Arena at the "Gouveia Art Rock Festival" ( Portugal )

[BlueDragonPT]

Event: Gouveia Art Rock Festival 2005
Dates: 2005, April 9 & 10
Place: Gouveia cine-theater
Organization: 'Portugal Progressivo Cultural Association' and 'Gouveia City Mayor'

Confirmed bands till now: Arena ( UK ), French TV ( USA ) , Lars Hollmer ( Sweden ), Trape Zape ( Portugal ), The Watch ( Italy ), Amarok ( Spain ), Miriodor ( Canada ) and Univers Zero ( Belgium )

More info at: http://gaudela.net/gar

[BlueDragonPT]

First impressions about Gouveia Art Rock:

Arena: A great, great show!!! absolutely impressive concert!!! Rob excellent in vocals, Clive a master in the keyboards, John "freezed" me with the guitar, Ian and Mick, one of the best rythmic sessions of progressive rock in the world. A gourgeous end with all people surrounding the stage singing with Rob. One of best "proggie" shows i've seen in the last 5 years!!!

A big aplause for the italian band "The Watch" for a great show too! You're one the best: keep going!!!
A big aplause also for the Portuguese band "Trape-Zape": The song "Iberia" stays one of the biggest art/fusion/progressive composition for acoustic guitar i've heard...

Finally a big aplause for all the other band's, musicians, staff, organization and public, who made of "Gouveia Art Rock" festival one of the best shows in world for any progressive rock fan.

Thank you all for a great weekend.

Isabel & Carlos ( the guys of the self made "arena" shirts...hehe )
Oporto - Portugal.

[Peter]

Good to hear that you enjoyed yourselves.

What about Arena's set list? What did they play?

[BlueDragonPT]

Well, i have to confirm the complete alignement of the show, but from "Pepper's Ghost" they played the following songs:

(opening)
Bedlam Fayre
Smoke And Mirrors
The Shattered Rooms
Tantalus
Purgatory Road

It was a more than 2 hours show with a big encore of "Crying for Help" in the end. When i have the confirmation of all songs played i put the complete alignement here.

[Peter]

very kewl. looking forward to 07.05. Aschaffenburg anxiously...!

[Spad]

Great! But...... where is "Opera Fanatica"?!!!! I can't believe they didn't play it...... 

I'm also looking forward the date in Aschaffenburg....... I hope I could listen to "Opera... " there, it would be a pity if they didn't played that number.....

See you there, Peter! 
Spad.

[Ocean_Angel]

A great concert, in my modest opinion... A concert that many fans here in Portugal have been anxiously waiting for (and I speak for myself). We hope this is the 1st of many concerts that ARENA will give in this country.

[BlueDragonPT]

Well people... They played only the final part of "Opera Fanatica" in one of the encores... with a fabulous guitar solo !!!

For the people interested in some photos of the show, it can be found at http://cmftech.cjb.net 

[BlueDragonPT]

Ok, finally i have the complete set list from the Arena show in Gouveia:
( thanks to J. Carlos Maltez from The Portuguese Marillion Fun Club for his help. )

Bedlam Fayre
A Crack In The Ice
(Don't Forget To) Breathe
Smole And Mirrors
Skin Game
Witch Hunt
An Angel Falls
Painted Man
The Shattered Room
Riding The Tide
Tantalus
The Butterfly Man
A State Of Grace
Purgatory Road
Enemy Without
Ascension
Solomon
--------------
Crying For Help VII (1st encore)
--------------
(2nd encore: )
Jericho

well...they didn't play "Opera Fanatica" !!! my confusion....sorry for that!

[Clive]

Hi.... I hate to be picky, but that set list wasn't quite right.... we didn't play Tantalus....
This is the set list:

BEDLAM FAYRE
A CRACK IN THE ICE
(DON’T FORGET TO) BREATHE
SMOKE AND MIRRORS
SKIN GAME
WITCH HUNT
AN ANGEL FALLS
PAINTED MAN
THE SHATTERED ROOM
RIDING THE TIDE
THE BUTTERFLY MAN
A STATE OF GRACE
ENEMY WITHOUT
ASCENSION
SOLOMON

CRY VII

JERICHO


For those of you that want to hear 'Opera Fanatic' - you may have to wait a little longer. We don't really have time in this year's set... being a tenth anniversary we want to try and keep a balance of material. Later in the year, we will probably be re-introducing Moviedrome (and some other oldies), so I think 'Opera' will have to wait til next time....

[Spad]

BEDLAM FAYRE
A CRACK IN THE ICE
(DON’T FORGET TO) BREATHE
SMOKE AND MIRRORS
SKIN GAME
WITCH HUNT
AN ANGEL FALLS
PAINTED MAN
THE SHATTERED ROOM
RIDING THE TIDE
THE BUTTERFLY MAN
A STATE OF GRACE
ENEMY WITHOUT
ASCENSION
SOLOMON

CRY VII

JERICHO

... also Purgatory Road is out from Clive's official setlist.....   
it's my Pepper's Ghost favourite!! Please Clive, play it in Aschaffenburg the 7th May!!! 

Spad.

[Peter]

Yes, I second that!  \o/

[Clive]

Another rather important point I think should be corrected is the fact that Ian wasn't playing bass at this gig (or indeed the next few - due to other work commitments)... it was John Jowitt and Mick that provided the great rhythm section that night.... 

[JJ1]

It's true, it was me.  You'll recognise me by my third nipple. 

[Spad]

It's true, it was me.  You'll recognise me by my third nipple. 

Wow!! I can't believe it! Are you the "real" John Jowitt??!!! Great! Nice to read you! ...
Are you going to play also in Ashaffenburg the 7th May? It would be great..... I love your way of playing and your feeling with the instrument.... so, having already seen Arena live 4 times with Ian, I'd really be happy to listen to them with you.... also a kind of come-back, isn't it?? 

Bye.
Spad.

[JJ1]

Well, I'm a real John Jowitt and I will be playing at the Colos-saal, so see you there.  I'm the one with the curly blonde hair.

[BlueDragonPT]

It's true, it was me.  You'll recognise me by my third nipple. 

Yeah! Right... I'm sorry for that... I found that in the next morning in the Hotel...
My wife said to me: "hummm...curious... that gentleman from Arena band sitting in the corner with the Apple notebook is not Ian Salmon but he played with the band..."
I replied to her: "Well... may be not...but I remenber his face from somewhere...  I think he played in Arena in the past, but I'm not sure... He played yesterday didn't he? I don't know why, but who cares? He's a great bass player and i want his autograph in our cd!"
In meanwhile, the fabulous memory of my wife started to work and she said: " I know...wait...i know...that band with two letters....he played in there...hummm....IQ!!!! that's it... IQ !!!! I think his name is John and he plays bass in Jadis also I think..."
I answered: "God bless you dear , in the middle of hundreds of cd's and dvd's at home, with thousands of musicians, and a lot of live shows we've been, you remenber this one ...fantastic! I think this is an important autograph...in the final we will have a unique cd, signed for all the Arena member's who really played in Gouveia..."
Thanks a lot John Jewitt !!! ( Be proud... you have a fantastic and dangerous fan: my wife...hehe - she buyed Jadis DVD yesterday! )

A final note for Ian: you're welcomed to come to Portugal, even in vacations...but bring with you your pen, of course! Who knows?  hence 20 years i can sell my copy of "Pepper's Ghost" in an auction for $1.000.000 with the following comment: " Rare Arena record with the signature of all the entire Arena member's, plus Mr. Jowitt signature, who joined the band for playing at Gouveia Art Rock 2005 ". I can imagine a little boy asking his father why the cd is so rare and so expensive, and the father answering him: " My boy, it's not for being signed...it's because they played in a end of world place who nobody's believed that could be possible...and the crazy "believer" owner of this CD was one of them...

Thanks Rob, Clive, John, Ian, Mike and of course JJ, for sharing with us your great music and your friendship. It was a great pleasure to meet you guys!!! You will be always welcomed !!!

Sorry for my terrible English... i haven't learned English at school...i learned something reading some Microsoft user guides in English, because the Portuguese ( Brasilian ) translations made by Mr. Gates translators are unreadable for someone speaking European's Portuguese...hehe

[LightYearsAway]

Hey, BlueDragonPT, where did your wife buy that Jadis DVD???

[jeffMc]

First impressions about Gouveia Art Rock:

Arena: A great, great show!!! absolutely impressive concert!!! Rob excellent in vocals, Clive a master in the keyboards, John "freezed" me with the guitar, Ian and Mick, one of the best rythmic sessions of progressive rock in the world. A gourgeous end with all people surrounding the stage singing with Rob. One of best "proggie" shows i've seen in the last 5 years!!!

Um, wasn't John Jowitt playing base on this tour? I believe Ian had other commitments, and John graciously helped out.

[Peter]

Um, wasn't John Jowitt playing base on this tour? I believe Ian had other commitments, and John graciously helped out.

yes, jeffMc, just look approximately 5 posts above, what Clive wrote....

[BlueDragonPT]

Hey, BlueDragonPT, where did your wife buy that Jadis DVD???

She bought at http://www.cduniverse.com online store...($14,96) + shipping costs + taxes, but you can find it in the jadis web site ( http://www.jadis-net.co.uk/ccshop1.html ) for £ 15,00 + shipping costs ) if you are an European citizen, pay attention when you buy in USA stores because of the VAT and customs taxes ( put more 30% to the total for that )
Another store i recommend is http://www.lasercd.com. I buy a lot of records there, with excellent prices and even with shipping costs + customs, the price is lower than in a store in Portugal ( one exemple: FNAC stores - Jade - View From Above: estimated price: â,¬ 24 ( not yet available )

[Saryna]

I had really wanted to go to Lui'ses Portugal fest but things unfortunately didn't work out. I love Portugal.  There was to be a dvd made of this fest.  Was Arena filmed?  How did it go?  The fest supposedly got alot of good press in europe/portugal.  Hope so.


       Cheers,
       Sharon

[BlueDragonPT]

Yes Arena was filmed... Let's wait for Gouveia Art Rock 2005 DVD. It will be scheduled for release in March 2006.

Cheers.