To: elp-digest-web@reluctant.com From: elpnut@juno.com (John S Hawkes) Subject: Review of DT/ELP/DP Concert 8/15/98 Date: 8/21/98 8:31 PM Review of Dream Theatre/Emerson, Lake & Palmer/Deep Purple Concert at Pine Knob Music Theatre, Saturday August 15,1998. At about 1:00 P.M. the day of the concert, my friend called and confirmed a ticket for me in the 14th row, dead center, for tonight's ELP show! Who says procrastination doesn't reap its benefits? The show had an unusually early start time of 7:00 p.m. At 6:45, the clouds opened up and a 15 minute torrential rainfall began. Pity those who have paid to sit on the lawn which will be thoroughly soaked. The rain delayed my arrival to the 14th row seat. Dream Theatre started 10 minutes early. I don't own any of their albums but I have heard their music before. They could be best described as a progressive rock band for the 90's. They combined the rhythmic power of Rush with the musical virtuosity of bands such as Yes and Genesis in their younger days. They possess an excellent rhythm section. The bassist performed an exceptional solo. Think I'll check out some of their CD's. I should also point out that Dream Theatre had a contingent of die-hard fans scattered about the (at the time) sparsely populated pavillion, rocking to their music. Dream Theatre concluded their set at 7:30. I stayed in my seat to watch the DT tear down and the ELP set-up. Keith's modular moog setup was back complete with multi-colored patch cords criss-crossing each other. Carl was back at center stage. His drumset was white, and as I later discovered firsthand, had the Royal Albert Hall ELP insignia labeled all over them. Greg had an assortment of six or seven basses and guitars standing upright onstage. By 7:45, the crowd had grown considerably. ELP came out at 7:50 p.m. and were greeted enthusiastically, complete with a standing ovation from the ELP fan contingent. I was hoping they would open with "Black Moon," though I expected "Welcome Back My Friends..." Wait a minute! What is this? They're playing a new instrumental! Whoa! As I have now learned, it's entitled "Crossing the Rubicon." It mixed influences of "Peter Gunn" and "When the Apple Blossoms Bloom..." Could this be an evening full of surprises? "KE 9, 1st Imp., pt. 2" and "Hoedown" followed (next surprise, Keith doing a harmonica solo on "Hoedown"). I loved the fireworks display, too, Keith! As "A Time and a Place" was winding down, someone tapped me on the shoulder. My friend who had secured my ticket passed me a ticket stub and instructed me to sit in one of several available vacant seats in his section. So I spent the better part of "Knife Edge" intentionally circling the pavillion so as not to "tip off" the ushers as to what I was doing. Lo and behold, I ended up in the 2nd row, almost directly in front of Keith Emerson! There couldn't have been more than 25 feet separating us! The only "glitch" of the set occurred when Keith was to begin his Piano Concerto. He went to pull the stool out from under his keyboard only to discover it wasn't there! Will Alexander raced backstage to locate it. Greg and Carl had already left the stage leaving Keith to remark, "Guess I'll have to play it standing up!" He nervously sweated out the delay trying to ad-lib a few comments. I yelled "improvise" to him hoping he might play a few bars of honky-tonk or something. Moments later, Will pushed the piano stool onto the scaffolding and the solo began. It was awesome, especially having a perfect view of the keyboard from this new location. It was breathtaking watching his fingers glide across the keys. He hasn't lost his touch. Next was "C'est La Vie." Greg's angelic voice is back, though actually, I thought he sounded a little better in '97. Still... he turns us on! Keith was his jovial self as he came out wearing a french beret to play the accordian solo. "Lucky Man" was tremendous again. Then came "Tarkus," in its entirety! The entire suite was recreated much like the original recording. It was great to hear "Battlefield," and fun to watch Greg play the electric guitar solo. The main set lasted an hour. I attempted to "slap hands" with Keith as they were leaving, but the onstage monitors wouldn't allow him to get close enough for me to reach. At this point, I turned around and noticed that both the pavillion and lawn were almost completely sold out. An impressive turnout given that a parade of classic cars that draws close to a million people in Metro Detroit every year was happening that same day. Keith, Greg and Carl returned to the sounds of the "Fanfare" trumpets. They segued into a powerful version of "Schizoid Man" that had the audience rockin. Keith sang backup when the song title was sung. Then came a segue into "FFTCM." Basically, it was the "single" version of the song. They jumped into "America," before segueing again, this time into Carl's percussion solo. Carl got everyone's adrenaline pumping, working the crowd as only he can! Finally, the medley ended with an abbreviated "Rondo." The L-100 was nowhere to be found, so no keyboard demolition. It wasn't missed. Instead, Keith stood on top of the grand piano facing the keys and hunched down to play. At one point, he puckered his lips and proceeded to blow a small kiss to a young female fan two seats to my right. She was extremely flattered. The set concluded at 9:00 p.m., again to enthusiastic applause. This was my 12th ELP show, and without question, this set had the best "pacing" of any of the previous shows. Although some songs were shortened, it realy helped with the flow of the music. As usual, the band was together all night. A concise, yet powerful show. In the concession areas, before Deep Purple, I overheard several people say, "well, I got what I came for." Indeed, it seemed that people wearing ELP shirts outnumbered those in Deep Purple ones. I even encountered a 10-year old boy attending with his father who stated, "gee, Dad, Palmer was really good on that last song!" Great to see the younger generation appreciating the music of my youth. I went back to my original seat for Deep Purple and it's a good thing. I noticed that the area I sat in for ELP was overcome with DP fanatics standing and cheering on their heroes. Deep Purple was loud. Their musicianship was excellent, but they have obviously gone in a more heavy-metal direction on their new album. The set relied heavily on songs from the "Machine Head" album and from the new one. One observation...EL&P have aged much more gracefully than their DP counterparts. Keyboardist Jon Lord had long grey hair tied in a pony tail, and appeared to be in his mid-sixties. Bassist Roger Glover looks much like John McVie of Fleetwood Mac. Singer Ian Gillan looked the worse for wear. All evening he was coughing and clearing his throat, to which he eventually admitted, he was suffering from a cold. Anyhow, I hope I look as good as K,G, or C when I'm in my fifties. I left the concert as Deep Purple's main set concluded. It was hard to recall the magnitude of the ELP experience after the sheer volume of the Purple set. On this evening, Emerson, Lake & Palmer surely impressed. John Hawkes