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Collar, tie, shades
Bristol 24/7 has a positively glowing illustrated review of the last gig of the Dead Daisies/Graham Bonnet UK tour held in town this past Thursday, December 15, 2022.
Graham Bonnet was always the unlikeliest looking hard rock star. At a time when those filthy herberts of Motörhead were winning over pimply metalhead teenagers, the clean-cut singer was taking Rainbow into the UK top ten with All Night Long and their cover of Russ Ballard’s Since You Been Gone.
Now fronting his own band, the older and greyer 74-year-old Bonnet still rocks the collar’n’tie and shades look. Reaching those notes is obviously a strain for him, however, and he occasionally looks as though he’s about to burst a blood vessel. Interestingly, he makes no attempt to flog his latest solo material, serving up a set dominated by the Rainbow and Michael Schenker Group classics on which he sang.
Continue reading in Bristol 24/7.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Saw him in London, great fun, but he was perhaps tired and emotional 😴
December 17th, 2022 at 21:14Fell over. Still fun though and nice setlist.
It’s good to know that Purple alumni are still serving up solid hard rock.
December 17th, 2022 at 22:05Deep Purple itself has soldiered on after Steve’s stepping back from the band.
Hopefully,TTC won’t be the last studio album. Here’s to MkMcBride delivering a real rocker in 2023.
To all who gather here @ THS…..Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !
@2 Very-well-said ! +1 here !
Have a great Christmas everyone, & let’s hope things get better in 2023 !
Peace !
December 17th, 2022 at 23:48Bonnet sounds tremendous on the 2022 album, “Day Out in Nowhere.” One of the few aging rockers who can still belt it out like it was 40 years ago. Beth-Ami Heavenstone solid on the bass guitar.
December 18th, 2022 at 00:19If ageing vocalists have off days, you know they are singing live.
December 18th, 2022 at 11:07If they always sound perfect, who knows.
If I want pre-recorded perfection, I will listen to a record.
That is not what I want from a live performance.
Frau Bonnet (almost) says that of of all bassists her significant other has played with, Roger Glover is her favorite and she finds his bass lines the most inspirational. Graham, btw, plays bass himself too.
[I would from a personal view also add Chris Glen as ‘inspirational’ who did great on Assault Attack (and on all other MSG and SAHB recordings as well as with Ian Gillan on the Naked Thunder Tour), but Beth-Ami says she finds his lines difficult to replicate beause “he has huge hands and is all over the fretboard”.]
It’s interesting how Graham and Beth-Ami got to know each other – nothing music or showbiz related at all, they coincidentally met at a counseling group session for parents with autistic children (they both have similar afflicted children from prior marriages) – very real life romance, stuff for a movie really. (They’ve talked about this in interviews, it’s nothing that has been dragged out without their consent.)
I really like Graham as a person, he’s “down to earth” in the truest sense and unaffected, not an act. He came into Rainbow totally unprepared and defying all expectations, yet unperturbed (unlike Ritchie who had extremely conventional expectations of what a hard rock singer should be like), forging an image of a hard rock singer/front man all of his own that hadn’t been there before. He went out there every night dressed for a cocktail party, switched on his roar and blew the denim & leather brigade away every time.
December 18th, 2022 at 14:52RJD, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner were all great and maybe it’s about time to induct Rainbow into the R&R Hall of Fame.
December 18th, 2022 at 16:07Adel @7: Allow me a rant to end 2022. The R&RHofF is a farce – always has been and always will be. The recognition that our favourite bands (singers as well) deserve is much better coming from forums such as this one, music publications and the buying public rather than the R&RHofF.
December 18th, 2022 at 22:38Cheers for Xmas and the new year.
Mark @8
December 19th, 2022 at 10:53Well no one on earth could disagree with you core hearty. The love that fans hold for musicians is eternal and evolving as time goes by because music as an art has unlimited unrestricted accessibilities which the driving force of more recognition and appreciation by the fans.
But still the night that DP were inducted into R&R hall of fame was still a lovely recognition even though Ian Gillan always insisted that it was more recognition for the fans.
Have a lovely festive season.
Peace ✌️
Spot on #6 !
Graham is not only a fabulous singer but a very nice person (just like Beth-Ami).
What I also like about him is the way he doesn’t give a f… about the ridiculous fashions of heavy/hard rock looks… Just like Gillan and opposite to JLT, DC and Glenn who became clichés.
December 19th, 2022 at 12:38Dio and Bonnet are in the metal hall of fame.
December 19th, 2022 at 13:06Which seems to have slightly more connection to reality.
Let’s talk about the main act too, according to the review which maybe not all of you have read
https://www.bristol247.com/culture/music/review-the-dead-daisies-the-graham-bonnet-band-fm-swx/
Glenn and the boys delivered:
https://www.bristol247.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Dead-Daisies-13.jpg
“Seven or eight years ago, it might have been possible to dismiss The Dead Daisies as a rich man’s hobby band. That said, recruiting musicians of the calibre of former Whitesnake guitarist Doug Aldrich and drummer Brian Tichy (who’s now notched up several stints with the Daisies) was quite a coup for Australian businessman David Lowy.
But everything was kicked up several levels with the arrival of the Voice of Rock himself, the great Glenn Hughes, back in 2019. Originally conceived as a revolving ‘musical collective’, the Daisies now seem to enjoy a relatively settled line-up and, covid notwithstanding, have had a productive couple of years with the Holy Ground and Radiance albums.
Keeping the flag flying for old-school hard rock, they’re actually at their best when they’re at their heaviest on the likes of the title track from Radiance and My Fate, the stand-out from Holy Ground. The extraordinary thing about peace sign-flashing 71-year-old hippy Hughes is that at a time when many of his peers are struggling he still manages to reach those impossible notes without breaking sweat. Naturally, he gets a couple of big showcases for his vocal pyrotechnics, notably Mistreated – a song he first performed in Bristol on stage with Deep Purple at the Hall Formerly Known as Colston nearly 50 years ago. Being part of a band again obviously suits him too, and the Daisies brand of rock keeps him well away from the soul music to which he tends to gravitate when left to his own devices.
Aldrich, who was such an asset to the late Ronnie James Dio’s band, is every inch the open-shirted (even on this freezing evening) guitar hero, while founder Lowy resists any temptation to showboat, contenting himself with rhythm guitar. Tichy, meanwhile, enjoys a convention-defying drum solo that manages to be both inventive and entertaining, bouncing sticks off his drums with such intensity that they occasionally fly high enough to hit the ceiling before he catches them again on the way down and carries on playing.
There’s an end-of-term feel to this show, which is the last date on a lengthy, eventful tour and the band’s final gig of 2022. Along the way, tribute is paid to rock history with their hard rock reworking of CCR’s Fortunate Son and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s Midnight Moses, which has now been adopted as a Daisies anthem. It all ends with a return to Purple for the mighty Burn, with the enthusiastic audience making a game attempt to keep up with the chorus’s sustained note.”
December 22nd, 2022 at 00:53Keep on going, who knows what will be around the next corner! We are starting to lose a lot of our stars!
December 24th, 2022 at 21:00In response to #10, how is it possible to be a cliché when you have most of your abilities intact? (Glenn)
December 25th, 2022 at 06:03It’s not about the singing, Daniel, there Glenn cannot be faulted, but ever since his Mk III tour Glenn is very much molding his looks after how he looked in the 70ies with Purple (after some forays into a more modern look in the years before), very long hair, bell bottoms and all that (like playing a Rickenbacker 4003 on his solo Mk III material tours even though he never really had a preference for that brand). I don’t mind that, he obviously feels compelled to “look the part”, but it’s not Ian Gillan walking on stage in his street clothes to perform. To be fair: The Dead Daisies are far more image-conscious than DP, so Glenn is maybe just trying to fit in.
December 27th, 2022 at 22:34The criss crossing between musical styles and looks is Glenn in a nutshell, isn’t it? But that’s what makes him interesting to follow, in my opinion. I wouldn’t be surprised if he walked away from the Dead Daisies now, although that would be a shame, because I would like to see them live again.
December 28th, 2022 at 17:24I’m worried about a departure from the Dead Daisies too – all that talk of another Black Country Communion record as if Bonamassa’s busy solo career would ever allow that project to get off the ground for regular touring.
Glenn is a bit in an unfortunate situation: He’s too famous and dominant as a player and singer to join another established band, yet doesn’t have enough drawing power as a solo artist to really take his career to the next level. He continues to be essentially stuck with an audience that still knows and cherishs him as the DP legend (to his credit: he tried to escape that badge several times in the past, but he just couldn’t get away). Which leaves the option of co-founding lesser supergroups again and again with other musicians that have been around the block quite a bit like him – yet those “projects” regularly turn out to be unstable as the band members tend to have other commitments.
With Whitesnake thankfully winding (or actually having already wound) down now, there is a small chance of a reinvented DC perhaps regaining half of his former voice and forming a vocal duo in a bluesy-soulish AOR vein with his former bandmate – Glenn could do the high parts no end and DC provide his lower register warmth, him being also the more accessible/more commercial songwriter.
December 29th, 2022 at 11:54I wouldn’t mind a DC/GH reunion either, or if he was to do a follow-up with Pat Thrall, who would probably bring out the melodic side of Glenn’s vocals once again.
But DC is too much his own entrepreneur these days, with an ego that wouldn’t allow it, and Thrall seems to have left the scene altogether, so I don’t think either will happen 🙂
It will be interesting to see where he goes.
December 29th, 2022 at 17:44I had better get in before the New Year if possible as I am thinking of opting for the mantra of ‘if you don’t have anything to say, best not say anything at all” for my New Years resolution, although perhaps not. Regarding Glenn Hughes just keeping things in perspective a little. Uwe @ 17 -“He’s too famous and dominant as a player and singer to join another established band, yet doesn’t have enough drawing power as a solo artist to really take his career to the next level. He continues to be essentially stuck with an audience that still knows and cherish him as the DP legend (to his credit: he tried to escape that badge several times in the past, but he just couldn’t get away”.
December 29th, 2022 at 22:41I am not sure where Hughes is ‘too famous’. Still an ‘underground’ musician in many ways & always has been really, in the grand scheme of things. He is not a ‘household’ name so to speak, although he possibly would love to be. Regarding trying to move away from DP in the past, I don’t know about that. Without his rather short DP career, would anyone know of Mr Hughes, or I should say would most people outside of LA know of him?. He has done ok for himself over the years, a few other popular musicians have picked him up over the years for his reputation as a fine vocalist (at certain times) & his rather good bass playing. Otherwise it is back to the drawing board, again. Regarding the so called ‘supergroups’ there are no doubt other reasons they don’t last very long, As For GH & DC working & God forbid performing together, talk about a soap opera drama. Best to leave that one out. I can hear the fat lady singing, again. Cheers.
I guess it comes down to the lack of big songs. Glenn is not Sting in that sense, so big fame has eluded him. What he does have is an unmistakable voice and a groove oriented style of bass playing that elevated DP (Made in Europe!) and enabled his career. Even though he no longer has that MIE voice, he still keeps a very high standard, adapting to the changes in his voice. Contrary to guys like DC, who’s been coasting creatively for the last 20 years, Glenn has consistently put out new music. Even though some of his songwriting and lyrics are derivative, he remains interesting to follow. For me, a lot of it comes down to his voice. Will he be able to sustain it or find new ways to adapt? His singing on the latest Dead Daisies album is really strong for example, reminiscent of his 90s solo work, and I find it inspiring that he’s able to do that at 70. So, the support continues 🙂
December 30th, 2022 at 04:12Glenn might not be known to a lot of casual music listeners who have never given thought to the idea that the bass played on Hush, Smoke On The Water and Burn might NOT be one and the same guy, but three different bassists or that the bridge in Burn is sung by neither Ian Gillan nor David Coverdale, yet his reputation among fellow musicians is sky-high and undiminished, even outside of the Classic Rock field and his own era. You don’t get invited to play with musicians like David Bowie, Al Kooper, Jeff Baxter, Pat Thrall/Pat Travers, Gary Moore, John Norum, Tony Iommi, Mike Varney, Mötley Crüe, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Morse, Carlos Santana, Keith Emerson, the KLF, Joe Satriani, Chad Smith or with Earth, Wind & Fire (where he auditioned for the lead vocal spot, ask yourself how many other white guys had that chance) for nothing.
And Glenn has never really rested on his Purple laurels either, works like Play Me Out, Feel, Soul Mover or First Underground Nuclear Kitchen were anything but. He also played on the second-most successful DP studio album which after Machine Head still is Burn plus the band’s biggest gig ever (California Jam), not to mention all those headline tours of 1974/75 (unlike Roger who did a lot of groundwork breaking Mk II, Glenn never played with DP as anything but the main act). In my book that gives him a sufficient DP pedigree, but he never relied on that, certainly not more than any other ex-DP member (with the exception of perhaps Tommy Bolin who was quick to play down his DP tenure when he commenced touring with the Tommy Bolin Band after the Mk IV split).
But Glenn is also – rightfully so – perceived as someone who takes up a lot of room on stage and puts his stamp on the music – hence the reluctance perhaps of any established band to slot him in as a replacement of a bassist/singer who has just left them. He never got those calls from Wishbone Ash or Asia (to name just two) to take the places of Martin Turner or John Wetton.
December 30th, 2022 at 14:25I really don’t like any of the post-Dio Rainbow albums except for the one with Doogie. I look at the great lineups, listen to the songs and ask “Why are you rockers doing pop music?”. It just isn’t my cup of tea.
January 27th, 2023 at 06:16