Grand Finale Jon Lord, 24.May, München
After seeing Jon Lord and his "orchestra" in Luxembourg and Halle I finally
went to see them in München.
The first thing that stroke me was the obvious "difference" of the locations
(and audiences). In Luxembourg it was a typical place for classical concerts
and you had to look for typical Deep Purple Fans. The Steintor Variete in
Halle was the visual opposite: very coulourful (Red, pink, purple, blue walls
with golden and yellow decorations - and some "stars" = lights on the
ceiling). The audience was full of Purple fans, who by the end of the show
ran to the stage in order to get autographs... But this time Jon didn't do
them this favour (I'd say he was quite right with this!)
And now to the Muffathalle in München: formally a factory building with
seats that are simple chairs with standing room at the back (one very nice
effect of the checking of tickets: only people with seat-tickets were allowed
to use the toilets!!!).
The box office opened at 7.45 p.m. - not nice for people that believed the
concert to start at 8 p.m. Well, there were enough person to calm them down.
The Vocaleros couldn't do their set (because of another gig the same day) so
the show was to start at 8.30 p.m. Mario - member of the Vocaleros AND Jon's
ensemble - reached the place at 7.45 p.m., just in time. A couple of minutes
before him Jon's family (including Ian Paice) arrived, obviously trying to
pass the crowd unnoticed. The people in the line did them this favour - until
some "Purple fan" started to run after them and asked for an autograph...
Some even did that during the concert... Btw when after the show Jon was
asked "Where is Ian Paice?" his reply was "At the toilet." - one of my
favourite statements;-)
Sometimes I simply don't get what so called "fans" aim at: e.g. that guy that
didn't ask for one signature but wanted his whole record signed. After having
written his name about thirty times Jon tried to get away from him with some
decent hints (a gentlemen like he is) but that horrible person didn't get
it...
After having chatted with him two times (after the first and the final show)
I am perfectly convinced that Jon Lord is one of the greatest personalities
in music business!
Nevertheless, some more "not really gentlemen like" quotes:
"Before I forget" was usually announced as "Recording during my vacancies in
Whitesnake"
"Where are you" was written in Philadelphia "a place probably named after the
cheese" (München)
After having played "Evening song" (Halle) Jon excused for having told what
this song is about, because actually Sam had written the lyrics - so maybe it
is about something completely different. So Sam shouted across the stage:
"It's about chicken!" Followed by her immitating the sound chicken produce!!!
The show in München ended with Jon explaining that "The whole thing" only
worked "because of the shirt" he wore underneath his jacket. He went to the
edge of the stage to show the audience the shirt (the band was not able to
see it) written on it: "Ich Chef Du nix" ("Me Boss You nothing") commented
with "Imagine I wore this shirt in my other job..." (He always referred to
Purple that way). Then he turned around to show it to the band.
(For more quotes see Christian's review;-)
I'd like to end my review with a big THANK YOU not only to Jon Lord but also
to everybody else involved in the concerts. Even though the main attention
natually was on Jon, Sam, Hagen and Dieter the other eight musicians were
absolutely great, too !!!!! (Like Jon said about Sarabande: "I recorded this
album with a hundred piece orchestra but it is even more fun to play it with
12 people!")
Thanks again for some wonderful evenings, hopefully seeing a follow-up!!!
It will be a very strange feeling to see "the other job" in only 2 weeks time
anyway...
Catrin
PS: One thing I don't agree with Jon: I don't see the first show (Luxembourg)
as a "public rehearsal" like he "excuses" it but as the beginning of a
fantastic tour!