LIVE REVIEW: Don Airey - 21 March 2015 - Warsaw, Poland ("Keyed Up Tour")

DON AIREY

"KEYED UP" TOUR 2015

WARSAW, PROGRESSION CLUB

21ST MARCH 2015

Now, I have to say it, this WAS THE REAL TIME MACHINE. I mean, we go a bit to the concerts of th performers who are quite far after the days of yore and we usually enjoy the sentimental trip, still it often doesn't sound as exciting as in the old days. This wasn't the case here. 

Thanks to assembling a killer backing band for his own immense tallents Don Airey - the man who IS a living history of classic rock - managed to pull the switch and take his audience of 300+ way back and, quite surprisingly, it was no more, no less but... "Down To Earth" tour from 1979. 

Theoretically this short tour of Europe (quite intense, they did 12 gigs within 14 days) was supposed to promote the latest solo release by Don, the great "Keyed Up" album. Quite surely his best to date, filled with great performances and the guest slots by the comets of Graham Bonnet and Gary Moore (possibly his last ever recorded guitar parts were used for The Suite and re-arranged Adaggio originally composed in baroque age by Albinioni) it indeed deserved a chunk of promotion. Somehow though, the setlist got reconstructed to the way of basing largely on Don's first Rainbow album - and the one he for years seems to remember most fondly from the period.

The great music proves it's qualities even better with passing time and coming of age, slowly turning timeless. I have to admit that opening the set with the epic "Mars: The Bringer Of War" theme, announcing "Eyes Of The World" is a real brainkicker, guaranteed to send the dino-rock starving buggers into a bliss of frenzy. With the awesome vocal skills of Carl Sentence (who's about to start fronting Nazareth this year) and the revelation in shape of Irish guitar wizard Simon McBride - we could really feel transported 35 years back, right in front of the stage owned by vintage Rainbow. If in 1979 the album could have felt as the setback to more pop-oriented sound, then in 2015 it clearly appeared that this material wasn't less gritty and rocking than anything Rainbow has done prior to it. Airey's band not only provided the must chestnuts of "All Night Long" and "Since You Been Gone" mega hits around the end of the set / start of the encores - but decided to do the stuff that the Rainbow's Bonnet incarnation never took for a concert ride. "No Time To Loose" slayed in live setting - it's almost impossible to understand why Blackmore and company treated it like a 2nd cathegory track in their days. We also got a rousing version of the "Bad Girl" outtake from the sessions which served as the second (unplanned, but forced by the extatic audience) encore. It did kick balls too, again proving to highlight how good the "Down To Earth" material was / is. Don Airey also took some liberties to dig into the mood of that specific tour even deeper: before "All Night Long" he performed with Mc Bride the medley of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto paired with "Over The Rainbow" - exactly as Don did with Blackmore during the 1980 Rainbow gigs. In addition the "Lost In Hollywood" arrangement was enhanced by a large portion of the solo sequence from Rising's "A Light In The Black". If we round it up with the Beethoven's Ninth a'ka 1981's "Difficult To Cure" - one may say that it really was a Rainbow trip, this gig, but thankfully it was only one of the shades it had.

Don Airey in his welcome speech said: this is the celebration of my 40 years in classic rock that went on just like that: 'whooosh!' - and justifiedly he took some shots from other stints of his rich career. There had to be references to Gary Moore periods - we got bullet sharp re-endition of "Back On The Streets" and "Still Of The Blues" which proved to be a real showcase for the fingers of Simon Mc Bride. Man, this boy REALLY can play and he channels Moore into his parts in the best possible way, totally awesome. And he isn't too shabby on taking his approach to parts of Blackmore, Hendrix (the band did "Fire" in the middle of the set, rearranging the closing part to include keys-guitr duel) or Sykes! Yes, this John Sykes. "Is This Love" was like 4th track in the set, siprised me a bit, but I assume Airey must have been a session musician on "1987" album too. Could have been the oddest choice of the night in the set, but with such a tight band it did sound great in the live setting.

And last but not least Don has taken two nods to Deep Purple, specifically the "In Rock" era. Brisky re-endition of "Child In Time" was introduced by a bass solo of Laurence Cottle (of Sabbath's "Headless Cross" and Bill Brufford jazz project fame) and the classic felt more in Purple vein than they themselves ever did that since 1973. "Black Night" was another choice of the colour that served as the perfect encore slot, flowing for 15 minutes, interpolating a lot of solos, improvs and fun all rounded up with the band introductions. 

By the closing stage of the show the band and the audience were so heated up and taken over by the feeling of a great rock party and good vibrations in the venue that Airey decided to really mess around a bit. He introduced "Since You Been Gone" in the form of woodeville piano-voice duet  with Carl, making it sound like the jazz musical from 40's or 50's. No woder that when Mc Bride tore the riff up, the hall went apeshit. Simon got so high during the encores that in "Black Night" first solo he tore up at least one guitar string during his part - another nod to the good 'ol times - 'cause it seems so natural when you do your Blackmore thing! We were also teased in typical Airey way - he played a medley of Chopin tunes on piano before encores and threw in the national anthem in full as the leading motive of his "Black Night" improvisation. All that done on the Hammond organ! Not that he needed this to make the crowd eat from his hands, really, he had that since the minute his band entered the stage!

It wasn't the first solo tour by Don (he does a short strings of solo gigs every spring every year since more-less 2009), but he hasn't been in Poland before. I was advising Don pre-show that we, the audience, are going to give them a good run for their money regaarding the great atmosphere and I think that we did rise to the ocassion. While Airey might know that from the memories of Purple gigs here, the rest of his band seemed to have been genuinely taken aback by the crowd response they got. Carl Sentence quckly gave up trading vocal licks with audience in "All Night Long" blaming us we were too good in bailing him out in these! Everybody were invited to the merchandise stalls after the show for signing of memorabilia, photos and huge huge thanks for a sentimental journey and a great party that both the musicans and the audience seemed to like a lot. Don, Carl, Simon, Laurence and Darrin - thank you so much for coming and making all involved having a helluva good time!

DON AIREY - kbd., bk. voc.; 

CARL SENTENCE - voc.; 

SIMON MC BRIDE - gtr., 

LAURENCE COTTLE - b.; 

DARRIN MOONEY - dr.

Setlist:

INTRO TAPE

EYES OF THE WORLD (Rainbow)

3 IN THE MORNING (Airey)

NO TIME TO LOOSE (Rainbow)

IS THIS LOVE (Whitesnake)

BACK ON THE STRASSE (Gary Moore)

STILL GOT THE BLUES (Gary Moore)

FIRE [~ drum solo by Darrin Mooney, The Scorch Colloseum II tease] (Hendrix)

[~ bass solo by Laurence Cottle] CHILD IN TIME (Deep Purple)

THE WAY I FEEL (Airey)

DIFFICULT TO CURE 2013 [announced by DA as "difficult to play as we call it"]

BRANDENBURG CONCERTO - OVER THE RAINBOW (Blackmore, Airey)

ALL NIGHT LONG (Rainbow)

LOST IN HOLLYWOOD [~ A LIGHT IN THE BLACK SOLO PORTION] (Rainbow)

ENCORE 1:

[~ Chopin Tunes Medley] SINCE YOU BEEN GONE [complete with piano-vocal jazzy intro 1st verse] (Rainbow)

BLACK NIGHT [with band introductions] (Deep Purple)

ENCORE 2: [not on the official setlist!]

BAD GIRL (Rainbow)

19. 09. 2015

Now I can confirm the extra happy news: just today I have received a pack with two fan-tickets for the only mid-European area concert of 2015 David Gilmour European Tour. David is set to promote the new solo album of his, which reportedly is now in the making "with the works going on nicely" and probably will be released before the tour kicks off. No title, or release date was given yet, there were only reports of Phil Manzanera's involvement in the producing process and the guest appearance by Crosby, Stills and Nash on one of the tracks.

Of note, David's management set the start of pre-sales of tickets for 8 concerts in 6 venues on Friday, March 6th - Gilmour's 69th birthday. Three nights at Royal Albert Hall in London went sold within minutes, my friend located in London wasn't able to secure a single ticket due to transfer jams on the venue's website! Just next day, Saturday afternoon it was officially announced and confirmed that all the tickets are now sold out, including two additional nights in Royal Albert, added in the last moment due to the scale of demand! This goes to show pretty nicely how high is the need of the public to see Gilmour doing his thing live. Since the Floyd's "Division Bell" tour ended in late 1994, surely one solo album and one big worldwide tour of the man wasn't enough to cover the thirst cumulating over the period of 20 relatively silent years, where David only scarcely appeared on the stages of the world. That is a big pity and a huge missed opportunity, since now it's visible that close to turning 70, quite understandably Gilmour's physical abilities will be crossing out prospects of longer tours. In fact, it is very likely that these 10 gigs spread over 3 weeks of September and early October will be the last ever possibility to see The Floyd Wizard playing his full length concert. This makes me even more happy about the possibility to visit Oberhausen in September!

LIVE REVIEW: UFO - 6 March 2015 - Cracow, Poland

UFO

"A Conspiracy Of Stars" Tour 2015

Quadratt Club, Cracow, Poland, Mar 6th, 2015

UFO - THE MEN

I was really curious to see the band 6 years after last time. Thank to good heavens they are keeping business in the same vein as Europe and Uriah Heep - every three years new record and a tour that is not exactly just cutting off the coupons and earning money for another scheme-in gig, with the same all setlist for years (yes, I'm pointing the finger on you, Deep Purple), just going out and trying at least bits and pieces of new things. Kudos for doing it to them.

Considering their age - it's plain to see that the time is really turning the screwdriver on the core of old boys. Phill Mogg, with slim silhouette, tiny bit of Graham Bonnet style hair-do and the teeth rather in the state of disaster and crumble looked like he's not interested in any kind of deal with Lucifer to stay young and fresh. Moving slow and singing with the considerable exertion - he reminded me of Ian Gillan, you watch them on stage having harder and harder time, tending more to speak the lyrics than sing the phrases which now even in middle registers are turning their efforts into strain. Phil Raymond - a pivotal member of the band with his multi-instrumental guitar / keyboard / vocal skills looked a bit of like "Death Becomes Her" character with possible wig on the head and full make-up on, but still not quite hidding the fact of turning close to 70 (in November this year). Andy Parker, the drummer, though looked impressively well and fit, no dye on the hair and still a lot of power in his drumming. I'm led to believe he really is taking care of himself. And round it all up with two "youngsters" Rob De Luca on bass (now full member of the band) and our very own axeman Vinnie Moore - both guys are now surely flying on the wave of their second youth, both very energetic and charismatic on stage. Together these five guys still really blend impressively, despite the passing time.

UFO - THE MUSIC

Squeezed into a 90 minutes set, UFO's concert really promises to be a thrilling "no holds barred" ride. And as always it also seems to be a challenge on how to structure the live set not to be replaying "Strangers In The Night" classic live album on and again. Audience favourites are all too many (some people in Cracow felt let down, not being offered "Love To Love" in the set), yet again UFO work consequently to be promoting their recent releases as a main goal added to serving the fans with the string of the beloved classic tracks. Since the tour started, the band had dropped the number of the newest CD tracks from 4 to 2, leaving in at the same time 3 best cuts from the previous offering "Seven Deadly". Result becomes a decent offering of their recent repetiore, at the same time the new staples are sitting quite comfortably among the old chestnuts. Given the physical condition of the elder members of the band, the quibble about the tempo drop of the faster tracks - the arrangements are being slowed down considerably to the original pace - should be replaced by understanding; still it felt a little bit odd to hear Lights Out, Wonderland and Cherry played in Beats Per Minute rate audibly reduced to the orignals. The most of the audience didn't quibble though, the tracks were as exciting and electrifying to hear as always. Overall feeling about the set construction is more than positive. Mother Mary is turning fourty this year and still sounds almost electrocuttingly exciting, great opener. Venus taken off the '95 reunion period is great, convincing rocker with hints of accoustic passages. There were no unnecessary ballad / accoustic / solo show-offs slopes during the set, with the exception of the wonderful contemplative Burn Your House Down, being a real showstopper for both Moore (who played spine electrifying solo in the middle) and Mogg leading tandem. And a true cherry on the top of it all was the inclusion of the Paul Chapman era rocker We Belong To The Night near the end of the main set, which went down very well despite band's hesitations (Phil was warning the audience that they haven't been playing it for a long time) and was rapturously received by the audience. Now this is how one should undust the old broom! All the rest was classic after classic, done with conviction and still sending the fatithful European fans into bliss of frenzy.

UFO - THE PERFORMANCE AND THE RECEPTION

When you have the band structured like UFO, on-board 3 veterans and 2 relative youngsters - you've got to feel a bit for everybody, each of them has a bit of certain limitation to handle. Seniors struggle more to cross through the set, while young want to fire it up and let it roll. Phil Mogg was clutched on the chain of his own fading out voice for most of the time and it was most painful sight to witness during the night. Physical aspects though are one side, but his mental side is the other one and in this department he rarely ever held back. So he did all he could within his own constraints - sang some lines, pulled out some, spoke a few too. Despite the feeling of struggle, decades of expirience as a frontman reaped the fruits - he interacted with the audience and was fronting the band bravely kind of ignoring (or was it accepting?) his limitations. Paul Raymond was always the stalwart of assistance for the band, handling backing vocals, keyboards and rhythm guitar - and he did nicely in all his areas, being ever reliable. Andy Parker might have had couple of miscued points here and there, occasionally confusing his bandmates in couple moments during the songs, but other than that he was really sounding solid and strong - true backbone for the band. Rob De Luca is still maintaining this boy-ish look he always had, although lines on his face are starting to appeear., dennouncing the passing of time. Regarding his bass playing there is nothing you can't grip on to, he's got the Pete Way's shoes filled and fit well more than handily. The boy smiles a lot and goes out to interact with the audience wherever he can. Great lad.

And now on the star of the show. The hero. And the stealer of glory, a real black horse of the race. Vinnie Moore. WHAT A PERFORMANCE from the Man. I was immensely impressed by him the first time I saw UFO 6 years ago, of which I duly spoke and exclaimed then. Still, by all accounts, Friday evening proved to show that this 2009 gig still was a restrained sort of performance from Moore. He was more in his own zone then, than playing out. Not now, in 2015. He was mesmerizing and TOTALLY ALL-OUT. Smiling, running around the stage, pointing out to the excited people in the audience, looking up to the balconies, giving away picks, singing the lyrics, posing and being all around engaged into boosting up the party atmosphere and looking like he was having time of his life. What a thrill, what I joy to watch this man. Did all that undermine his playing? Not for a microne it did. His playing was MONSTEROUS. Nothing has changed in his main department - he did all one could expect from a flawless guitar performance. Dexterity, speed, feeling, excitement, mindblowing runs and phrases - as usual all with loads of conviction and illimitable taste every note, lick and bend. It's beyond me how can one get so close to perfect in combining show-off with musical taste and excitement - because there was a lot of rock and roll excitement in the way he played. Rock Bottom might have run for 15 minutes or so, but if it went for half an hour, you wouldn't have noticed. He could play on and on and your jaw-drop wouldn't pick up anyway. Astounding, mesmerising. Vinnie is invincible, he still has it all perfectly balanced between the boom of shred and glory of virtuosity. He WAS the leader and the main attraction on stage all night and I think many would agree he totally stole and owned the show WITHOUT blowing the bandmates off the stage. That's the effort of the perfect musicianship fit, I guess. An absolute hero, hints of worship in what I say are totally justified. When a total package guitarist is on your project want list, he should be at the top of it to do it, period. 

Of note is also how effective his guitar logistics on stage was: he had handily near the stall with accoustic guitar to play passages in Venus and a stool with slide and e-bow which he used for effects in the new track The Killing Kind. Otherwise, there were no tech fireworks - one, rather minimalistic, pedalboard with basic effects and two guitars used (the red one and graphite one). The result: glorious. All in the hands, mind and the mood of a wizard. Wonderful.

Get all above mixed and meshed with classic rock hungry crowd of 800+, ranging in age from 17 to 67, constantly going apeshit during classics and chanting "U-F-O!!!" every now and again, and you can imagine that it was a hell of an exciting evening. It is a bit mind boggling to me in a way, because stricly in ageing and condition department UFO locates closely to how Deep Purple is these days: on the verge of falling apart just because of their core men are now being too old and too weak to do it anymore. Still, contrary to Purple, UFO win their cause. They still rock out and they are still able to excite and satisfy the crowd when experienced live. If they tour near you in promotion of "A Conspiracy Of Stars" - don't miss them out, you will enjoy it.

Set:

Mother Mary; Lights Out; Fight Night; Wonderland; Run Boy Run; Venus; Only You Can Rock Me; The Killing Kind; Burn Your House Down; Cherry; We Belong to the Night; Rock Bottom

Encore: Doctor Doctor, Shoot Shoot

Vinnie Moore - guitar; Phill Mogg - vocals; Paul Raymond - keyboards, rhythm guitar, backing vocals; Andy Parker - drums; Rob De Luca - bass, backing vocals

(C), (P) Marcin Karski, 2015

Back to the SunbyRocks HQ!

It's been hell of a break period, really. And it's not that I haven't been writing and reviewing. I surely was! I just didn't put all I created and all I should here... And that's the renewed focus of coming back to the pilot cockpit. Since last post on "Come Taste The Band" re-release - there's been a plenty of gigs, records and excitements going on, for sure. Rock animal without these impulses and stimulation is dying starving - that's not for me! 

So what I hope to maintain now - I intend to be building up a comprehensive archieve for reading and enjoyment of anybody who is into great, great music and the way I talk about it - not always in rock genre. There are so many sounds that we all can cheerish. And, of course, there is no reason not to follow anything that is going currently in releases and touring departments. Old rock dogs show up quite a plenty of life yet, so... 

Stay tuned to droping in here, enjoying what is here and generously supporting this place, which - I hope - can become one of your favourite music papers around.