Riders on the Storm - 2007-01-03 - Manchester Apollo, UK

Riders on the Storm were previously known as The Doors of the 21st Century, but arguments over use of the name "The Doors" meant they had to change it. This led to the band receiving less press exposure for the tour and playing smaller venues than their two previous tours of various arenas.

This recording turned out really well, which is probably due to me being seated 6 feet in front of the left-hand stack of speakers! This no doubt contributed to the low-levels of crowd noise present on the recording, plus all the crowd were obviously behind me. It didn't help my ears though!

As for the show itself, they came on late (9:10pm) so I knew we were in for a shortened set, as shows at the Apollo rarely exceed 11pm. Musically, the guys were as tight as usual, but they definitely lacked enthusiasm compared to the previous times I've seen them. Strange really, because this tour was supposed to be a celebration of 40 years since the rise to prominence of The Doors.

If you listen closely during the encore break, you can hear the background storm sounds that they usually play immediately before returning to the stage and launching into Riders on the Storm. They must have been told they were short of time and launched into Peace Frog instead. A sign that Manzarek was just going through the motions is immediately before the last song; he followed his usual routine of asking the audience what song they want to hear next, but launched into Light My Fire without barely giving them time to answer!

The final track is a plea by Ian Astbury for everyone to canvass for the band to be included on the bill at Glastonbury 2007. They would probably have gone down a storm before such an enthusiastic crowd, but unfortunately they never managed to pull it off.

Riders on the Storm - 2007-01-03 - Manchester Apollo, UK
185MB RAR archive, variable bit rate MP3s (min. 245 kbps)

Setlist:

01. Introduction
02. Roadhouse Blues
03. Break On Through
04. Love Me Two Times
05. When The Music's Over
06. Band Member Introductions
07. Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)
08. Backdoor Man
09. Five to One
10. Robby Solo / Spanish Caravan
11. The Changeling
12. People Are Strange
13. Not To Touch The Earth
14. Wild Child
15. Touch Me
16. L.A. Woman
(encore)
17. Peace Frog
18. Light My Fire
19. Ian Astbury's Glastonbury Plea

(Download link updated 27th January, 2013)