ANDY SCOTT, founder of THE SWEET, says goodbye to life on tour. Of course, live!
In recent years, he and the band have completed up to 12 shows in 14 days. And that every month across Europe. Every day on a different stage in a different city, he no longer wants to take on the strains of traveling, not the stage. On his "Final Round," he visited the Christuskirche in 2023, after which a different life began for him:
THE SWEET will only perform in selected and special locations and, if possible, hold double shows there. This means: two shows in Bochum!
On September 20, 2024, the new album FULL CIRCLE was released worldwide. Now, THE SWEET presents their new - and of course also their old! - songs in the Christuskirche. Glam Rock at its best:
They were successful in the charts in the 70s, in the 80s, in the 90s; which band can say that? Over 30 million records are on the shelves of this world. And: They are still what they have always been, a live band.
With a high fun factor. THE SWEET transitions from pure pop to heavy metal, from straightforward songs like "Little Willy" - just three chords like in the most beautiful punk - to highly complex arrangements like in "Love Is Like Oxygen."
Looking back: In 1970, THE SWEET - Andy Scott, Steve Priest, Mick Tucker, and Brian Connolly - met songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and also producer Phil Wainmann. A partnership formed that lasted 5 years and produced twelve top-twenty hits, including a number 1. The media thought only a manufactured band could achieve such success and began the manufactured band battle, but the live band's fans knew better:
On the B-sides of their major hits, the band had their own heavy rock compositions pressed, and when they were heard live... sensational! The live shows of THE SWEET were famous, notorious, and phenomenal from the very start. (This was not only due to the music; in Belgium, for example, band members were arrested for an allegedly obscene stage performance. What the heck, good for the image.)
Their hits in the USA: "Ballroom Blitz," the song was later featured in the film "Wayne's World," "Fox On The Run," a number 2, "Action" later became a hit for Def Leppard, and "Love Is Like Oxygen" soared to number 5. Their album "Desolation Boulevard" went gold, and THE SWEET finally received the applause in the UK that this so-called manufactured band had long been denied: "Love Is Like Oxygen" won two Novello Awards.
Then the shock: Brian Connolly, the voice of the band, left; in January 1979, the trio sat there abandoned like a three-piece sofa set, as they once described themselves. They continued to play the biggest stages, but the glamour was gone, everyone went their own way; Mick Tucker left for health reasons in 1991 and passed away in 2002.
However, Andy Scott has preserved what MADE THE SWEET and brought them such incredible success - nine number 1 titles alone in Germany! - with new albums like the recent "Sweetlife," the feel-good retro sound has everything a song needs to make one feel as innocently happy as in 1972.