Richie Jones

Ridge Facts

By numbers:

Born: 1963

Kids: 2

Grandchildren: 1 (and counting)

1st guitar: at the age of 10

1st electrc axe: on 16th birthday, 1979

Bands: Check out the bands page

Idols:

Guitar:

Eddie van Halen

Tim Pierce

Marcus Deml (Errorhead)

Steve Vai

Hannes Bauer

Vocals:

John Farnham

Richie Sambora

Musicianship:

Paul McCartney

Udo Lindenberg

Arjen Lucassen

NO (!) idols:

Guitar:

Carlos Santana

Eric Clapton

Musicianship:

Dieter Bohlen, hahaha!

Inspiration:

My parents, my granny, my kids

Hermann Hesse

All the fine musicians I was lucky to work with

Fave Colour: Blue (especially in combination Black+white+blue, see the Blue Ridge 1887

Fave quotes:

"In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"

(Paul McCartney)

"Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God"

(Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin)

"Ich stecke lauter Überraschungen" (der is' von mir)

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's lonely Hearts Club Band, Help, A Hard Day's Night and... errrr... everything - - - Kiss - Destroyer, Alive & Alive II - - - Van Halen - I, II, Women and Children First & Fair Warning - - - Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall - - - Ayreon - Into the Electric Castle, Universal Migrator (1&2), Actual Fantasy - - - Rush - Moving Pictures, Exit: Stage Left, Signals, Power Windows - - - Dream Theater - Images and Words, Awake - - - Steve Vai - Flex-Able, Passion and Warfare, Sex and Religion - - - Udo Lindenberg - Livehaftig, Daumen im Wind, Galaxy Gang, Ball Pompös, Stärker als die Zeit - - - Extreme - Pornograffity - - - Bauer, Garn & Dyke - Sturmfrei, Himmel, Arsch & Zwirn - - - Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East, British Steel - - - Yes - 90125, Going for the one, Tales from Topographic Oceans, Close to the Edge - - - Iron Maiden - Killers, Number of the Beast - - - Bon Jovi - Slippery when wet, New Jersey, Keep the Faith, These Days - - - Status Quo - Quo Live - - - Ramones - It's Alive, Rocket to Russia - - - Meat Loaf - Bat out of Hell, Dead Ringer - - - Les Humphries Singers - Sound '73 (no kiddin'!) - - - Clawfinger - Use your brain , Clawfinger (3) - - - Saga - Images at Twilight, Worlds apart - - - Deep Purple - Machine Head, Made in Japan, Made in Europe

Coming up - Richie live

(Confirmed at this point of time):

26.04.24 Chattahoochee (Johnny B Bad)

19.05.24 Parkfestival, Bad Lippspringe (Paniker)

01.06.24 Chattahoochee HH (Johnny B Bad)

08.06.24 Dillingen (Paniker)

15.06.24 Bischofswerda, Stadtfest (Paniker)

21.06.24 Wernigerode, Rathausfest (Paniker)

20.07.24 Wiesmoor, Freilichtbühne (Paniker)

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 make 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, but 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