Rainbow Prague O2 20th April
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Bent out of shape
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- Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:03 am
Rainbow Prague O2 20th April
Fantastic show last night...... I could wax further but here's some shots and (short) videos I took. Awesome tone, from Blackmore who was in a great mood all night (long )....! I've got the whole stargazer solo too but can't upload at the moment for some reason.
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Bent out of shape
- Posts: 905
- Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:03 am
Rainbow Prague O2 20th April
Apologies, uploads not saving..... will try again later
Rainbow Prague O2 20th April
Waiting patiently B)
Rainbow Prague O2 20th April
I decided to strip down the lanes of thoughts to get the final result at last and have the review done. And, of course, for you Fellow Dinos, I always share with joy and cheer!
It was a very peculiar night, truly so. It was unbelievably good, it was terrifyingly bad, it was dishartening at points, totally emotionally engaging and exciting throughout. All of those at the same time - as oxymoronic as it may seem to you - that's just what it was.
I guess it all lies down at the feet of the emotional attitude towards Ritchie Blackmore and his music. Life spent on getting excited with almost all that he's played. One of the Berlin concert-goers described the current audience of Ritchie's endavour as "a band of self imposed onanists who get blown by the simple fact that Blackmore still exists and is able to play a note or two, or get a run over his fretboard." Well, if one is nothing but an "objective" journalist who is only able to screech down over the fact that Ritchie is old and manually limitated and gets to form "another Rainbow" with bunch of his currently chosen "whomevers" to wank over his past glories - maybe this is an assesment for him. Still, one saiyng so, does not respect those many of FANS who were just hoping that one day they WILL hear THIS sound and THIS phrasing playing the stone cold classics again - and this is Ritchie's quite extraordinary gift just for those. Well, count me in, I am one of these.
What else is a true pain in the arse of those "objective ones" - is the fact that Ritchie's genuine talent is UNIQUE. Nobody plays his own material as well as he does - be it Blackmore young and flashy or aging and with fading fingers proficiency. It still carries that unrepeatable spark, this only true quality that he posesses in his thinking, creating and sequencing notes and moving the tension from shade to light. What other songs can build the field for it to spread better than "Mistreated" or "Child In Time" do? And tell me you expected these songs to get beyond the 10 minutes mark and I'd call you a cheater. Both ticked around the 12 minutes mark, if you fancy to know.
There is, however, one factor that needs to be met to make Ritchie going strong throughout the gig. It's the audience that is willing to create the excitement and send it to the stage to make Blackmore float and sail. And here is where the source of the trouble of the Prague gig lie. People were stiff, quiet, more up to watching the show (trying to believe that they see what they see?). It took the "ooomph" off the band from the very start. Don't get me wrong - I love Czechia, the climat of the country and all there is to see. Still, it must be said: at the rock concerts Czechs are terrible in providing any emotional feedback to the musicians and wasn't it the work of Ronnie to get them "going" and clapping at many points during the night - the gig might have ended a disaster. I really feared couple of times over the night that Ritchie will lose the interest in playing at all ana abort the performance, finding the audience too unresponsive. Luckily, the affair didn't finish that bad. Basing on the recordings that are now on hand I'd say that the previous night in Berlin was better, but Prague had this nimb of special night just because of the closure of the 2018 Tour.
The hurting failures were actually few. Romero twice screwed the business completely. He catapulted Ritchie off the improvising in the closing part of "I Surrender" adding the closing phrase far too early and ruining the course of the track. Having watched the video today, I saw Ritchie's wry smile: "I could solo on a bit more here, but since you called quits, so out we go". It was heartbreaking. The other totally unacceptable screw up was that he did not remember the lyrics to the "Temple Of The King". I mean, come on. In his position and whilst being such a fan? No, I don't buy this, how could he fail so bad. The band played the track fairly well, based on the fact that it was rather bombed into the set upon audience member request, but Ronnie's lack of conduct derailed the tune and made it a trainwreck. It doesn't take out the fact that I loved every moment of it as I love this song dearly. Still it was far off it's glories that we can remember from 1996. "Street Of Dreams", also dropped in the grenade mode into the set fared far far better. As much as I'd prefer to hear "Can't Let You Go" as a way better tune - it was great to have it delivered on stage for once in your life. Any other complaints? "Stargazer" after solo part is unecessarily stretched out, although the new closing arrangement is brilliant. I'd still say that "Perfect Strangers", "Black Night" and "Smoke..." were legless and clueless - and thus - useless waste of time on stage. Having said that - I cut down bitching here and now, let's give the glorious bits some spotlight.
When "Spotlight Kid" rips in - how can you not start to cry happy tears? I mean, I can't. This SOUND is so moving to me. I was carried away, as I always am. I love this guy's playing so goddamn much, be it good or bad. "I Surrender" - even in this destroyed form as we got it - was a dream came true, loved it. "Man On The Silver Mountain" tore in brillantly, me and my best friend just jumped off our seats - this track is just so great when done by Ritchie's fingers. Not to to forget how great the intrusion of "Woman From Tokyo" bit with the signature riff works! Oh yes, and I almost died of fear thinking that via inclusion of "Temple" to the set there will be no "Mistreated". How relieved was I to see it reinstalled in the middle of the gig. 11+ minutes of bliss, he was off into his world, building structures and castles of notes for plenty of minutes, so good. Along with the "Child In Time" improv - these were the best moments of the night - when the time machine worked perfectly and all bad moments were forgotten. This was the essence of Blackmore's way of approaching the performing. His fingers might be not following his will perfectly anymore (he had loads of tough moments, falling out of metrum and beat) but his phrasing will be with him until his last breath and he will leave the world empty without it, once gone. He was conducting the improvisations - once again proving faultlessly - why he still is the reverred master of his craft. Even at the cruel age of 73, in conditions of only physically not being able to cope fully with his manual needs, HE IS THE ONE. The last. And ALWAYS the only.
Once the encore time was on - me and Peter were looking at each other. Will this finally happen after the 25 years of wait? Will we have this last treasure we craved for so frigging long? Ritchie swayed out from the backstage area, his fingers dangled the random note... BANG! "Burn" comes off. I hugged my life-long second-brother-I-will-never-have so tight, heart to heart, crying and shouting. Sir Blackmore gave us the ultimate gift of his. The riff that no one else can play properly. That one that cracks my brain everytime, despite being heard for tens of thousands of times. More than a half of life awaiting for this sparkle of magic, finally fulfilled. Thank you, Ritchie. You had a full right, to bust, crack down and fake this show. Still, you didn't. I know it was tough - maybe it wasn't the happiest one you ever had, for dozen of reasons. However uneven though, it was brilliant. Your magic was there and you made us shmucks coming hundreds of miles to see it - happy and satisfied. What else can I say? Blackmore rules, pity on those, whose chances grow thinner... to undeerstand it and to enjoy it, while it's about to be gone forever.
Land of Hope and Glory
OVER THE RAINBOW
SPOTLIGHT KID
I SURRENDERTHE TEMPLE OF THE KING (thrown in at audience request)SINCE YOU BEEN GONEMAN ON THE SILVER MOUNTAIN (~ WOMAN FROM TOKYO, RIFF, 1ST VERSE AND CHORUS)STREET OF DREAMS (1st time by this lineup, done at the spur of the moment)MISTREATED
PERFECT STRANGERSBLACK NIGHTDIFFICULT TO CURE (with bass and keyboards solo, Johanssen more impressive than in 2016)CHILD IN TIME (jam improv in the middle in the 1970/93 style, with Ritchie conducting the band)STARGAZERLONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLLSMOKE ON THE WATEREncore:
17. BURN
Sun
It was a very peculiar night, truly so. It was unbelievably good, it was terrifyingly bad, it was dishartening at points, totally emotionally engaging and exciting throughout. All of those at the same time - as oxymoronic as it may seem to you - that's just what it was.
I guess it all lies down at the feet of the emotional attitude towards Ritchie Blackmore and his music. Life spent on getting excited with almost all that he's played. One of the Berlin concert-goers described the current audience of Ritchie's endavour as "a band of self imposed onanists who get blown by the simple fact that Blackmore still exists and is able to play a note or two, or get a run over his fretboard." Well, if one is nothing but an "objective" journalist who is only able to screech down over the fact that Ritchie is old and manually limitated and gets to form "another Rainbow" with bunch of his currently chosen "whomevers" to wank over his past glories - maybe this is an assesment for him. Still, one saiyng so, does not respect those many of FANS who were just hoping that one day they WILL hear THIS sound and THIS phrasing playing the stone cold classics again - and this is Ritchie's quite extraordinary gift just for those. Well, count me in, I am one of these.
What else is a true pain in the arse of those "objective ones" - is the fact that Ritchie's genuine talent is UNIQUE. Nobody plays his own material as well as he does - be it Blackmore young and flashy or aging and with fading fingers proficiency. It still carries that unrepeatable spark, this only true quality that he posesses in his thinking, creating and sequencing notes and moving the tension from shade to light. What other songs can build the field for it to spread better than "Mistreated" or "Child In Time" do? And tell me you expected these songs to get beyond the 10 minutes mark and I'd call you a cheater. Both ticked around the 12 minutes mark, if you fancy to know.
There is, however, one factor that needs to be met to make Ritchie going strong throughout the gig. It's the audience that is willing to create the excitement and send it to the stage to make Blackmore float and sail. And here is where the source of the trouble of the Prague gig lie. People were stiff, quiet, more up to watching the show (trying to believe that they see what they see?). It took the "ooomph" off the band from the very start. Don't get me wrong - I love Czechia, the climat of the country and all there is to see. Still, it must be said: at the rock concerts Czechs are terrible in providing any emotional feedback to the musicians and wasn't it the work of Ronnie to get them "going" and clapping at many points during the night - the gig might have ended a disaster. I really feared couple of times over the night that Ritchie will lose the interest in playing at all ana abort the performance, finding the audience too unresponsive. Luckily, the affair didn't finish that bad. Basing on the recordings that are now on hand I'd say that the previous night in Berlin was better, but Prague had this nimb of special night just because of the closure of the 2018 Tour.
The hurting failures were actually few. Romero twice screwed the business completely. He catapulted Ritchie off the improvising in the closing part of "I Surrender" adding the closing phrase far too early and ruining the course of the track. Having watched the video today, I saw Ritchie's wry smile: "I could solo on a bit more here, but since you called quits, so out we go". It was heartbreaking. The other totally unacceptable screw up was that he did not remember the lyrics to the "Temple Of The King". I mean, come on. In his position and whilst being such a fan? No, I don't buy this, how could he fail so bad. The band played the track fairly well, based on the fact that it was rather bombed into the set upon audience member request, but Ronnie's lack of conduct derailed the tune and made it a trainwreck. It doesn't take out the fact that I loved every moment of it as I love this song dearly. Still it was far off it's glories that we can remember from 1996. "Street Of Dreams", also dropped in the grenade mode into the set fared far far better. As much as I'd prefer to hear "Can't Let You Go" as a way better tune - it was great to have it delivered on stage for once in your life. Any other complaints? "Stargazer" after solo part is unecessarily stretched out, although the new closing arrangement is brilliant. I'd still say that "Perfect Strangers", "Black Night" and "Smoke..." were legless and clueless - and thus - useless waste of time on stage. Having said that - I cut down bitching here and now, let's give the glorious bits some spotlight.
When "Spotlight Kid" rips in - how can you not start to cry happy tears? I mean, I can't. This SOUND is so moving to me. I was carried away, as I always am. I love this guy's playing so goddamn much, be it good or bad. "I Surrender" - even in this destroyed form as we got it - was a dream came true, loved it. "Man On The Silver Mountain" tore in brillantly, me and my best friend just jumped off our seats - this track is just so great when done by Ritchie's fingers. Not to to forget how great the intrusion of "Woman From Tokyo" bit with the signature riff works! Oh yes, and I almost died of fear thinking that via inclusion of "Temple" to the set there will be no "Mistreated". How relieved was I to see it reinstalled in the middle of the gig. 11+ minutes of bliss, he was off into his world, building structures and castles of notes for plenty of minutes, so good. Along with the "Child In Time" improv - these were the best moments of the night - when the time machine worked perfectly and all bad moments were forgotten. This was the essence of Blackmore's way of approaching the performing. His fingers might be not following his will perfectly anymore (he had loads of tough moments, falling out of metrum and beat) but his phrasing will be with him until his last breath and he will leave the world empty without it, once gone. He was conducting the improvisations - once again proving faultlessly - why he still is the reverred master of his craft. Even at the cruel age of 73, in conditions of only physically not being able to cope fully with his manual needs, HE IS THE ONE. The last. And ALWAYS the only.
Once the encore time was on - me and Peter were looking at each other. Will this finally happen after the 25 years of wait? Will we have this last treasure we craved for so frigging long? Ritchie swayed out from the backstage area, his fingers dangled the random note... BANG! "Burn" comes off. I hugged my life-long second-brother-I-will-never-have so tight, heart to heart, crying and shouting. Sir Blackmore gave us the ultimate gift of his. The riff that no one else can play properly. That one that cracks my brain everytime, despite being heard for tens of thousands of times. More than a half of life awaiting for this sparkle of magic, finally fulfilled. Thank you, Ritchie. You had a full right, to bust, crack down and fake this show. Still, you didn't. I know it was tough - maybe it wasn't the happiest one you ever had, for dozen of reasons. However uneven though, it was brilliant. Your magic was there and you made us shmucks coming hundreds of miles to see it - happy and satisfied. What else can I say? Blackmore rules, pity on those, whose chances grow thinner... to undeerstand it and to enjoy it, while it's about to be gone forever.
Land of Hope and Glory
OVER THE RAINBOW
SPOTLIGHT KID
I SURRENDERTHE TEMPLE OF THE KING (thrown in at audience request)SINCE YOU BEEN GONEMAN ON THE SILVER MOUNTAIN (~ WOMAN FROM TOKYO, RIFF, 1ST VERSE AND CHORUS)STREET OF DREAMS (1st time by this lineup, done at the spur of the moment)MISTREATED
PERFECT STRANGERSBLACK NIGHTDIFFICULT TO CURE (with bass and keyboards solo, Johanssen more impressive than in 2016)CHILD IN TIME (jam improv in the middle in the 1970/93 style, with Ritchie conducting the band)STARGAZERLONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLLSMOKE ON THE WATEREncore:
17. BURN
Sun
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The Seeker
- Posts: 651
- Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2005 8:40 am
Rainbow Prague O2 20th April
Wonderful review and it matches my thoughts entirely when I saw the 1st birmingham comeback except that night the audience was amazing. I cried when catch the rainbow was played, knowing and not expecting what I had seen in 1976.
It didn't matter. It was Ritchie and he gave us a night i never expected to see again.
LLRAR
It didn't matter. It was Ritchie and he gave us a night i never expected to see again.
LLRAR