BLACKMORE's
NIGHT - Westbury Fair, Long Island
19
September 2003 -
By Brian Stephen
Well, well, well…..What a week of chaos it was leading up to the long
awaited night of Sept 19th at Westbury Music Fair. All week long it was
predicted that Hurricane Isabel would wreak havoc on my parade and drown
most of Long Island, as is usually the case when a hurricane hits the East
Coast. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve fallen victim to a
Blackmore cancellation, only this one would have been mother natures fault
for a change. The Storm hit late Thursday night and lasted into Friday morning.
Alas, as Friday afternoon approached, the storm clouds opened up, the sun
shone through and the remaining winds blew all the water away. Let the show
go on.
I left work at my normal time that afternoon at 3:30 pm (just after tea
time but well before supper) and started my trek out to Long Island. My
biggest obstacle and major concern would be that I work west of Long Island,
in New Jersey, and right smack in the middle between me and the venue is
the traffic nightmare known as New York City. You never know just how high
on the scale the Douche-bag Drivers Index (DDI) will be and I must prepare
for the worst just in case the “crash test dummies” are out
honing their skills. Friday nights the DDI is especially high (usually a
DDI of 10+) and gets my annoyance meter pinning in the red zone. Luckily
for me the DDI was low (about a 6 on a scale of 1-10) and I made it to the
venue by 5:00 pm. Now what to do? Of course I stopped for some take out
beverage on my way and was well prepared for some down time. When I arrived
I took a walk around the venue and ended up at the backstage entrance where
Ritchie and Candice had just arrived as well. It seemed like a good place
to hang my 12-pack and watch the sound equipment be unloaded and mingle
with a few other early birds. From my makeshift pub I had some nice conversations
with Ritchies personal assistant Richard Michaels and Carole Stevens, who
obliged my new found friend in Melissa by taking her copy of New Witch magazine
and having RB and CN autograph their picture on the cover. 3 hours until
show time went by very quickly thanks to Carole, Richard and Melissa.
Upon arrival into the lobby, I was once again met by Richard Michaels, who
had a nice surprise for me in the form of even better seats than I had bargained
for when I bought seats in the special “Rapin and Pillagin”
outfit section (Section C). Seems there was some space between the stage
and the front rows, so they set up some folding chairs directly in front
of the stage and invited some of those dressed for the occasion to better
seating arrangements.
Section C, one of those set aside for preferential seating, had obstructed
views and this apparently, was one way to correct the situation. There were
a lot of familiar faces there that night and I duly acknowledged all of
them, including Wayne and his wife Elaina, whom I had met at the Holiday
Jam of 2001 and also the infamous Renaissance Pizza Man, Henry of Patchogue
fame.
Once inside the venue and seated, the mood was enhanced by a pair of Pipers
who roamed the hall and enchanted the eager crowd with a few tunes, including
the Clock Ticks On theme. They also joined the band for the BN version of
CTO, which takes on a whole new ambience with the Bag Pipes and Ritchie
on the Hurdy Gurdy. Being of heavy Scotch (wait a minute…that’s
a bloody bottle of whiskey isn’t it? ) Scottish descent, I love a
good Piper (or two).
First band up was a local recording band called Wynfall, whom Blackmores
Night seemed to have picked up at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. They
were a three piece heavy on the Celtic side of life with a very Jethro Tull
voice. Wynfall is quite enjoyable with an Ian Anderson sound alike on the
Lute and vocals and a husband and wife team, the wife on the Cello (wife)
and her multi-instrumentalist husband on various woodwinds. If Ritchie ever
needs another multi-talented flautist, he need look no further than the
Wynfall (Maybe they should have asked the Cellist to join in on GOAR).
A brief intermission, back to the parking lot for my camera and on to the
main attraction:
Ritchie opening with the now very familiar syth’d, sliding intro to
Way To Mandalay, leading the way to Cartouche. Right from the start, even
though there were many Deep Purple and Rainbow shirts around, it was evident
this crowd was here to enjoy the majesty of Blackmores Night. The stomping
and clapping continued throughout most of the evening much to the bands
delight. The audience was also mindful enough to give credit where credit
is due with plenty of in-song applauding as in the case where Candice pours
her heart and soul into Diamonds and Rust, truly making the song her own.
The Sisters of The Moon applying some very effective vocals by taking over
Ritchies beautiful slide runs from the studio version. Lord Marnen adding
the “Smoke” riff to his solo spot didn’t go unnoticed
either. At one point an over anxious fan yelled out “You’re
the best Ritchie”, to which I had to be a cheeky bugger and retaliate
with “Ian Gillan, is that you?”, to which Candice responded
by saying she didn’t think Gillan would be attending any BN show anytime
soon.
The one thing I did miss about this show was some of Ritchies extended acoustic/Flamenco
doodling between songs. But, it dawned on me that it has always been his
prowess that would distract me from what I became enthralled with during
this particular performance. I sat there amazed at the quality of music
that comes from Ritchie these days. I was thinking about a conversation
with Carole two years ago when she went on about how it is all Ritchie who
is responsible for such wonderful music. The compositions, arrangements
and melodies that make it so easy for Candice to write lyrics and melodies
to. I sat there paying more attention to the compositional makeup of the
songs rather than being so focused on his guitar playing and was even more
amazed that this “Man In Tights” up on the stage has these incredible
arrangements in his head. He seemed to let the songs do the talking rather
than allowing his incredible, unmatched, guitar playing overshadow the whole
affair. It made me think of how, when with either DP or Rainbow, all of
the compositions are guitar driven and it's up to the rest of the band to
follow along and that’s how the tunes had always come together. Now
that he is in complete control, it just blows my mind to see what the man
is capable of when he puts the guitar on the backburner and concentrates
on the song as a whole. The guitar is used to complement and enhance the
tunes rather than drive them. This is something special in Ritchie Blackmore
that most instrumentalists cannot get past, and that being their focus does
not extend past their own instrumental limitations. With Ritchie Blackmore,
he is now looking at the whole picture and not just driving his guitar while
expecting the rest to follow.
Of course Ritchies sense of humor was once again in fine form when, during
the middle section of Minstrel Hall, Squire Malcolm got a bit carried away
with the tambourine while Ritchie is waiting to begin the main melody again.
Ritchie stops, does a double take at the Squire, gets ready to begin again,
then turns around to ask if he’s sure that it’s OK to continue.
It’s kinda funny to watch Ritchie between songs leaf through his notebook
to decide which song to play next as the band eagerly awaits the call. At
one point, he seemed a little confused on where to go from there and the
crowd tried to help him along with many requests, including one for Mistreated.
I think RB heard all of these and decided to break into Avalon just to spite
everyone. Not a bad choice though. You won’t hear any complaints of
stagnant setlists at this end of the Purple spectrum. Of course his Strat
solos just go to prove that he and guitar are one. It was nice to see him
change over to the very expensive Fender Custom Shop Strat. I was beginning
to wonder if this guitar, which I paid dearly for, was not exactly what
he had wanted in a guitar since I have never seen him play that model before.
Judging from the studio records though, it sounds as though he has used
it to great effect there.
Candice is a great entertainer as well. She is of course very jovial, pleasant
and sings like a dream. As I said earlier, she pours everything she has
into these songs and I have never heard a bum note or forgotten lyric, helping
me to realize that she really lives within her lyrics. I for one, am content
to ride the Blackmores Night train for as long as it lasts. With performances
like this, who wouldn’t. It was truly worth the stress of the The
Storm.
Setlist in not necessarily in order
Cartouche
Play Minstrel Play
Minstrel Hall
Under A Violet Moon
Diamonds and Rust
Avalon
Soldier of Fortune
16th Century Greensleevs
Mr Peagrams Morris and Sword
Past Times With Good Company
Durch Den Wald Bachaus
Rennaisance Faire
I Still Remember
Clock Ticks On (lengthy Hurdy Gurdy intro by RB)
Village in The Sand (with Candice in the audience urging people to take
the mic for the Na-na-nas)
encores:
Ghost Og A Rose
All For One
Review By Brian Stephen:
