by Mott the Dog
This week we feature a special Mott the Dog review
column – as Mott and friends took a bus to Bangkok to catch Deep Purple
live at the Impact Arena May 7.
Deep Purple last played in Bangkok in June of 1991,
with a somewhat different line-up to the band that played under the Deep
Purple banner at the fantastic Impact Arena. Gone since 1991 are lead
singer Joe Lynn Turner who, although a great vocalist and showman, only
lasted one album with Deep Purple as his pop / rock voice never really
settled into the Heavy Metal style.
Original Purple keyboard wizard and founder of the
band, Jon Lord at 60, had decided that one more jaunt around the Far East
was a call too many for his road-weary bones, although the rumour is he
will re-join the band for one more tour of the U.K and a final album.
Lead guitarist Ritchie Blackmore also left soon after
the last Bangkok gig, in the middle of the next tour in one of his usual
sulks and quite frankly who cares, as he has been replaced by the amazing
Steve Morse.
In 1991, with only 3 hours sleep after their flight
from Japan (where Blackmore flew First Class and the rest of the band
Economy), no sound check and an hour and a half car journey to cover 4
kilometres to the concert from the hotel, Deep Purple were blown off stage
by the two Thai support bands (Orion Plain, and the Lam Morrisson All
Stars). They played for only fifty-five minutes, including encore ‘Smoke
On The Water’ of which Blackmore played the intro from off-stage and
then left the band to finish the song while he cleared off in his limo to
beat the traffic.
They relied far too much on their recent album
‘Slaves and Masters’, only playing a handful of classics to start and
finish the show. As bass player Roger Glover said after the show,
“We’ve played better and we’ve played worse... I can’t remember
when we’ve played worse though.”
But eleven years later Deep Purple came back to
Thailand and put the record straight. Steve Morse was on fire right from
the get-go and Ian Gillan, the real voice of Deep Purple, is back front
stage. The long hair of old may be trimmed but the voice and on-stage
banter between songs if anything, is better than ever. Don Airey had been
drafted in to fill the boots of Jon Lord and on the evidence of this show
does an admirable job, and would be the obvious choice to take up the
keyboard role should Jon Lord decide to hang up his keyboards next year.
Roger Glover and Ian Paice, the rhythm section, are the only remaining
members of the band from last time, but both seemed determined to make
amends, rocking hard all night long and taking well deserved solo sections
that held the rabid crowd enthralled in their grip.
Deep Purple have no album to promote at the moment, the
last studio album being ‘Abandon’ from 1998, so there was no mistake
of playing songs nobody recognized. Every classic Purple song was reeled
out to the jubilation of the enthusiastic and knowledgeable local crowd.
For those of you who were unfortunate enough to miss the concert, get a
copy of the last Deep Purple album ‘Totally Abandon Live’ on CD or DVD
and, although nothing can replace the live experience, it gives you an
idea and will leave you in no mind not to miss the opportunity again.
After the now infamous Pattaya chant had been ringing
round the stadium of ‘Play Something You Know’, the house lights
dimmed and, with a flurry of activity, Deep Purple rocked onto the stage,
blazing straight into an extended ‘Woman from Tokyo’ where each member
of the band was able to stretch out, preparing for the two and a half
hours of Rock ‘n’ Roll that was to come. Both the drums and keyboards
were up on risers at the back of the stage, which was dominated by a large
painting of a sunset, leaving plenty of room for the front three to
rock-out.
Highlights of the show were the fantastic light &
laser show, especially during ‘Perfect Strangers’ (dedicated to Ian
Gillan’s favorite football club Q.P.R. which got a surprisingly loud
roar of approval), Don Airey’s solo keyboard introduction to ‘Lazy’,
Steve Morse teasing the audience with snatches of songs by “The Who”,
“Hendrix”, “The Kinks”, “Led Zeppelin”, and many more before
blazing into ‘Smoke On The Water’. Ian Gillan pretending to be on an
aeroplane during ‘Aviator’, the thud as Rick Bryant’s jaw hit the
ground when he realized they were going to play the forgotten classic
‘Mary Long’, and best of all, the 3 song encore of ‘Hush’, the J.D
Southerner song and a hit single for Deep Purple in the United States of
America in 1968 when only a young Ian Paice was in the band from the
present line-up. Then up-popped first international hit single ‘Black
Night’ including a great sing-a-long conducted by Ian Gillan and Steve
Morse, then to send everybody home on a rockin high ‘Highway Star’.
Almost every cover band in the world plays this song, but no one does it
quite like Deep Purple.
Today the roof of the Impact Stadium must be a least
two feet higher as this time Deep Purple raised the roof. All their
trespasses are forgiven. All the time the mantle of Hard Rock is in the
hands of these Road Warriors, it is safe.
Musicians
Ian Gillan - Vocals, Percussion, & Harmonica
Steve Morse - Lead Guitar
Roger Glover - Bass
Ian Paice - Drums
Don Airey - Keyboards
Set List
1. Woman From Tokyo
2. Ted The Mechanic
3. Mary Long
4. Lazy
5. The Aviator
6. No One Came
7. Well Dressed Guitar
8. Perfect Strangers
9. Smoke On The Water
10. When A Blind Man Cries
11. Fools
12. Speed King
Encores - Hush, Black Night, Highway Star
It is another of the “airport novel” genre, but at
460 pages is a hefty book. It is also another (or was it really the
first?) of the popular novels written around the Golden Triangle,
involving drug traffickers, ex-Nazis, Muslim extremists, the KGB and the
CIA and any other acronymic organizations who fight for truth, right,
liberty and the American way, or anyone else’s way, if they’re paying.
Peter
has one friend Harry Osborn (James Franco), the son of an international
business tycoon - Norman (Willem Dafoe). During a late-night laboratory
experiment he’s turned into the evil Green Goblin, who flies around on a
very cool skateboard wearing a hideous mask. He becomes obsessed with
destroying Spider-Man, setting up the big battle we all knew was coming.
Mott’s CD review: