DP in Denver
Fiddler's Green is located in the middle of town, in a business plaza, surrounded by big office buildings. The venue has a 10:30 curfew, which apparently is strictly enforced. According to one of the guys at the show, the bands are heavily fined for violating the curfew. We were a few minutes late, arriving at the show at about 6:45. Dream Theater was already on stage, the curfew apparently causing the show to start on time. (What a concept! I wish all shows had that motivation.)
Dream Theater: I'm not too familiar with DT's work, so I'd have to just say they were ok. A lot of the younger people in the crowd seemed to enjoy them. Great musicians, but not too much of a stage presence, (although them being crammed into the 6 feet of stage area they had could have affected that). They got a good response from the crowd though.
ELP: Very impressive performance from these guys. Much better than I expected. Some of Emerson's antics were amusing, and he and Palmer really put on a show. Lake wasn't very energetic, but his voice sounded great. They had the crowd going geat, then almost lost them with Emerson's piano solo. A long, self-indulgent exercise that was the only really slow part of their show. They did a long jam towards the end, where Emerson dragged his keyboard to the front of the stage and attacked it. Musically, it sounded a lot like the jam in Space Truckin' and he reminded me of a young Jon Lord mauling his Hammond. It ended with Emerson stabbing it with knives, just like the old days. That was the bad thing about their show. It was a picture perfect recreation of a 25 year old stage show. No new music, no new moves, just an instant replay of 1973. Still, the crowd loved it and I was a little concerned about how Purple would go over with them. They seemed to love the theatrical show that ELP put on, and other then Ritchie's guitar smashing, Purple's never been about that side of live music. I was wrong to worry...
Deep Purple: 20 minutes after ELP left the stage, the lights went out. I was expecting Hush, when Steve's ripping intro to Ted blasted out of the speakers. Still totally dark onstage, the lights blazed on as the rest of the band thundered into the song. Ian strode to center stage, and owned the crowd for the rest of the night. A very fine version of Ted, with everyone sounding great. Steve's solo drew great applause, and Ian's voice was in top form. The song ended, and wthout a word to the crowd, they plowed straight into Strange Kind Of Woman. Ian sounded way better on this than any other post reunion version I've heard. Steve's solo was perfect, at times reminiscent of that other guy, but still his own style too. The second solo is now Jon's, and not too bad I might say. After it ended, Ian spoke to the crowd a little. He referred to the next track being recorded for their In Rock album in...long pause...1969, then he frowned, which drew some laughs and cheers from the crowd. Someone behind me yelled "Child In Time!", but Ian continued with "We re-recorded it for our new album, Abandon. It's called Bludsucker. A surprisingly strong response from the crowd when they launched into it too. Another great performance from all concerned, the Abandon version is pale in comparison. When Ian mentioned the next song was from a record called Machine Head, the crowd responded loudly. "A song about emptiness, eagles and snow, it's called Pictures Of Home." A powerfull performance and the band is just smoking by this point. Sound and lights are fantastic by the way. Very atmospheric. I didn't recognise the next song at first, due to the very heavy intro by Mr. Morse. The chugging, extended riffing became Almost Human, with Ian forgetting the words at one place, and Roger and Steve doing back-up vocals on the chorus. Great Lord solo at the end too. Woman From Tokyo (Tokayo to we Americans) was next, again a complete version. Ian's voice starting to sound strained. "She wasn't from Tokyo, and she wasn't really a woman either." The next song was Watching The Sky. Heavier and more powerful than on the album, it was stunning in it's majesty. By the way, the backdrop for the stage was modeled after the album cover, and they would light it with different colors to match the song's moods. For Watching, it was very soft lighting for the quiet vocals, and a very bright for the aggressive parts. Great light show. They went straight into Any Fule Kno. It sounded good, but Ian's voice was sounding more strained. Steve's solo at the end led straight into his guitar spot. Even better than the last tour, this drew wild response from the crowd. Right into Smoke now, the crowd is singing along and people are dancing in the aisles. It ends with Jon's solo, and he is in fine form. Switching back and forth from piano to organ, he displayed his virtuosity, mixing all styles into one even flow of music. As he droppped the volume on the organ, he started to play a little funky thing. Then Paicey started keeping time and Ian walked out with a tambourine. The crowd started to respond in recognition, when Jon actually played the riff, the place went nuts. Lazy. Steve came out, muting the strings and keeping time with Paice. When he played the riff too, the crowd went into overdrive. Lazy sounded great, Steve seemed very comfortable with this one. Perfect Strangers was next, very powerful and receiving great response from the crowd. This ended the show, although everyone knew they'd be back. When they came out, Ian did his lullaby for his baby story intro and the band did Speed King. A long version, it included Paicey's solo, VERY hot Lord/Morse trade off's, Peggy Sue and guitar/vocal duet. Again they left, with the crowd very loud, asking for more. Paice came back first, the familiar drum beat, soon joined by Roger's bassline. Steve did his cool, motor revving feedback thing and the whole place exploded when Ian sang "Nobody's gonna take my car...". A very cool thing was happening all around us. Kids in their teens playing air guitar, moshing, screaming the words out with Ian, it was unbelievable! "These guys rule!" one kid, who looked about 15, kept yelling. As I looked at kids, some younger than my own, jamming to this band, I smiled and thought "Yes they do". The show ended, the lights came on, and I looked at my watch. 10:30 exactly. Happy hour was over, but listening to the kids talking on the way out, there were some new fans among us. Welcome to all of them.
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