Montreal og Quebec (første fra Quebec?) Skål! :-) -- Trond Subject: Barney's prozac nation tour hits la belle provence Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 22:51:30 -0400 From: ouij@vir.com (doritozilla) Organization: l'eglise d'anarchiste frottante Newsgroups: alt.music.deep-purple before I start my review of the Montreal and quebec city, I'd like to apologize to Bruce Payne. When I introduced myself as a friend of so&so somebody he knows quite well I told bruce "you probably don't recoginize me with clothes on." A quasi startled bruce with raised eyebrows (along with others in the room) replies "uh???" "you never got the photos?" "what photo's?" "that's wierd," I replied "I sent some nude promo photo's down last year. I know betty saw them." "can you tell me about the photo's?" "no, don't want to...I'm taking too much of your time already. Can you do me a favour and give this package to so&so tommorrow in hartford..... [saga deleted]. Bruce, deepest apologies for being cryptic and not answering your curiosity. That reminds me, I gotta send betty another christmas card. Poor thing, stealing photo's of doritzilla in the buff so nobody else can have em, tsk tsk tsk. 7:30: I get to theatre st.denis in a really bad mood. I'm really pissed off that nobody knows if there's an opening act forcing me to get down to the venue much earlier than I want to. I'm more than pissed that the return of Purple wasn't given any coverage whatsoever. Can purple live up to 1985 Perfect Strangers show? Sure, I've got some 1995 boots at my disposal but live what will happen? How will the tracks they select from _l_ effect me. Also how will it feel to see das shred meister play material other than his own. Sure Morse is a vital contribution that makes purple 96 possible but I worry that his fingers will loose their agility and stay in a 4/4 3/4 rut. Get to the wicket to see if my tickets are waiting for me and the ticket lady says "We have a small problem. The show is sold out and there was a small mistake regarding guest list tickets. I start to groan and curse off to the side. "Don't worry. You have back-stage passes. Just stand by the wall in the theatre and I'll get you some tickets before purple starts their set. Screw the tickets. Just prop me behind Jon Lord's leslies if you must. My spirits pick up. Famed net music legend and enterprising rock journalist Anil Prasad finally shows up. Although never a fan of any purple disc, _l_ has won him over and dispelled most cynical thoughts he may have had, on stage is what matters. Upon hearing about our ticket dilemma-- anil who is usually the biggest whinner cry-baby about having good seats for a show (let alone they're freebies), rushes out and buys machine head (the only DP disc in the record store across the theatre) for later on. 8:00 Wild T and the Spirit comes to the stage. I only liked Wild T when Spirit was a hendrix cover band in 1982. Sheer torture. We get our tickets and they're behind the sound board which was a bit of a bitch since the boards blocked a bit of our sight line. We can't tolerate Wild T so we try going back to the lobby which is nearly imposibble. Drinking is not aloud in the theatre only the lobby. Bikers and wanna bee's alike are draining the kegs dry and there must be more than 500 of them crowding the narry lobby. hell, there's even a ten minute wait for the men's room. Anil discovers that the machine head packaging is all very dark colours which is difficult to have autographed without the right tools. So he runs out to buy what any rockstar will tell you is the instrument of choice: a gold marker. 9:00: We're all alone in the row of seats behind the board. which is pretty good since all 3200 seats are crammed and it doesn't look like people will be sitting in them. They dimm the lights and the crowd goes wild as purple belts out HUSH. Crows goes wild. Doesn't sit down. 3 songs later, I'm convinced. The band is wailing even harder than they did in 85. Even Anil is amazed. Whatever notions that this was going to be a barney prozac nation gig is stuck to ceiling along with everything else purple is blowing out of peoples minds. Sound is loud. Crowd refuses to sit down (until of course [sadly], tracks from _l_ are played) but there had to be a solid core of the first ten rows who stood the entire night trying to shake hands or get things autographed by the mighty titans. Cascades comes and I'm starting to itch since I know this is where Steve's solo comes on and I was hoping steve would finally get the recognition. And the crowd was deafening silent. Bunch of wankers only interested in hearing the classics (many of which did not recognize the old obscure tunes WABMC, No One came,etc...) Show was amazing. It even made it up for the perfect strangers show. What was clearly wrong on that night in 85 was blackmore botching about half of his solos. That night had been saved by an extra-ordinare performace by Lord but tonight, I witnessed a fully functional Purple. If I can do that on stage when I'm their age, it be a major accomplishment. Yet for purple to do it 100+ nights a year, it's all in a days work. Anil is astonished. Happy with obtaining all the signatures on machine head. Impressed by what a bunch of easy going non-attitued purple are. I'm happy since I spent my time with Steve's guitar tech who I haven't spoken to in three years. I should of asked if any a.m-dp's where in the smallish crowd of 15 or so folks. Now I drive the 20 minutes home really convinced that quebec city is gonna be worth attending. Maintenant, on commence notre petite histoire dans la capitol de la belle provence. 7:35. We pull into my friends sister's place an hour latter than we had planned. We leave the car in her parking spot. Puffing and panting trying to walk up four blocks in quebec (for those who don't know: Quebec is on the side of hill. Most of the roads are narrow from their original design 300 odd years ago and so steep that many side walks either have stairs or railings to hold on to. Nothing like being stressed out, not having eaten the last two meals and then try to defy gravity, puffing and panting (even my physically fit friend) and having blasts of -10 (c) wind greet the tender insides of a pink lungs. Get the venue. Although we know the gig starts at 8. Nobody can tell us if there's an opening act. Which means we can't go find food. So we make due of the potatoe chips. Le grande theatre came as a surprise. 2000 seats in a venue that is usually reserved for classical arts (opera & theatre). So we stock up on snacking chips, try to find our seats and ACCCKKKKK, the tell-tale sign of wild t and the spirit equipement on stage! we go outside have another bag of chips. I spot a man in his fourties, his wife and 14 year old son. They look like the same man and kid I saw backstage in montreal getting autographs and I walk on over asking them if they're from ottawa (thinking it was corrigan and company). They weren't..... Purple comes on and reconquers quebec. the crowd is maybe not as wild as montreal but more appreciative and into it. I'm surprise that the set list was identical to mtl, which is identical to toronto. But the quebec gig is rocking harder than montreal. The band seems more in tune. Backstage: aside from the bruce payne incident, aside from when Morse signs a girls ticket stub with his trademark guitar for the S and the girl (who is awed by this design work) asks him if he would like her signature with tits drawn in, the most hilarious moment (and why I posted a longish review concentrating on everying but the show itself) is there were these three breathe taking beauties in leather. They weren't groupie-ish, biker-ish or fetishly dressed but just well-dressed. Sitting on the couch. They were upset that it was boring (about 10 folks max outside of crew and promoters) since they had been there half an hour and nobody came out. Most bands wait at least that to come down from the stage experience, change, etc...) It was just so funny to hear them whine "it's boring. let's go. Even if they come out, so what it's boring." amongst each other before they picked up and left. All I can say, yet again, when I turn fifty and can still kick butt like a young whipper snapper. Hell, bands like KISS only do four gigs a week because their voices can't handle the strain and grand pappa gillian is doing six shows a week. PURPLE ROCKS... And I'll be saying the same thing for the 10th anniversary _l_ tour. doritozilla PS: Betty, can I have my photo's back?