First of all, this evening was beautiful, the stars were shining bright and the rain held off til after the end of the show. Ok so Thin Lizzy obviously has a new frontman and still sounded like Thin Lizzy. They broke out all their hits and the crowd enjoyed every minute of it. They ended their set with their highly covered hit, The Boys Are Back In Town, and that made for a great ending. My anticipation was growing ever so rapidly for the next artist, Joe Satriani. I haven't seen him play live in many years, so this was a real treat. His totally shaven head was a big difference from his early years, but sunglasses and a shiny head looked good on Joe. Who cares anyway, it was all about the Ibanez. And boy did he tear it up. All the hits came one after the other, the crowd was rockin' along in harmony. When Joe broke out with "Always with Me, Always with You", I noticed a bunch of the crowd all of a sudden sit down. I couldn't believe it, that song is meant for jamming not napping. I guess some people just don't know greatness when it's in their presence. Surfing With The Alien was indeed part of the set from Joe and I was loving every minute of it. Not to mention whoever was doing the lights that night did one hell of a job. Oh yes, thanks to Courtney(Clear Channel) for being so helpful to my comrade and photographer, Jeff Behar. So I took a much needed break while Satriani was breaking down and Deep Purple was setting up. I did the usual, had some water and finally sat down and relaxed while waiting for the Purple ones to begin. Here they come, and now with only two original members left, Ian Gillan, vocals, and Roger Glover, bass. But what is Deep Purple without Ian anyway. His voice was still enchancting, although there was some mic problems in the beginning, it didn't matter. That got taken care of right away and the show didn't stop. Hey shit happens. But Ian, what's up with the Monk outfit. I mean I know it's hot on stage under all the lights, but the long white shirt and pants, I was awaiting a church prayer to be said. Please take some fashion tips from bandmate Roger Glover, he looked as hip as ever, bandana and all. Again pulling out all their hits, I mean the second song was Woman from Tokayo and the crowd was in awe. New guitarist, Steve Morse, was incredible. Yes I know he's not Richie Blackmore, but he definitely did Deep Purple proud. Hush was in the set, Space Truckin', Smoke on The Water, you name it they played it. All in all this was an old school night of exhileration. Thank you to Morgan Huke and WMFO for hooking up a bunch of listeners for such a great night of guitar madness.
Stephanie
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