7/23: ALEX LIFESON PODCAST, DEEP PURPLE, MORE.
Caught Deep Purple last night in NJ at Bergen PAC. Solid set. They jammed a little much for my tastes, but when you have the caliber of players that are in this band it is still amazing to hear. There were just a few major songs “Woman From Tokyo”, “Knockin At Your Back Door”, and a couple others that would have been cool to hear in place of some of the longer jam segments. But then again Purple has always been about jamming to some degree as well as brilliant playing and songs. Steve Morse in his nearly 20 years in the band has really fit perfectly into the bands fabric. I wasn’t so sure if it worked when he first joined but now it clearly does. Blackmore ain’t coming back any time soon to Deep Purple (likely never!) and I honestly can’t think of a better guy now to handle guitar in this band. Ian Gillen’s voice sounded very strong for a guy who I think is 70? He isn’t singing “Child In Time” anymore but there were times I thought he almost could with a few of the screams he did let out. Whenever you get a chance to see the icons it’s a treat, especially when they can still deliver, and Purple can. A shame this band doesn’t get the same reverence in the U.S. than in other parts of the world, and to me they are the #1 snub by FAR currently by the R&R HOF!
My new podcast is up now and features an all new interview with Alex Lifeson of Rush! It is free and available worldwide via www.podcastone.com or on Itunes. Just search The Eddie Trunk Podcast. Alex discusses the bands future and more!
Happy 50th birthday to my old friend (and author of the forward to my 2nd book) Slash! Welcome to the club pal!
Be sure to visit ET’s Box Office on this site under Live & On The Air to enter to win free tickets to many shows including Mayhem at Jones Beach next week.
Thanks for all the comments regarding my last blog on the touring business. Good to see the feedback and thoughts.
I Agree with Eddie, you got to see rush! i saw 4 shows on this tour DC, philly. newark and madison square where special with jon playing on losing it. always wearing that metal show tee this time at the DC n NYC show YEA!
Deep Purple are known for improvisational jamming, especially the MK II lineup. It’s actually cool they can still do that because not a lot of bands can’t, especially in front of an audience. And Ian will be 70 next month. That’s amazing! When I was a kid, I thought of 70 year old people as being old and decrepit, having to use canes and walkers and yelling stuff like “Get off my lawn you damn kids!”, not being vibrant, active rockers like Ian. Obviously, rock and roll keeps you young.
The podcast with Alex was cool. He’s such a great, down to earth guy. Every concert I’ve been to since seeing Rush back in May has paled in comparison. It’s one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been going to concerts since 1981!
“…and author of the forward to my 2nd book…” No he wasn’t. Slash actually wrote the FOREWORD to your second book. When you’re all about pedantically correcting us on things like the pronunciation of the word tinnitus or Neil Peart’s last name, it’s only fair that you get called out for repeatedly misspelling (and mispronouncing) the word “foreword.”