of the first set is "Days are oceans". I think this one might become one of my favorite songs soon. First of all I like it very much when the Glockenspiel is used and the Wolfman does this very well. I also like the beat (is it really a five four time in the beginning and the end?) and the surprising harmonies. For me one of the best things a song can have is when I cannot sense what the next harmony will be and am surprised by it and this happens a few times during "Days are Oceans". Soooo great! The next song is about "Emma and Julian" but it can also be "Luzie and Fritz" for Germany or "Johan and Pippi" for Sweden. For the recording Joey bought some new "toys" (=guitar effects) and now he needs a bit of encouragement to use them. Jamie knows exactly what to say: "Come on, Joey, step on it!" Jamie has also got a "toy" I have never seen before, an analog bass pedal synthesizer called moog Taurus II. You find as a comment about the sound "big bad bass" in the internet. But you have no idea, what it looks like? I should have taken a picture, but without the memory card... I've got to find one.
this is what the moog pedals look like without Jamie dancing on it
The first set ends with "Now and again (I really love her)". Joey tells about having toured very much during the last two years and that they have met a lot of bands in their dressing rooms so they can say they are the only band that dares to use two kazoos at the same time. I liked that song before, but it's so much better to see it live!
Hey, I totally forgot to tell what the boys look like. Maybe because I told that very excessive in my Rockhouse Brothers report? Well, today the dress code is completely different but they all look very attractive again wearing suits and ties. Of course it is warm in the light and they soon get rid of their jackets and loosen their ties. But no surfing-outfit today, you can see the sweat running down their noses but not further on. I think that might be the reason for looking into their faces more often? Nearly every shouting and wolf whistle is answered with a smile by one of them and the game has started to look away when anybody of Pay-TV is smiling at you. By the way why is it called "wolf whistle"? Has the Wolfman got anything to do with that? Hey, MTV doesn't want to play Pay-TV's video but the language is influenced by their drummer? Cool!
The break is used to queue in front of women's restrooms, order new drinks and talk to your neighbors. Next to me another Nina is sitting and there's an interesting conversation going on about flirting with Frankie, the guitar player of Red House Magic. If you need some flirt coaching, just contact Nina or watch out during your next Rockhouse Brothers or Pay-TV gig. Some people ask me, why I take notes all the time and I'm happy that I warned the band before. It feels cool to be considered as a journalist but I've got only my website to write for. There's the opportunity to talk to the boys a bit and so I get some information about the Taurus and I wonder how to describe it. Jamie suggests to take a picture *fg*. Another suggestion would be this: If you want to see it then come to Hamburg and listen to a Pay-TV gig!
After the short break they start with "There she goes" by Sixpence none the richer and go on with "Show me what it's like". Wow, that song is live so much greater than on CD although it is actually very good there. The next one is again new for me, "Everything's happening" starts with Wolfman flirting with his shining Shaker (I can't decide what glistens more - his eyes and smile or the silvery instrument in his hand) and this song's bridge is really cool, it absolutely rocks! I like that one. There is no song during the whole evening I don't want to hear again and most songs are well worth seeing, too. One example for that is "Why so sad" that gives us Jamie playing the acoustic guitar and dancing on his little organ pedals as Joey announces before. There was just one covered song so far. "If you recognize the next one, it's from the Beatles but if you don't recognize it, it's also one of our songs:" "She said she said". Wolfman loses one of his drumsticks but gets a new one nearly too fast to see. His performance is magic anyway. Jamie attacks his brother with his shouldered double bass but Joey survives the attack without any severe injury so Jamie turns around and aims at the Wolfman who survives, too. There's only one effect of this double attack: Nobody wants to count in "Happy days". Unfortunately we've reached the end of the second set and Joey can use one of his new toys again as Jamie demands "get us something funky to dance to" of him. The last song is "Safety line" and again I like it live even better.
The next short break is similar to the first one and I hope that somebody will start to dance afterwards. And I'm also getting used to meeting the Wolfman on stairways on the way back from the restrooms. The third set is started with "Have you seen this man", "Sha la la" and "Out there". It's nice to know the lyrics so I start to sing along all I can remember from the CD like I nearly always do. Some girls including me do some kind of sitting dancing and after the songs the screaming and whistling gets louder. The next song is Joey's favorite part of the evening because he and the Wolfman can have a beer and Jamie performs it alone. So they leave stage while Jamie looks very sad and asks for a beer, too. When he's alone, he tells us grinning, that this is actually his favorite part of the evening, too. For "Hear me now" he just needs the acoustic guitar and when the barkeeper fulfills his desire by putting a beer onto the stage in front of him, he has closed his eyes and I'm not sure if he does realize why we are giggling. The song is wonderful, I hope I will hear it again tomorrow. And I should get a bit more ambitious with my guitar practice!
They go on together with "Beautiful babies" and again I like it live even better than on CD. This seems to become the most used sentence in this report. So, please don't get a wrong impression, I love that CD!!! But the live performance of Pay-TV is unbelievably great! Or have you ever seen somebody using the tambourine as a drumstick for playing a Cymbal? Joey gives our ear-drums a massage when he shows us what he wants to do every time he sees his little brother playing and dancing: he screams at the top of his voice and then even asks us if anybody wants to join him. The two last songs are played as one. Joey tells us that the Wolfman knows the best restaurants with a delivery service everywhere in Germany because they all are not able to cook. But nevertheless he shows us the recipe for Joey's special... I can't remember what he called it, but "Screw that" is cool. First you need a base line, then the drums and at last the guitar sound and so you get a great piece of music. Between this song and "Monkey boy" as last regular song Jamie has to change between his electric and his acoustic double bass and the Wolfman plays a brilliant drum solo. Afterwards they take their drinks and leave stage but don't go downstairs so we know that our shouting for more will be successful. Joey's colleagues think he needs a therapy because the older he gets the more slow songs he writes. And of course nobody wants him to become a grumpy old man (I'm sure he won't anyway) so he has got to play one song each night as fast as he can. "210" seems not only to be the title but also the tempo of this song and the therapy works perfect. The second extra song is called "Solitude" and receives it's premiere tonight. It is performed as a Wolfman's solo, just him and the piano. Wow! The evening's finale is the U2 song "Desire" with an included "Ice ice baby" by Vanilla Ice. I love Joey performing Ice Ice baby, his version is so much better than the original one. And although the text is cold as ice the performance is soooo hot! Just try shouting "get funky" to them like Nina next to me does, then look what happens and enjoy it!
It's a pity, that the gig is over, it could have been longer. But that's what I always think after three awesome sets. Listening to three men you have heard in front of 10.000 people when they are playing for about thirty or forty people feels odd but I liked it! Everybody who missed this evening missed something great and I absolutely don't regret that I went alone what I normally don't do. There is the chance of some small talk with all three and I get one of the setlists so I can use the right titles in this report.
Outside the club Joey and I get a new perspective of "Smoking kills". Just over the road somebody is standing outside a fourth floor window on a rather small concrete projection on the wall and for some endless seconds we are not sure if he wants to kill himself or is just smoking. The cigarette's glowing is the relief to us. Perhaps he is another musician who has learned today that his new album won't be published before January? @Joey: Cheer up! This is in fact a sad story but I'm sure that all fans will be patient and looking forward to the publishing.
When I mount my scooter and take off home later I can see that there is nobody lying on the sidewalk... He must have stepped back into his flat when we weren't watching him. Or was it just a hallucination?
Setlist:
A little more time
Long time coming
Ordinary girl
Caught me on a bad day
Days are oceans
Emma and Julian
Now and again (I really love her)
There she goes
Show me what it's like
Everything's happening
Why so sad
She said she said
Happy days
Safety Line
Have you seen this man
Sha la la
Out there
Hear me now
Beautiful Babies
Screw that
Monkey Boy
210
Solitude
Desire
There is something to add...
As I told before I forgot my memory card on Thursday but went to the gig on Saturday to take some pictures and to listen to the music again. So now I will give you a short impression of that gig and some of the 65 pictures I took. I hope all the flashlight didn't feel like a thunderstorm?
The Party is called "Kranparty" and takes place on a pontoon between two museum ships. Pay-TV are the third band to play today and I miss the first one because a lot of roads are closed and I have to seek for my way towards the Schuppen 50. When I arrive Wolff is establishing his drum set and tells me that there will be another band playing before. The "Splashdowns" are playing an instrumental tribute to the NASA ground personnel. We are taken to a mambo on a mountain on the moon or drive a lunar mobile. After this gig Pay-TV are doing a thorough soundcheck and some people leave the party because they are sure they have seen everything worth seeing. That's an obvious error to me because I'm sure that the best is yet to come. Suddenly the three are leaving to change and I think it is Jamie who says he cannot play without a tie.
Soundcheck on an open stage...
They come back wearing their suits and start the gig. First of all Joey asks us to come five steps closer and to scream and shout when he says "We are Pay-TV". Of course we do... We even start dancing after a while what makes the pontoon moving up and down and so you feel suddenly drunk without drinking anything. Some announcements are different tonight, for example the one before "Beautiful babies". The song is dedicated to everyone who has got children and Joey tells that Jamie wasn't a beautiful baby and that the Wolfman looked like a cute wolf puppy. Hey, it's nearly full moon today and we all know what happens to the Wolfman then. But have you ever seen the wolf in Joey? Check this out...
When they started he said, that nobody bites.
Sure???
Before starting Joey wanted to know if I write a report again. My answer was "I don't think so" and perhaps that is the reason for him to decide to sell his little brother Jamie. For just 50 Euro, there must be a rub in it somewhere! But as always when this is offered I wonder what happens if somebody goes to Joey afterwards to buy Jamie. I think it might be worth a try...
By the way there is one exact sign that you drank too much: You get to your knees, crawl on all fours towards Joey and start licking his microphone stand. No, it wasn't me! But I swear it looked very weird.
But now enjoy some pictures. Click to enlarge.
Setlist (there's one song missing I can't remember and it's unsorted, sorry):
Sha la la
Beautiful Babies
Ordinary Girl
Emma and Julian
Days are oceans
Everything's happening
Safety line
Show me what it's like
Now and again (I really love her)
Out there
Screw that
Monkey boy
210
Desire
My favorite picture...
for all the girls who need thinking about the 50 Euro offer:
Outtake:
Who has been eating off my plate?
Who has been drinking out of my mug?
Who has been puking all over my Snare?
When I came home I found something in Pay-TV's guestbook I am still very happy about:
[nach oben]