Listening to ‘Smoke on the Water’, ‘Whatever You Want’ or ‘Schools Out’ live would have cost you a good few Euros at Kunstrasen in recent years. Okay, there was no Deep Purple, Quo or Alice Cooper at Kurpark this week, but you would have got all the hits without any misses all well played and sung. Thank you Cologne/Bad Hennef Rock coverband The Bad Keys!
Yes there are obvious differences between hearing the original top ’70’s rockbands themselves of course. Take ZZ Top for instance. The ‘Little ole band from Texas’ came and went in little over an hour last year at Kunstrasen. Tonight however, when tonight’s organizer Helmut Both points out to the band that they are allowed a break in their set, it’s rejected with a smile. These guys obviously love to play music and I love their enthusiasm.
There’s a ‘shark’ patrolling the water in front-of-stage, so no paddling! Well, maybe it’s a friendly dolphin… at any rate, he looks happy to see a large audience enjoying the sunshine. It’s not the youngest of audiences I have to say. Especially down the front. For the most part those dancing were probably doing the same 50 years ago (did we actually dance to Deep Purple and The Who etc the first time around? It was more waving beer glasses if I remember correctly). Still, in 2025 the best 70’s rock classics still have the power to literally move audiences. Tonight’s set-list? You can probably guess much of it if you are a ’70’s rock fan like myself. The Stones, The Who (Pinball Wizard), Free (Alright Now) Lynyrd Skynyrd (Sweet Home Alabama).
There are also some nice picks from lesser known classics such as Deep Purple’s ‘Hush‘ and ‘When a Blindman Cries’. ‘Tom Petty’s ‘American Girl’ and Robert Palmer’s ‘Bad case of loving you’ There’s space for The Beatles of course (Come Together) and and space too for U2 (Desire). So, quite a disparate selection of legendary rock vocalists for one man to cover. I was very impressed with the band’s main singer Lothar, who flitted between Tom Petty, Mick Jagger, Roger Daltrey and particularly Ian Gillan (‘When a Blindman Cries’ is not something I would want to take on!). Picking a favourite, it would be the band’s interpretation of Bowies ‘Heroes’. Excellent stuff indeed. The only thing missing was a keyboard player to complete that period 1970’s Rock feeling – and the flared jeans of course…
A wonderful evening then for us aging rockers in particular. Hearing The Bad Keys close the evening with ‘Schools Out’ and ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ was both happy and sad. Happy to hear these songs loud and live where they belong, but also sad that there don’t seem to be band’s writing Rock music of this quality around now. Hopefully there were some youngsters in the audience who were motivated to head back home and find a riff to hang a great song on in 2025. In the meantime, as the original ’70’s bands grow old and pass into history, it’s great that their music is kept alive with such enthusiasm.
