Tour Reviews

2004

• EUROPEAN TOUR •


Thursday, April 8th - London - England

Courtesy: Per Olav Heimstad - Metal Express

Hughes Turner Project - LIVE

I will never ever forget the first time I saw Deep Purple’s legendary California Jam concert on video, recorded the 6th of April 1974. I was 16 years old, it was 1989, and I’d bought a VHS copy from a friend.

This was the first time I listened to Deep Purple’s Mark III line up, and I’ve got a lot of memories from that evening in front of the TV; the solos, the songs, David Coverdale trying to fill Ian Gillan’s shoes ... but what I remember more than anything else was that pile of hair with the bass guitar to the left on the stage. I didn’t get much out of the bass playing, but once in a while this guy went up to the microphone ... and sang his ass off compared to anyone I’d ever heard sing in my whole life!

That was Glenn Hughes of course, "The Voice Of Rock", which he later has been called by many. The California Jam was way back in 1974, but Glenn Hughes is still around singing his heart out, which I got to witness on the 8th of April 2004 in London.

This was the final date on the European Hughes Turner Project tour, which meant Glenn Hughes was not the only singer on stage that night. Joe Lynn Turner is half of the project, and that guy sure can sing as well.

Even though they both have been singers in Deep Purple, and Hughes once spent some time singing in Black Sabbath, and Turner got known in the 80’s as the singer of Rainbow, they have managed to add some very enjoyable new tracks to their live set. Quite a few in the audience had come to hear old Deep Purple and Rainbow classics, but with their two excellent studio albums, HTP has managed to prove they are still able to compose quality hard rock.

However, whether or not the song is old or new, Glenn Hughes is impressive! His vocal performances on songs like Losing My Head, Alone I Breathe, Mistreated, Gettin' Tighter and Burn were sensational. Hughes sings like there’s no tomorrow, and he never fails to squeeze another soulful scream through his vocal cords after you’d bet he needs to shut up to gasp for air.

So, even though Joe Lynn Turner still sings great after all these years, sounding much more experienced than aged, he is nothing compared to Glenn Hughes. There is no one in this genre that has got as much soul in his/her voice than Hughes. On his own, Turner would have received the entire spotlight himself, and would therefore have been better off even with a smaller audience. Hughes would have been better off alone too, at least then his audience/fans wouldn’t have had to wait for Hughes’ voice every time Turner got to sing.

The band, JJ Marsh on the guitar, Tomas Broman on the drums and Kjell Haraldsson on keyboards, did a very pleasant job. Haraldsson looked like he was enjoying this more than anyone, and he managed the noble art of knowing when not to play. His playing was remarkably well portioned and positioned. JJ Marsh provided the audience with guitar play that took care of the classic sound of songs more than thirty years old, as well as bringing the sound an up-to-date edge for the new tracks.

Mistreated was one of the evening’s highlights. JJ Marsh made an intro both personal and true to the classic before Hughes made this 2004 version last forever with a tremendous vocal jam towards the end of the song. At this time, Turner got his first of several long breaks. Hughes got none, not even during Turner’s Rainbow numbers, thanks to his bass duties.

Speaking of Rainbow ... Joe Lynn Turner knows how to sing them good ol’ songs. Street Of Dreams, Death Alley Driver, Spotlight Kid and the song which probably was the evenings biggest chart hit: I Surrender. The audience loved it. It bothers me a great deal, though, that this rock and roll star has chosen to look the way he does. Turner scares me with his wig, jewelry, fake tan, bleached teeth and make up ... ( Being a lady’s man is the ideal, Joe, not a lady man! ) Turn off the spotlight someone!

All right ... Turner sang Street Of Dreams from Rainbow’s Bent Out Of Shape album (1983), but what about King Of Dreams from Deep Purple’s Slaves And Masters album (1990) when Turner stepped into the void after Gillan? It’s a great song, and I did witness HTP play it on their 2002 Can’t Stop Rock & Roll Tour. Back then Hughes as well performed the Seventh Star’s title track from his time in front of the Black Sabbath microphone. On this year’s tour, neither of these two albums were represented. A bit of a loss, I think. No one else attends to those two parts of rock history.

Glenn Hughes tries his best to make sure people don’t forget Tommy Bolin, though. He dedicated Gettin' Tighter to the memory of his former pal and fellow Deep Purple member. The song was great until it broke into an uninspired drum solo. A drum solo ... quite odd to add when you’ve dedicated the song to someone’s memory, I think.

I got a bit disappointed with You Keep On Moving too. Somehow it just didn’t groove very well. Anyway, this was a great night! It is hard not to be pleased when you on the same night both get tons of rock history and brand new mastered rock songs performed by two legendary singers with voices that haven’t faded.

Setlist:
Hold On
Can’t Stop Rock'n’Roll
Losing My Head
Alone I Breathe
Mistreated
I Surrender
Street Of Dreams
Gettin’ Tighter
You Keep On Moving
Death Alley Driver
Stormbringer

Encore:
Devil’s Road
Spotlight Kid
Burn


Wednesday, April 7th - Dudley - England

Courtesy: Lauren Potts - http://www.angelwitch.immortals.co.uk

Setlist:
Hold On / Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll / Losing My Head / Alone I Breathe / Mistreated / I Surrender / Street of Dreams / Getting Tighter / You Keep On Moving / Death Alley Driver / Stormbringer / Devil's Road / Spotlight Kid / Burn

Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner.

Two voices I'd grown up listening to; Rock legends I'd heard since the day I was born. In fact, if I trawl through my early memories, I can remember quite clearly that Joe Lynn Turner was the first singer I ever heard. From the age of 18 months, I bounced around in my Pampers to Deep Purple, Rainbow, Aerosmith and all manner of Heavy Metal. Even then, Dad joked that Spotlight Kid was about me. Of course, that had nothing to do with the fact that I got even worse and I'm now a self-confessed Drama Queen with a serious adrenalin habit.

But anyway! Having missed them on previous occasions, there was no stopping me from undertaking this rite of passage, and into the deepest, darkest, depths of Dudley we ventured; Dad with already one such gig under his belt, me, with a respectable memory of the Deep Purple and Rainbow back-catalogues to tide me over.

I've been to The Limelight, The Robin, Central Station, various arenas, theatres, halls, but never JBs. I knew the crowd would be cracking because Brummies are always excellent people to rock with. Team that with a super-cool, sweaty, dark club and you've got a winning combination. Add an awesome band on the stage and you have people exploding with excitement!

As HTP took to the stage, I wasn't quite sure what to make of Mr Turner at first. I found his style a little too flamboyant for my liking, and yes, I know this sounds a bit rich coming from a Bruce Dickinson fan. But I soon got used to it and realised that it actually complimented Glenn Hughes' no nonsense, take-no-prisoners style of performing. The first number, Hold On, bowled me over with some absolutely sublime harmonies and Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll induced some serious yelling from the crowd.

By the third number, I was convinced I'd got my money's worth already. Then Hughes rendered me speechless with an absolutely storming rendition of Mistreated. Nothing I say will ever express how amazing his voice was during that number, no superlative would do it justice. Besides playing some truly mean bass lines, his ability to pick notes seemingly out of thin air is a wonder to behold. If I were Prime Minister, I would make every single person in the world sit down and listen to this song! Especially David Coverdale.

At this point, with Glenn Hughes' discarded plectrum tightly in my grasp, JLT bounded back on stage for a raucous sing-a-long version of I Surrender. This was the first time I'd really heard him in his own right, and I have to say, I was very impressed. He's got a great set of pipes and his control in long and high notes is enviable to say the least. What was probably the most impressive about both these singers is their ability to re-create what they do on the CD, live at a gig; so many singers don't possess the talent to do this but Hughes and Turner pull this off effortlessly.

Street of Dreams was a nice surprise and although I would have preferred my all time favourite, King of Dreams, this was a good substitute that enabled the crowd to get in on the singing action. The three songs that followed caught me out as I wasn't familiar with the material, but it gave me the chance to watch the uber-cool lead guitarist, JJ Marsh, who couldn't have looked more laid back if he'd have been taking a leisurely stroll through the park.

And just as I thought it couldn't get any better, they rolled out Spotlight Kid for an encore. I thought this was quite fitting anyway, considering the family joke and all, so blow me down with a feather when JLT spotted me, took my hand and sang a verse to me! How's that for a sign from the Gods of Rock and Roll???

With Yours Truly grinning from ear to ear, the band finished with a blistering version of the ever-scintillating, Burn, rounding off a most enjoyable night of musical entertainment.

Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll? You're damn right you can't!


Wednesday, April 7th - Dudley - England

Courtesy: Stephen Hunt

Hello everyone, just woke up with HTP still buzzing in my head!

After such a gruelling tour I didn't expect GH's vocals to be as fantastic as they were. In fact, I thought the whole band were on fantastic form. First track the band storm into Hold On, followed by Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll, Losing my Head and then a red hot, Alone I Breathe.

Then I witnessed seeing Glenn perform Mistreated for the 3rd time live. They say 3rd time lucky, but this was 3rd time CATACLYSMIC! The dude had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. I love the way the vocal improvisation at the end keeps evolving. Then Joe took centre stage for a foot stomping rendition of I Surrender. If I'm totally honest I was here to see Glenn, but thought Joe's versions of Street Of Dreams and Death Alley Driver were enjoyable diversions whilst waiting for the next killer GH/HTP track.

Special mention for JJ Marsh who handled all tracks with style and no shortage of emotion. He is honestly one of the best guitarists I've ever seen live!

GH centre stage again for a rousing version of Gettin' Tighter which was a great showcase for individual solos (my wife Sharon enjoyed the obligatory homage to Tommy Bolin. To her, Tommy will always be God!) Then GH and JJ led us into You Keep On Movin'. Again the 3rd rendition I've heard live and GH always manages to squeeze more soul from this every time he performs it.

The set came to a close with Stormbringer which left us all drained but still screaming for more, which we duly got with my friend Sarah's favourite HTP track Devil's Road and still Glenn and Joe's vocals were soaring into the stratosphere! Joe rampaged through Rainbow's Spotlight Kid and then it was all hands in the air for the big one; BURN!

Sorry if I've missed anything, but my brains are still scrambled!

Thanks to the whole band for another great live experience.


Tuesday/Wednesday, April 6th/7th - Bradford & Dudley - England

Courtesy: John Harjo

Wow, what a great couple of shows I got to see at Bradford and Dudley a few days ago in England. A smooth three day trip for me, people said I was crazy to do it but I’m glad I did, it was well worth it.

It was also my first time driving in England, which was not bad at all, the fear was all in my head. I pulled into the hotel in Bradford Tuesday evening, after flying out from LA and connecting to Manchester and called GHPG.net’s David (who is my navigator on the trip to Dudley) as I’m checking in; only to find he’s two doors down from me, and our Glenn is next to him! Then I found out JLT and other band members were also staying in the same place and funny enough we only saw the two singers. So after checking in, we pop next door and bang on Glenn’s door and have a pre show meet; now is this the coolest thing in the world or what? Glenn seems totally relaxed and focused and says "the tour is going well." I tell him that it’s the 30th Anniversary of the Cal Jam show, and he mentions that someone told him during a previous show.

We head over to Rio’s and the first band (Firebird) is bluesy 'Free' style rock, good players. It was then strange to hear On the Ledge played on the PA as an intro, I’d rather hear it live, but the set list can’t blow the vocalists’ voices out for one song, so I wasn’t expecting it. HTP comes on with Hold On and it’s totally awesome. I’m there for GH, but have been a JLT fan for over twenty years. He’s on form and both guys sound incredible.

I’ve been telling everyone I meet in the previous weeks, this is like the Righteous Bros, but hard rock. And the thing I always tell people, is these guys still can sing there old stuff, and they are better than when they were in their arena/stadium heyday. It’s true!

And GH just has that special something, it’s there both nights, I’m just blown away by him both nights. His voice is incredible, but something I notice is how awesome his bass playing has gotten, sometimes he ventures into Billy Sheehan land, going way up the neck and playing some really amazing licks. He’s locked in tight with drummer Tomas Broman, who is back there playing every note with heart soul and passion, really enjoying himself, my kind of drummer!

I can’t really remember much of the Rio’s show, as the one at JB's in Dudley the night after is the one that really blew me away, but really both were great. The main problem with Rio’s, was that there were no lights on the performers faces. Instead, what we got was a backlit show. I kept looking up at the ceiling, and those lights that should have been on the faces (like they are at EVERY SHOW IN THE WORLD) were kept off! Really ridiculous and is something that must be fixed next time. The sound at both venues was good, not as bad as I’ve seen it described on this tour, with JB’s seemingly better, starting out a bit muddy but got much better as the night went on. But I wear special molded musician’s earplugs so this helps me a lot, maybe it was as loud as they say, I couldn’t go without them.

Both nights though it was near impossible to hear the keyboards, and I don’t know why..bummer! Kjell seemed to be doing a good job from what I could hear, the only thing I didn’t like was his synth lead sound, I thought a beefier sound could have been used on those solos. What has stuck with me the most the past few days (can’t get it out of my head) was the version of Mistreated I heard both nights. The song has really evolved into a spectacular showcase for Glenn’s vocals, the versions I heard just blow into the weeds anything previously done by David, Glenn or Ronnie!!! Recently I’ve heard it done with the Chili Peppers in November and the DVD shoot, but this one was just so far superior. Glenn added a cool scat thing on the vocal breaks, and an interplay at the end with the keyboard (great job by Kjell there) and Glenn; just fantastic!

I read another review that said Death Alley Driver was boring, and somehow I found it boring too, even though that’s been one of my favorite Ritchie songs to play. Overall would have liked to have heard more HTP music. One thing I noticed about the English crowds, is they don’t all smash together on the dance floor, like we do here in the States. Well thank god for that, because I actually was able to get closer to the stage at JB’s so I could get some great pics. The Dudley show was special, being that it’s just about 17 miles from Cannock where Glenn grew up, and Glenn mentioned that in the audience were former Trapeze and Whitesnake guitarist Mel Galley and Sabbath’s Tony Iommi. Glenn even acknowledged me by saying, "and you’re a crazy guy from LA" which I reacted with a GH scream. Then in one of the songs I see Glenn looking at me and saying "hey John", is this cool or what? JJ knows me too and made eye contact cause he remembered me from the DVD shoot and at the end of Burn he just stared at me while he did all these really cool arpeggios, and I’m yelling "yeah" at him!

Some other things I remember; checking out of my room, and Glenn is standing at the elevator, with sunglasses and a long black jacket, the epitome of rock star cool. The funniest thing was getting back to the hotel after the Rio’s gig, and seeing JLT try to kick the locked door down, he’s yelling about..."how much we are paying to stay here, and we can’t even get in." It was a total Spinal Tap moment, when we do get let in, he has it out with the old man behind the reception desk, who has got to be out of central casting and it makes the scene even more sillier. I swear, I got up the next day and laughed for five minutes about this. Oh and JLT is a cool guy, remembered my name after meeting me just once, when I waved goodbye to him and Glenn he said "bye John".

What a great, fantastic Deep Purple experience it was; HTP are awesome!

1. Hold On
2. You Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll
3. Losing My Head
4. Alone I Breathe
5. Mistreated
6. I Surrender
7. Street Of Dreams
8. Gettin' Tighter (including a Drum solo, funk jam and cool JJ Hendrix-style jam)
9. You Keep On Moving
10. Death Alley Driver
11. Stormbringer
12. Devil's Road
13. Spotlight Kid
14. Burn


Tuesday, March 30th - Nosturi, Helsinki - Finland

Courtesy: Sanna Koskinen

Hi!

In 2002 I wrote a review of HTP's show in my hometown Tampere and I reckoned that was one the best concert nights I've ever had. Well, I have to say the Helsinki show on March 30th didn't lose much, if at all in comparison. The crowd was going wild and I was going wild and it was a great feeling and energy that the guys on stage were delivering.

Using the tape to start the show was a bit unusual yes, it came to my mind that since the song that was playing was the last song off the first HTP record, it was kind of a nice continuation straight from those days onto this record and this tour and this time. Hmm...I don't know, that's how I see it anyway.

At times it seemed to be only a Glenn Hughes solo concert, Joe spent a lot of time off stage and only Glenn was on. For me as a HUGE Joe Lynn Turner fan this of course was a bit of a downer. They both seemed to be not in their best shape physically, I mean if Joe had been sick earlier, maybe he wasn't at his best health. And I have to say it was a very cold weather in Finland that week. Glenn had some trouble with his fingers, he was looking quite painful at times.

But even with health problems or something, both guys gave a hell of a show. When they were in action, it was a 110% performance without any aching or seeming weak. It was obvious they also took in all the crowd energy, because we were having a really good time! Thanks to these guys and the fantastic band. It was so nice to sing all the older songs and the newer songs at full volume, it was great.

I hope HTP's journey continues for a long time, and as Glenn said: "See you next time!"

Extra big thank you for Death Alley Driver which is one of my favourite Rainbow songs, you played it last time and you played it now.

Thank You!


Sunday, March 21st - Zeche - Bochum, Germany

Courtesy: Oliver Lucas

As soon as the roadie on stage gives a sign to the FOH mixer he immediately hits stop on the CD player - no fade out, just a harsh stop and switching off the lights at the same moment. Are Joe and Glenn that desperate to hit the stage? No - the audience first has to listen to a complete HTP song played from CD...at GIG LEVEL. A truely strange kind of beginning for a show that I have waited for for a long time (since I missed the HTP one tour) and wasn't sure that I'd see it since Joe had suffered from a bad cold and the previous concert had to be cancelled.

I was kind of prepared to see a weak performance from Mr.Turner - I haven't seen him perform live before - but to cut a long story short - he wasn't giving anything less than 100% that night. The man is truely amazing or the Czech drugs are - I don't know ;-)

The gig itself was a blast. In the beginning the audience seemed to be a little bit reserved and hesitant - it was a cold rainy day outside - but as the show got tighter the fans started to "lose themselves and watched the band...."

I guess it was pretty much the same set list as in other HTP2 shows with all the "hits" we wanted to hear and sing. Mistreated had the most wonderful Stevie Wonder-ish soul stuff in the middle. While Joe is a superb rock vocalist, Glenn really has the gift to strike a chord inside of me - I don't know how he does it, but while Joe's voice is the flame Glenn really is the spark itself. I woke up feeling terrible for all different sorts of reasons that day and now I'm still electrified and excited about Glenn's performance. And while delivering seriously amazing performances he does not take everything too serious. When Joe handed over to Glenn for some "stuff that's gonna kick your ass", Glenn replied that he prefers to "look at some arses...but not kick them" these days.

JJ played some fantastic and very explosive guitar solos. His sound was amazingly fat and strong. Very cool performance indeed. The keyboard player used some sounds that got onto my nerves, though. Sometimes his sounds were VERY loud - yet still it was almost impossible to hear WHAT he was playing. I don't like modern synth sounds very much in rock and roll music and I truley believe that some good old analog style synth sounds would have suited better. In Spotlight Kid for example, I saw many guys in the audience cover their ears. The synth solo was just so ear piercingly loud. Still, I couldn't tell you if he was playing the original solo or something completely different. I liked the drum sound, though. Apart from the fact that Glenn's timing keeps on moving (especially in You Keep On Moving - it's a slow song and therefore harder to play!) and the poor drummer having to keep up with Glenn. Although technically it was on the edge of a bad performance, it doesn't really matter that much in a live situation I believe.

I just hope that Glenn will take the chance to play some solo gigs again soon in Germany. I really enjoyed all the Rainbow/Deep Purple stuff, but I'd also love to hear some of his solo work, especially from SITKOR.

Courtesy: Jonard Martial

Dear Friends,

Just back from Bochum - Glenn and Joe ask me to send you some news!

Don't believe the rumours about the cancellation of the tour. Only one concert was cancelled (last Friday's show in the Czech Republic) - Saturday was a day off - so Joe was able to rest his voice. He lost his voice Thursday having a big cold.

In Bochum, the show was great, only Ride The Storm was dropped from the set-list. Glenn was in good shape and especially in good mood. Great audience (approx. 500 people), but the sound was extremely loud!


Tuesday, March 16th - Wigwam - Budapest, Hungary

Courtesy: George Márkus

We had a great show in Budapest! I have to tell you frankly that a bigger place housing at least twice as many people as Wigwam could have been filled up easily, in spite of the 'zero' promotion of the show.

Glenn was really-really great! His heart and soul was in his performance. He is the greatest singer and musician of rock. No doubt about that.

Joe was quite flat due to his flu or cold. All the other guys performed very well. JJ was outstanding! As I see he is a shy quite reserved person. This fact just emphasizes his attitiude to music.

We do hope to see them back again soon, in a much bigger hall which is match for Glenn.


Saturday, March 13th - Planet Music - Vienna, Austria

Courtesy: Reinhard Lackner

Here is my short review of the gig in Vienna on March 13th which was very special as something unplanned happened.....

The setlist was the usual, but at the end of Alone I Breathe and because of a defect Glenn couldn't play his bass anymore. So he had to end the song without playing it - he wanted to continue Mistreated with that bass, and so Joe had to improvise a song with JJ - so JJ played a short solo and finally Joe grabbed the mobile telephone of someone in the first row who was talking to a friend and kidded with the guy on the phone! A few minutes later Glenn's bass was fixed again and the show continued!!

All in all, the show was great as the last HTP concert I saw, when they first came to Vienna. I hope they will come back soon and the many people from Vienna who did not see the show will be present next time.

Courtesy: Christian Loeb

Hi there,

Although the attendence at the Vienna show wasn't the best, Glenn, Joe & the guys played an exceptionally good gig (and the sound was very good too, very loud, but well balanced, so that my ears don't hurt at all this time)!

It was great to hear Losing My Head live, and Glenn's vocal solo at the end of Mistreated was unbelievable... the crowd was absolutely speechless 'til the last note was hit - then the whole place turned into the biggest cheer of the evening. What a blast!

Reinhard has mentioned the "episode" with the guy on the phone, absolutely hilarious - you really have to give Joe credit for this, since he wasn't in the best shape, and he had to entertain the crowd 'til the bass string was fixed. I understand that Glenn intended to wait until a new (A-) String was put on the Fender Bass and refused to play either the Vigier or the third one, which I could not identify. And it has to be said, that Glenn is a kick-ass bass-player, this time the bass sound also was much better than last time (one word: Fender)!!! He also used an Auto-Wah/Humanizer for the bass solo in and for a couple of fills on some of the other tracks. JJ's performance was outstanding, no need to say more.

More than at the last show in Vienna, this collective of musician's seems to have turned into a real Band, rather than just a Touring Band and everybody on stage seemed to enjoy the evening.

Due to the heavy Touring schedule, Glenn was quick to leave the venue through the stage exit, but we still managed to wave goodbye outside the building.

What a show. Enough said.

Christian


Friday, March 12th - Orpheum - Graz, Austria

Courtesy: Ana / John Harjo

So I just got back from the concert and all I can say is OH MY GOD!!! This had to be the best show I have ever been to!!

Glenn Hughes is so brilliant and gorgeous and his voice is enormous!!!!!!! I didn't quite warm up to Joe Lynn Turner (he's 'kinda stuck in the 80s with his image and his attitude!) It was all about Glenn Hughes!!!!!!!!!

He was the final piece of the puzzle and I can see that I definitely saved the best for last!!!

I got to go backstage and got his autograph and even took a picture with him!!! I'm even thinking of going to Salzburg on Sunday.....we'll see!!

It was definitely a night to remember!!!!

Ana


Tuesday, March 9th - Ohrakel - Ingolstadt, Germany

Courtesy: Milan Fahrnholz

A true power gig!

I'm just back from Hughes Turner Project In Ingolstadt. Man, what a gig that was! Unbelievable!

Before the gig I did something I'd never thought I'd ever do, I had a conversation with a die-hard JLT fan, she told me she had seen him on many gigs and got many autographs and wrote a lot of reviews...you know all those kind of things you do when you just LOVE somebody. I respected that, although I was more looking forward to Glenn of course.

They kicked off with Hold On, which is nice as an opener, but they could have choosen something better in my opinion. The first thing JLT did when he came on stage was that he walked towards me, reached out and shook my hand (he did that three times during the gig)! Then straight into You Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll. After that, we got the first Rainbow classic with I Surrender which had the crowd singing along and then two from HTP II again, being Losing My Head and Alone I Breathe (for the troops in Iraq as JLT said). From this point the pure classic setlist started, that kicked off with an unbelivable version of Mistreated with Glenn doing a solo gig on stage. Boah, that man could stand alone on stage and entertain a lot more people than were there tonight. From that moment he had his sunglasses taken off and he was THE man. The song had a great intro by JJ Marsh that was very similar to the style Blackmore used to introduce the song in Rainbow, but without doing a pure copy. After it was over Glenn added more than one vocal improvisations to the end which must have been some of the best vocal acrobatics I have ever seen, and I really haven't just seen a few. With Street Of Dreams it went on. JLT being fully present and having the audience in his hand.

Next on the list were two of my favourites from Come Taste The Band which were Gettin' Tighter, with an extended jam including a drum solo, Glenn's vocal improvisation, a funky wah-wah bass solo of his and JJ Marsh once again giving great honour to another outstanding guitarist, without just stepping into the footsteps but filling them with brilliance, and then You Keep On Moving. One of the best live performances I have seen by anyone with one of my favourite ever Deep Purple numbers and favourite bass lines. It's hard to find words for that. The greatest thing was that after You Keep On Moving, Glenn came over to me and gave me his plectrum with which he played one of my favourite ever bass lines with brilliance directly in my hand. After that he always smiled happily when I looked in his direction.

JLT came back on stage to deliver a thundering version of Death Alley Driver, which is as I should admit a standard highway rocker after an old concept, but it works live with the crowd and also with me. Once again JJ did judgement to one of those great solos in classic rock'n'roll.

The regular set was closed by a mighty version of Stormbringer with JLT doing a bit more of a vocals than Hughes, but it was unbelievably great!

After a short wait they came back on stage for my favourite HTP track Devil's Road which then went straight into Spotlight Kid. Then both said their goodbyes with one of the best hardrock songs of all time, Burn. The crowd did the chorus vocal and Glenn's singing was godlike and out of this world!

All in all.

The venue was surprisingly small and not even really filled. I guess that about 300 people shared my experience. JLT played rythm guitar on Losing My Head, Alone I Breathe, Stormbringer and Burn.

Both are incredible live performers. Glenn Hughes is like a 20 year old on stage. He's such a warm and friendly guy and obviously loves to be very close to his fans. JLT isn't much different, although he seems to have the odd lapse, where Hughes is professional. There wasn't any squeeling either I could spot, when he screamed then it was better than Gillan these days. The woman who was a die-hard JLT fan was standing next to me and got what she wanted, he sung at her and kissed her head and everything. It was great to see them making people happy (and that definitely included me as well)! You really could see they loved what they were doing, despite the big stress (few gigs in one country while touring almost the whole world) and illness (JLT had a cold which I'd never noticed, if he hadn't coughed during the songs and told us).

The sound was okay, although it was quite unbalanced in time, but with such charismatic front performers you forget it and hang to unbelivable great vocal solos and duets and then those FUNKY bass playing! Just great, I love it. It gave me back some essence of Purple and Rainbow I seem to have lost a bit over the years (so a refreshment everyone needs over the years now and then) and now I feel satisfied, groovy and happy. I ended my evening with drinking a beer smiling.


Monday, March 8th - Motion - Bergamo, Italy

Courtesy: Daniele Purrone
Photos: http://www.stargazer.it/htpitaly2004/

Also, be sure and checkout pictures from the show that took place 3 days later, March 11th, 2004 in Pratteln, Switzerland that Daniele has made available - http://www.stargazer.it/htppratteln2004/

What a great night!

Glenn was in wonderful shape - he sang marvellously through the whole set, what he did at the end of Mistreated was simply amazing, and he was great with the bass playing, too. He played so violently, during You Keep On Moving, that he broke his Fender's bridge!

Joe...well, that wasn't his best night and I've heard him sing much better than yesterday, but it must be very hard for him to compete with such a giant as Glenn.

The band was tight, JJ is an excellent guitar player and the drummer was very powerful. And a great set of songs, of course!


Friday, March 5th - Bikini - Barcelona, Spain

Courtesy: Shirley Andrews

As soon as Glenn, Joe Lynn, JJ, Tomas and Kjell came on stage, there was an uproar as they kicked in with Hold On, an excellent opener, and boy do the Spanish love HTP! I can never stop myself from turning around at points throughout Glenn's shows to see and feel the crowd's reaction - awesome, absolutely awesome. I Surrender was next; a classic of course and a great one for a sing along. Losing My Head caused another uproar and you just HAVE to sing along with the chorus. The tracks on HTP 2 are far superior than on HTP I (in my opinion), and I don't think the crowd would have gone home disappointed if they had played almost every track from the album and left out a few of the classics. (No Mistreated? For me? God forbid!) Alone I Breathe compliments both Glenn and Joe Lynn's voices superbly and one guy to my left was thumping the sky and 'singing' as loudly as Glenn, so I thought it wise to take a few steps to the right, in case he gave me a black eye!

Mistreated followed and I can't get enough of Glenn's voice when this song is performed. Another classic, which always shows off Joe Lynn's voice, was Street of Dreams. Gettin' Tighter and You Keep On Moving followed.

Death Alley Driver wouldn't have been a choice of mine, but again the crowd were in their element. This crowd did seem to be here for Joe Lynn as much as for Glenn, and were singing along with the words. I was fascinated that everyone could sing along so easily to ALL the words in all the songs - I would have to simply hum along if they were singing in Spanish! If I remember rightly, Stormbringer was next and then Glenn thanked us and said goodnight.

The encore was the same as Russia and Japan (I think?) - Devil's Road, Spotlight Kid and Burn, and then it was all over all too quickly - yet again.

I think Going My Way would have been an excellent choice to add to the three tracks performed from HTP 2, and would have made the JLT fans in the audience that little bit happier. I'm not sure who mentioned on the boards recently that this IS the HTP 2 tour and more tracks from the album should have been performed, and I would have really liked to have seen that. I am however, one of the fortunate ones to have seen Glenn quite a few times over the past 18 months and can afford to be 'choosy' about what I'd like to see performed (everything - you got seven hours, Glenn)? If you've never seen Glenn perform or at least not for some years, then the classics would most definitely have to be drenched in the setlist.

Courtesy: Esther Leal

Around 9:30p.m. the venue was almost full... I can't guess how many people were there but I could see more people than in the last HTP show in Madrid, and this is a veeeeery good thing.

After some time waiting for the band, while the stage was being prepared for the big show, people started to shout and clap, getting excited for what they are going to live there. Before talking about the show, I think that I must warn you about something. Sergio and me were placed in front of the stage, just on the front row. On this occasion, Glenn and Joe didn't use these "little loudspeakers" that singers use to listen to their own voices while singing (I don't now its name in English... in Spanish it could be called "mirrors"). In this show they used some little headphones inside their ears to be able to listen to their voices. Because of it, if you are very close to the stage, you can't hear their voices... and of course, Sergio and me couldn't hear their voices! We tried to move a little far off the stage, but we couldn't because we were encircled by people. We only heard the guitar (we were in front of the guitar amplifier) and some drums and bass. So I thought that it was like a karaoke...but J.J. told me that I must be happy because I had a whole band playing just for me :-) To be honest, we hadn't the best sound of the venue, but I had a beautiful gestural conversation with Glenn and J.J. during the show...and I wouldn't changed this magic for nothing :-)

Nevertheless I talked with some people of the audience and they told me that the sound in all the venue was magnificent. So I recommend you to be placed a little separated off the edge of the stage...I think that the third row will be sufficient to listen all the show perfectly.

I must add that being placed where we were, allowed us to appreciate better how wonderful guitarist J.J. is. He was perfect, sublime...he was enjoying of the show all the time and making all the audience felt in love deeply with him. I could hear all the people of the venue shouting and singing all the time... all the audience was very very excited during the show and I think that the clapping could be listened in all the city :-)

In spite of I couldn't hear Glenn's voice during almost all the show, I was flooded once again by all the feelings that he spreads when he is on stage...don't ask me how could I feel this way if I didn't hear his voice because I can't explain it. I think that, when I was looking at his face while he was singing, I could listen his voice inside my head... of course not literally...I don't know how to explain it...do you understand me?? :-)
br> When he was singing Mistreated and You Keep On Moving, the sound of the guitar stopped for a while, so I could hear him perfectly for a while, and I got completely touched... the only thing I could say to express it is "woooooow!!"

I think that all the band had a great time on stage. They were smiling all the time and it seems that they were enjoying a lot during the show. After the show all of them were full of enthusiasm...it was an honour to be present at this wonderful scene with this happiness floating in the air... and this was rubbed off on me :-)

One more time I have to thank Glenn for all that he gave me...it's becoming very difficult for me to think of a way to return all of this to him...you know I love you Glenn, you're an angel. Also I have to thank J.J. for being so kind with us...you're lovely guy!! And, of course, I can't forget the rest of the people that were there, including Walter Giardino (from the Argentinian band Rata Blanca...it was a big pleasure to have some words with him)... all of them are very good people, very kind and nice...I could "breath" the love in that room, it was a wonderful atmosphere and it was beautiful for me to be there... I'll never forget it.


Sunday, February 29th - Maslak - Istanbul, Turkey

Courtesy: Tarik Burcoglu

This is the third visit from the Purple camp to Turkey. Ian Gillan in 1992, Deep Purple in 1998 for two nights and now HTP in 2004! So this is something very exciting for us. And this time Deep Purple-Rainbow together! And after some very satisfying albums, this HTP gig was the most important events in those days.

Sunday was also the date of the biggest soccer derby and the promoter arranged a wide screen TV for the game. So the gig was delayed due to the game! There was also a support act who feature a talented guitar player of a local band. He played all instrumental Satriani-Malmsteen style half an hour set.

After some minutes for arranging the stage, the boys started with Hold On. Then came Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll. The audience participated during chorus and this motivated the boys and they showed that they like the participation! And then they played all the old hits with our participation! Then they played all what we expected from them. The Purple/Rainbow songs played like their original studio or live versions except Mistreated. The intro for Mistreated was very much like the Difficult To Cure intro from Finyl Vinyl, and the middle solo section was similiar to the On Stage version.

And the boys, we especially waited for Glenn Hughes. He amazed us again. What a voice? What a performance. He especially shined through Mistreated, Gettin' Tighter and You Keep On Moving. And JLT. I had always had doubts for his live performances! But this time, his singing was excellent. My friends also noticed this. We discussed this after the gig. He also amazed us.

I do not have much to say for the drummer and the keyboard player. But J.J. Blondemore, I think is quite good choice for the Richie's part!

And for the downpoints, they still play the same set after two years. This time their first visit to Turkey and we were ready for anything they would play, but for the next time they better do some changes in setlist such as inclusion of Sail Away, Can't Let You Go, Stone Cold, Hold On (from Stormbringer). Also, their playing was a little bit under rehearsed! And lacked improvisation. Also the role of keyboard was minimal. But you are coming from Jon Lord's band and that point has to be considered!

So we enjoyed while listening to them and they enjoyed while playing to us. Thanks boys. Hope to see you during the next tour.

Setlist
Hold On
Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll
I Surrender
Losing My Head
Mistreated
Street Of Dreams
Alone I Breathe
Gettin' Tighter
You Keep On Moving
Death Alley Driver
Stormbringer

Encore
Devil's Road
Spotlight Kid
Burn


Thursday, February 26th - Opera and Ballet Theatre - Chelyabinsk, Russia

Courtesy: pstranger, Russia
Photos: Felix Uslinskiy - http://www.deep-purple.ru/photos/htp/russia_2004/chelyabinsk/index_htp2.html

Prices
I have bought cheapest tickets for my friends and me. The price was 17 USD (or 14 EURO) per ticket. Then I have such tickets I always remember John Lennon with the famous: "Those in the cheaper seats clap, the rest of you rattle your jewellry." But I never think so about real fans that want to see stars from short distance.

Place, venue and date
Show was made in Chelyabinsk City, Russia. The frontier Europe-Asia passes along Chelyabinsk region and city with more than 1 million inhabitants is situated behind it for about 100 km to East, I mean in Asia. Should we add to "2004 European Tour" the words "and Asian one too"?

As it was planned show was in local Opera and Ballet Theatre, which can accept about 900 spectators, but I think show had seen about 800 people. Opera House is very acceptable if you want enjoy sound but absolutely no acceptable if you want to dance, because it has orchestra pit instead of dancing pool.

Show took place at February 26th, 2004

Time
Show was planned at 19:00 local time but was started as usual at 19:22. It’s time for waiting, whistling, shouting and may be drinking. Show had ended in 21:05. So we have total duration about 1:45.

Description
First things were as obvious and the openers were Hold On and Can’t Stop Rock'n'Roll which go on as one song. But the next song had changed ordinary order into the setlist and so the third song was I Surrender. It's very powerful and melodic song from distant past. Fourth song was Losing My Head. Joe Lynn Turner put guitar on his chest and was playing during the song. I don't know why he was doing it. I don't doubt he can greatly handle with guitar but I never, never (during all the show) heard any sound of his part. Nevertheless I saw that he had tune sound (may be volume or may be timbre of guitar) on amplifier. It seems that only him heard his guitar's part. Fifth song was Alone I Breathe. Joe Lynn Turner shortly spoke something about the meaning of this song, just mentioned something about terrorism. Here I should notice that sound during all show was awful. Yes, there wasn't clear sound. I should notice conditions were perfect - they gave the gig in Opera House, which has perfect acoustic conditions. I don't why - whether it was bad apparatus but I can't complain - it was Marshall or there was fault of the sound-engineer or technicians but sound was poor quality. In very short pauses between songs there was even 50-Hertz jitter.

Next song was number six. Joe Lynn Turner took the rest. Glenn Hughes changed his bass guitar. It was long awaited Mistreated. It's awesome thing and Glenn Hughes demonstrated to us what he could as musician and what he can as rock-actor. It was perfect performance his role as guitarist. Also I should mention brilliant playing of JJ Marsh. It was an absolute perfect performance. When it seemed the song had ended Glenn Hughes started to perform the slow solo and the song was continued. Joe Lynn Turner was getting back and show was lasted with Street Of Dreams. After light-shining song Joe Lynn Turner leaves stage and it sounded Deep Purple's Gettin' Tighter with perfect performance Glenn Hughes's bass and Tomas Broman's drums. Here I should mention that line-up was great. Thank you all guys for excellent play.

You Keep On Moving was ninth. It’s one more brilliant song. Joe Lynn Turner returns to the end of song and presents Glenn Hughes. Next song is Death Alley Driver and Joe Lynn Turner demonstrates to us brilliant voice possibilities and voice conditions. After this song he put on guitar and eleventh was Stormbringer. Duo was perfect. The answer for this song was Ride The Storm. After performance they took off guitars, left their instruments and waved to us - far away. But you can't fool us! We had known that it's just a trick. They return and encore is started.

Joe Lynn Turner offers public in stalls put on their feet because public on balcony already has vertical position and is waving their hands. Public from the stalls rush to orchestra pit and two songs Devil's Road and Spotlight Kid passed quickly as one. And at last the third encore tooooo-long-awaited song shoots - Burn. It was fifteenth song. It was fat and great point for the show. There was loud applause, shouts, whistles and exultation. We will never forget you, guys! We go to the show once more if you will visit us.

Setlist
All in all, the complete setlist for this show was:

1. Hold On
2. You Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll
3. I Surrender
4. Losing My Head
5. Alone I Breathe
6. Mistreated
7. Street Of Dreams
8. Gettin' Tighter
9. You Keep On Moving
10. Death Alley Driver
11. Stormbringer
12. Ride The Storm

Encore
13. Devil's Road
14. Spotlight Kid
15. Burn

Some fun
I am always amazed our rules working on shows. Why can’t I take photo as a souvenir? It everywhere has been written "Strictly prohibited video shooting and audio recording". I read somewhere that Ian Gillan considers that if person have paid for show that he can take a photo during concert. It’s obvious that can’t make acceptable gig’s phonograms from spectator’s seats for sale but it could be the great memories for fans. On this show I saw as so-called "security" prohibited to use palm-computer which belong young man. You can use cigarette lighter but you can’t use palm-computer. It’s great.

Joe Lynn Turner pronounces words "Thanks" and "I love you" in Russian without any accent, especially the first one. It’s really very impressive.

Glenn Hughes was dressed in blue shirt with deep-blue jeans, which had light-blue inserts. He was without hat and the first songs sang in dark glasses. Joe Lynn Turner was dress in black trousers and dark shirt. The blond, JJ Marsh was dressed in black suit, he is very handsome man. The hard worker, Tomas Broman was dressed in blue T-shirt with Great Britain flag. The long beard, Kjell Haakan Alexis Haraldsson was dressed in black shirt with light trousers.

Glenn Hughes was in very cheerful mood all show long. He is very serious on photos but very laughing on stage.

It’s very strange but there was no police around and inside theatre. No one frisked spectators in order to find glass bottles etc. It’s really strange.

Conclusion
I wish to fans keep on rocking and take pleasure from shows. Take it easy Europe!


• JAPANESE TOUR •

Kaoru Hoshino
Joe Lynn Turner Official Fan Site in Japan
"Loving You Endlessly"
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/jltfan/japan/

SENDAI-MACANA - Sunday, February 8th, 2004
HTP started the tour from 2 big cities of the Western part of Japan, Osaka to Nagoya. Then they played 2 shows in Tokyo and last they visited Sendai. Sendai, you may not have heard of it before, but it is one of big cities of the NorthEast part of Japan, and it's about 2 hours by Shinkansen-train from Tokyo.

We had chance to see the HTP shows in 2002, But in here Japan, there were so many fans who had been waiting for HTP again, and we were glad to know that they had returned to the stages here in Japan with the HTP2 album. Just GREAT!

This tour had same Japanese band members just like the 2002 HTP Japan tour. Akira Kajiyama on guitar, Yoshihiro Kudo on drums and Toshio Egawa on the keyboards. They are called "Tokyo- Mafia". You know them from the CD "Live in Tokyo", so I'm sure that their good ability is known all over the world. Also it was the 3rd time playing with JLT and GH this time. It seemed that "Tokyo- Mafia" fitted in HTP-team very nicely!

This HTP Japan tour 2004 had the same set list throughout all shows with the exception of the Sendai show. They did not play "Burn" in Sendai only. They did not play any from their recent solo albums. We enjoyed very much, many masterpieces from Rainbow and Deep Purple and HTP1 and we sure welcomed the songs from HTP2.

I went to Tokyo 2-days (6th and 7th Feb) and 8th Feb in Sendai. Shibuya-Quattro has 800 person capacity, the venue was fully occupied on the night of 7th Feb. All shows were the best show ever from the start 'till the end. But I think that the 7th show was the very best show in this tour. I could see that many JLT FC members and enthusiast HTP fans had gathered at near the stage. But also I could see so many excited people who were standing near the back wall of the concert hall. Their shouts were just like a storm! Seems also, our stars were really enjoying the show with smiles.

I was able to see the Sendai show in the center in the front row. I would like to write about 8th Feb - Sendai show.

SENDAI-MACANA is the most smallest hall on this Japan tour, it has only 250 person capacity. BUT this last-day of the tour, 8th Feb was a VERY HOT night! We could see our stars within only half a meter from them mic!

Sure the venue was fully occupied and I heard thunder-screaming by the audience before our HTP and usual "TOKYO-MAFIA" appeared on the stage! The show started with HTP2's speed tune Hold On and Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll from HTP1. People were going crazy with perfect duos from the start. In fact, I and some Japanese fans guessed the opening-tune as "Revelation", but my guess proved wrong, but it seemed that "Hold On" fits perfectly as the opening tune on this tour.

The next was Rainbow's famous song, Death Alley Driver, this song had been loved so much by Japanese fans, I heard the chorus from the audience! Next 2 songs were from HTP2, Losing My Head and Alone I Breathe, with JLT as side guitar. "Losing My Head" is one of my favorite songs from HTP2 and I was sure that I would hear it Live! I was so happy to sing this song with JLT and GH - they were standing and singing in front of me...they seemed so happy too.

Then JLT took a small break. The lead went to GH and AKIRA's guitar part - GH attacked us with him super tune, Mistreated. This song always shook me with his unchanged god voice.

Next the lead went to JLT with masterpiece of the RAINBOW in 1984, Street Of Dreams. Most of Japanese fans could sing this song in English, perfectly! So we loved so much this song. JLT's voice was so tender and powerful. When I listen this song live, I felt that he look me in the dream world of Rainbow's promotion video.

JLT took a break again, GH said to us, "Do you remember California Jam??", YES! We never forget it! GH dedicated the song to Tommy Bolin with next song, Gettin' Tighter. Deep Purple has many many masterpieces, we were very lucky to get this best selection with YOSHIHIRO's powerful drum solo. Also we can sing "You Keep On Moving, far away far away...." YES next song was You Keep On Moving. It seemed that GH enjoyed to hear the hamming from audience!

HTP went to JLT's RAINBOW again. Also we have never forget JLT's first RAINBOW tour in 1981 - the audience really got louder with I Surrender. Then they gave us last-song of the show from HTP1 Ride the Storm. Is this the end? NO ! We want more!!

We could take them back on the stage as soon as they had a small break. And we enjoyed 2 encore songs Devil's Road and Spotlight Kid.

This tour was the third time for Japanese fans. But the legendary TWO were sure overwhelmed by us ALL.

Now, the HTP Japan tour has ended...during past few years, we Japanese fans saw 4 times of GH & JLT shows. In 2000, JLT solo tour with GH, in 2001 HTP tour, 2002 VCR tour and this HTP 2004 tour. Luckily we can enjoy so many shows, and they gave us something different each time. But I'm sure this HTP tour 2004 is the very BEST show in the past few years. We had very best time with HTP.

Thank you very much our JLT and GH. I'm sure that this Europe tour has BIG success!

Saturday, February 7th, 2004 - Shibuya-Club Quatro, Tokyo

Courtesy: Tony Y Takano

It was the night!! They smoked! No No, they burnt down the whole house to the ground!!! It was the very best show ever from the beginning till the end (even amongst the shows I have ever seen).

The set list was the same as previous nights BUT! HTP was so hot tonight and they also loved the audience so much!! Glenn’s bass was like thunder roaring and Joe was singing like hurricane. Glenn attracted the whole audience by his super performance on Mistreated and the whole band was ignited.

I cannot have any other words to describe the show but I felt some sort of super chemical tonight. Glenn seemed to be very happy not only because his bass was fine today but the audience reacted to his every sing and move.

I can not forget about the gig tonight forever. HTP will land Sendai tomorrow to finish their Japan tour and the target will be locked on to Europe next. Beware. They are getting hotter and hotter!

2002

• EUROPEAN TOUR •

September 9th, 2002 - Västeras (near Stockholm), Prisma - Sweden

Courtesy: Sylvia Kadri/VLT - translated by Jan Bengtsson

Legendary rockers hit Sweden!

The Prisma was packed when the rock legends Glenn Hughes & Joe Lynn Turner gave their concert in Vasteras Monday night.

There was a success for the two exmembers of Deep Purple and their Swedish band who did a energic and dynamic show together in front of a standing and more than satisfied public. The musicians that Hughes and Turner performed with backed their idols good. (Idols because of that the singers Glenn and Joe haved been into bands like Phenomena, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen Band and Deep Purple).

The guitarist Jocke "JJ" Marsh can specificly be named because of his fine style of playing. This is the same guitarist that Glenn Hughes stole (Glenn's own words) at a Swedish wedding a couple of years ago where he himself was best man. That time Marsh played in the houseband! That's the way show business works sometimes!!

Anyway the both singers backup eachother real good.

Above all you could notice that they like to sing together and they had fun all the time on stage which made the show a hit!

During the concert (the only one in Sweden during a month long tour of Europe) they performed songs from the HTP album together with Deep Purple songs like Stormbringer, Highway Star and Burn (this one was extra estimated by the audience) and Mistreated. From the HTP album they performed Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll and Devil's Road among others. The surprises during the show were many during the sweaty concert. Most awesome was probably the energy and the tempo these rockers did put into from the start of this almost 2 hour concert. Regarding their age and hardliving rock'n'roll life (especially Glenn) the speed was extra joyable.

The duo gave it all, the band was so tight so all were pleased. In the song "Highway Star" (Deep Purple) the leadsinger, Joe Lynn Turner surprisingly played the second guitar part.

Prisma worked real good as a rockclub now when the chairs were gone. The soundmix could have been a bit better but the musicians were so good live that the spirit was on a high level and the crowd were dancing and singing.

The idols had a very relaxed attitude and communicated good with the crowd by throwing picks and glasses and shaking hands with the crowd from stage. Direct contact as it's called!! It's all about entertainers with a lot of routine.

If you have, like Glenn and Joe, performed in front of 300,000 viewers, comparing with 600 at Prisma this was a piece of cake! I was most impressed by Hughes/Turner's tremendous volume in their voices. There's still power in them, a couple of the biggest singers in rock history.

Courtesy: BC - Decibel

What did you expect?

A wonderful astonishing show! Real kickass rock'n'roll!! I must say that Glenn and Joe are the nicest guys I ever met during my years as a promotor.Credits to all the crew and supporting bands.

You're all gonna be part of a magic show.

Setlist @ Prisma - Vasteras, Sweden
Devils Road
I Surrender
Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll
Death Alley Driver
Seventh Star
Dark Days
Can't Stop The Flood
Jealous Lover
Mistreated
Stormbringer
Better Man
King of Dreams
Ride the Storm
Spotlight Kid

Encore:
Highway Star
Burn

September 6th, 2002 - Trondheim, Hell Blues Festival - Norway

Courtesy: Kramer

Thanks HTP for one of the best concerts I've been to in my life!

I can't believe how cool and good a singer Glenn Hughes is. Totally unbelievable! JLT was great too, but Glenn was the man, for me. He looked very cool too, now with long hair again, and some bad-ass sunglasses. Looked totally mean, and was jumping and running around like a 16 year old, all the time. I never thought he would be such a great front-man, I expected more like a humble, slow 50 year old that you wouldn't notice if you didn't know who he was, but boy was I wrong. This guy acted like he was the master of the world! JLT looked like a really nice, humble guy though, that just seemed to be thankful for the support from their fans.

Their set-list was fantastic, a perfect mix of old and new, and it was really nice to hear songs like Seventh Star, which was totally unexpected. I absolutely love the new songs they played, Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll and Devil's Road, possibly the best songs they played that night.

The last song they played was Highway Star, a very nice version. They probably would have played "Burn" too, if it hadn't been for the 1 hour delay. I just hope they'll return next year or something, and play it then.

What was really fun was to hear Glenn sing Mistreated for the first time, he did a great job "emulating" Coverdale. Never been a huge fan of this song, but as long as Glenn has had something to do with it, I've always found something to love about it, so I think his new version is better than Dio's or Coverdale's.

Their new Swedish band did a great job backing up Hughes & Turner, but couldn't hear any difference between them and the band that played on the "HTP - Live in Tokyo" CD I bought the same night, which is, maybe, the best Purple related live album since "Made in Japan"!

I can't do anything but thank them for doing such a wonderful job. I'm so glad these two people are working together, and I hope they continue this way, because they totally kick ass, and sound better than ever!

A DVD with this band would be nice! *drools*

Setlist/Review from Hell!

Courtesy: Krister Olsen

The Setlist:
Devil's Road
I Surrender
Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll
Death Alley Driver
Stormbringer
Dark Days
Seventh Star
Mistreated
Can't Stop The Flood
King of Dreams
Better Man
Ride The Storm
Spotlight Kid
Highway Star

What a night in Hell! Hughes, Turner and Dio at the same stage, though not at the same time as someone was hoping! As all of you, I claim to be the hugest Hughes-fan walking on earth. This was my first time seeing him live, and he didn't disappoint me. There was only one "surprise" at the gig: Seventh Star!

Hughes was in good shape, and it was obvious that he and the band was having a good time in Hell. Hughes even kissed Turner on his mouth. The guys are really in love!!

As this was the opener of the European tour, I am sure the band will be even tighter. I don't know if it was my position on the floor, but the sound was terrible! The bass and drums were to loud, and some times it was difficult to hear the Hammond and also Joakim's solos. On top of that the vocals often came out as screaming through the loudspeakers. Because of the sound quality it was a big advantage to know the songs. I knew them, so I had a great time.

The Hughes-sequence with Seventh Star, Mistreated and Can't Stop The Flood was great. The Iommi-song was very tight, and I hope it will be recorded and put on disc. Better Man, Spotlight Kid and Highway Star were also highlights of the concert. If it had not been for the one hour delay, and the fact that Dio was waiting backstage, I am sure HTP would have played one more song for the Norwegians. The audience was ecstatic and would not stop crying "we want more".

But they got more! Dio. Ronnie, Jimmy and the band were also great. They had much better sound than HTP, but of course they could not match our guys!


• JAPANESE TOUR •

Kaoru Hoshino
Joe Lynn Turner Official Fan Site in Japan
"Loving You Endlessly"
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/jltfan/japan/

(additional thanks to Tony Takano)

May 19th, 2002 - Shibuya Quatro - Tokyo
It has been 5 years since Joe Lynn Turner did his tour all over Japan in 1997 KANKAWA tour. HTP started the tour from a southern city Fukuoka this time and headed north to Tokyo visiting Hiroshima, Nagoya, Osaka, Nagano on the way. The most frequently visited cities by foreign artists are Tokyo and Osaka, therefore, for the fans who are living away from such big cities, the HTP Japanese tour was such a big bonus of music. The concept HTP originally started from the previous Holy Man Tour by JLT with guest singer/bassist Glenn Hughes. Both JLT and Glenn immediately agreed after the show to set up a band together and to make a record. Finally, they have returned to the stages in Japan as HTP!

As you can imagine, the tour tickets sold quite well all over Japan. The date in Tokyo May 19th, sold out completely. The venue was fully occupied and was very hot by the heat from the audience with much anticipation of HTP. When the legendary TWO appeared on the stage, they were welcomed by thunderous applause. JLT was wearing dark black sunglasses and it made him look quite COOL. Glenn was dressed very FUNKY, also in sunglasses.

The 2 songs to kick off the show were in the same order as on the HTP album, Devil's Road, and Can't Stop Rock'n'Roll which featured much of the long awaited miracle duo of Hughes and Turner. Death Alley Driver, I Surrender, were the super famous songs that followed and the excited audience's singing got louder and louder together. Stormbringer featured JLT on guitar. We thought that we were really lucky that we could enjoy this masterpiece from DP's classic era.

Then, JLT lead into his set of solo songs as the first performance with the band, HTP. He started with Challenge Them All, a tune used for a TV commercial of the famous Japanese beer and followed that up with Dark Days from JLT's solo album SLAM. Now the lead transferred to Glenn. Glenn hits the audience first with Mistreated. JLT supports Glenn on guitar and background vocals. Then JLT took a short break. And No Stranger To Love the famous tune co-created with Tony Iommi was also warmly welcomed again especially because it was featured in the previous tour. When Glenn did Can't Stop The Flood, he invited the audience to sing the bridge part of this song. I heard some excited fans screaming at him saying "Voice of God!!" Fully agreed!

Some highlights of HTP tour this time? JLT & Akira's twin guitar work, dueling harmonies from GH & JLT but eventually I realized that background vocals for each other's lead singing were also one of the main features of the band, HTP. Hughes supported JLT's lead and vice versa. When HTP did Better Man (which is my favorite from HTP album), the harmony was very soulful and JLT was again playing the guitar. As the show entered it's last half, Ride The Storm hit the audience and then, came some slow tempo songs such as King Of Dreams. As JLT was singing this song, he looked into the eyes of each of the members of the audience which made me think that he will always be a singer who does care about lyrics very much.

JLT carried on with Street of Dreams, one of the most popular Rainbow songs. The Japanese fans sang along with JLT in accurate English !! This shows how the fans do love this song. After that, JLT and Glenn pointed out a SPOTLIGHT on the ceiling. Spotlight Kid made the audience fully sweaty. We were jumping, shouting all around !! When we were almost exhausted to fall down, the MC ended the show. The 5 from HTP joined hands, bowed and left the stage. After some wild noise from audience requesting an encore, they appeared on stage again and with Burn The audience really got louder and nobody could listen to the music but the audience singing !! It was so loud, Burrrrrrrrrrrrn !! and then Highway Star! featuring Glenn, JLT, and Akira on guitar. The last surprise of the night was JLT's GUITAR SOLO on this song!!

The long and super show ended but some people did not leave expecting another encore. They were singing an unplugged "amateur" version of Smoke On The Water. It was very funny. Though we did not wish the show to end, 2 hours was very long compared to other rock shows in Japan these days. It was a condensed and good length, I think. We believe that the show is "to be continued" We look forward to seeing HTP again next year!!

I had a chance to greet with GH!!! He was very conscientious and shook my hand with a gentle smile. Then he said to me "Pleasure to meet you AGAIN" GH remember me! I was very very happy to know his kindly personality.

We believe that the show is "to be continued". We will see you HTP again next year!! At same time, I wish all the GH fan and every rock'n'roll music fan in the world to enjoy this great show!