Review of Universal Amp. show 8-30-98
YYYYEEEEOOWWW!!!! Thank you, I thank you! What an incredible night of Music @ the Uni.!
My wife Dana and I had been waiting for this for a long time how long? How's this... My wife's German and on our first date back in 1990 we went to see Ian G. at the PC69 club in Bielefeld Germany in support of the Naked Thunder Album. (That show was great and He played a lot of his old Gillan stuff like Puget Sound as well as No cane on the Brazos). Well about a year later My wife and I got married here in LA on Aug. 30th so yes, this was our Seventh (Heaven) anniversary.
The Tickets said 7:45 and sure enough DREAM THEATER hit the stage promptly @ 7:46 throughout their set the one phrase that kept popping into my mind was "HOW THE HELL DO THEY REMEMBER ALL THIS STUFF!" DT were easily the tightest band of the night. Now this is NOT a slag on DP but with DT's material it was clear that their main concern was to play each song as close to the album version as possible and while this was entertaining and their musicianship cannot be faulted in the least it still meant that thier music didn't "breathe" like Purples or even like ELP's for that matter. There is ZERO room for improv. in a Dream Theater song. Still, I loved some of their new stuff (Peruvian Skies in particular) and Pull me under served it's purpose well as the sing (shout?) along crowd favorite.
ELP opened with a new instrumental which led into Karn evil 9 Side 2 2nd something (I know it, you know it, so why name it) followed soon after by my favorite ELP cut Hoedown which was played at about a million miles an hour. I think it was actually faster than the version on their live album, Keith made a spectical of himself with the early version of the pitch bender which shot sparks out all over the first few rows (whether they liked it or not!) then through Piano Con.# 1, Knife edge, C'est la Vie, Lucky man, Damn near ALL of Tarkus and finally ending with Carls drum solo/21st century schizoid man (What a jaw -dropping great surprise!)/Fanfare/and Keiths madcap B-3 organ abuse built around Rondo with a few bars of Bach thrown in for good measure. A great performance but I must admit that I was checking my watch by the end of their set.
If a concert's value can be judged on the merit of how many notes you get that Deep Purple (along with DT & ELP) sure gave the Uni. crowd their money's worth!!
The Set list was pretty much the same as the last few nights with our man TED getting the nod to open things off to a shuffle! Ian G. is still just soooo F**KIN' cool!
I was worried reading some of the tour reports up 'til now about Ian's voice but I think just gave 110% and the guy's over 50? I was lucky enough to meet Ian's mum and his sister at a Demon (Great band/bad name) show she promoted in England in 1990 and even Ian's Mother was COOL and sharp as a tack for her age so I guess all the Gillans age like fine wines! It was a revelation to FINALLY hear my now 2nd favorite Purple song performed live PICTURES OF HOME!!!! (Thanks for nothing all these years Ritchie!) It was awesome and I say 2nd fav. because I only got a copy of Purpencdicular 2 months ago in Europe. (I know,I know stop scolding me- I own it now!) and my new fav. is the lovely The Aviator! The only way the night could have been better would have been if they had performed that. Hey guys, NEXT TIME????
I KNOW I'm not the only one who wants to hear it live. Steve's playing was sooooo inventive. God, you could see the delight in all the band member's faces but mostly in Jon Lord's. I was like he FINALLY had someone who could keep up with him on guitar (Hey, I liked Richie's playing too and saw him with Purple twice in Long Beach in '85 and once @ Irvine Meadows (which was recorded for "Nobody's Perfect") but Steve Morse is just soooo beyond him in each field. His solo bit on Cascades was so spot on, his playing was tight when required and loose when it needed to be (LIKE A 100 MARK HOOKER FROM HAMBURG- as Ian would say).
Lazy, Perfect Strangers, Smoke..., Any Fule (WHY ISNT THIS SONG ON THE RADIO??!!), Hush, Speed King, SKOW, the list just goes on, God what a night! By the time the last note of Highway Star faded across the Uni. (which is not really an ampatheater since it's been inclosed since about '81) I was wiped! The last thing I will always remember will be the sheer joy on the faces of Steve M. & Ian G. as they traded "leads" back and forth each one happy in the knowledge that the had both finally found someone in each other who could really bring out the best in them.
TO IAN,ROGER ,PAICEY,JON AND STEVE:
THANKS FOR MAKING MY & MY WIFE LIFE COME 7 YEARS FULL CIRCLE. CHEERS, GOOD LUCK AGAIN IN EUROPE NEXT MONTH AND MOSTLY...
YYYYEEEEOOOOWWWW!!!!
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