![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/mcbride2.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/gillan2.jpg)
Mr. Gillan and the Baltic Philharmonics
Ian Gillan with a symphony orchestra in Poland? Wow! I thought he would perform in Germany only. So nice to hear he was invited by the promoters of the Solidarity of Arts Festival. I had to see it!
Apart from Ian Gillan, many other artists performed there: Tosh Meets Marley (I like reggae, so I liked them, too), Lech Janerka with Klaus Mitffoch (one of our rock bands that I like, too), Nina Hagen (a very poor show, alas!) and Myslovitz (another Polish rock group). I had a good time, altough I couldn’t wait for Ian Gillan…
At last! But before he appeared, the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra played some classical music. Then Mr Gillan came, sang three songs of Deep Purple – and announced a five minutes break. What happened? Did his throat conk out? In fact, he didn’t seem to be in good form…
But everything was OK. After five minutes we saw a big birthday cake, and then Mr Gillan. One “but”: the compere made a blunder saying IG’s birthday was “yesterday”, i.e. on 21st August! Happily there were no long speeches, Ian Gillan started to sing again, with no more breaks :).
Unfortunately his show wasn’t too long… He sang a few DP standards only. But with an orchestra they sounded amazing! I scarcely recognized some of them, “When a blind man cries” for example. As for “Vavoom: Ted the mechanic”, I didn’t recognize it at all! Apart from Deep Purple songs, he sang “No lotion for that” which came out much better than on his studio album.
All songs, except “Woman from Tokyo”, sounded great. The singer, despite his voice a bit strange, did his best and was very amiable. And he astonished me after show when he kissed a violinist’s hand. Wow! English people never do it, do they? Maybe it’s a new custom in West Europe… Quite a nice one, by the way :).
The gig was cool, but, as I’ve said, too short. A few young fans were shouting persistently “Child – in – time!”. Unfortunately no encores were planned. What a pity.
But I got some autographs from Mr Gillan. And I took a photo, too. He must like Poles indeed since he signs their CDs even at dead of night! Many thanks, Ian, we invite you again!
– Joanna Ostrowiecka
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Nice film has surfaced already, if you know where to find it.
August 26th, 2009 at 19:18Black night http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPiij4Jrm4A
Woman from Tokio http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWPr1pNmNd8
Smoke on the Water http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJYsf6drhzY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AaYhaf5L_Q
August 27th, 2009 at 02:03Nice video’s thanks tour93, but when will IG stop dressing like he just got out of bed?
August 30th, 2009 at 13:51Just be glad he does not take his clothes off.
August 31st, 2009 at 23:18Those clips aren’t what I was talking about, but not too bad either.
September 1st, 2009 at 17:46Now it all becomes clear to me!
September 3rd, 2009 at 14:04Ritchie left because he became traumatised by the confrontation with blunt nudity presented by Bron and Big Ian……
Hahaa…good Mark, good. Have a good weekend, Cheers.
September 4th, 2009 at 21:19