I trudge to a gig of every friggin' Blackmore's Night tour in Deutshland. I've probably seen them 20 times over the decades. Yet it is painful/embarrassing every time for me, some of the music is beyond banal (and minutes later there is a short flash of brilliance from Blackmore in another song) and the medieval fair visuals of the band and their diehard fans grate on me. If I have to hear the sway-happy Renaissance Faire (always a crowd favorite)
one more time (and I no doubt will), I'll have to shoot myself.
Candice's voice has gained strength and authority over the years and she hits notes acurately, but her delivery is one-dimensional and the lyrics ... spare me! And as his years with BN strumming acousitc instruments add up, Ritchie's capabilities on a Strat diminish via sheer non-use/non-practice: The man who once commanded the instrument with elegance, energy, skill and mischievous finesse, by now sounds awkward with it (as anyone would who spends so little time playing electric guitar and so much with various acoustic instruments).
File me under "glutton for punishment/repeat offender".
