![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan5.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/gillan.jpg)
2023-09-04 – Ian Paice + Purpendicular – Frankfurt
| Who | Ian Paice + Purpendicular |
| When |
Monday, September 4, 2023
20:00
-
Age restrictions unknown
|
| Where |
Carl-Benz-Straße 21
Frankfurt, Germany 60386 |
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I went. It was my forth time at a Purpendicular gig, it’s beginning to get stale, even Little Ian can’t prevent that.
It’s one thing that the real DP have a somewhat inert set, they are all such consummate musicians that they somehow still keep things interesting. Alas!, the same cannot be said (except for the drummer of course) for the allegedly “best DP tribute band in the world”. I find Robby Thomas Walsh’s stage demeanor and singing voice grating. He might hit more notes than Ian Gillan does these days, but there is no heart. The new guitarist (compared to Purpendicular’s continuous carousel of ever-changing members – RTW exluded – even DP are static in their line-ups!) is a too-many-notes-too-fast ultra-distorted and -compressed shredder, just awful. The keyboarder is mediocre at best, how he mangled Jon’s lovely Pictured Within as his intro to Perfect Strangers … The new bassist is the best one in the batch though certainly no Roger Glover or Glenn Hughes.
The short set (sans encore today) consists of four (non-surprising) Machine Head songs, three likewise well-trodden Whitesnake numbers (Bernie would have turned in his fresh grave for what they did to Ain’t No Love), two nondescript Purpendicular originals, Perfect Strangers and Stormbringer. Oh, I almost forgot Black Night interpolating some other (non-DP) shuffle classics.
Maybe it was an off-night for them, all bands have those. RTW’s voice has none of the warmth and charisma of a young David Coverdale and his singing was emotionally flat today. I’ve heard Little Ian better too if truth be told, but he was still fun to watch up close. Sound was very good save for the drums deserving some more presence (they were loud enough) – or is my hearing finally giving up on me? Turnout was disappointingly low – 200 people or less? That might have explained the lack of enthusiasm on RTW’s part, but the itinerary has amassed to many gigs in the close vicinity of Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Region and that perhaps backfired tonight.
I think I will have to pause visiting Purpendicular gigs for a while. It’s just not interesting or entertaining anymore.
Not easy for me to have written this – I’m a big fan of Paicey. He encapsulates everything a rock drummer should be for me.
September 5th, 2023 at 01:12After a night’s sleep: It’s a very – painfully so – pedestrian environment for Little Ian, that just about sums it up, without wishing to sound harsh.
I wish he would get himself a hot bassist and a similar guitarist who both can sing and go out as a trio doing rock classics (not just Purple), that would be fun to watch. Sort of a glorified drum clinic. Something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PGOP9J1uAg
With lots of improvisation. I can’t believe that there wouldn’t be the right kind of players up for this if they an share the stage with the mighty Little Ian.
September 5th, 2023 at 15:18