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Like in the old days
Don Airey live at Hypothalamus (Rheine, Germany 2015-03-13)
“It’s like doing it in the old days”, Don said after a blistering concert in Rheine (Germany) on 13th of March. The venue was very small with a maximum capacity of 250 people, around 150 were there. Don had four absolutely great musicians with him: Carl Sentance (v), Darrin Mooney (dr), Laurence Cottle (b), Simon McBride (g). Carl showed his talent in an astonishingly good version of Child in time, Simon’s ability was best shown on I still got the blues, Darrin und Laurence had great solo spots and played a perfect rhythm seciton. And Don – well you know him …
The setlist:
Eyes of the World
Bad Girl
No Time to Lose
3 o’clock in the Morning
Back on the Streets
Still Got the Blue
Is this love
Fire
(The Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)
Child in Time
Difficult to Cure
Over the Rainbow
All Night Long
Lost in Hollywood / A Light in the Black
Encore:
Since You Been Gone
Black Night
Highlight of the evening was the best version I ever heard from “Difficult to play”, as Don announced the song. After the show, he patiently signed loads of albums and tickets, had a nice word for everyone. He told me, the follow-up for Now What is on the way, but he doesn’t know when Deep Purple hit the studio.
The tour “40 years of classic rock” is on it’s way. If Don comes near your down: Don’t miss the show!!!!
review by Friedhelm Wenning
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I bought Live in California @ LongBeach 1971 this afternoon. THAT was like the old days.
March 15th, 2015 at 20:09Can someone answer a question for me? If there were only 150 people there how do they make any money? I mean don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to pick on anyone but there must be a certain amount of expenses involved with playing anywhere. It would seem to me that you would need much more than that just to cover expenses before making a profit. I don’t understand it, can someone explain this to me.
March 16th, 2015 at 00:57Yesterday @Bluesiana, Austria 🙂
March 16th, 2015 at 15:45https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAgwD8kX-ck
@ 2: I’m sure that club owners have to pay a certain fee for the Don Airey Band or they won’t come along and play a concert. The ticket prices are the business of the club then. I guess that the deal is something like 2000-2500 Euros and if the venue allows for 250 people to get in then I would say that ticket prices around 25 Euros make sense.
Generally playing clubs won’t make you a rich guy. But as you can see, even the most accomplished musicians have to do it like this in order to play their own music outside the mothership. Believe it or not, there are many bands out there who play at a ridiculous ability level but just very few people will ever hear of them. The business side of being a musician (as it is anywhere else) can be brutal.
You might remember that the guys from Purple complained about YouTube-Videos that have been filmed by people in the audience holding up their smart phones. My thinking was: Fair enough, but for musicians who don’t benefit from the advantages of being part of an establishment like Purple YouTube is a very powerful tool to reach more people. One should praise the fact that nowadays it doesn’t matter where you live, your music can be heard worldwide.
March 17th, 2015 at 07:27Difficult to Cure, miles ahead of any other post Dio Rainbow album. The best JL Turner Rainbow album, probably because he had frig all to do with the songs perhaps???? My take on it anyway! Mind you, Bent Out of Shape has some decent songs on it & 2 super instrumentals indeed! It is good to see Airey’s band covering the 2 Rainbow albums he was involved in! Cheers.
March 17th, 2015 at 11:39George @2, For years I’be been wondering the same thing. I saw Albert Lee a month ago in The Saint, a tiny bar in Asbury Park, NJ that holds 150 at best. Sir Albert Lee in a small bar. Can’t make heads nor tails of the economics….
Peace,
March 17th, 2015 at 14:13Ted
In regards to the finances involved in playing smaller venues, I suppose as long as they cover their costs, many musicians may be content with that, simply because they love playing live music! When I witnessed The Steve Morse Band ‘live’ back in November 1994, he said that they hired most of the gear except his guitar & effects & Dave LaRue’s bass guitar! It was in a pub in Brisbane with probably one hundred or so people attending. Obviously the promoter (although Morse commented that that was also ‘difficult’ to negotiate) & sponsorship may help out. He joined Purple a few weeks later & one comment in reply to a question as to that, ‘at least I don’t have to lug my own gear anymore’, classic!
March 17th, 2015 at 23:28It would be a fine line no doubt & talking of Albert Lee, he was with Morse not that long before that gig, with ‘The Biff Baby’s All Stars’, Stirling Ball (Ernie Ball’s brother) was on bass, but there was plenty of Ernie Ball advertising at that very small pub concert!
King Crimson looked into possible Australian concerts when touring Japan back in the early 2000’s. I think Fripp stated in his diary at that time, they would gig here as long as they could break even! Alas, the Oz dollar was only worth about 47 cents to the US dollar at that time, predictable that it didn’t eventuate! A disappointment that was indeed! Cheers.
# 4 and # 6
Thanks for the response!
March 18th, 2015 at 10:21@2 I think the answer to your question is that they won’t be making money. Either Don, the promoter or the record label will be losing money on the tour if those are the sort of attendances at all the gigs. It’s a no thrills tour, they’re not doing it in style and are to an extent roughing it but they’ll still be struggling to cover their costs. It’s a shame as promoters will stop putting on these shows if the interest simply isn’t there.
It’s also a shame that such a fantastic group of musicians (and they really are) playing such a great selection of songs from Don’s association gets so little interest and publicity.
March 19th, 2015 at 12:22