Weather Report Live in Stadhalle (civic center) in the district of Offenbach 🇩🇪 September 28, 1978

🎹 Joe Zawinul (keyboards)
🎷 Wanye Shorter (tenor and soprano saxophone)
🎸 Jaco Pastorius (electric bass)
🪘 Peter Erkskine (drums)

00:00 Black Market
10:12 Joe's intro to Scarlet Woman/"Liftoff"
13:27 Scarlet Woman
19:37 Young and Fine
26:21 The Pursuit of the Woman with the Feathered Hat
33:11 A Remark You Made
40:15 River People
48:08 Thanks for the Memories (Solo Wayne - Tenor)
51:55 Dolores / Portrait of Tracy / Third Stone from the Sun (Jaco's Solo)
1:01:45 Mr. Gone
1:10:24 In a Silent Way
1:12:37 Waterfall
1:14:27 Teen Town
1:22:37 I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good (Solo Joe)
1:26:00 The Midnight Sun Will Never Set On You (Joe & Wayne)
1:31:26 Birdland
1:38:15 Introductions
1:40:02 Fred & Jack (Solo Peter)
1:47:32 Elegant People
1:55:28 Badia

Zawinul's pieces are the focus, as you'd expect. 'Black Market' opens the proceedings with a lot more fire than the original, although I always thought it should be a calm piece. The sax and drums break in the middle is one of the best moments of the night, simultaneously highlighting Peter Erskine's best asset, groove, and Wayne Shorter's best asset, melody. Well, we know Shorter was a jazz God anyway; this performance just proves he hadn't lost it in 1978. 'Scarlet Woman' is more moody, while 'Young and Fine' sets the tone for the majority of the show; the band sets into a groove with various riffs and bass lines hammering over a beat, while Shorter and Zawinul proceed to splash their brilliant melodies, solos and chordal flurries all over the shop. The perpetually flanged electric piano is a constant source of pleasure behind the rumblings of tenor and soprano saxes. Jaco Pastorius' bass, while well-played of course, lacks an interesting or powerful timbre like the rest of the band, so it is a shame for such a virtuoso to, at times, sound like another artificial keyboard.

'A Remark You Made' is performed with some extra sections, all of them as beautiful as the well-known 'verses'. 'River People', a song that was new to me, was a bit of a wow moment. It turns into what is probably the funkiest, most upbeat jam of the evening. Very, very good stuff. Then, rightfully, the intensity eases off while we hear solo spots from Shorter and then Pastorius. Both of them display the virtuosity of the players, which we are already aware of, and not a lot else. I'm not someone who buys into the whole 'pretentious' thing that gets thrown around a lot of discussions about jazz and progressive rock, but Jaco's moment here is one piece of music I can definitely say is indulgent.

'Mr Gone' might be as controversial as the similarly titled album. This must have been one of the song's last performances, but I quite like the piece. 'In A Silent Way' and 'Waterfall' are more subtle, and are good examples of how well this quartet works as a single unit, rather than anyone taking the lead all the time. But just as things begin to grow tiring, 'Teen Town' kicks in with a bang, played with excitement and fire. The medley afterwards continues the fun, while less impactive, but 'Birdland' is, as it always was, a jaw-dropping finale. The excellent composition is daringly sped up, and morphs into a swinging shuffle pretty soon. The climax of this show is 'Birdland's fantastically catchy outro, before the band members take some bows and prepare their encore.

'Fred and Jack' serves as a vehicle for Erskine's mesmerising drum solo, though nothing we haven't seen before. 'Elegant People' is just great, and the closing 'Badia' leaves a cool, eastern flavour in one's mouth once the show is over.

I think, of those available, this is the one Weather Report show that begs to be seen, not just heard. The chemistry is there, still, and these guys make their silences count as much as their melodies. The quality only dips on a couple of occasions, and there is so much good material here that you will be in fusion heaven from the word go.

Review by thehallway