His Royal Wiggyness is back

ICBM

I probably shouldn't have watched that before I go to see them on Sunday…

Hmmm.

But actually, it's the band that were so average, not him - although the mix didn't help, they just seemed to lack any kind of life or energy at all. If you'd put his playing against a much more driving rhythm section it would have sounded fine - he's still got the trademark phrasing he always had. I don't care in the slightest about him not moving about much - he's 72.

The Steve Morse version was terrible, the other way round. Fantastic band, widdly overplaying guitarist who doesn't fit. I've never liked a single thing he's done with Purple though, so I'm probably just biased.

And the less said about the reworking of I Surrender the better.

viz

ICBM, honestly mate you'll love it. It was fantastic being there, it roared. Ritchie was great, and the band were really enjoying it. I don't know why it doesn't come through on the videos, perhaps the cameraman hadn't drunk as much as I had.

equalsql

Bucket said:

Nah.

I know how influential he was but I've never really got the hype around him as a guitarist in his own right.

And fuck me, have you ever seen a less animated performance from any guitarist ever?

Compare that to this performance, which I have always loved ever since I first saw it. Worth it for the opening piano solo alone. I know it's Blackmore's riff, and all this is is a cover, at the end of the day, but that roaring tone and the cheer that goes up when he kicks into the riff - it's electrifying, especially compared to Blackmore looking like a bored old man while playing it, with evident reluctance. And while you might argue Morse's solo isn't as "tasteful" (if you're a boring old fart, anyway) you can't deny it's a lot more exciting than what Blackmore pulled out in that video.

Thanks for posting that @Bucket , that was great! Gillan was really on form and Steve Morse is monster, although could do with a few less pinch harmonics.

equalsql

Jalapeno said:

Looked like a thoroughly joyless performance (was he wearing a a rug too ?)

The rest of the band look rather nervous. It's like they're stepping on eggshells making sure not to upset their lord and master purchance he should throw a hissy fit and walk off stage leaving them to deal with the crowd. Looks like a joyless experience.

Philly_Q

I felt a bit sad watching that, it's not a terrible performance and in some ways Blackmore's playing is a lot less hit-or-miss than it was back in the '80s, but it's so dull.  And yes he's 72, but RB himself looks so utterly static and disengaged from the whole thing, I'm not sure if it's depressing or worrying.  He made me think of the latterday Peter Green, although I'm not for a minute suggesting any similar health issues, he just looks like he'd far rather be somewhere else.

Having said all that, the Steve Morse clip is awful.  He totally misses all the bits which made the original solo so fucking great in the first place.  Agreed with @ICBM, Purple with Morse has never quite worked although it's not his fault, they've all just lost a lot of whatever was there in the early days.

... and yes of course it's a rug.

Grumpyrocker

The Morse version looked great, lots of passion, rhythm was driving. I'm not a fan of ruining classic riffs with pinch harmonics (Zakk Wylde take note!) but it was still by far the best version. Great to hear Gillan when his voice still worked. 

I've seen pub bands do the song more justice than the Blackmore vid. 

RocknRollDave

How many people in that crowd would have been listening eagerly all night in anticipation of THAT riff.....And they start the song off completely differently!
There's a fine line between "keeping it fresh" and "dicking around with songs for your own amusement and sod what the paying punters think"

Cabicular

RocknRollDave said:

How many people in that crowd would have been listening eagerly all night in anticipation of THAT riff.....And they start the song off completely differently!
There's a fine line between "keeping it fresh" and "dicking around with songs for your own amusement and sod what the paying punters think"

We start smoke on the water and then switch it into All night long
You'd hate it 

RocknRollDave

Cabicular said:

RocknRollDave said:

How many people in that crowd would have been listening eagerly all night in anticipation of THAT riff.....And they start the song off completely differently!
There's a fine line between "keeping it fresh" and "dicking around with songs for your own amusement and sod what the paying punters think"

We start smoke on the water and then switch it into All night long
You'd hate it 

I would, I fucking hate Smoke On The Water.

professorben

equalsql said:

Bugger... he can still play.. and I wanted to take the piss so much.

Play yes........ well..... further evidence required. 

That was awful. 

ICBM

Well... they were OK. Not as bad as the clip here, although they did play SOTW like that and it was pretty poor. But not at all great.

They were at least better than the support band - Mostly Autumn Awful. Hilariously shit sub-prog lyrics, terrible vocals (from the male singer/guitarist) and meandering pointless guitar nonsense - and that's saying something given that they were supporting Rainbow . Things improved when three-quarters of the band left the stage for the female singer and the keyboard player to do a duet, but then they ruined it by coming back on for a last song of almost epic self-parody.

Rainbow didn't start well - the mix was dreadful, far too much kick drum and keyboard, muffled guitar and inaudible vocals - although it improved a bit over the set, it never got really good. The band were fairly lacklustre in general - not positively terrible, just no real spark. Ronnie Romero was actually pretty good on the Dio songs - but less so on the Coverdale and Gillan ones and not good on the Bonnet ones - and the whole thing sounded uncomfortably like a pub tribute band at times.

Blackmore… hmmm. There were moments hinting at his past greatness, especially when he was playing slide (he's still probably my favourite slide player), but overall his phrasing was a bit erratic, he was mostly playing in an irritatingly stilted percussive style when he should have been smooth and fluid - except when he should have been tight and clipped, eg on the SOTW riff, when he wasn't and just sounded sloppy. His timing was noticeably off in a lot of places as well. He avoided playing most of the classic solos - particularly Since You've Been Gone which was disappointing, they just ended the song abruptly there. And his sound was dreadful too - muddy and yet also a bit thin and lacking any real power. On the other hand when they did Soldier Of Fortune 'unplugged', it was worse - terrible piezo sound which there's no real excuse for nowadays…

There was a keyboard solo.

On top of all that the light show was cheesy and creaky - no big-screen closeup like Black Sabbath had where it was great to be able to see Iommi's playing properly, mostly just a succession of jerky video loops 'hinting' (with a blunt instrument) at the lyrics, the eyes from the Straight Between The Eyes album cover at the start - all rather too Spinal Tap - and a giant Rainbow logo which mostly appeared to be to remind us that we were actually seeing them. I'm pretty sure it was better when I saw Deep Purple in 1987.

Despite all that I enjoyed seeing them, and him. Some of it was forgivable because he's really pretty old now - despite still wearing the daft Viking-esque boots and an impressively black rug on his head, you can tell by the way he moves (or doesn't) - but mostly because I just had better versions of all the songs running through my head which I could switch to when it got too painful .

Living Legend score - 7/10. Objective band performance score - 3/10.

I forgot to mention that thanks to a good friend I was able to experience this all from the comfort of a hospitality box, and since he was driving it would have been impolite to refuse any of the free Moretti that kept appearing. Surprisingly, I feel fine today!

Grumpyrocker

Shame about Mostly Autumn was quite into their stuff years ago, 

Emp_Fab

equalsql said:

Bugger... he can still play.. and I wanted to take the piss so much.

I assume you must be talking about cribbage or shove-ha'penny ?

Philly_Q

Grumpyrocker said:

Shame about Mostly Autumn was quite into their stuff years ago, 

Never heard of them, but I see from their website that congratulations are due to the two lead singers on a new baby last week! 

viz

ICBM said:

There was a keyboard solo.

Lol

ICBM said:

Living Legend score - 7/10. Objective band performance score - 3/10.

Yes, I'd have probably given the O2 9/10 and 6/10, notwithstanding Ronnie and the drummer were awesome. 

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

Some of it was forgivable because he's really pretty old now - despite still wearing the daft Viking-esque boots and an impressively black rug on his head, you can tell by the way he moves (or doesn't)

It may just be the Guy of Gisborne outfit, but is he getting a bit portly too?  I never would've expected that of him.

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

It may just be the Guy of Gisborne outfit, but is he getting a bit portly too?  I never would've expected that of him.

I didn't notice, but we were quite a long way back. One thing I did think was that he's a bit shorter than he used to be - which is another sign of ageing - the Strat looked bigger on him than I remembered it from thirty years ago.

Headphones

Saw him Wednesday at Brum.  Really very good, clealy enjoying himself, with the show running long as a result - nearly two and a half hours - and appeared to be curtailed by the venue management at that.  This might be a first for Mr B.

How does he make a Strat sound like that?  I've never managed to get close.

Quite mobile for a 72 year old, though not as of old; but much more so than the earlier YT clips suggested though and teh videos from last year.

The audience was weird; the front were a good rock band audience, yet beyond halfway everyone sat still and silent, like watching at the cinema.  I was about two thirds back and, frankly, felt quite intimdated in the manner of someone with crunchy crisps!

I'd forgotten how awful the NEC acoustics are, a huge slapback from the rear wall (treated by a net curtain!) really didn't help at all and some bits got confused as a result (when tempos clashed with the return).  Though he of the unfeasible locks did add to this by seeming to forget how the riff to SoTW went...  Probably the only person in the room who did.

The Sweet were jolly good too.

Philly_Q

Headphones said:

The Sweet were jolly good too.

Hmm, I'm sensing a theme here....

Headphones

Well, he said it was his own...