The Dukes of York - feat. The Queens

Here's for something new.

Jens Skwirblies, my bandmate from Die Paniker Keyboard Stage right, asked me to join a talk show format band, and I couldn't be happier (hence sayin' "Hell, yeah!" before he was ending the question). And so here we are, a classy, classy bunch of beautiful people, finest musicians, and in the midst of it, the master of disaster York Lange, steering the show with eloquence, charm and humor.

Take your time to check this out:

Coming up - Richie live

23.08. 2025 - Braunschweig (Paniker)

27.08. 2025 - Kiel (WKDK)

30.08. 2025 - Henningsdorf (Paniker)

06.09. 2025 - Chattahoochee HH (JBB)

Paniker: Der Udonaut und die Paniker
JBB: Johnny B. Bad
WKDK: Wer kommt der kommt

Sammy: Sammys Saloon

What's up, Ridge?

Meeting (and rehearsing with) Udo Lindenberg

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Dreams come true. Sometimes. Happened to me in May '22. No kidding', seriously!

In April '22 I got a call from Andy, a guy who turned out to be a member of the „inner circle“ of Udo Lindenberg’s tour production team. In essence: „The artist wants to meet you, Richie! And bring your guitar...“.

Wait... WHAT?!?

Fou...

So, this happened on May 1st 2022:

I drove to Timmendorfer Strand, where UL and the Panikorchester were rehearsing for the tour ’22, and met all these icons I knew from concerts and articles and the telly. I met the man himself and we rehearsed his music all day long. Mark well: Not a tribute band, I was part of the real deal!

I met a totally friendly, overwhelmingly nice guy, professionally well informed about this Richie Jones he was making music with. A man who’s absolutely reflected and aware about his attribute being a national treasure, totally committed to making everybody in the room feel comfortable and easy, including himself.

Maybe the purpose of having me at a rehearsal was to check out some plan B on guitar players against the background of the pandemic.

Since the tour took place without any virus incident (hence me not playing on this tour), you might ask: „Okay, now what’s next?!?“ Frankly, I dunno, though I keep dreaming of being part of Germany’s greatest Rock’n Roll circus. But whatever may come, hey, I’m already on the bright side of life. I played with Udo Lindenberg, he liked what he saw/heard, and nobody will ever take that away from me.

Surely, a dream came true…

Hamburg, May 2022