This years greatest surprise at Ruisrock was that, as a substitute for Humble Pie, they had gotten hold of the MC 5. Believe it or not, but only a week earlier the very same American quintet were driven off stage in London, in the middle of their performance.

They got a lot of attention already when they appeared on the festival area. Solosinger Rob Tyner, with his dishevelled hair and his tighter-than-tight pants, and the guitarist, Fred "Sonic" Smith in his pointy shoes, black ulster and a strawhat taken straight from the 30´s, the rest of the crew was at least as wild looking.

And they didn´t need to be on stage for more than a couple of seconds before everyone present had a hunch that something they had never seen or heard before was awaiting. The MC 5 were on the move.

They had performed at Wembley in London the week before at a mighty rock rave, where the biggest stars were for example, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis. People had been throwing stones and empty beercans at them until a point where they had to evacuate the stage, in the middle of the set.

Now they were heroes. All the kids on the other side of the fence that separated them from the band tried to be first to Tyner who´s getting squeezed, as if it was Marc Bolan or Elvis, and the cheers over their interrupted participation were both long and stormy.

So, it´s not so strange that tyner prized the Finnish audience as the best one they´ve had for years. In Ruissalo they received his message, even though it every now and then rained like the whole sky was falling down. Musik Fazer´s cathchphrase MC 5 were playing the right melody.

So, they were five. Besides the earlier mentioned Tyner and Smith, there´s the guitarist Wayne Kramer, the bassplayer Mike Davis and the drummer Denny Thompson. They originally come from the nesting ground of American heavy-music, the infamous district called Ann Arbour in Detroit, and have been around for quite a while now.

In the beginning they played american rock, coloured by jazz, but as their bread got thinner, they decided to return to the well paved path of Chuck Berry & Co. Atlantic Lp "Back In the USA" was a step for the better and the following opus "Free Time" [sic] made their strong position in their hometown even stronger.

Right now, MC 5 is one of the hardest bands in the original style rock´n´roll, even if the English people might want to disagree. The quintet hammers their way into the listeners consciousness like a freight-train, and Rob Tyner explodes with such power that feeble-minded people risk getting terrified. No stage feels big enough.

I also asked Rob Tyner about the failed Wembley-gig. He says the events occured due to some holigans rebellious jangle that in no way had to do with MC 5´s music, but with something completely else. For their reputations sake, it must be admitted that even Little Richard himself was booed out from Wembley.

In Finland, and in Ruissalo in particular, everything was fine, except the weather. Because of that, Rob said he was sorry that they couldn´t stay here in the country and play more places. But of course there´s a new spring next year, and we look forward to meet this speed quintet again.

Translation by: Yoda Hassinen - http://kiss.to/dollhouse -

 

GIGS     LIBRARY    HOMEPAGE     CONCERT POSTERS