Frankfurt Musikmesse 09 Review

Our Frankfurt-based reporters are back in Blighty, and they’ve brought back the highlights from the final day of Musikmesse 2009.

Unable to get to Frankfurt this year? Then let us fill you in on what went on, on the Marshall stand over the four days. Product launches, dinners, arranged artist performances as well as impromptu performances, artist signing and even God Save the Queen! Marshall continued the year in the same vein as we had started it at NAMM. On the first day of the show, people were able to see the new MG Series in its full glory. This had of course been launched at NAMM by Kerry King and Doug Aldrich, but we had added to the range for Frankfurt with the incredibly small but powerful MG2FX. A battery or mains powered 2 Watt portable amp, featuring 10 custom designed voices amongst other features. Also on the stand, but yet to be launched, was the Haze Series, consisting of a mid sized stack with a 15 Watt head and two 1×12” cabs and a 40 Watt combo. Next to the Haze was the very imposing Dave Mustaine Signature cabinets, sealed 4×12” cabs with a tough metal grille.

Dr Jim Marshall was back this year and the queue for his signature was as long as ever. The first artist appearance came in the early afternoon when Doug Aldrich of Whitesnake plugged into the Haze in our sound booth. Those of you who were lucky enough to see the performance will agree that he is an awesome guitarist and to see him play in a small booth is incredible. After Doug played he and Dave Mustaine had a brief chat in the back stage area of the stand before Dave had to step out to the signing area, much to the relief of his waiting fans. Dave could have been there signing all night, but we had to cut the queue short to get Dave and Doug away to a sound check in preparation for the evenings events. For those of you not aware, every Frankfurt Marshall host an evening and an artist or two often join us, this year Doug and Dave both did just that.

The evening got under way with Doug Aldrich officially launching the Haze Series. Doug spoke about the versatility and amazing tone of the range before treating the select 170 guests to some great guitar playing. Then Dave took to the stage and launched his signature cabinets, Marshall’s first signature speaker cabs. This was a very rare solo performance from the Megadeth front man, but he took to introducing the world to his cabs with aplomb. He explained why they are different from standard cabs and then shredded his guitar through them, much to the delight of the guests, demonstrating the tonal power and tightness of the cabs. There was some relative quiet after this whilst everyone enjoyed the dinner, then Dr Jim Marshall took to the front to give out some awards to the distributors and then the Chris George Band played and were joined onstage by Doug Aldrich.

The second day seemed to start quietly, but the previous evening’s consumption of alcohol may have had a bearing on this. Dr Jim Marshall had the usual long queue and signed autographs for a few hours. Doug Aldrich played in our sound booth for the second day running before going out to the signing area to meet his waiting fans.

The third day saw an amazing show in the Marshall booth. Very often when a guitarist plays at a trade show he will do so with a backing CD, but when Paul Gilbert talked about coming over, he asked if the Chris George Band could learn some tracks to play with him. Of course they were much obliging, so he joined them on stage for an hour long set. It was incredible to see Chris George and Paul Gilbert trading guitar solos and both playing with their teeth!! Not a show to miss. During the afternoon a few artists came over to say hello, Phil Campbell, Bernie Marsden and Dario Lorina all popped in.

The final day of the show was no anti climax as Dr Jim Marshall kicked off the day by signing for a couple of hours again. Then in the booth Chris George and the guys were joined by Robb Flynn of Machine Head for an impromptu performance. That was something to behold and if you were one of the few who happened to be in the booth at that time, you were treated to a very special performance from one of metals hottest frontmen at the moment. Robb had just launched his signature Epiphone guitar and then came down early for his signing session. He then went out and signed for an hour, but again we had to cut the queue short as he would have been there all evenin. No sooner had we cut the queue than one started for our next guest on the stand, Matt Heafy of Trivium. Matt has recently come back to using a full Marshall backline and wanted to appear on our stand to show the world he was back where he belongs and to see him play with Marshall behind him again seems like he has come home.

That was pretty much it. The show was coming to a close and there were one or two people with stands there still making a little noise, so someone on the stand made a suggestion. Well, it was the end of the show, so why not. We wheeled a JVM410 full stack into the middle of the stand, Chris George plugged in and turned the volume up to 10 (where’s the 11 when you want it) and after a few heavy riffs went into a very loud and powerful God save the Queen, which must have been heard in most of the halls in the heart of Frankfurt!