"A Fantastic Fun Time"
Deep Purple's Concerto performances provided me with my latest excuse to travel thousands of miles to see some new Purple shows, and a new place. It's been a life-long dream (well, I'm only 24!) to go to London, and although I never thought I'd have the opportunity to see Jon's Concerto, that too proved to be the concert event of a lifetime. I saw two amazing shows, met many of the performers, and met some people that I have been writing to for as long as 9 years in one case.
My Concerto experience started Friday with a trip to the Royal Albert Hall. I was hoping to hear the band rehearse, but I think I just missed them. I saw Steve Morris walking around and talked to him for a couple minutes. He was very pleasant, and seemed surprised that I recognized him! He told us that he would be playing two songs with Ian - "Via Miami", and "That's Why God Is Singing The Blues". Sounded cool!
We returned to the RAH Saturday afternoon and saw many of the orchestra members coming into the hall. One of the guys stopped to talk to my friend Randy to ask him what Purple fans thought of all this. He didn't seem to know who the guests were, so he quizzed my friend on who the "short singer with long hair" and the "gravely, smoky voiced singer" were!
As soon as the doors opened, we made our way in, and picked up the special-made programs for the weekend which was a nice touch. I was amazed by the hall itself. I've been to some great theaters in the states, but this was something else!
Show time rolled around, and the London Symphony Orchestra took the stage. Conductor Paul Mann joined them, and they played "Four Scottish Dances", written by Malcom Arnold. I was very impressed! I didn't take notes during the shows themselves, but one of them really stood out to me.
Immediately following these pieces, Paul introduced Jon Lord, who took the stage to play "Pictures Within" featuring Miller Anderson on vocals followed by "Wait A While" featuring Sam Brown. I would have loved to hear more of "Pictured Within" (a great disc), but Jon picked two great tracks to do.
After these songs, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, and Steve Morse came onstage along with Miller Anderson, and Ronnie James Dio for the "Butterfly Ball" tracks. These were great! The orchestration for "Sitting In A Dream" was much different from the album version - much fuller. I didn't even recognize it until Ronnie started singing. "Love Is All" was a real highlight as well. It sounded very majestic with the orchestra.
Roger introduced Ian Gillan who came onstage for his portion, along with Steve Morris who replaced Steve Morse. Confused? So was Ian, he introduced Morris as Morse! Gillan's tracks were fantastic, in particular "Via Miami". I'm glad he chose a current track to do, but I would have preferred "Chandra's Coriander" or "Country Mile" for a Dreamcatcher track instead of TWGISTB. None the less, it sounded great, and went over well.
Morse was up next, and his tracks were standouts. Steve performed two tracks with his band, "Night Meets Light", and "Take It Off The Top" - both tracks from the Dixie Dregs classic album "What If". NML featured the orchestra, and TIOTT featured The Kick Horns. Both worked great!
Ian Paice followed for his track, "Wring That Neck". This song was done with Glover and Lord, along with violinist Graham Preskett, and the Kick Horns. Maybe Purple could start introducing this into their live shows?
Everyone took a break for a short intermission, followed by the main part of the evening, Jon's Concerto for Group and Orchestra. I've always been a fan of the cd and the video, and knew I would love this, and it didn't disappoint. The only fault was with the fans who disrupted the flow of the movements by yelling out DP song titles. Jon handled the troublemakers perfectly, and the show continued. I was really blown away by both the band's and the orchestra's performance. There really were no major flaws, and the slight changes I noticed from the original were for the better.
Following the Concerto, Purple played four songs, "Ted the Mechanic", "Watching the Sky", "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming", and "Pictures of Home". All were done with some combination of the Kick Horns and the orchestra. I'm glad they concentrated on current material, all which sounded great. "Smoke on the Water" was the grand finale, and featured all the special guests from the night, along with the orchestra, backup singers, and horns. Amazingly, the sound was crystal clear, and everything seemed to fit in perfectly.
After the show we hung out by the stage door, and met many of the guests. Gillan seemed very appreciative of us coming over from the states, though we certainly weren't the only ones who came a long way. One funny moment was Gillan joking saying "Excuse me everyone, a big star coming through!" when he noticed Dio behind him!
Sunday we went to the DPAS convention nearby which was really fun. I met up with some friends (hi Rich!) who I didn't even realize would be there, as well as expected fans like Svante and Rasmus. It was great seeing everyone again. It was also very cool meeting Benny for the first time. And I met Lorraine Pickering and her husband George for the first time after nine years of writing and swapping things in the mail! Thanks to Rasmus for the introduction!
After the convention we made our way to the hall and saw Roger and Ian Paice. Both of whom were very gracious, despite being totally mobbed by the fans!
Onto the show itself. I think I'll just point our differences and highlights, as it followed the order from the previous night exactly. First off, I'd say everything sounded tighter as you would expect. Plus having seen the show the night before I was able to sit back and enjoy everything a little better without being in complete awe and wondering what was going to happen next!
The track "Pictured Within" was once again a real highlight. I would have been happy with a whole show of Jon and Miller. Glover's tracks were great, with Dio giving another great performance. And of course Steve Morse - not one to be outdone! During Ian's drum solo during Wring That Neck, he dropped his stick, but made a great recovery to get the last crash of the song. He deserved a standing ovation for that alone!
The Concerto was amazing once again, with only one fan yelling out this time. I was surprised by how similar Purple sounded to the original version. They seemed to use very similar sounding tones - even Morse in replicating Ritchie's sound, though of course he added his own improvisations, which IMO fit in much better than Ritchie's.
The Purple songs sounded great once again. I can still hear the horns and backup vocals in my head for "Ted The Mechanic". And "Watching The Sky" was amazing! What a great track. Once again, "Smoke on the Water" was the grand finale, with everyone clearly enjoying themselves.
At various points along the weekend I met up with the band members. They all seemed to indicate being overwhelmed by the whole experience! Ian Paice described the first show as nerve wrecking, and when I wished him good luck with the second performance, he said that's what they needed - luck! When I told Morse I'd being seeing him in a couple weeks for the Steve Morse Band tour in the states, he said they would be more "back to reality" gigs, after all this! I asked Steve's drummer, Van, his impressions of the show, and he said it was a once in a lifetime event, and he loved it. I chatted with conductor Paul Mann for a while, who was a very cool guy! I told him I greatly enjoyed the whole weekend, and he said he did too, before summing it up as a fantastic fun time. I'd have to agree. Thanks to everyone - fans, friends, and the performers themselves for a great weekend. These were without a doubt the best shows I have ever seen. But I don't doubt Purple will outdo themselves in the future somehow. Maybe that's the attraction.
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