City Hall, Salisbury
Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Candice Night (vocals); Malclm Dick (drums); David Baranowski (keyboards); Elizabeth Cary (violin, backing vocals); Mike Clemente (bass); Albert Dannenmann (bagpipes)
Locked Within the Crystall Ball
Queen for a Day, Part I
Queen for a Day, Part II
Under a Violet Moon
Soldier of Fortune
Durch den Wald zum Bach Haus
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor - Johann Sebastian Bach
- my memory gets blurry from here -
All the Fun of the Fayre
Diamonds and Rust - Joan Baez
The Clock Ticks On
Journeyman - Nordman
Barbara Allen
Carmina Burana - Carl Orff
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Toast to Tomorrow
Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
Gilded Cage
Fires at Midnight
Wind in the Willows
The Times They Are a-Changin' - Bob Dylan
Greensleeves
Home Again
Hava Nagila and drinking songs - traditional
- encore -
Village Lanterne
- can't remember them all, as the security guy was doing his job and asked me not to photograph the setlist -
Blackmore is a legendary god of hard rock, nobody can argue with that and furthermore, for me he is simply the best. But what he does nowadays is just a sad joke. I can only feel terribly sorry seeing a genius wasting his divine talent...
The band he tours with is formed of notorious nobodies. A guy who was very fond of his bagpipes and who played a dull and unrefined Ode to Joy of Ludwig van Beethoven. The guy on the drums was decent and did a good job on the solo, but he didn't get enough space to play in the simple pop tunes. On the keyboards, another decnt-ish chap, but whose backing vocals skills were peculiar to say the least. On the violin a lady who savagely murdered a Johann Sebastian Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, performing in a crude manner from start to finish. There was of course the dude on the bass guitar, freaking me out behaving like a rat, if you don't know what I'm talking about, think about an overzealous Timothy Spall doing Peter Petigrew in Harry Potter. And above all, Candice Night who is a very charming creature, she has a beautiful voice, sings well and all that, but there is nothing to say wow about, nothing to make her worthy of singing along Ritchie Blackmore. Think about the guys who sang in his bands before: Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, David Coverdale, even Doogie White and Joe Lynn Turner - the best rock singers ever! Candice Night is leagues below, lightyears back, I see her doing backing vocals for Toto or maybe Shakira, or just lead a small folk band.
There was a general issue with using gadgets. The security guys were just paranoid. I took some pictures during the supporting act and as a result my bag got searched and I was told to turn off all my recording equipment including my 6 year-old phone. They told me I would be kept an eye on during the entire show which is what actually happened: a guy came every other song or so to have a look around... myself. I was told my camera produces a crackling sound in the monitors and that is how I got detected. I was not wearing any fancy dress so I keep wondering why they assumed I was an idiot. My good friend likes Deep Purple so I wanted to call him during Soldier of Fortune as he hasn't had a chance to see Ritchie Blackmore live yet. Obviously no chance to even try and reach for my phone in such an Orwellian environment. Under normal circumstances I don't complain about strict policies in this regard - it is, in my opinion, understandable for such special shows as Peter Gabriel's New Blood DVD recording or Roger Waters' The Wall. But this time it was just pointless. They played drinking songs and vulgarly wore pink wigs while covering Lady Gaga on a stage with plastic trees, rocks on wheels and fake ivy wrapped around the microphones, which was far from special, felt more like a countryside fair from Romania.
Ritchie Blackmore's performance was truly brilliant, but it was strange, because he didn't feel like the band leader; his guitar was very low in the mix and he sounded just like another minstrel at times. I only had ears for him though and the intros and lead bridges were exquisite indeed. His notorious arrogance was present as well. He got me overexcited with his white Stratocaster for Journeyman, but then abandoned it after the song in favour of the balalaikas and hurdy-gurdys. His main solo started brilliantly, all the audience was completely absorbed, but then somebody from the crowd (I suspect a security guy) dropped something (plastic glass?) and that was it. Four bars into the solo, Ritchie Blackmore abruptly decides it's enough. Should I say anything about his mysterious sudden unplugging of the guitar and walking off the stage during a song, leaving his wife to sing a cappella one verse? Or about the guy who was eating in the front row? Or about the chair incident? Well... perhaps you got the idea.
So the greatest guitar player of all time quits rock 'n' roll for something more mature and sophisticated. We've seen that before. You'd think he starts a jazz band, or a prog rock super group, or goes on an experimental solo career to explore his classical affinities. Well none of these is mature enough for him. So he now plays for a grown up audience - dressed in Robin Hood costumes and plastic armor suits - an eclectic mix of pop, rock ballads, crude classical, renaissance music, drinking songs, eastern European folk, Rednex, Bee Gees and other stuff as well. Before the concert I had hoped to get Child in Time, Self Portrait, or Temple of the King mixed in the setlist. Well I am now thankful he didn't play them. It would have been a dire insult for those songs to be blended in such a context.
Diamonds and Rust was a wonderful touching moment (but only briefly, before the violin messed everything with a strident debut). Greensleeves was superb as well, but I was mostly thinking how much better Sixteen Century Greensleeves is in every aspect. Actually all I could see the entire night was California Jamming 1974, glimpses of old stereotypical hand habits, head turns, the lip thinning gesture, the spark in his dark, deep eyes and hints of Mistreated... but all that's left is a subtle shade of Deep Purple.
In our teens we all have role models... In the 2000', Michael Schumacher, Shakira, Roger Federer and Angelina Jolie were hot. Despite them, Ritchie Blackmore was my only idol... Is he still my hero? Sadly, yes he is, undoubtedly. His Rainbow and Deep Purple years are immortal. The only thing that changed after seeing this gig was that I no longer believe in, nor hope for a reunion with one of the bands of old...
I am listening to Rainbow Eyes (the original Rainbow, not the cover) as i am writing this and I've got tears in my eyes... for Ronnie James Dio and Cozy Powell... and now for Ritchie Blackmore as well.... Long Live Rock 'n' Roll!
