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Glenn Hughes’ 1st Show in Canada
Last September, 2018 I wrote about Glenn Hughes’ impressive Classic Deep Purple show in Poughkeepsie, New York. So impressive that I jumped at the chance to see him once again, this time even closer to home in Belleville, Ontario on April 30th, 2019. In fact, Glenn told us this was his very first appearance as a solo artist in Canada – he had originally been scheduled to play in Toronto but somehow the gig fell through and hence new plans were made head up the road about 100 miles to play at the Empire Theatre in Belleville instead.
This time around guitarist Soren Andersen was back on Stratocaster duties. A new and very talented drummer Ash Sheehan is now in the band (standout performance was his absolutely stunning solo on You Fool No One). Keyboard duties are still being handled very ably by Mike Mangan.
In terms of setlist, the show was quite similar to the one in Poughkeepsie with the very welcome exception of Holy Man from the Stormbringer album replacing Highway Star (which is more appropriately associated with Mark II Purple). All songs were very well played with huge energy; and Glenn really engaged with the crowd – lots of story-telling about Mark III and IV days.
I am still amazed at the power and range of Glenn Hughes’ voice, who at the age of 66 years is showing no signs whatsoever of any decline. His vocal gymnastics on all songs, and especially Mistreated, were simply stellar. And he is an absolute monster on the bass guitar too – his solo on Getting Tighter was a masterclass on how to do it justice.
Total concert time was about 1 hour, 50 minutes in front of approximately 500 very approving and appreciative fans. A great show! Looking forward to future visits to Canada by Glenn & company.
Gary Halverson – May 2nd, 2019
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Thanks for your review,Gary.
May 7th, 2019 at 11:59To see Glenn in a theatre, with a small crowd,would’ve been great.
I should’ve made the trek from Toronto,but that’s tough to do,mid-week.
How was Holy Man ?? It’s not a song we hear a lot in concert.
Hi Mike @1. The sound in the Empire Theatre was very good. The overall setlist was quite powerful so the insertion of Holy Man into it was quite a treat. Glenn explained that the song had never been played live by Deep Purple back in the day. He added that in the studio the “guitarist” was not very enthused about it and had played his solo on that track with a screwdriver – but that in the end the song did turn out quite well on the record. Glenn said that he and his band started rehearsing Holy Man a few weeks ago and have only quite recently started placing it into their show. The song was well done, soulful and funky – a nice little interlude between the hard funk rock of Getting Tighter and the classic Mistreated.
I see that Glenn Hughes’ website has now posted a video of their performance of Burn at the Belleville show. Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzaGm3L0oqo
May 8th, 2019 at 15:05@2-Thanks for the added info,Gary. That YT clip is great !
May 9th, 2019 at 20:03