(Continued from Jim's Toronto review)

Newsgroups: alt.music.deep-purple
Subject: MONTREAL :-) Part 3 (Long)
From: bx416@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Jim Corrigan)
Date: 25 Nov 1996 00:39:51 GMT

     John, Nick and I got up on Thursday with that "I need at least 2 hours more sleep" syndrome. We slid down and took advantage of the free continental breakfast in the hotel. After we paid the bill, I sought out a review in the local paper... Nothing in the Toronto Sun, and a scathing, most untrue and un-needed review in the Toronto Star. The 3 of us couldn't believe it. It sure put a damper on things for a while.

     We piled into my black Mustang and headed for Ottawa to drop off Nick, and pick up my wife Line, 2 boys, and my Brother Dan.

     The day was quite cloudy and pretty cool. I needed gas so we got off the Don Valley Parkway at Eglington to find a gas station, and lo and behold, there is The Radisson Hotel(where Dave said the Purps were staying)right in front of us. We all got this shit-eating, "Lets drop in for breakie" grin:-) all at the same time. Like I said before, I didn't want to leave the impression of us as pests, so we nixed this idea. I did think about leaving a note for them at the counter, but they probably wouldn't get it...would they?? We filled up, and headed east down the 401 at 130 kph all the way, listening to the Helsinki 93 concert - Ritchie's =|:-( last one. This was a tape, and although the music was good, we axed it in favor of the In Concert CD. THAT still has to be one of the, if not THE best capturing of the band live on record. WTN and MR still floor me, along with all the other stuff. It was long enough to get us within 5 miles of home, too :-)

     We got to my place about 2:30 pm. Only 4 hours. Not bad at all. Nick and John made phone calls, and I showed them this drum kit of mine that I've told them about; although it isn't set up at the moment(I know - sacrelige). My brother also had called. He's a veteran of the 76 Rainbow concert at the same venue, and the 85 Ottawa show. Thinking ahead, he had borrowed a friend's Buick Regal to take us to Montreal and was expecting us for dinner at the restaurant he manages. We dropped Nick off at home, as he was going to the show with a friend, and we said we'd meet him there, and continued on to Dan's restaurant. We all ate lunch/supper while Dan finished up some last minute business and then the son of a gun picked up the tab for all of us. Thanks Dan. The trip down was fast and comfortable - a lot better than it would have been in my tired, old 79 Buick Estate Wagon, and a lot less expensive, too. DPIR, MH and WDWTWA got the tape deck honours this time.

     We arrived about 6:30 pm and drove past the St. Denis Theatre, and the place looked dead. We had to look for a place to park for about 15 minutes but lucked-out finally when someone left a spot on the next street. We walked over to St. Denis and guess who's the first person we meet? Nick and his buddy! We all wanted a beer, and headed up the street till we found the Pegasus Bar. John took some pictures of National Lampoon's Deep Purple Vacation, starring the Corrigan family, all resplendent in their DP T-shirts. Maybe we should have taken the wagon after all :-7 We had a couple of beers and made our way over to the show. Got the kids each a _|_ T-shirt. It turned out our tickets were for the 2nd row balcony, dead centre! IMHO much better than downstairs. We could see everything from here. Wild T came on and played a good set. They wouldn't let us bring our pints to our seats which was a bit of a bummer. We had to stand at the top of the stairs. I talked to some of the people that had been at the 85 Forum show, and couldn't contain myself. I had to tell them about some of the night before. They all thought it was great. Everyone was wondering where I got my DP pendant from. I mentioned the 85 tour, and they said they hadn't seen them before. I'm glad I got it, and decided to pick up a set of "dog tags" from this tour. They ran out of hats, and still no tour programmes :-(

     Purple came on at 9:13 pm to the strains of Hush, and played a blistering set. Better than Toronto in both John's and my opinion. There was no sound trouble(where we were), and the band seemed to turn it up just a notch. We were a little worried that Roger wouldn't see us, as he would be looking for us in the 2nd row, but...at the end of each song, and any time the audience lights would come on, we'd stand up and he saw us right away, each time and waved, and Ian Paice too!

     You never know for sure in a situation like this if they really see you or not, but there were lots of indications. We'd give them the _|_ sign, and it came right back; wave - came back, thumbs up, right back instantly, from both of them. This was getting just too good to be true :-) They played the same set list as Toronto, except they didn't interpolate Not Fade Away, and I think Steve's intro to Smoke was much nicer than the previous night.
They were all having a great time on the stage, and the crowd was loving every minute.

     At the end of the encores, Ian Paice came to the front of the stage and tried to throw both his sticks to ME in the balcony. He looked right at me and waved, and threw them up - a good distance. Two guys in the front row got them and he shrugged his shoulders, smiling. My wife and Brother couldn't believe this. John said he thought that Ian was throwing them to me, too! We truly aren't worthy! :-)

     The concert ended much too soon, and for all of us the last show. My wife asked if there was a chance that we could meet the band again. I said I wasn't sure because we had no "Grand Poobah" with a backstage pass with us this time - I hadn't run into Ed Janx. All were up for it, so we walked around the back to where the semis and vans were, and waited in some pretty cold weather by the stage door for about an hour and a half. We were all getting pretty cold, and the crowd had dwindled down to about 15 people, so Dan decided to go and pick up the car. As he walked up past the truck, he literally ran into Ian Gillan. Taken totally aback at the whole situation, he just shook his hand and said, "Thanks for all the years." Paicey and Steve also came out. We immediately went over to him and he saw me, and shook my hand, and said, "Sorry I couldn't get them to you. I tried." This just floored me! :~-) Imagine that, Ian Paice, my idol, apologizing to ME! It was almost too much to bear. I told him the thought was more than enough, the fact that he even remembered me. Man, I still can't believe it as I write this!

     I introduced Dan and he signed his ticket stub for him, after some initial trouble with John's fountain pen(who carrys one of those these days anyways? :-) )due to the cold. Shook hands with the boys and then my wife Line. He grabbed her hands and tried to warm them both up and said, "Ah Dear, you're so cold." in the most apreciative manner. He knew we'd been waiting in the weather, and he acknowledged it. He allowed us to take a picture of him with "Clan Corrigan" and I wished him a great tour and safe journeys. He mentioned that he wished that I could make it to more shows, but I said it was pretty well impossible. He is one class act!!

     I got to say Hi to Big Ian for a bit but didn't want to keep him out in the cold. John got to get some tangible information from Steve on upcoming projects, and I won't burst his bubble here and will let him tell you.

     Jon and Roger still hadn't come out, but we were freezing. I really wanted Jimmy to meet Jon, and to I wanted to say "Thanks" and "Goodbye" to Roger for all he's done for all of us here on the newsgroup, but it was just too damned cold, so we left. Sorry Roger, but our thoughts were with you.

     It was pretty quiet in the car on the way home, and a bunch of people had phoned in to CHOM-FM to tell how good the concert was and to request tunes. They played PS. We got home about 02:45 ending one of the best times of my life.

     To Roger, Ian, Jon, Steve and IAN, "We thank you. We thank you. We ThaaaaAAAAAAAAAnk you!" God bless you. Safe Journeys and have a great tour!

     Cheers!
Jim, Line, Dan, Jimmy & Doug Corrigan

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