SURVIVOR - Live Braunschweig , Germany - Jolly Joker, April 22nd

Is it really nearly twenty years ago when I first heard "Eye Of The Tiger" on the radio? From that day on I was a huge SURVIVOR fan but never managed to see the guys live. The tour of JIMI JAMISON's SURVIVOR through Germany was cancelled due to financial problems of their record company. Last year the distance from Portland (USA) to the Open Air shows with STYX and REO SPEEDWAGON was too much, so I missed them again. But I had better luck this time and I finally was able to hear "Eye Of The Tiger" and all the other classics live for the first time.

When we entererd the club, a reconstructed factory hall, it was already filled with 1000 people waiting for the show to begin. We were thrilled because I got a phone call from a friend of mine, who praised a SURVIVOR gig two days before to high heavens. The band started with "Veocitize", a new (?) and quite a heavy cut but I wasn't too impressed. It was obvious that Jimi Jamison had problems with his back so he couldn't sing the way he used to. He disappeared for more than ten minutes between "High On You" and "I See You In Everyone". Frankie Sullivan (together with drummer Marc Droubay the only founding member in the line-up) had to close the gap with an improvised guitar solo but it was quite boring. Jim Peterik was sorely missed and everyone was lucky when an obviously shakened Mr. Jamison finally returned. As you might see the setlist normally is the fulfillment of every AOR fan's wet dream, but if the singer isn't in fine shape,it is "only a good show". For most of the crowd this didn't matter and when "Eye Of The Tiger" was played everybody went wild. So the band had to return for "Broken Promises" as an encore and the stage was empty after 65 minutes. We left the venue with mixed impressions because we tried to imagine what was possible with a recovered Jimi Jamison. Maybe better next time!