Great Woods Review
Before I get to the concert review from the August 8th show at the Great Woods outdoor concert hall in Mansfield, MA, I think it's most important to lash together a few raw facts that detail my love affair with one of the most vital, important, prolific and interesting rock & roll bands in history.
Way back when I was in 8th grade (I'm 32 today), my first introduction to Deep Purple was via the same song everyone else in the world was introduced to them: Smoke On The Water. This, of course, was the classic live version from the Made In Japan album. I have vivid memories of struggling with my identity as a quiet teenager living in an affluent community among some of the most spoiled and pampered brats imaginable. My upbringing was quite normal. In fact, ours was the most normal family around. Great parents, cool older brother, caring older sister and a delightful dog. Sorry, folks, no sob stories to report. Just good times. But, certainly, I was an oddball who had trouble fitting in within the social circles of all the other rich brats whose rock idols were the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen.
Now, I too, love those bands and their contributions to rock & roll are legendary and pure genius. They wrote and performed great songs. These bands were extremely popular. But, that's what everyone else listened to. That's what everyone else did. Those were the black concert T-shirts they wore. And all of these kids were popular. And, then there was me. Pretty much an outsider, not hated, but an outsider. Certainly, not popular. And, then one day I heard this ripping guitar, pounding keyboards, blasting drums, driving bass and this uniquely rhythmic and soulful yet powerful voice. I quickly learned it was Deep Purple. So, I bought the Made In Japan album and it's history from there. Being a Deep Purple fan gave me a sense of pride because I was among the few who was into this sort of thing. I liked that. It made me feel original.
Deep Purple's music can easily be described as hard rock. But, one would be remiss if that's all one said. There's something incredibly provocative about their music. It's so profoundly similar to what we all know as hard rock yet so uniquely not hard rock. It's deep, but simple. Deep Purple gives you layers of power riffs blended with touches of melodic soul supported by superior crafted lyrics. I find myself saying, "Fuck You," a lot with a sense of incredulity and awe because of how good they play. In 30 years of existence, this band has written and recorded so many great songs, sold millions of albums, created spectacular music and oddly enough, maintained a fairly modest commercial reputation. Many Deep Purple fans would agree that just about any song could be and probably should be a hit however, nothing since the 70's has been a hit. And, that's what I love about Deep Purple. You can't define them because they are the antithesis of a commercial band. Therefore, most people don't get it. There in lies my connection. Most people didn't get them and most people didn't and don't get me. And, I don't want to be the same as everyone else. I want different. I want unique. I don't want Deep Purple to be popular. I want them to myself.
Now, the shift from Ritchie Blackmore to Steve Morse has taken some getting used to. If you break it down, you have to say that they are who and what they are because of Ritchie. But, the more I listen to the new material, the more I'm convinced that Deep Purple could not exist with him. And, after seeing the concert tonight, I contend they could not exist without Steve. For whatever reason, Ritchie seemed to dismantle the band piece by vital piece which incrementally ruined and prevented what could have been an absolute rock dynasty. If it weren't for that moody, selfish son of a bitch, Deep Purple would be a household name. The new music sounds alive and vibrant. It's so very similar to the older music yet so different. It's full. One can actually hear Jon Lord's keyboards during a guitar solo! One can actually hear guitars during any other part of a song! I admit, I felt that Steve Morse was not the best choice for a replacement and Purpendicular, while I love it, made me nervous because of its dramatic departure from their classic style. But, Abandon brings clarity to the table. This is a band that can play the shit out of their respective instruments and can do it better than anyone. The music is crisp, innovative and so true to their uniquely, originally style. They have jelled beautifully. So much so that it leaves you breathless with anticipation for new material.
Which brings us to this evening. Naturally, the pre-game warm up was a fun event. I pulled in the parking lot and was immediately surprised as to how many cars there were. I couldn't believe that this many people cared about Deep Purple anymore. I began to get happy. I was joined by a second carload of friends from the original Purple generation and had a few laughs before going in to see the show. Joe was his usual, affable self. He got a little sloppy at the end of the night, but he's great! Bill, Paul and the fabulous Vicki rounded out a solid cast of characters that made for an enjoyable time. Quickly, we didn't bother to go in for Dream Theater, but did for Emerson, Lake & Palmer. ELP was an adequate opening act. I'm not a big fan, but I'll say this; Greg Lake did not look happy, Carl Palmer is as good a drummer as I've ever seen and Keith Emerson can just flat out play the shit out of the keyboards.
In between ELP and Deep Purple, I went to purchase some goodies for memory sake. I wound up spending too much money on a nice DP shirt and cap. Oh well, I'll explain it to my wife later. That's when I met Randy from Maine, a fellow DP fan. We had a great chat about matters relating to the band which I found utterly refreshing. I don't know too many other Purple fans so, that was great. I slowly made my way back to my seat when, at 9:20pm, the lights went off and the fellas came on. Just as I sat down (good thing I didn't wait any longer in the burger line), Deep Purple ripped into Hush. I remember thinking how great of a moment that was for me. 14 years since I've last seen them, everything we've all (fans & the band) been through over the years; the adversity, the uncertainty, the dozens & dozens of great songs, the history (just about 30 years and how appropriate to open with a song from 30 years ago and it still holds up!), the tradition, the anticipation, the raw power and there they were. Paice and Lord in the back area, Morse on the right, Glover on the left and Gillan, with all his hair, in the middle. I wonder if they realize how cool they are and how important they are to people like me. They just rocked from the word go. They looked great and sounded even better. What they wore: Paice- red bandanna, usual sunglasses, typical bopping head motions with every beat. Lord- all white hair pulled back in a pony tail, usual, mirrored sunglasses, black, buttoned shirt and lots of enthusiastic expressions. Glover- white bandanna wrapped around longer hair than usual, black t-shirt with cut off sleeves, black jeans, cool belt, very cool belt. I've seen Roger play several times with Rainbow and various video tapes and I've never seen him get into it all as much as he did tonight. Plus, he plays a wicked mean bass. You don't think that when you think about Roger, but he plays real solid. Steve Morse- apparently he had some broken ribs (thanks for the info Randy) but you'd never know it. White, sleeveless t-shirt, black jeans, blue guitar he plays unbelievably good. In fact, I am now a hugely converted Steve Morse fan. Very strong player. Very into it. He clearly brings the missing energy to the show vacant from that side of the stage for years. He's happy, smiling and inspires the rest of the band to play better. He gets such a smooth and powerful sound from his guitar that blends perfectly with the DP sound. And, then there was Gillan- loose black pants, loose black tank top and that friggin' rock & roll hair. He just knows how to walk a stage. He plays with the audience. He said cool stuff like, "shoot that dog," after Morse ripped a solo. Ian is undeniably more important to Deep Purple than Ritchie and just runs a great show. Don't argue with me on that.
Nothing could spoil this for me except for the fat, swill drinking oaf next to me who insisted on rubbing up against me, taking up my space and getting in my way. Before long, I jumped up one row for some breathing room and got away from Captain Cellulite and you know who you are you inconsiderate tool! Hush ended and they whipped right into Bloodsucker. Every time Gillan shakes his hair he embodies true rock showmanship. He looks the part and does it better than anyone. He commands great stage presence and sounded just fabulous. His voice is not like it was in 1972, but who's is? During this song, Gillan cranked up the bongo program which added another unique element to their arsenal. He started chatting with us by saying, "some songs you will know and some we will know," and gave some new insight to a guy he met named Ted. Hence, Ted The Mechanic. Great song live. Looks like Ted will be a keeper for ensuing tours. It fits perfectly. And, God, Morse was good on this one! The next song was Almost Human introduced by a nifty R&B, bluesy opening by Steve and that's when Gillan described the Abandon album as, "an essential piece of property." Agreed, though I'd have to say that Deep Purple is an essential piece of property after seeing them tonight!
The rest of the set list:
Strange Kind Of Woman
Woman From Tokyo (massive audience participation).
Watching The Sky (Gillan said he wrote it with his friend Chet in mind).
Steve Morse solo leading into Smoke On The Water (best version I've seen live with great audience participation. They obviously see Smoke as a great song, but not the definitive one by playing that early in the set).
Jon Lord solo leading into Lazy (Gillan broke out that cool hat and harmonica for a terrific, full version of this DP classic).
Perfect Strangers (an obvious classic).
Speed King (drum solo in the middle, wow, Paicey's tough! Plus nice interaction between Gillan and Morse with harmonica and voice and guitar and an abbreviated version of Not Fade Away).
Encores:
Any Fule Know That (great tune).
Highway Star (has to be considered one of the best, definitive hard rock songs when it's played live).
I would say that they could have played more songs. I mean, they have so many great songs to choose from, why not and the crowd would have loved it. What happened to Seventh Heaven, Black Night, Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming, Maybe I'm A Leo, No One Came? The show was shorter than I'd hoped, but acceptable. While Great Woods was not sold out, it was quite full and, again, there was great audience participation. The band seemed to truly appreciate it. In fact, they appeared genuinely surprised and almost grateful. It was a great night for an outdoor concert. I had a great time and it was well worth the wait. I also had a great seat for this band that really knows how to play a live rock concert. There were lots of smiles tonight, both from us and them. They get the most out of their instruments and improvise brilliantly. They just seem to know who they are and what they want and offer no apologies for their special brand of toonage.
In a world of Smashing Pumpkins, Janet Jackson, the arrogant asshole formerly known as Prince, Snoop Doggy Dog, Bare Naked Ladies, phony puppet head newscasters, social problems, MTV generation swine, cultural decay, baseball strikes, OJ Simpson, drive by shootings, escalating taxes, Nike brainwashed youths, Monica Lewinsky, rap music and stupid laws designed by fools behind closed doors, Deep Purple takes you away from all of that and brings you to a private musical paradise. They lived it, drank it, smashed it up, porked it, gave it cab fare, then wrote about it and performed it. So much of today's music is saturated with hallow, meaningless lyrics written by some pointy-headed nerd for a self absorbed performer obsessed with fashion and image which moves the artform farther and farther away from its intended focus. Deep Purple puts things back into perspective. There are no pretentions with them. There is no fashion or image thing here just the purest, most dynamic hard rock & roll available. Not even Jimmy Page and Robert Plant are doing it this good. They all play right next to each other on the stage and they're right on top of you, giving you the intimate feeling of being in a small club or a rehearsal. They bring their great music to adoring fans without fifty dancers, super high tech special effects and literally no fanfare. Because they don't need it. This is a band for the ages with more talent in their collective pinkies than Eddie Vedder has in his whole family. I have two requests of the band: Please stay together and keep playing music and please come back to the states as much as possible. And, please come back to Boston. Sorry, that's three, but what the hell! And, finally, thank you Deep Purple, for staying with it. Tonight was one hell of a payoff and I feel honored and proud to have followed you all these years. Don't stop till you die because you could do so much more before it's over and there is so much the youth of today and young bands could gain from your presence on the scene.
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