Ludwigshafen 13 Oct 1995

So as I had to visit at least a few of my friends in Germany, I missed the Appenweier show. Pity because I heard it was a killer with RB doing Rainbow Eyes, Love Hurts, Hey Joe and killer solos throughout. For me the next gig was Ludwigshafen, next to Mannheim. Here's where I depart from the views of some of they guys who saw the gig. I thought it was the best gig of my life (up until then) and ten times better than Berlin. Others didn't like it too much. For me it was arguably Doogie's best performance and RB played some very long solos. The highlight was Rainbow Eyes for me. It was amazing to hear the song that I never thought I would hear live. Doogie sang it nearly a capella and was blowing out the PA. Ritchie apparently had tuning problems with his Cream Strat and instead played his Black one throughout most of the gig. I think that inspired him to say fuck it, I want to play. There was no Greensleeves this gig, but Rainbow Eyes and Temple of the King had the crowd screaming. The long intro to Ariel was particularly memorable and the Black Masquerade was one of the best of the tour that I saw. There were more guitar fills in Hunting Humans that any other gig I saw also. I think Man on the Silver Mountain was the best received song of the night. I thought it was a great show but talking with other fans at other shows who saw this gig didn't agree. Only Chuck Burgi came out to see the fans after the gig. He remembered me from Berlin but he didn't have time to talk with the fans for more than a minute or tow before he, too, went on the tour bus. This venue was a 3,500 seater and when I called on ticket availability, there were 1,500 still left the night of the show. From the packed crowd I think it was close to sold out.