GELREDOME, Arnhem, support-act: BLACK-BONE

Bijna twee jaar geleden trad Deep Purple op in de Heineken Music Hall en de vijfkoppige formatie, bestaande uit Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Steve Morse en Don Airey gaf een concert dat mij positief verraste. Er was spelplezier en de zang van Gillan was heel acceptabel. Ditmaal kwam de dinosaurus van de hardrock met een op het oog zeer leuke variatie, namleijk met een orkest. Niet de semiklassieke composities van Jon Lord, maar de 'normale songs' en een arrangement voor orkest. De verwachtingen waren hooggespannen, maar in de aanloop naar het concert bleek dat Deep Purple anno 2011 het Gelredome niet zou kunnen krijgen. Met behulp van gordijnen, zo ongeveer halverwege het stadion, werd toch een quasi volle en plezierige sfeer gecreëerd. Vooraf mocht het Zuid-Nederlandse trio Black-Bone de menigte opwarmen. Dat lukte redelijk al zal niet iedereen even enthousiast zijn geweest over de mijns inziens weinig originele rock die de heren met enthousiasme ten gehore brachten. De verantwoordelijke mensen hadden uw reporter wel een fotopas verleend, maar voor het verslag moest ik zelf maar een kaartje van 75 euro kopen: niet dus!

De weinig aansprekende setlist, namelijk nagenoeg dezelfde als die ik zonder orkest al in Duitsland had gezien een jaar eerder, de bescheiden rol van het orkest gedurende de eerste nummers en het feit dat ik mijn fotoapparatuur nergens fatsoenlijk kon wegzetten, noopten mij tot het besluit om na vier nummers maar weer huiswaarts te keren. Met in mijn herinnering een Ian Gillan die de eerste minuten niet zuiver en ook nog erg hees zong en een maar matig geïnspireerd ogende band, kan ik alleen maar stellen dat dit project, voor wat betreft Nederland, slechts gedeeltelijk geslaagd beschouwd mag worden. Op december 2012 staat de band weer als kwintet op het podium in het dan fonkelnieuwe Ziggodome in Amsterdam. Hopelijk is daar het enthousiasme weer terug en mag ik ook hopen dat er dan nieuw materiaal of tenminste wat verrassingen ten gehore worden gebracht.

It had been just over two years that Deep Purple performed in the Netherlands. That gig was in the famous Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, renowned for its superb acoustics. The last few years, since Rapture Of The Deep (2005), the last studio album by the band,  the lineup didn't change, so it's still Ian Gillan (vocals), Ian Paice (drums), Roger Glover (bass), Steve Morse (guitar) and Don Airey (keyboards). On the DVD Live In Montreux - also with an orchestra - there are just a few differences in the set lists: Knocking On Your Back Door was performed in Montreux and instead The Mule was performed in Arnhem. The extra encore in the Netherlands was the cover song Going Down. Comparing this set list to the one from the concert in Essen (Grugahalle) last year, on 28 November, the setlist in Gelredome with orchestra wasn't quite that different: Fireball, Silver Tongue and Almost Human were left out and had been replaced by Woman From Tokyo, more guitar solo stuff and Going Down. Since there weren't that many press passes issued, I hadn't been fortunate enough to be appointed to have one, so I had to make a choice: listen to just three songs of both support act and main act and go home, or pay 75 euros to watch the rest of the show.

To me, the set list didn't seem that attractive because I was really hoping for some special songs or at least a song selection that would show some respect for the orchestra, like some classical pieces or different arrangements of the songs. From what I heard the band could have played without an orchestra just as well. So I chose not to buy a ticket so I can only inform you about those first three songs. In the Heineken Music Hall in October 2010, it was Triggerfinger to support Deep Purple, now it was Black-Bone, a trio from the southern part of the Netherlands. People in the audience, who had been anticipating for a concert with group and orchestra for a more classically trained ensemble were wrong: it was pure and simple hard rock and rock & roll in the vein of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath to warm up the crowd. Personally I thought it was cute to see these youngsters playing music I grew up with, rock by bands who invented the genre and who were world-famous in the seventies. Though not highly original the music of Black-Bone was delivered with lots of energy by front man and guitarist Steef. But - as usual with trio's - except if you happen to be a band named Rush - I always miss the extra guitar or the keyboards. Anyway, the band is working hard on their first album that will be produced by Oscar Holleman (Krezip, Within Temptation). It must have been awesome for these young dudes to perform before a crowd of thousands instead of gigging in their own backyard! Next station is on January 17 in Tilburg, where they will open for Chickenfoot, not too bad indeed!

Then Deep Purple: a majestic opening by the orchestra, divided in a left and right wing, started the show by playing the Deep Purple Overture and equally 'as usual' the band opened with Highway Star which seems to be a bit less powerful than earlier on. As in previous concerts, I have seen these last years, Ian Gillan seems to have a bit of trouble to sing in tune for the first few minutes, but after that everything was okay again. Surely he was not able to deliver the same power and reach that made the band famous some forty years ago, but that's age related and completely normal. No longer barefooted he still sings very well in the ordinary range, but if you saw the band live before there's really nothing new. If they had hoped to sell out Gelredome like Roger Waters did or Coldplay, they had been too optimistic: curtains concealed nearly half of the stadium, but I've heard rumors there were still close to 15.000 people attending and that would certainly be far more than the number of people that would have come out to see an ordinary Deep Purple show in the Netherlands. Obviously, there were a lot of people who hadn't seen the band for a very long time if at all and for them every note they recognized may have sounded like a glorious trip down memory lane. The quality of the sound was excellent, the lightshow during the first three songs was quite okay but nothing special. As I didn't see the rest of the show it struck me that Steve Morse didn't seem quite 'into it' as I've seen him before. Maybe his mind was drifting away from this routine job to his new project with among others Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy? It has been confirmed the band has been booked for a show in Ziggodome in Amsterdam (yet to be opened!) on December 4 2012 and hopefully they will come up with some new material or at least with some special surprises.

Setlist:

Deep Purple Overture, Highway Star, Hard Lovin' Man, Maybe I'm A Leo, Strange Kind Of Woman, Rapture Of The Deep, Woman From Tokyo, Contact Lost, Guitar Solo, When A Blind Man Cries, The Well Dressed Guitar, The Mule (with drum solo), Lazy, No One Came, Keyboard Solo (Für Elise snippet), Perfect Strangers, Space Truckin', Smoke On The Water.

Encores: Going Down (Don Nix cover), Hush (Billy Joe Royal cover), bass solo, Black Night