DP at Hartford 8/7/98 Review
For starters, let me say that this was a show I have been looking forward to since foolishly missing DP at the Meadows in Hartford 2 years ago. I have been a Steve Morse fan since seeing him open for Rush on their Power Windows tour, and have loved Purple since the late 70's. So, we splurged and bought 5th row seats from our local ticket rapist (OK, ticket broker).
Upon seating, we were pummeled by the over-amplified drums and bass of Dream Theater. They played well, better than I'd expected, though they sure do pose a lot. ELP was next, and you have to give the guys credit - they are Energized!! Emerson and Palmer soloed non-stop, and Greg Lake was in good voice. Definitely more solo-oriented than song-oriented, but impressive nonetheless. "Karn Evil 9 Second Impression," "Lucky Man," "A Time And A Place," "Fanfare for the Common Man," etc. I did grind my teeth a bit, realizing that their set was cutting into the length of Purple's set; I must say that while this is a pretty great collection of bands, it does limit all of their playing time. I say, cut Dream Theater!!
Anyway, the breaks between bands were nice and short. Purple roared into "Hush," whose funky feel was the harbinger of things to come for the rest of the show. I do not mean slap-bass 70's funk, but just a real toe-tapping groove was in evidence for most of the night's songs. A ripping "Bludsucker" followed, really devastating everyone. Ian Gillan really had his screams up to pitch, as he did all night; I was really impressed by that more than anything else. Jon Lord was perhaps a little under-amplified; his solos throughout the night seemed to be a drop-off in energy from Steve Morse's. The rest of the set followed what seems to be a standard pattern for this tour - SKOW, and then a very funky and animated "Ted," on which Ian Paice really came alive! When I saw Purple for HOBL and S & M, Ian Paice was THE stand-out member. Tonight he seemed more subdued. I think in some ways that is because he had been the whipcrack-tight stalwart player who held it together behind Ritchie's idiosyncrasies, and had stood out more in sharp relief. Steve Morse is more "regular" and does not drop out, and essentially is the loudest rhythmic glue now. Anway, "Ted" now sounds like a real classic; it has grown on everyone and the band snaps to it - Glover mouths the words!
"Pictures of Home" was perfect, "Woman From Tokyo" very funky - Steve offered nice harmonics on the gentle descending bit after the soft vocals, and when the band kicked back in full volume, it really hit hard! I lose track of the exact order from here on in, but a jamming "Almost Human" (GREAT band feel - back-up vocals by Morse and Glover no less! A roadie brought out a mike for them, and took it off once the song was done) and an edgy "Watching The Sky" appeared - I was hoping for "Seventh Heaven," anyone know why this has dropped out? I would think that it - or "Almost Human" or "Don't Make Me Happy" - would be best bets for a second single. All are instantly pleasing and definitely Purple.
Steve's solo was sort of disappointing; while I am a HUGE fan of his, I guess I respect his compositional abilities more than his hard-rock soloing. He does seem to repeat or play similar licks. His solo was a cascade of shreds and volume swells, very impressive but not so melodic or memorable. It lead into a nice "Smoke On The Water" - if they must play this, at least it's not an encore.
Jon's solo gave him a chance to be heard, and he sounded solid - I think many folks had been overawed by Emerson early in the night! But it was a short solo that lead into "Lazy," very clearly foreshadowed. "Lazy" rocked! Jon's solo was the first point that a majority of the crowd sat down, and "Lazy" got most everyone back up on their feet - a pretty responsive audience, especially for CT, where people do tend to sit a lot.
A massive "Perfect Strangers" was next - Lord's closing solo bits were louder, nicely, and it really sounded huge. A shame this was the sole representative of this album. Gillan announced they would do a ballad next - hardly!! "Speed King" burst out of the gates with real fury. Steve and Jon did some back-and- forth soloing; again, the volume difference made it seem like Steve was really killing Jon. This gave way to a Paicey solo - good but not spectacular - again, perhaps the ELP extravaganza was in everyone's minds - "Speed King" came back in with some nice dueling between Steve and Ian before ending.
Encores? A slamming "Any Fule" and the inevitable "Highway Star," nicely begun with some motorcycle noises from Morse's whammy bar. He paid homage by playing the solo true to form, clean and precise and maybe even faster. Beautiful.
So there 'twas - A Band On indeed. It was shorter than it might have been due to the three-band alignment I assume, but everyone was very pleased. Overall thoughts: Gillan was superb, and very amusing - yelps and yowls throughout. Glover was dead-on; nice to hear his break in "Pictures of Home." Morse was hot though perhaps a bit redundant - one comment I would make is that he also keeps his rhythm parts pretty simple. This really stood out under Jon's solos, not necessarily to good effect. I think if he jazzed them up a bit, and they built up, like Bolin's rhythms on the live "Love Child," where he really interacted with Paice, it would sound hotter AND help Lord too. Jon Lord played well but was too quiet and perhaps a bit hiccupy; a few times he was just behind or off. Ian Paice is the solid workhorse. He kept it pretty straightforward but seemed to really jump into some newer tracks like "Ted" and "Any Fule." It would be nice to hear some more "odd" choices of songs. I would bet that most of the audience are die-hards who would appreciate some more obscure tracks - this set was heavy on "Machine Head" stuff - to support the anniversary set maybe? They were even selling "Machine Head" t-shirts. Anyway - the band seemd more charged up than on previous tours, a good sign indeed, and the new material sounds great. Let's see them play without an opener and give us three hours!!
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