Location: Salzburg / Rockhouse / Austria
Date: 09/16/2015
Salzburg, the picturesque Austrian city best known for Mozart’s legacy, its old baroque center and the nearby salt mine, played host to Glenn ‘the Voice of Rock’ Hughes, the legendary singer/bassist and former member of a whole string of great (some of them legendary) rock bands like Trapeze, Deep Purple, Hughes/Thrall, Black Sabbath, Hughes Turner Project and Black Country Communion. After a long break from his solo career thanks to his work with Black Country Communion, Glenn has finally returned to the road this year with a solo tour across Europe. The second date of that tour was Glenn’s show at Salzburg’s Rockhouse, where it looked before the gig even started like there’d be a lot more people in the crowd, though maybe it was better this way, given the poor ventilation and overheated room, which did eventually get better as the night went on.
Getting the vibe going early as the opening act was a trio of rowdy young Americans led by guitarist/singer Jared James Nichols, whose solid mix of swaggering blues rock, funk and hard rock won over most of the crowd, which was otherwise impatiently waiting for Glenn Hughes to show up. Nichols and his two buddies, bassist Erik Sandin and drummer Dennis Holm, wrapped up their set with a cover of Mountain’s »Mississippi Queen«, which, as expected, went down incredibly well with most of the audience. The hot-blooded trio, who make no secret of their many Whitesnake influences in their musical vocabulary (you can hear it in the somewhat lightweight ‘baby, you are all mine’ lyrics too), made a fitting choice for the opener, and quite a few people probably went to meet the band after the show and happily picked up their latest record.
The master of countless vocal acrobatics didn’t keep anyone waiting long: despite moving to the US in the mid-eighties, he’s somehow held on to that proverbial English punctuality. He marched onstage alongside guitar virtuoso Doug Aldrich (ex-Whitesnake, Dio), whom he recently ‘stole’ from Whitesnake, away from his old buddy David Coverdale, and Swedish drummer Pontus Engborg, who has worked with Hughes since 2010. Glenn sent the crowd into instant delirium and got down to business with a superb version of the Deep Purple energy catalyst »Stormbringer«, which is still an ideal opener. Glenn’s rich history with a variety of mostly cult bands casts a long shadow and often pulls attention away from his thrilling and no less interesting solo career, so before every show he has to find the right balance between the legacy of his earlier bands and his solo material. The successful revival of the solo stuff kicked off with a spirited take on the punchy »Orion«, from the album »Soul Mover« (2005), one of Glenn’s favorite solo records, where he likes to bring up his collaboration with drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chilli Peppers).
The charismatic singer/bassist didn’t forget his musical beginnings either, so we got to enjoy not one but two Trapeze classics this evening: »Way Back To The Bone« from the album »You Are the Music…We’re Just the Band« (1972), where Aldrich took some extra time for daring solo flights, and »Touch My Life« from the album »Medusa« (1970). A minor surprise in terms of song choice was the Hughes/Thrall track »First Step Of Love«, which was definitely one of the highlights of the night. The same goes for the often overlooked Deep Purple classic »Sail Away« from the album »Burn« (1974), which is hard to imagine without Coverdale’s vocals, but Glenn pulled off a highly successful and interesting vocal interpretation, something even the most hardcore Deep Purple Mark III purists had to admit.
That was followed by probably the biggest surprise of the whole evening: Glenn’s trio decided to play the Whitesnake song »Good To Be Bad« from the album of the same name (not the most successful record), which Hughes wrote together with his old pal Coverdale and which Aldrich has had down cold for years. Of course, it came out quite a bit better than the original. Glenn repeatedly bowed to his friend and newest musical partner, who was practically unstoppable on guitar again this time, as he proved with an impressive solo spot that he kicked off right after »Good To Be Bad« ended. Even though Mr. Hughes, who has lately been hiding the aches of age behind sunglasses, a perm and clothes straight out of the psychedelic sixties, is already past sixty, his voice is still in unbelievably good shape. He kept surprising with wildly daring vocal improvisations, the peak of which was surely an outstanding version of the Deep Purple drama »Mistreated«, where, on top of the traditionally drawn-out ending, he added some truly impressive soul flourishes that were on the level of a soul diva (not necessarily a black one).
Next came another fan-favorite solo track, »Can’t Stop The Flood« from the album »Building the Machine« (2001), which got a huge response from the crowd. Then came an absolutely overlong Engborg drum solo that had nothing breathtaking about it, and during which quite a few people stepped out of the venue for a while. Still, the atmosphere below the stage got fully charged again with the Black Country Communion song »One Last Soul«, after which Mr. Hughes rounded out his obsession with souls with the beloved solo standard »Soul Mover«, closing the main part of the show in style and earning thunderous ovations from his loyal followers.
The old fox, who is still pretty nimble on bass even while pulling off demanding vocal feats, didn’t keep the crowd waiting too long for the encore, in which he played the Black Country Communion anthem »Black Country«, followed by the (quietly expected) Deep Purple burner »Burn«, with which the master’s trio wrapped up the evening with the crowd at Salzburg’s Rockhouse in explosive fashion. Glenn’s mission of chasing down the immortal souls of his funk, blues and soul idols was accomplished, and the mostly very happy audience rewarded his traditional, kitschy farewell with a roaring round of applause. The former cocaine addict, who after a long fight with drugs finally won in the mid-nineties and went through an esoterically spiced ‘spiritual rebirth’, didn’t skimp on fake smiles and somewhat cheesy ‘old American school’ speeches between songs, in which he declared himself a hippie (bizarre), but thanks to the phenomenal show, all is (once again) completely forgiven.
In Salzburg, Glenn Hughes proved in impressive fashion that the years haven’t gotten anywhere near his vocal cords and that his big soul remains firmly devoted to funk, blues and classic rock. Some of us missed keyboards during certain songs, like »Stormbringer« and »First Step Of Love«, where synthesizers are part of the original and could have enriched an already brilliant sonic collage and quality sound system, but the rest of the performances convinced us not to ‘make a mountain out of a molehill’. Hanging out with Glenn was unforgettable this time too, and most of us were tempted to catch Hughes’s show in Vienna three days later, but in the end a thoroughly pragmatic decision won out, of course in anticipation of another meeting at a gig sometime in the not-so-distant future.
author: Peter Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. Stormbringer
2. Orion
3. Way Back To The Bone
4. First Step Of Love
5. Touch My Life
6. Sail Away
7. Good To Be Bad
8. Mistreated
9. Can’t Stop The Flood
10. One Last Soul
11. Soul Mover
—encore—
12. Black Country
13. Burn
