von Joanna Ostrowiecka

I couldn't hear Glenn Hughes live in the "Proxima" club in Warsaw a few years ago, so when I heard about his show in the Czech Republic, I decided to go to Zlin although it was to be my third concert this year. Very active way of life! By the way, Zlin isn't too far from Poland.

The travel was full of adventures because my colleague forgot his driving license. Then, after having crossed the border, we lost our way. But we reached Zlin quite early.

The show was to take place in the "Golem" club. That venue was cosy, but its acoustics were awful. Those pipes under the ceiling spoiled everything. The ventilation was awful, too, and the Czech audience turned out to be very unpleasant.

Never mind. The gig started with the Lizards. Now I regret that I didn't buy their CD because they played very well. The vocalist wasn't very self-confident at first, but the audience's applause encouraged him soon. So the Lizards came out fine.

Unfortunately, the break was too long because of some failure of the gear or electric supply, I don't know exactly. Some unpleasant neighbours made me furious and I couldn't wait for Glenn Hughes; I even thought he'd never enter the stage.

Happily, he did. The atmosphere got very hot at once. The public exploded. I didn't know they liked Glenn Hughes so much. And there wasn't any exaggeration in their enthusiasm. I heard him live for the first time and I was impressed. His vocal was awesome and so was his bass play. By the way, Glenn Hughes is a very nice fellow. He shook hands of everybody who could reach him:).

He started with a very dynamic song. I wanted to dance, but there wasn't room to swing a cat. In general, all songs were like a dynamite. Those from his latest CD, "Soul Mover", came out best, but others were also well sung. He performed some Deep Purple tracks as well: "Mistreated" and "Burn". He made "Mistreated" so bizarre that I couldn't recognize it. Yes, Mr Hughes likes rearranging songs. I think he does it quite well. As for the "Burn" track, it wasn't changed too much. Fortunately, J.J.Marsh didn't forget its famous riff:).

Two encores weren't sung too well, but the public was delighted in any case. It's only a pity that the band couldn't play longer. They had to go to Budapest soon.

In general, the gig was cool and funky. I love Deep Purple, but Glenn Hughes and his band played better this time. Now I wonder when they will come to Warsaw. I hope it will be soon. Thanks for an excellent concert, Mr Hughes!

Joanna Ostrowiecka