Camden comments
Well, last night was to be my third show of the killer Deep Purple/ELP/Dream Theater tour! Despite some of the problems that are rumored to be occurring already so early on in this tour, I've thoroughly enjoyed the shows I've seen with these three amazing bands.
So yesterday afternoon Brendan Johnston and his friend Randy arrived at my beach house in Monmouth, site of many a past concert rendezvous. We departed on the approximately one-and-a-half hour drive to the E-Center in Camden shortly after 3:00, as we wanted to avoid traffic and get there early anyway. Rick Nelson was coming down separately and was going to meet us there around 6:30. Anyway, we arrived at the E-Center, and having never been there before, I must say that it is an awesome place. Looks to be a bit smaller in size than the PNC Bank Arts Center, and it's a very nice facility amidst the otherwise horrific Camden waterfront overlooking Philadelphia. :)
We walked around for a while, then went inside to check out our seats, which happened to be FRONT ROW CENTER! Unbelievable! Thanks, Brendan! :) So we were psyched. Now it was about 7:00, and although it said 7:30 on our tickets, we knew that Dream Theater had been starting 15 minutes early each night. There was a decent crowd already inside, all the various E-Center employees were in place, all the bands' gear was onstage, and everything seemed ready to go. Sure enough, the usual middle-aged radio-type dude came out a few moments later, presumably to get the evening started... However, he came out and said "I have some bad news. Due to an illness in Deep Purple, tonight's show has been cancelled." At first, I think everyone thought it was a joke...but it wasn't. For a moment, I thought the guy was going to say that ELP had been kicked off the tour or something and would not be performing. :) Anyway, everyone was stunned, and nobody - not even the E-Center employees or the roadies - knew what was going on or what to do. Literally seconds before Dream Theater was ready to hit the stage, and this is what was happening?!? So subsequently there were a lot of boos and a lot of people yelling and chanting "ELP!" and "Fuck Purple, bring out ELP and Dream Theater!" It was pretty wild. After about ten minutes, the roadies started breaking everything down and people started filing out. So I then called Rick on his cell phone, as Rick had not arrived yet but was literally down the block attempting to get in. But people were already being turned away. Rick had gone up to the local Tower Records a few hours before showtime to get a ticket, and he was told the show was cancelled at that time. He didn't believe it, so he called the E-Center, and they said that Dream Theater was getting ready to start the show in a little while. He then went to another Ticketmaster outlet, and he was able to purchase a ticket!!! So there was total mass confusion.
Anyway, we then hooked up with the amdp folks (Ed, Svante, Rasmus, and Angie) in the lobby of the E-Center. The cause of the cancellation was Ian Gillan's voice, which was shot. As we know, he had a bad night at Jones Beach on Sunday, then had Monday off, then at Tuesday's show in Pennsylvania, apparently he still was struggling with his voice. But everyone was surprised that the show was cancelled at the last minute. Obviously Ian had intended to perform that night, since everything was set and ready to go right up until showtime. So a lot of people were pissed off, but we were told the show would be rescheduled to another date (though, as Brendan and I discussed, we don't see this happening given that they're now working their way out west, and I don't see all three bands coming back to Camden at the end of the tour for this show, esp. since it probably didn't sell all that great anyway, and I think a lot of people were already getting refunds at the box office, but we'll see!!!). We were not pissed, just disappointed. These things happen.
The local DJs on WMMR in Philly were also ranting and raving about the situation, with one loony DJ (who kept pronouncing Ian's last name "Gillian") saying that they BETTER reschedule this show and all three bands BETTER show up for the rescheduled date...
So we decided to try to salvage the night as best we could, and decided to head over to the hotel that DP were staying at. So we went there, and that's where we hooked up with Rick. We were hanging out in the hotel bar for a while, and shortly thereafter Jon Lord popped in (sans shades) and went up to the bar, where Ian Gillan's wife, Bron, was. We exchanged a few lines with Jon which were rather amusing; I believe Brendan will be reporting on those in his review, so I digress... Then Jon split.
A while later, Ed, Svante, Rasmus, and Angie came by and hung out in the bar as well. Roger Glover stopped in and was very nice, as usual.
Anyway, we left the hotel around 11:30pm and headed back to my place, and that was it. Hopefully Ian Gillan is feeling better today and the tour can get rolling again, and I sure hope the Camden show does get rescheduled soon at a convenient time when all can attend...
[ reviews | the highway star ]