Denver Concert Review, Aug. 26

Set List
Ted the mechanic
Strange kind of woman
Bludsucker
Pictures of home
Almost human
Woman from Tokyo
Watching the sky
Any fule kno that
Smoke on the water
Lazy
Perfect Strangers
Speed King inc various duels/solos and Peggy Sue
Encore
Highway star

So what happened to Fireball?? Overall it was an excellent concert although I felt they could have added one or two more songs. The new songs sound a hell of a lot better live than they do on the album, (Maybe my 15W stereo doesn't do them justice.) The best song of the day was Watching the Sky Smoke on the Water was also excellent, given new life with Morse's variations. Other highlights for me were Lazy and Pictures of Home.

Gillan did not disappoint with meaningless ramblings. At one point he was discussing "When you find yourself standing next to yourself you have to stay close." He also introduced Speed King as a "sort of a Chinese Irish lullaby", which he used to sing to put his daughter to sleep.

My main concern was Gillan's voice. Either he was having a bad voice day or he has lost something. His voice faded on many of the notes he used to be able to hit and this became painfully apparent while he was matching Morse note-for-note. At one point Morse played a note (y'now like a D or a G or something) and Gillan just smiled and gave up on the duel. The sound guys could also have boosted his voice in the mix a little, it was too quiet in general, so I don't think it was all Gillan's fault.

The solos from Roger and Jon were shorter than expected. Roger's was only a few notes if anything. It was almost as though the rest just forgot about him. The duel between Jon and Steve was brilliant, the crowd loved it. Steve had various solos throughout the show all of which were excellent. As someone else commented he pretty much stole the show. Again people were commenting that his strength lies in not trying to emulate Blackmore, but in giving the guitar work his own signature.

Dream Theater were excellent, and had the crowd on their feet in 2 minutes flat. ELP are not my cup of tea, so I will refrain from comment on their performance.

Cheers,
Michael Robinson

[ reviews | the highway star ]