Deep Purple / Blue Öyster Cult
By Tim Bugbee
Monday. Sep 17, 3:49 PM
live at Bank of America Pavilion (Boston, MA) July 31st, 2007.

Nearly 30 years ago, 1970s metalheads got a treat of a double bill with the "Black and Blue" tour, teaming a Ronnie James Dio-fronted Black Sabbath with the thinking man's metal band, Blue Öyster Cult. Fast forward 27 years, and the black's gone purple… a deep shade of purple. Scanning the audience, one would surmise there's a decent percentage of attendees who were there the first time. If dewy-eyed nostalgia seems inevitable tonight, at least both bands put out a great effort to reel in the years. Deep Purple have kept the core lineup, and therefore the sound, which made them such a force. Blasting straight out of the gates with a rollicking version of Machine Head's "Pictures of Home," Roger Glover and Ian Paice locked into a thundering cloud of dust, and a barefoot Ian Gillan hit all the right notes. Ritchie Blackmore's shoes have been filled more than amply by ex-Dixie Dregs guitarist Steve Morse, who consistently tops the gear head guitar magazine reader polls as best in his field. Thankfully, he didn't overplay, but kept in the game plan Blackmore had originally mapped out; the only nod to arena rock-style wanking was "Well Dressed Guitar," which then segued into a classic hits “riff-o-rama” medley, where bits of "Walk This Way," "Heartbreaker," "Free Ride," and "Sweet Home Alabama" rang out like a Saturday afternoon at Guitar Center.

Jon Lord's replacement Don Airey took a similar turn with his spotlight solo. Veering from a Walter Carlos-like soundscape into Mozart was a bit pretentious, and was the Star Wars theme really necessary? After that peacock-like preening, more rock was delivered. Of course, we got the requisite "Smoke on the Water," and also totally convincing turns of "My Woman From Tokyo" and "Highway Star" with Gillan sounding pretty damn great. His vaunted five-octave range has lost a bit of the top end, but far less than is humanly reasonable. He really still went after and got the high notes on those two songs. "Lazy" was a slow burner stretched out in a manner to befit its name, and even the band's MTV-fuelled renaissance of the 1980s was visited with "Knocking At Your Back Door," a song which Gillan remarked that it always made his eyes water. Can't say it had that effect on mine, but closer "Hush" probably did the trick for a lot of the crowd.

Blue Öyster Cult took to the stage first, and after the Bouchard brothers rhythm section left years ago, are now reduced to the core of Eric Bloom and Donald Roeser (aka Buck Dharma): no word of what other founding member Allen Lanier is up to. This band has long held more than a foot outside the typical hard rock/metal boundaries, with connections and collaborations including the likes of literary badboy/music critic Richard Meltzer, UK fantasy writer Michael Moorcock, and Patti Smith. Tonight they kept it a bit more mundane, but sagely led off with a searing version of "This Ain't the Summer of Love": two decades ago, when this song was originally written, hasn't changed the truths carried 40 years on. A rare slice of the second LP Tyranny and Mutation was served up next in "OD'd on Life Itself," and I secretly began to hope that further obscurities like "Flaming Telepaths" or "Golden Age of Leather" would be written on their set list. Alas, in the 60-minute allotment given, that hope faded rather quickly, but Dharma's prodigious soloing talents were, as always, a joy to behold, carrying an otherwise tepid "Shooting Shark" and the riff monster that is "Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll." A testimony to Buck's abilities was clearly evident on his melancholy "Last Days of May," a song about a drug deal gone bad. Other guitarist (and Joey Fatone look-alike) Richie Castellano took the first leg and it sounded pretty good until Buck stepped up. After unleashing yet another of his trademark melodic and inventive solos, comparing Richie's effort was akin to doodling with crayons over the Mona Lisa. Seriously, Roeser's easily the most underrated electric guitar player alive, and has been one of my favorites since I first heard the band 30 years ago.

Eric Bloom added local flavor to the show by claiming he heard some noises ("Is that Godzilla? Coming from the Big Dig?") and suddenly another dinosaur appeared: the bass and then drum solo. I'd gone over 20 years without encountering this John Bonham-esque self-indulgence, and tonight I got two servings (Paice also got his turn in the Deep Purple set). The set closed in a predictable way with their most well-known song "(Don't Fear) the Reaper," one which has gained awareness with a new generation via the Saturday Night Live skit featuring Will Ferrell. This pop culture reference was not lost on Bloom, as he pantomimed the cowbell playing at the start of the song, and their tour merch included a shirt emblazoned with a Möre Cöwbell logo. Whatever pays the bills these days.
www.deeppurple.com.au
www.blueoystercult.com

Tim Bugbee

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