Seppi’s Mampferia, Möhlin, Switzerland – 10.07.2021

These aren’t truly easy times we live in. Since the Corona virus hit the world last year, the entertainment sector has come to a standstill and bands have been condemned to stay at home without being able to present their albums live in front of large audiences. This is an unfamiliar situation that affects the mental health of musicians and lovers of hard sounds and causes mood swings, because an important part of their lives is missing. Meanwhile, smaller concerts are taking place and represent a ray of hope on the horizon after a long period of uncertainty. This is good for all tortured souls who crave live spectacle and should definitely attend these events to support the organizers and support the bands. Otherwise a club death threatens what must be prevented. A small venue

called Seppi's Mampferia is located in the community of Möhlin in the canton of Aargau. There you can eat during the week and on weekends and in between there are live concerts in open air style. As a group, the band Relayer was booked, which I was allowed to experience live some time ago and thrilled me then. To satisfy the hunger for live concerts, I traveled to Möhlin by car. Actually, summer should be visiting Switzerland, but there is not much of it at the moment. The ride to Möhlin became a challenge for a short time, because of pouring rain and the danger of aquaplaning through water masses on the highway. Despite these adverse conditions, I made it safely to Möhlin and was looking forward to the upcoming live concert. After a leisurely dinner, I entered the yard of Seppi's Mampferia. Solothurn-based melodic rock band Relayer has undergone some personnel changes in the band line-up. Meanwhile, a singer named Sandy Keller (ex-About Frank) is behind the mic after the departure of singer Carlos Pedrosa and the new drummer Markus Kalt (ex-Van Arx) for Ugur Baltali. I.e. the group is back on track and ready to hit the stages and rock. An intro sounded on 8:20 PM and the performance began with the song "Loss of Control". The band presented an exciting and versatile performance with melodic rock. Frontwoman Sandy Keller presented herself in a good mood and radiated that and despite the bad weather the joy was transferred to the audience. In contrast to other concerts, the audience joined in the quintet's performance and showed this with applause, dancing and singing along. Guitarist Freddy Schaffner shone with melodic guitar riffs and bassist Bruno Gehriger (ex-Cram) provided the groovy bass lines to spice up the sound. Drummer Markus Kalt was allowed to prove his skills as a drum roller. Besides the guitar solos of Freddy Schaffner, keyboarder and singer Hene Klodel (ex-Air Wave, Kaktus) could provide enthusiasm with solos on his Hammond organ. This is an art, which not everyone masters, but he convinced with years of experience and inspired the audience with his talent and joy of playing. There was a short break after „Dark Times“ to catch their breath before they continued with "Something's Wrong". During "Saturday Night" the fans were asked by Sandy Keller to sing along with the words "Saturday Night" which they did. A hearty smile followed as a reward. As a premiere the newest song "Free" was played, which convinced like the previous songs and was performed with passion. After that, the performance would have been over, but the audience was far from having enough and demanded encores. This was granted with the song "Hey Baby". After that the audience wanted to hear more and was rewarded by their perseverance with the two encores "Loss of Control" and "Dark Times". These songs were played again, because at the beginning of the concert not all spectators could hear them. Thereupon the band was adopted by enthusiastic spectators with a lot of applause. Setlist Relayer Intro by Stick Loss of Control Woman in Black Flying High Only U Way of the World Dark Times Something’s Wrong The Truth Monster Gimme One More Night Don’t Stop Satuday Night Free Hey Baby Loss of Control Dark Times I stayed a moment with friends before new rain announced itself and I went home. It was a pleasure listen to the band and enjoy the beauty of this genre with all my senses. A big thanks goes to Seppi's Mampferia for their organization of this wonderful event, which I enjoyed with much pleasure. I will definitely come again. Conclusion: It‘s worth to visit small concerts of organizers, because they know how to give bands a chance to present their art to a live audience without thousands of followers and "likes" on the social networks of Instagram and Facebook. Livereport by Dominic Latscha