On stage with JLT
My first Deep Purple related concert was a Joe Lynn Turner concert
in Buffalo, NY, 1993 at club called The Marquee at the Tralf. I dragged my
friend to the show, he hated DP and Rainbow alike, but what are friends for
anyway.
There were maybe 50 to 75 people total in the crowd. Joe's band
crapped out on him (me thinks!) So his backing band was CPR (Coven,
Petrelli, and O'Reilley). Joe came out whilel the opening band was playing.
He was much shorter than I expected (aren't all lead singers short though).
He was signing autographs and chatting with fans. I got in line to have him
sign my ticket stub. Alas, I was foiled and Joe returned to the backstage
area. I returned to my seat in disappointment.
CPR came on after the opening band and played one two many
intrumental numbers. (By the way, Rand Coven was an awful bass player and
the whole band was generally unimpressive). Finally, Joe came on stage to
sing with CPR. Hardly any Rainbow tunes though, mostly cover tunes. The
only Rainbow tune was "Jealous Lover" and HW Star and Smoke by DP. This band
really did suck. Joe even sang "Play that Funky Music" by Wild Cherry. I
will say that even though the band sucked, Joe's voice was superb (I was
expecting this the other way around, afterall this was around the time that
Joe was having voice problems).
The band obviously lacked a keyboard player and did not know any
of Joe's songs. To salvage the evening Joe got the crowd invovled in the
concert and this is what transpired:
Finally, one of the last songs of the night was Stevie Wonder's
"Superstitious" In the middle of the song, some rather large black drunken
fella named "Anrie" gave Joe a bottle of Yukon Jack and got on stage with
Joe. Arnie even picked up Joe, while Joe was sitll singing. I also,
remember Joe tacking a swig from the bottle and just wincing. Must have been
strong stuff!
Joe let Arnie sing a few bits of the chorus and then invited any
other audience members to get on stage and join in. About 6 or 7 people got
on stage and helped with the chorus. My friend having no interest whatsoever
in getting onstage told me that I should. I was reluctant at first. After
some more proding, I jumped up on stage and proceeded to sing "Superstitious"
with Joe Lynn Turner and about 7 other JLT wannabees. All seven of us were
out of key in case anybody cares.
After I got offstage, my frined and I went to the front of the
stage with everyone else. This was the last number and Joe was signing
autographs in between singing. I missed getting Joe's autograph again. The
last song ended and Joe put the bottle of Yukon Jack down at the front of the
stage. My friend immediately snatched the bottle and gave it to me.
Joe invited everyone back to the Holiday Inn, but my friend could
take no more. I took pity on him and agreed to leave quitely. I left with
the fact that I got on stage with Joe, he actually sang "Play that Funky
Music" and till this day I still have Arnie's bottle of Yukon Jack that Joe
drank from. It was a strange night indeed.