RIP Jon Lord

July 16, 2012 by 3songsbonn

In August 2011 he announced that he was cancelling all concerts to concentrate on creating Music as part of a therapy to fight Cancer. Sadly, today, Jon Lord lost that fight.

Lord, 71, was co-writer of one of Rocks abiding anthems ‘Smoke on the Water’ but will be most remembered by Deep Purple fans for the Band’s groundbreaking 1969 album ‘Concerto For Group & Orchestra’. In later years Don Airey took over keyboards with Deep Purple and Lord appeared with David Coverdale’s Band Whitesnake. as well as working on numerous solo projects. For myself, and a great many other Rock Music lovers of my generation, Deep Purple were THE Band of our youth. As recently as last Saturday I was reminded of the power still wielded by Purple when Martin Behr from local Band Sunny Skies needed to play barely three notes before the audience erupted. How many songs are so potently embedded in our hearts as ‘Smoke on the Water’? Thank You for putting Deep Purple in Rock and in our hearts Jon.

OFFICIAL JON LORD WEBSITE

Kunst!Rasen or? What should it be called?

July 12, 2012 by 3songsbonn

Forget ‘T in the Park’, How about ‘Wine on the Rhine?’ Your name for the new Concert Site is requested

Very encouraging is the news that Bonn Mayor Jürgen Nymptsch has promised a meeting with the Kunst!Rasen promoters in mid-August to discuss possible concerts next year. The big Touring Acts are already planning their schedules for 2013 and a green light as soon as possible would be a great help. Bonn missed out on a number of top acts because of the late planning permission this year – Van Morrison and Tom Petty were both eventually scheduled elsewhere for example.

Promoter Ernst-Ludwig Hartz says a minimum of 20 shows is required to make the Season financially viable unless additional promoters can be found. Some 20.000 people have visited the Site for the five shows that have taken place so far, which is good, but is less than half of the total capacity for those shows. The message is clear – if you want top Musical Acts to appear in Bonn, get tickets for Culcha Candela (20 July) Zaz (22 July) and/or Caro Emerald (29 July).

There is also some concern that the name ‘Kunst!Rasen’ (literally ‘Art on the Grass’) hasn’t caught on and that many local residents don’t know what it’s all about. (3songsbonn has also struggled a bit to remember the apostrophe in the name!)

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Patti Smith in Bonn – Soul Music That Rocks

July 11, 2012 by 3songsbonn

“Jesus died for somebody’s sins…” say the T-shirt fronts on the merchandise stall – “…But not mine!” say the backs. The signature under the words is that of Patti Smith. Not even a Month old and Bonns Kunst!Rasen welcomed a third American Rock Legend peering out from it’s steep stage, and as the slogan suggests, Smith still has plenty to say and she pulls no punches saying it.

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Sunny Skies at Rheinau

July 8, 2012 by 3songsbonn

The sky was indeed sunny. A rare Summers day like we had when I was a boy, with puffy white clouds seemingly hung in a breezeless sky like cotton candy, underneath which people were enjoying cold drinks and hot music in the balmy evening heat. In the heavens sunny skies, and on the stage of the Rheinaue Sunny Skies too. What more could you want?

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Singing on the Telephone

July 8, 2012 by 3songsbonn

It should have been a ‘Stink Normales’ ‘Singers Night’ at Bonn Folk Club, but, as regulars will know only too well, nothing is ever ‘Normal’, and the only predictable thing about Folk Club evenings is their unpredictablility. Part of the blame for which, on this particular Friday evening, rests with Barry Roshto. It was he who suggested at a recent meet that everyone should bring along a song relating to telephones.

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Bob Dylan – Reigning in the Sunshine

July 5, 2012 by 3songsbonn

“I came, I saw, I conquered…” The words of Julius Caesar might easily have been coined by Bob Dylan after Wednesdays show at Bonn Kunst!rasen. You might even be forgiven for thinking that Caesar also first declared “The answer my friend is blowing in the wind” – it certainly seems like those words have been around since the Roman Empire existed. So how do you keep songs fresh that seem to have been literally written in stone? His Bobness knew how, and the many listeners came away knowing that where legends are concerned Bob Dylan is very much the living variety.

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Lou Reed Kicks off Kunstrasen

June 30, 2012 by 3songsbonn

Bap frontman Wolfgang Niedecken in the audience, Bonn Lord Mayor Jürgen Nympsch in the VIP tent. A small field next to a duckpond and just a literal stones throw away from Father Rhine was THE place to be on Friday evening as Brooklyn’s original street rapper Lou Reed headlined the first ever concert at Kunst!Rasen.