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

21.06.24 Wernigerode, Rathausfest (Paniker)

20.07.24 Wiesmoor, Freilichtbühne (Paniker)

03.08.24 Weinheim (Paniker)

04.08.24 Hildesheim (Paniker)

15.08.24 Nortorf (Paniker)

23.08.24 Solingen (Paniker)

24.08.24 Eppingen (Paniker)

05.09.24 Maschen (Johnny B. Bad)

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