From: gillansinn@aol.com (GillansInn) 
Date: 15 Jul 1996 20:58:07 -0400 
Subject: Montreux Review 

I arrived back today from my Purple pilgrimage from Connecticut to the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 9. It turned out to be a perfect day for us, here is my review! We spent the afternoon around the theater hoping to meet the band. I spotted the tour manager, Colin Hart, talking to someone across the street but it wasn't until a minute later I realized it was Roger Glover! Roger (with his wife) came up to us on their way to the theater and happily signed autographs. I told Roger that my friend and I had come from Connecticut and he seemed impressed! After he said goodbye and started to walk away he came back to shake our hands. He was amazing! A couple minutes later Ian Gillan came up the street but was rushing to the theater and didn't stop for autographs. However we caught him on his way back out and he happily signed our stuff. Ian Paice was the next to show up and was great to us, posing for photos and talking. Steve arrived and by this point there were some kids there to meet ZZ Top. One of the kids must have been about seven years old and being really rude, he asked Steve who was in Deep Purple. It was funny to see Steve explain very nicely "well, there is Ian Gillan. . . "! Jon was the last to arrive and was incredible to talk to. He told us we must be out of our minds to fly over for the show!

Autographs completed, we wandered around trying to pick up our tickets and exchange them for braclets. There was also a chance that we would have backstage passes from talking to the management so I asked at one of the information desks. They relpied that they had lost Deep Purple's guest list (!) but without hesitating the woman gave me two passes and apologized for the inconvience! Considering I don't think we were on the list to begin with it worked out great! We got in line to head in for the concert, and to my surprise my friend and I made it to the front row, center stage!

After a solo acoustic guitarist/singer, the stage was set for Purple. Purple could be seen in the backstage area through an open curtain and the crowd began to go crazy. Cluade Nobs introduced the band before they launched into Fireball. The first thing I noticed is how much more Steve is putting into the rhythm playing. Even when I saw them last year Steve seemed a little on the shy side but now he is adding inventive rhythm work and playing more aggressively. Ted The Mechanic followed, and by this time I was sure Ian Gillan was in excellent form. He seemed to forget the lyrics and when he went to check them in his lyric book, it wasn't there. He had to go behind the drum riser to get it, and seemed to get tangled up with one of the television cameras. However, no water was thrown and the show went on. :-)

Pictures of Home was very impressive and during the solos it was apparent how much they try to push each other on stage. When Jon would do a great solo, Steve would either pat him on the back or somehow say well done, as would Jon to Steve. During Black Night during the trading solos section Steve and Ian Paice even did a bit where Ian would do fills after Steve's guitar lines. Paice was unbelivable! Roger seemed much more in the spotlight than ever before and played great.

Cascades kept the momentum going and Steve played a great solo. Ironically, the one cry for Blackmore was during this - the most impressive guitar part of the evening. Bringing up a comparison at that point from a Blackmore fan was a dumb move! Woman From Tokyo followed with Ian hitting all the high notes perfectly. Despite the shortened set, the luckily still included No One Came. During the final solo (originally the backwards electric piano solo) Steve attacked his guitar with the side of his pick to obtain the same effect - Amazing! A beautiful version of When A Blind Man Cries followed. I wish I could remember Ian's introduction to Hey Cisco, I remember it being really funny. Either way it was a great version with Roger and Steve joining in on vocals. Ian tried to play conductor for this, but it didn't quite work! He introduced Speed King as "an Italian balad" but actually went into a Italian opera type singing voice and sang a couple random lines. It was hilarious and I had never actually heard him do it before! Speed King included a short drum solo and a rock and folk medley which was funny and rocking at the same time. Again with Steve and Roger joining in on vocals.

Encore time, and sadly we missed out on Highway Star and Perfect Strangers. Ian however gave a long spoken intro to Smoke On The Water detailing how it was written. As this has never been done before it was a real special moment. Jon played some piano lines and Steve joined in for a minute before heading into the song. Needless to say the crowd went crazy. Ian seemed to change some words on purpose and there was great atmosphere in the whole theater. The entire show was filmed and we saw the film from Smoke On The Water three times the next night on local TV with a cool interview with Steve Morse.

After Smoke, Claude returned to the stage and gifts were given to the band. A great end to the show. We had no problem getting backstage with our passes and I was even able to have a quick chat with Claude which was really cool! It was a while before we went upstairs to where Purple where as we didn't know our way around. Brian May was there and spent a lot of time talking to Roger and Steve. Brian was there with his kids, and it was funny seeing Steve running around taking care of them, getting them soda, etc!

I was able to talk with Brian for a while as well as Steve. I didn't try to speak with the others again as it was obviously a very special night for them and we had gotten all the autographs already.

It turned out to be a perfect evening, and very special concert to see. Despite the short set, it was the most intense concert I have ever seen. Just the way the band pushes each other onstage with improvising makes for a great show. I hope the video footage shows up soon!

[ reviews | dp home | rosas cantina ]