Back to reviews

Ripening 1

Ripening 2

Current reviews

Arrow Classic Rock, Lichtenvoorde, Holland
June 27, 2003

by Harrie Hendriksen

Well, it took me over 24 hours to recover from this one before I could write a review, but who cares ?? It was one magnificent event. I picked up 4 English friends and my buddy Rene early Friday morning,and we had a little pre-party at my place before setting off to Lichtenvoorde. We decided to leave a little early, to be sure we would be able to go to the Uriah Heep signing session.

But traffic was a mess both goin’ there and back again, so the 1 hour trip took us 3 hours. Twice.

We missed the first part of the festival (and the signing session L), but when we came in we could catch a little snippet of Budgie. I’m not familiar with Budgie, or their material, but what I heard sounded good. Not a lot of crowd though.

So we went on to buy coins for food and drinks, the occasional T-shirt, and found ourselves a good place in front of the main stage for Uriah Heep. And Heep came, saw and concured. They played a very classics orientated set, with only 2 of the ‘newer’ songs, Between Two Worlds & I Hear Voices, but what a setlist it was. The crowd went nuts for the first time that day. Heep had a lot of problems getting’ the sound right on stage. The signs to the backstage and fiddlin’ on the keyboard went on for the first 5 songs of the set. You could see the band enjoyed playin this large crowd. (But aren’t they always enjoying themselves and us on stage ??). I think they deserved it !! The versions of July Morning and Bird Of Prey were absolutely stunning !!! And at the end they filmed and photographed us, the audience, I hope as a reminder for a great day to themselves. Trevor even got his son up there. The reactions where great afterwards. People who saw our Heep shirts came to us saying how great they thought the gig was. They saw Heep in ‘19-way back then’, and couldn’t believe the way the current line up still kicked *ss. One guy told us that he saw Heep when “that Les Humphries guy” just took over. He didn’t like them then, but thought it was great now, complimenting mostly Bernie’s vocals. I didn’t bother to explain I was a great John Lawton fan also J.

So for me, Heep were the winners on the main stage, and they deserve a place higher up the bill next year. And all pumped up by a great gig we went on to see Manfred Mann in the tent.

Again a band that I’m not much ‘into’. But I was very pleasantly surprised by their performance. They had the crowd on their feet, and their singer really amazed me. He’s good !! In the encore, during the long solo’s of The Mighty Quinn, the guitar player played a large portion of Smoke On The Water. So as a SOTW collector I need to say: I NEED THE BOOTLEG !!

Then it was of to Quo. I never was, or will be a big Status Quo fan, but they played a tight set. And they always bring a lot of hardcore fans along, so the atmosphere was ok.

Left early there to see Y & T in the tent. I got me a nice place, center stage, and saw the soundcrew allready messin’ things up at the soundcheck. The sound was way too loud at certain places. When they were announced, a tape of AC/DC’s Highway To Hell started. The whole song was played and the audience were allready goin’ wild. Then the song finished but no Y & T. Was somethin’ wrong ?? No, there was the guitarintro of Open Fire. From there on the band entered stage and took the crowd by storm. What a SUPERB show this was !! All the classics like I Believe In You, Rescue Me, Summertime Girls, Dirty Girl, Black Tiger, Barroom Boogie, Hell Or High Water and Open Fire where played and the crowd went nuts (again). The band were clearly sufferin’ from a bad sound (not clear, too loud) and the ever risin’ heat produced by the audience goin’ wild. I think I lost several pounds in there and it must have been even hotter on stage. There where times the tent took more crowd then it was designed for, and it even looked dangerous at times. But anyway you look at it, Y & T where the winners in the tent that day, and maybe even from the festival (together with Heep.) They proved that the ‘not so classic’ rock also deserves a place at the festival next year. (Scorpions, Saxon etc. etc.)

I rushed back to the Main stage to reunite with my friends for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Again a band that I’m not really familiar with. But I can understand some of the earlier reviews now, sayin’ they outstaged Deep Purple on the double bill. Not this time though, because Holland isn’t really a Skynyrd crowd. They had a hell of a hard time getting’ the crowd goin’ and I don’t believe they themselves will be really pleased. Local newspapers picked them out as one of the best though. I think that’s mainly due too their great show. I you look at that large stage with 8 people on it, and all the barrels, and all the show elements, and you look at the 5 guys in Deep Purple, much closer together and less jumpin’ around, I can understand the eye sometimes wins from the ear. And I gotta admit, the closer Free Bird had me on my toes too. That’s one spectacle you gotta see before ya die, or ya ain’t seen nothin’.

I skipped Thin Lizzy (hey give a guy a break, I gotta eat sometime) but from what I hear, sound was lousy, and the tent was dangerously packed with people.

So I sat and waited for the concert I was most anxious to see that day. Deep Purple for the first time with Airey (for me), and with new songs. And to speak in the terms of the famous Mr. Meadows…..it wasn’t the best DP concert ever. But most certanly not the worst !!! >From the moment they started with Highway Star, they had the crowd on their feet, and it was one great party all the way through. I think for the average festival visitor it was a great concert, goin’ mainly for the classic stuff. Like the woman behind me shoutin’ for Child In Time all the way through. That must have been the only bummer for her. (I tried to explain that Ian wasn’t really capable of doin’ that song anymore, but I think she was to far gone to be reasoned with J)

The first thing I noticed was that DP with Don Airey is STILL DP !! He’s doin’ a marvelous job behind the keys, and gave me no trouble what so ever to get used to his sound. Sure I miss Jon, but in the same way I miss Ritchie, David, Glenn and all the other’s. They leave some wonderfull memories, but the ‘new’ DP is still a force to be reckoned with.

The on stage chit chat looked to me as if they were havin’ mucho fun up there. But it also looked a bit sloppy. Big Ian getting’ the setlist mixed up, a rather perculiar start of Speed King, and I never saw Steve wave so much to little Ian during his Riff Raff. And it looked as if Gillan had a problem with the zipper from his trousers. He also kept on sayin’ how many words there were in every song. The price for the funniest remark goes to Ian sayin’ that the new album was called Bananas, and that was to be released when it was ripe.

The new songs I like a lot. Haunted is a beautiful song, and I think I've Got Your Number is a song that could last a while in the setlist. But I doubt wether both of them will last as long as Ted The Mechanic (wich I didn ’t missed). One thing is for sure, My expectations of the new album have grown hearing these 2 tracks.

Well I allready told ya that Steve reintroduced the Riff Raff part just before Smoke, and I think it fitted well on this ‘Classic Rock’ festival, but as far as I’m concerned he can skip it again.

Like I said, I think for 98 % of the people Purple put on a great show, but to me, as a fan, I missed a good slow song, like When A Blind Man Cries/Sometimes I Feel Like Screamin’/Fingers To The Bone, and I am really dissapointed I didn’t get to hear I’m Alone. I don’t know why they skipped that song but it was a big bummer to me.

And the other thing that makes this show not the best was that Ian sounded hoarse for a large part of the show. I believe some of the chit chat with Steve was to ask if he wouldn’t drive him up to greater hights, because he couldn’t hack that. Like in the solospot in Speed King.

Still the DP show, and the whole experience were great. Meeting with friends from abroad, seeing great music. Lovely weather. They closed the day by telling everybody they would organize a new festival again next year. Well, if they get traffic better organized I will be there !!!!!!!

And to conclude, here’s my wishlist for next year: Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Whitesnake, Scorpions, Molly Hatchet, (and on & on & on & on & on...)

back to reviews