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REVIEW: GLENN HUGHES ‘BURN’ 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR – CROXTON BANDROOM

GLENN HUGHES – THE CROXTON BANDROOM– 12.10.2024
Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: Jason Rosewarne.

Many of us have grown up listening to the iconic English band Deep Purple and for those longtime fans in attendance tonight, we were in for something very special. The legendary Glenn Hughes rocked The Croxton with some great old school hard rock and blues, presenting a very special 50th Anniversary celebration of Deep Purple’s classic album ‘Burn’.

My first introduction to Deep Purple was in the mid to late 70s when I was a young kid visiting my cousins. My cousin Terry was an obsessive die-hard Deep Purple fan and his bedroom was covered with Deep Purple posters on the walls along with other memorabilia. I recall Terry had a large purple satin Deep Purple banner he had bought from the 1971 Deep Purple show he attended at Festival Hall in Melbourne. Manfred Mann and Free were also on that bill. Whenever I hear Deep Purple, it always takes me back to my youth and reminds me of my cuz.

Glenn Hughes is well-known as the bass player and one of the lead vocalists for Deep Purple on a number of their albums during 1973-1976 known as the Mark III era of Deep Purple. On the 1974 Burn album, Glenn played bass and shared joint lead vocals with David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (Keys) and Ian Paice (drums).

This album was released on 15 February 1974 and has been played to death over the past 5 decades, but the pure strength and style of the music has made this album remain prominent and relevant today. An incredible achievement well worth celebrating and tonight the album was showcased magnificently by Glenn and his incredible band.

On this 2024 Burn tour, Glenn has some wonderfully skilled musicians onboard- Soren Andersen (lead guitar), Mike Mangan (keyboard) and Ash Sheehan (drums). Soren and Mike also provide backing vocals.

Soren Andersen is a well-respected guitarist from Denmark and when he walked out on stage the crowd erupted. Soren is a gun guitarist, smiles the whole time he plays and you can see just how much he thoroughly loves doing what he does. Soren has played with many legendary artists such as: Mike Tramp (White Lion), Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow), Marco Mendoza & Tommy Aldridge (Whitesnake/Thin Lizzy), Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Eric Martin & Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big). Soren also was been part of super group The Dead Daisies.

Mike Mangan is a keyboard player, Hammond specialist from Los Angeles who also plays with The Cult and Gilby Clarke. The Burn album is heavily influenced with keys. Mike stayed true to Deep Purple’s signature keyboard sound, which sets it apart from all other bands, blending classical, blues and jazz styles. Never have I seen a keyboardist pound his instrument, playing percussively with his left hand whilst, with his right, continuing to trade licks with the guitarists. It was mesmerising.

Ash Sheehan on drums is from Birmingham, UK and has played drums in the Dead Sea Skulls and The Twang. Ash has a ZZ Top beard and like Ian Paice, he is a left-handed drummer. Ash played an impressive 10-minute, high energy drum solo that would give the Energiser Bunny a run for his money. During this solo he entertained the audience with his own brand of drumming, smashing and squeezing every drop of sound and response from each piece of his drum kit including the cowbell. Ash was twirling the drumsticks with finesse, tucking the drumstick under his arm and even sticking a drumstick up his nose without missing a beat.

Tonight they opened the show with STORMBRINGER from Deep Purple’s 1974 album of the same name. On the album, David Coverdale was the lead vocalist on this song but tonight Glenn Hughes made it his own and delivered this great intro to get the crowd pumped up and full of exhilaration and excitement.

The stage backdrop was the promotional banner with no theatrical videos. Just a straight up rock ‘n’ roll show.

The next four songs were all taken from the 1974 Burn album and included some extended instrumentals. One of the songs seemed to go for 45-minutes and was like an instrumental symphony with its four individual movements. This showcased each member’s skilled musicianship, almost putting the audience in a trance with its fast, slow and mid-tempo grooves.

MIGHT JUST TAKE YOUR LIFE – This song highlighted Glenn’s incredible vocal range, pitch and tone quality along with Soren and Mike providing strong backing vocals. Great guitar work and the song is even a bit funky at times.

SAIL AWAY – had Glenn strumming some heavy bass grooves opening with the lyrics:

If you’re driftin’ on an empty ocean, with no wind to fill your sail
The future, your horizon, it’s like searching for the Holy Grail

The crowd joined in and sang along with the chorus –
‘Sail away tomorrow, sailing far away, to find it, steal, or borrow, I’ll be there someday’.

YOU FOOL NO ONE – this had a classic 70s hard rock sound with beautiful harmonies, a guitar solo by Soren and wonderful drumming by Ash.

MISTREATED – this was one of the crowd’s favourite songs of the evening and is one of my favourite Deep Purple songs. Hearing it live gave me goosebumps. Glenn’s powerful, soulful and versatile vocals are in a league of his own. For a guy who is 73 years of age, there are no signs of his voice deteriorating. Maybe this comes down to how active Glenn has been over the past 50-plus years with all the music ventures he has been involved in – Trapeze, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, California Breed, Black Country Communion, The Dead Daisies just to name a few along with his solo work.

Throughout the night, Glenn kept pointing to members of the crowd and tapping on his heart showing his love, respect and appreciation to his fans and blowing kisses to the girls. You can see Glenn is a very spiritual, hippy kinda guy with his mannerisms, classic ‘70’s fashion, beads and various stories and discussions he shared with the crowd tonight.

Glenn made a special mention tonight about his dear friend, David Coverdale and his current health battles and wished him well.

To find out more about Glenn’s musical journey, Australian Musician’s Greg Phillips recently interviewed Glenn leading up to this Australian Tour

The guy in front of me knew every word to every song and sung with gusto as he fist-punched the air and rocked out harder than anyone else around us. I just love watching punters ooze with enjoyment for the music that clearly means so much to them and has been with them throughout their lives. The incredible musicianship and Instrumentation in Mistreated was second to none as they delivered an incredible, extended version of this song.

The band then played two songs from the 1975 Come Taste the Band album.

GETTING TIGHTER – This was a predominantly instrumental song. Ash smashed the skins and rocked out with the band really highlighting just how incredible these musicians are in their own right.

YOU KEEP ON MOVIN’ – a very smooth, dreamy groove with a wonderful keyboard solo by Mike.

The evening concluded with an encore of the song BURN. The crowd erupted and went crazy singing at the top of their voices, arms in the air. It was like the bandroom suddenly kicked into top gear and rocked out at full capacity.

Glenn and the band received a thunderous applause at the end of Burn with Glenn showing his love and appreciation soaking up the accolade and not wanting to leave the stage, continuously asking the crowd for more and more applause saying: “I love you, Melbourne!”

This 2-hour show with its 8 extended songs was an incredible, memorable evening celebrating an iconic album and highlighted Glenn Hughes’ amazing talent, showing just how timeless Deep Purple’s music is and will live on for generations to come.

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