Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Salzburg / Rockhouse / Austria
Concert date: 16.09.2015
Attendance: 600
Ticket price: €25.00 (advance) / €29.00 (day of the show)
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 numerous great (and some downright legendary) rock bands such as Trapeze, Deep Purple, Hughes/Thrall, Black Sabbath, Hughes Turner Project and Black Country Communion. After a lengthy break from his solo career because of his work with Black Country Communion, Glenn has finally returned to the road this year with a solo tour of Europe. The second date of that tour was his show at the Rockhouse concert venue in Salzburg, where even before the gig kicked off it looked like there would be a lot more people in attendance, though maybe that was just the poor ventilation and overheated interior, which did eventually improve, making it feel even more packed.
Getting the mood up early was the job of the opening act, three rowdy young Americans led by guitarist/singer Jared James Nichols, who delighted most of the crowd, impatiently waiting for Glenn Hughes to appear, with their solid blend of swaggering blues rock, funk and hard rock. Nichols and his two sidekicks, bassist Erik Sandin and drummer Dennis Holm, closed their set with a cover of Mountain’s »Mississippi Queen«, which, as expected, got an extremely positive response from most of the audience. The hot-blooded trio, who make no secret of their many Whitesnake influences in their musical vocabulary, which you can also hear in the somewhat shallow ‘baby, you are all mine’ lyrics, were a fitting choice for an opener, and quite a few people probably met the band members after the show and happily bought their latest record.
The master of countless vocal acrobatics didn’t keep us waiting long, since, despite moving to the US in the mid-eighties, he has somehow still held on to proverbial English punctuality. He strutted onstage in the company of guitar virtuoso Doug Aldrich (ex-Whitesnake, Dio), whom he recently ‘stole’ from Whitesnake, from his old buddy David Coverdale, and Swedish drummer Pontus Engborg, who has been working with Hughes since 2010. Glenn sent the crowd into instant delirium and got down to business with a superb rendition of the Deep Purple energy catalyst »Stormbringer«, which is still an ideal opening pick. Glenn’s rich track record with various, mostly cult bands casts a long shadow and often pulls attention away from his otherwise inspiring 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 work began 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 that night, »Way Back To The Bone« from the album »You Are the Music…We’re Just the Band« (1972), where Aldrich took a bit more time for some daring solo exploits, 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 evening. 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 that even the most hardcore Deep Purple Mark III purists had to admit was a winner.
That was followed by probably the biggest surprise of the whole night, as Glenn’s trio decided to play the Whitesnake song »Good To Be Bad« from the not-so-great album of the same name, which Hughes wrote together with his old buddy Coverdale and which Aldrich has had down cold for years. Naturally, it came off a lot better than the original. Glenn repeatedly bowed to his friend and newest musical partner, who was once again practically unstoppable on guitar, as he confirmed with an impressive solo spot that he launched right after »Good To Be Bad« ended. Even though Mr. Hughes, who has lately been hiding his age behind sunglasses, a permanent hairdo and clothes straight out of the psychedelic sixties, has already passed the age of sixty, his voice still holds up unbelievably well. He repeatedly surprised with wildly daring vocal improvisations, the peak of which was surely the outstanding version of the Deep Purple drama »Mistreated«, where, on top of the traditionally drawn-out ending, he added some seriously impressive soul flourishes on the level of a soul diva (not necessarily a black one).
Next came another favorite from his solo catalog, »Can’t Stop The Flood« from the album »Building the Machine« (2001), which got a fantastic response from the crowd, followed by an absolutely overlong drum solo from Engborg, which had nothing breathtaking in it and during which quite a few people temporarily left the venue. Still, the atmosphere in front of the stage got fully charged again with the Black Country Communion track »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 superb style and earning a storm of ovations from his loyal followers.
The old fox, who is still pretty nimble on the 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 firestarter »Burn«, with which the master’s trio wrapped up their time with the Salzburg Rockhouse crowd in explosive fashion. Glenn’s mission of chasing the immortal souls of his funk, blues and soul idols was accomplished, and the mostly very satisfied audience rewarded his traditional, cheesy farewell salute with thunderous applause. The former cocaine addict, who after a long battle with drugs finally won out in the mid-nineties and went through a spiritual-tinged ‘spiritual rebirth’, didn’t skimp on fake smiles and somewhat pathetic ‘old American school’ speeches between songs, in which he declared himself a hippie (bizarre), but thanks to the phenomenal show, everything is (once again) completely forgiven.
Glenn Hughes proved in Salzburg, in impressive fashion, that the years haven’t caught up with his vocal cords one bit, and that his big soul remains unshakably devoted to funk, blues and classic rock. A few of us missed keyboards during certain songs, like »Stormbringer« and »First Step Of Love«, where synthesizers are part of the original arrangement, something that could have enriched an already brilliant sonic collage and quality sound system, but the rest of the set convinced us not to ‘make a mountain out of a molehill’. Hanging out with Glenn was unforgettable once again, and most of us were tempted to catch Hughes’s show in Vienna three days later, but in the end the completely pragmatic decision won out, in anticipation of the next gig, sometime in the not-so-distant future.
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
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