DPAS LIVE REVIEW

The Hughes Turner Project

JB's, Dudley, England. September 30th 2002.

Following two dire “heavy metal” support acts, it was a real pleasure to see Glenn looking so fit and fired up (sporting yellow and pink streaks in his hair) as the HTP took to the stage.

The venue was about two thirds full and it was clear from the start that the spotlight would be on Glenn as this was his home audience. The band powered through the opener, “Devil’s Road” which was blisteringly loud - to the point of distortion, but Glenn was definitely up for this performance, delivering solid bass lines on his five stringed bass guitar. Sound problems plagued the first five songs and we moved from the very front to the back to gain the best sense of balance from the PA. Joe was also clearly enjoying himself and his voice stood up well although his stage mannerisms were already starting to grate, and reminded me of the Manchester Apollo performance on the Deep Purple 'Slaves & Masters' tour of 1991. They moved straight into “I Surrender” and the audience latched on to the chorus. It was amazing to see them capturing all of the crowd by the second song.

The sing along “You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll” followed and then into the main set and mix of songs - “Death Alley Driver”, “Jealous Lover”, “Seventh Star” “Stormbringer”, “King of Dreams”, “Better Man”, “Ride the Storm”. The highlight for me was “Mistreated”. Joe was off stage and Glenn explained how he had written the song with Ritchie days after joining Purple. Glenn gave a majestic performance. The crowd was silent during the keyboard orientated introduction as Glenn demonstrated once again, his awesome vocal range. JJ is a fine player and he delivered some excellent guitar too, importantly not trying to imitate Ritchie.

The encores were “Highway Star”, (which was rather painful to watch), and a run of the mill version of “Burn”. Overall, a good night marred by poor sound but compensated for by an excellent performance from Glenn. If you get the chance, it’s worth seeing HTP but for me, a solo Glenn Hughes concert is far more enjoyable.

review: Meurig Thomas