ANEK FUCHS "Rocking The Ballads"

by jenny heying

Although Second Life® can be cruel not letting you do want you want, I did manage to head over to The Rockin Roost Roadhouse to take in Anek Fuchs whom I haven’t seen in quite some time. I remember his show being pretty incredible. I remember him rocking the house last time, however here he opened with a slow original song for “Gina” and followed that up with “Shadows Of The Day”. Both were done remarkably well with Anek showcasing his vocal talents admirably.

He has a gruff, Bob Seger kind of voice and it fits his material perfectly. You wouldn’t expect his voice to handle ballads well, but that’s exactly what he did. A simply amazing version of “Hello” followed actually bringing a tear to my eyes. Anek is a wonderful singer bringing a touch of himself to the covers he does. On songs like “Better Man”, you know why you love listening to him.


Although I remember Anek more as a rocker, the acoustic guitar was a fitting accompaniment to the ballads he sang. It was a laid back show and his strumming added to the relaxed ambiance. He played with authority but kept his voice in the foreground. An accomplished guitar player, he could easily have let it run away but didn’t. On “Unintended”, his guitar was strong enough to take the spotlight but not without his voice leading the way.

Between songs the soft spoken Anek chats a little but not a whole lot, preferring to let the songs talk for him.

A wonderful version of “Silent Lucidity” followed keeping the dreamy mood in place. Like all the ballads her performed this night, his voice handled them well showing you that you don’t have to scream and shout to be a rocker. Yes a rocker can do ballads and make them mean something too. Anek put his mark on the ballads he chose.

The Rockin Roost Roadhouse is a great looking venue even though it only slightly resembles the roadhouses I’ve seen. Nonetheless it has the required beer ads, wooden dance floor and a small but adequate stage. It’s much cleaner and modern than most roadhouses, but alas that’s the Second Life® feel.

And if the melodic Anek didn’t surprise me enough, half way through his show he switched tempo and launched in to an instrumental dance number complete with drum beat and driving riffs behind him. Okay lol, it’s what I was expecting from him. He rocks! The guitar stole the show at this point and the tracks kept a constant beat compelling you to bounce (okay thrash). The 40 or so in attendance lapped it up while Anek jumped into some more driving guitar changing the night of ballads into a rock fest complete with a laser light show emanating from his axe. The ballads were gone and Anek with some incredible licks decided to rock us out for the balance of the evening.

No matter what he plays, you enjoy it. He can romanticize you or he can rock you, but it’s not your choice, it’s his. But when you take in Anek Fuchs you let him make the decisions for you. But really, what he does with his guitar is beautiful whether rocking or not and that you can appreciate. There are a few other rockers here but Anek covers both ends of the genre spectrum and does so perfectly.

He ended his show fittingly with his guitar wailing us away while his fingers danced across the frets lulling us into a sense of wonderment. Bravo