von Joanna Ostrowiecka
ENGLISH GIGS FEVER
So many Deep Purple concerts I've already seen. In Berlin,
in Paris... why not in England then? I've never been
there. So I decided to go to London during their latest
tour.
As I've just edited my first book about meeting Ian Gillan
(see picture below - lw), I wanted the band to be the
first who would get it from me, so I tried to get b/s
passes after the Wembley gig, for me and Zenek, my larger
half. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get them, but I
got two ones for the Brighton show. Cool! I'll go to two
gigs with pleasure, I thought.
The Wembley Arena is a very nice venue though its
acoustics aren't too good because of some scaffoldings
under the ceiling. On our seats, we were squeezed like
herrings in a barrel. And in my opinion, there were too
many supports. We couldn't wait for "our" band though Dean
Howard, Thunder and Peter Frampton played very well.
When Purple entered the stage at last, all the audience
stood up, got crazy and didn't want to sit down until the
end of the show. The band is loved so much in England!
Unbelievable.
During the "Contact Lost" tune everybody kept
silence. Londoners are very nice people. Steve must have
been happy. He played perfectly, as usual. In general, the
whole band played perfectly. Their condition was
incredible. And they surprised us two times or more. The
first surprise was "Demon's Eye". Ian forgot some lines of
the lyrics, as usual, but he performed the song in great
style. Everyone wanted to dance. Those seats, although
quite comfortable, were getting in our way indeed! Never
mind. We were shouting and singing most of the time. It
was only a pity that the band sang too few songs from the
"Bananas" record. I missed "Walk On", "Sun Goes Down" and
"Doing It Tonight".
The scenery was dull- some pictures of banana trees. But
we loved those white, blue and green lightnings dancing
all over the stage during "Perfect Strangers". The hit of
20th century indeed!
Unfortunately, the best gigs always end too soon. Only
three encores- Purple never play more. Two ones without
surprises, but the third one was like a bolt from the
blue... although our seats were quite far from the stage,
Zenek noticed two fellows at the keyboard at some
point. Wow! Who is it? Jon Lord??? Oh, yes! What a
pleasure! Nobody expected such a surprise. I thought I'd
never see Jon Lord with Deep Purple live. Thanks a lot, Mr
Lord for such a great gift! It really was very kind of
you. It was wonderful to hear two best organ players
together.
I wondered what else I'd see in Brighton three days
after. Maybe we'll see Jon Lord again? Unfortunately, he
couldn't come up.
We were standing close to the stage that time, so we could
see much more than in London.
Poor Steve, he apparently had some trouble with his amp. I
saw he was a bit nervous. His guitar sounded too loud, we
couldn't hear the singer. Another discomfort was the
Brighton audience, rather impolite. But there were many
amusing moments, too, for example when Ian was trying to
choke Roger a little. They looked very refined without a
doubt:))). Steve was amused, too.
Unfortunately, we dislike those ditties "I love my wife, I
love my dog". We prefer "O sole mio":))). And the band
played only two encores that time. What a pity.
We got into backstage quite soon. Amber, a new DP tour
manager (very beautiful, by the way), informed us the band
hadn't too much time because of their urgent departure for
Plymouth, and she asked us to wait for them a little. Ian
turned up first that time. I was afraid the band would
have too little time for us because of lots of people
waiting for them. But I managed to give my books to all
musicians. As Ian Paice was too tired and he couldn't come
to see us, Amber agreed to pass a copy to him. And she
managed to get some autographs from him, so I got
everything that I wanted: all DP members signed my own
copy. I also gave my book to Amber, of course. She was
very glad.
Don, Steve and Roger were very surprised and happy to
receive this book. I was glad as well. I hope they brought
me good luck. What's more, Roger said he was in contact
with Jon Lord, and he agreed to pass a copy to him,
too. Cool! I was lucky that night indeed.
Our session ended with my taking a photo of Amber and my
husband together. She was surprised. In general, that
night in Brighton was very nice for all of us.
Now I wonder if all these persons who got my book will
read it. There is a summary in English, so they can do it
with no problem. Have a nice read, Amber, Don, Ian, Jon,
Paicey, Roger, Steve:))). See you at the next gig. Hi!
Joanna Ostrowiecka
Wembley 13th Nov. and
Brighton 16th Nov. 2004
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