by Joanna Ostrowiecka
Deep Purple with a violonist
If I knew my brother would be nearby, I'd buy him a
ticket, all the more so as he gave us the lift to Dolina
Charlotty. He assured me it wasn't necessary, but since
he's a Deep Purple fan, he must have wanted to see the
band live. I even wanted to buy him the ticket at the
venue, but they were already sold out. Well, the band
played there for the first time... By the way, it's my
brother who let me know about that show before I found
it at the Higwaystar website.
He warned us of mosquitoes, so I took an insect
repellent along. And... we didn't see mosquitoes, maybe
two ones only. He also lent us a blanket because it gets
cold in the evening there. And yes, it was very useful-
to make the bench we were sitting at more
comfortable. :D The weather was excellent, no rain or
cold.
We arrived to Dolina Charlotty before eight. We hit the
bull's eye, half an hour later and my brother wouldn't
find a place for his car. By the way, I must praise the
organizers of the gig: they were working without
reproach.
When me and my larger half entered the venue, we heard a
supergig of Aerosmith- from the player. An excellent
intro to the show! And I found I prefer amphitheatres to
stadia. The seats are closer to the scene. But if you
want, you can stand near artists. I didn't it, as when
Deep Purple entered the stage, everybody wanted to be
close up to them. Well, I couldn't come up closer
becasue of crowd, but I could see even the artists'
hands playing, thanks to two big screens above the
stage. A very good idea, you can learn to play! :)
The band was to play at ten, but the gig began much
earlier. The announcer was a professionalist, he spoke
concisely to the point and without affectation. But
before he announced the support, he threw us some peaked
caps with a logo of Polskie Radio. My husband managed to
catch one! It will be ideal for holidays at the seaside.
The announcer was absolutely right. Kruk is a great band
indeed. One of our best rock groups. Doogie White
features on their latest CD. Of course I bought the
album a few days later. An excellent repertoire. All
musicians were in great form, the frontman's voice, pure
and strong, drove us crazy. Fantastic.
We met a few mates, but we couldn't have a talk because
of crowd. What's more, the public was fidgetting
relentlessly. And just before the Deep Purple show there
was no place to swing a cat...
The band began at ten exactly, as scheduled. Their first
song, "Highway star", came out quite nice, the
keyboardist was speeding just like Jon Lord in "In
rock". But a while later... something wrong: the
singer not only behaved unnaturally, but also had much
trouble with his voice. "Hard lovin' man" was
too slow, also "Rapture" where the chorus was
sung in a key too low. Any trouble with high keys?
"Maybe I'm a Leo", with a nice solo of piano,
would come out better if its ending wasn't so poor. But
"Strange kind of woman" was a bit
better. "Woman from Tokyo" began quite well,
but in the middle... oooh! How out of tune!
"Knockin' at your back door" missed a few
phrases...
Happily not everything was spoiled. When the singer had
a rest during Steve's solo in "Lazy", he began
singing better. Generally the band didn't disappointed
us. These solos form Steve! These keys parts from Don,
including an amusing staccato! These bass solos from
Roger! Don was so nice to play our As-major polonaise
much longer. I guess he did it on the occasion of the
Chopin's Year in 2010. And his "Star wars"
nearly smashed the keyboard. Also his frantic solo in
"Hush". Ian Paice's drum solo there, very
long, made me forgive him a too short one in "Space
truckin' ".
And a big surprise: the band invited a violinist! So far
I've heard only "Smoke" with violin, on the
"Journey in RocK" DVD. This time we didn't
heard it, but "Contact lost" with a beautiful
solo of this instrument, also "The well dressed
guitar", "When a blind man cries" and
"Lazy" with an intriguing "country"
solo. It was a great idea indeed to invite the
violinist!
What song came out the best? I think "No one
came", althoughh "Perfect strangers" was
cool, too. In general the show was a success, especially
the part of Deep Purple where the singer was relaxed. I
was dancing, everybody was dancing, the benches weren't
an obstacle. Dolina Charlotty is a first-rate venue.
One hour with Kruk, two hours with Deep Purple, oh yes,
it was my best evening this year. I only wish I could
chase some autographs, but my brother was waiting for
us. Unfortunately it was so dark that we were looking
for his car for a long time. But it was no use hurrying
because he couldn't leave the car-park. He had to wait
half an hour until the exit got unblocked. We weren't
bored, he had a tape player, so listening to Deep Purple
again, and Led Zeppelin, we had a good time. Also one
lady in a car nearby.
My brother couldn't be at the gig, but he heard
everything. He was completely surprised by the set of
songs. He hadn't expected so many pieces he loves so
much. It could be seen he liked the concert a lot,
although he couldn't see it. As he's a difficult fan to
please, he confirmed my opinion Deep Purple keeps high
standards.
Many thanks to him for giving us a lift! Thanks to it we
didn't need to go on foot to Slupsk. It was really kind
of you, Mr Ostrowiecki!
-Joanna Ostrowiecka
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