RAH - Sat 25 Sept - review
First of all, there was a large gathering of amd-p folk in the Goat Tavern beforehand. Too many to mention by name, but it was great to meet old friends, put faces to old names, and meet new folk.
And so to the RAH. If you're coming on Sunday, come on time, because it started at 7.35 pm.
1) Paul Mann, the LSO conductor, announced that Sir Malcolm Arnold was not well enough to attend, but that he sent his best wishes. Then the LSO played Arnold's "Four Scottish Dances" - four short and fairly light pieces, to get the evening off to a fine start.
2)Next up - two pieces from "Pictured Within" - the title track, and "Wait a While". Played by Jon and the orchestra, with Miller Anderson on PW, and Sam Brown on WaW. PW never fails to bring a tear to my eye - simply beautiful.
3) Then Roger, Ian P, Steve, Ronnie James Dio, and Eddie Hardin came on. MA moved to acoustic guitar, and together with the orchestra, we got "Sitting In A Dream" from the Butterfly Ball. Graham Preskett joined on violin, and a horn section too (not the orchestra's brass), for a very lively "Love Is All", with everyone clearly having a lot of fun.
4) Mr Gillan joined us, wearing a white Indian-style suit - Nehru collar on a very long jacket - and over the top of that he had a gold lame jacket! Looked like the Punjabi Presley! Ian, Jon, Steve Morris, Rog, the horns and the orchestra then ripped through "Via Miami" and "That's Why God is Singing the Blues" - a couple of well-chosen songs to keep the mood up-beat. The gold lame jacket was thrown at the drummer in between songs.
5) Next - the Steve Morse Band - Steve, Dave LaRue on bass, Van Romaine on drums, and IIRC, GP on violin. "Night Meets Light", with the orchestra, was first. Then "Take It Off The Top" - which caused some jaws to drop in the orchestra, who, when they weren't playing, were sitting on stage watching. Mind you, some of them, young and old, were really getting into things, and they gave Steve a prolonged round of applause after this.
6) To close the first half, we had Ian P, Roger, Jon, GP on violin, and the horn section doing the promised big-band swing version of "Wring That Neck". If any of you know the version on IABD's 2nd album, you'll know how this went.
OK - that took just over an hour, and took us to the interval.
Just after 9pm, the show restarted, with the Concerto.
I have to say now that sadly there was some shouting and jeering - drunks yelling for "Highway Star" and things like that - both before the Concerto started, and especially between the 1st and 2nd movements. In fact, they couldn't get the 2nd movememt started because of the noise, and Jon had to tell the audience to keep quiet.
So, if you're coming on Sunday, show some respect for the musicians, and especially for Jon. What can he have felt, listening to some mindless idiots trying to ruin the first playing of his Concerto for 30 years?
Anyway, back to the Concerto. It was a revelation to hear it live - much clearer, much crisper, much better sounding than the old recording. The band played brilliantly, Ian sang really well, and the orchestra was excellent. I think that this was much better than the old recorded version. It was also so spooky to hear something so very close to the original - the same sounds from the orchestra, Jon using the same organ settings, Steve following the same guitar lines from the score.
There was a spontaneous standing ovation after the first movement, but, as I've set, they had trouble starting the second. Maybe because of that, they went very quickly from the 2nd into the 3rd.
Anyway, it was wonderful - I'd never dreamt I would ever see it live.
This took us up to about 9.50pm.
When the Concerto finished, there was another great ovation, but they didn't milk it for long. Instead, it was quickly into "Ted", with the horn section. Then "Watching The Sky", with horns and the orchestra's strings, then "SIFLS", with the strings, and finally "Pictures of Home", with an orchestral intro, and the full orchestra all the way through. Incredibly powerful and thrilling music.
But, of course, there was one more thing to play. Everybody - all the guest musicians - came on, Steve launched into SOTW, and the RAH went wild! A totally triumphant version, completely over the top, with umpteen rock musicians, the horn sections, the backing singers, and the full orchestra. Amazing.
And that was it. Nobody wanted to leave - never has an orchestra packed up to such cheering. But eventually Ian G had to come back on stage and say that the show was over, finished, nothing more, thank you all!
In summary, an incredible night of very varied and truly enjoyable music - great fun. Yes, there are serious parts in the Concerto, so if you're coming please show some respect, even it's not what you really want to hear. Don't spoil it for everyone else. I guarantee you'll go away with a smile on your face!
And I have to do it all over again on Sunday. Don't expect any reports from me on Sunday's show, or on the DPAS convention, because I have to get an early train to Paris on Monday, and at my age I need my sleep. ;-)
I should add that I've just looked through the special programme. And inside the back cover is an ad which says that the CD, DVD and video of the show will be out in Jan 2000.
In fact, Saturday's show was only audio recorded - Sunday's will also be videoed. [I think the intention was to use the Saturday show for the CD but since the Sunday performance was so much better I guess they will use that show for the CD too. - Ed.]
[ reviews | the highway star ]