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Child in Edinburgh
Child in Time, Edinburgh, Usher hall, October 5, 2009. The singer’s name is Grant Barclay. He had been given a tremendous voice and talent to use it, as evidenced by this recording. We wish him all the best in his endeavours.
Thanks to weissheim for uploading and to Daniel Bengtsson for spotting it.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Can you imagine Purple playing Child In Time with this young man deputising for Ian Gillan, I’d pay good money to see and hear that!
October 9th, 2009 at 20:47Oh yeah, Lord of the Hammond! It’s so good to hear Mr. Lord doing those old, but oh so great, tunes from his youth:-) He’s passing the tourch to younger generations. Btw, great singer, great band and a great audience!!!!! Must’ve been fun for all parties involved:-)
October 9th, 2009 at 22:10I dont know what to say? I’m simply in awe of this event. I felt like I was taken back in time. What a performance !!!! What Jon has done working with these young students of music is incredible. That young lad on vocals has some pipes!! He sounded like Ian back in the day! The music was well done and glad to hear Jon banging on “the beast”. Any real Purple fan will love this.
October 9th, 2009 at 22:42i cant hear this song unless it is gillan singing it …call me a weirdo
October 10th, 2009 at 01:59Purple play Glasgow next month, how about a guest spot for Grant singing Child in Time.He is only 18 years old, i am sure Ian Gillan would be knocked out by him
October 10th, 2009 at 14:28Nice version. Never like the original …
October 10th, 2009 at 17:25Oh dear Lord! As much as I can hear it’s awesome performance!
October 10th, 2009 at 17:44I bet Jon hasn’t heard this song performed so well in about….. well…..36 years or so.
Just goes to show that the song hasn’t lost any of it’s power if performed well. Just listen to that audience go wild. It brought a smile to my lips.
October 10th, 2009 at 18:28fantastic,
October 10th, 2009 at 19:52come play in holland and bring jon along!
Never heard anybody other than Ian sing this extremely vocally challenging song as well as this. Fantastic performance!! Don’t underestimate how difficult this is to do, the richness of tone, the sensitivity of delivery, the power of the baritone and the incredible range are as close to Gillan as I have heard…Well done young man!!
October 12th, 2009 at 13:10It was a fantastic night all round, all the young musicians were brilliant. To hear my favorite song of all time performed to such a high standard was absolutely magic, never thought I would hear it live again, good luck to all involved and thank you for a wonderful evenings entertainment.
October 13th, 2009 at 15:20this voice is not intense and good as the Gillan one…but surely better than the gotthard one…
October 13th, 2009 at 16:59To actually hear this famous song live after so long and for it to be so well done was amazing! Faultless! And how brave is anyone to sing it, let alone in the fairly highbrow atmosphere of the Usher Hall and in front of the man. Paul Mann said that he thought Ian Gillan would be proud, I hope he was right. I fully agree the well done comment, a priviledge to be there!
October 13th, 2009 at 18:24#1
Gillan wrote this immortal song,so only Gillan can sing this song on stage,even if now his voice has changed: RESPECT!
October 14th, 2009 at 08:34Well,what can I say….Hearing that version was quite amazing,Never thought that anybody would even try and perform a respectful version of that classic song.
October 14th, 2009 at 12:21Been a Purple fan for over 36 years now and I must say that young guy is damn good,sounded like Gillan too,
Remarkable performance and great to hear Jon Lord again,he certainly has found a talented group of musicians to perform with,The singer is only 18?? WOW!
Great stuff…are there any more recordings and was it filmed for DVD?
Although I sometimes can enjoy another persons version of certain songs in the end I always refer back to the originals
Nothing more timeless than Gillans own personal peak in the arly 70 s
October 14th, 2009 at 14:30Not nearly as powerful singing as Gillan, he hits the notes but he can’t deliver the power. Gillan is King!
October 14th, 2009 at 18:19# 17
That’s also my opinion. On the other hand Gillan vocals on studio version is “sensitive”. He delivered real power during his on-stage performances. Barclay singing stands studio CIT.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:59The guy has a great gift, no doubt about that but he did not change my opinion that Child In Time could be sung only by Ian! (Maybe Eric Adams, in his prime could do it pretty good as well) I don’t wanna be too critical but did not like the dynamics of his singing.
October 17th, 2009 at 06:35Yes,the only guy who could sing Child in Time was Ian Gillan and always will be.
October 19th, 2009 at 11:32He was really unique and had a golden set of tonsils that no one ever came close to.
That was “his” song and the vocal range was incredible,I suppose years of screaming and smoking does take its toll eventually,Gillan also does an awesome version of Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar,what a voice he had in those days.
This young guy is only 18 and its a very good performance of a song that is so difficult to even attempt to do a credible version of.
It’s my clip (recorded on my camera!). It was a fantastic performance by everyone involved, but Grant’s vocal delivery was truly in a league of it’s own. Superb.
October 21st, 2009 at 17:49Hey everyone,
Was doing some reminiscing today and just found this comment section for the first time. Firstly, thank you for all the kind comments, and apologies for coming to them 8 years late! More importantly, I completely agree that no one will ever sound like Gillan – the man was revolutionary and had an unmistakable tone; I totally respect the comments here saying I don’t compare and I take such comments positively; I’d like to think I have my own qualities as a singer, even if they never achieve the international fame and adoration of Gillan. Indeed, one of the biggest issues approaching this project, and Child in Time specifically, was how to go about tackling such an iconic song – how to pay homage to one of rock’s greatest singers and respecting the piece, whilst trying to make the version ‘my own’. I didn’t want to go crazy off the rails with it because I thought that would be disrespectful to the original, and I thought that Jon might appreciate the nostalgia trip of hearing it (as close as I could!) as it was a couple of decades ago. Equally, I couldn’t emulate it exactly because, as people have rightly pointed out, I’m not Gillan. I therefore tried to sing it rather faithfully to some of the 90s versions I was hearing on Youtube for the first part, and then gave it some more of my own flair for the second part. The result was something of a hybrid I think, and although there are some things I would change listening to it now, I’m still immensely proud of what we achieved. I’ll be forever grateful for that opportunity, and especially to Jon for making it happen, and suggesting Child in Time in the first place. He was a wonderful man and the world is a little dimmer in his absence.
I’m not sure if anyone will read this but it was cathartic to write out!
All the best,
Grant Barclay
August 21st, 2017 at 12:58