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DTE 82
Original releasedate: 24 October 1980
Original releasedate: 24 October 1980
This is a rough'n'ready translation of the magazine which was original in the Dutch language.
Besides this is only a summary as only the most interesting parts are translated.
Besides this is only a summary as only the most interesting parts are translated.
PART 1 (Double issue Over The Rainbow en zo 5 & 6)
| From the Headoffice |
|
Hello everyone, The Fanclan exist now one year and we'll have 200 members. Gerrit went down to England for the final show with Cozy Powell. You can read all about it as well as an interview with Graham Bonnet. Gerrit, Wim en Hans ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN AND TELL THE CRITICS THE NEWS
Ritchie Blackmore talks to Steve Gett in CopenhagenThe latest news on visions, a new album, Cozy and a new project for 1981!!! Following Castle Donington and the departure of Cozy Powell cynics were swift to suggest that the end of Rainbow was close at hand. However, Ritchie Blackmore and the band are currently in Copenhagen working on a new album, dismissing all rumours of a final split for the time being. To read the full Melody Maker article published on October 4th, 1980 click here WHEREFORE: COZY POWELL
To Steve Gett off Melody Maker Cozy tells in his first interview since his departure from Rainbow what went through him. It's well-known by now that Cozy accepted the invitation of Michael Schenker (Ex-UFO and Scorpions) to join his band. 
Talking about his new career and departure of Rainbow, Cozy say: "This is Michael's big opportunity. If this fails, it's his fault because the band is named after him: the Michael Schenker Group. But I think he'll manage. It looks like it's my fate of destiny to work with guitarplayers with a bad reputation. Ritchie has a awfully reputation. Jeff Beck wasn't much better, so I'm not worried at all about Michael.I liked his playing in the Scorpions and UFO as well but felt he was never in the right band. I prefer to what he's now doing compared to what we did with Rainbow. That's one of the reasons I left." "I enjoy to be in a band right from the start and see the whole thing growing up. It's a challenge for me. I think it's the thing I can do best. It's like Rainbow in the "Rising" period. WHY did you left Rainbow in the end? Cozy: "Rainbow started to repeat itself too much. That's what you can expect when you're too long in a band. I think it's good I'm out now because I was drifting away from it. Ritchie and I quarreled a lot. Still they were healthy quarrels and in fact we're still friends, still a lot of people will have another opinion on that. "Ritchie went through a funny mood during the last USA-tour, we didn't get on then too well. It was then that I didn't want to go on. So I tender my resignation. To save the group they'd to start lookin' for a replacement -which should have been almost impossible in the middle of a tour- I told them I was willing to do the rest of the tour including the European and Japanese dates, so they had time to find a new drummer. But I think Ritchie never believed I really was leaving. He only got the picture when the time was there. "I never will regret playing in Rainbow. I still could be their drummer, but it shouldn't be with the full dedication, I wouldn't be 100% behind it. I don't think Rainbow can grow any bigger. It might sound as the wise guy but I think the last tour in England was the best the band ever can do, still I can have the wrong end of the stick. And I also think the music became to commercial in the end. Steve Gett, MM, 27/09/80 In the mean time the new Michael Schenker album was released on Chrysalis 202 846-320. On this record you don't hear Cozy but Simon Philips on drums, Mo Foster on bass, Gary Barden on vocals (only he's still in the group) plus DON AIREY on keyboards and the album was produced by ROGER GLOVER. It's not a bad album. There are some good moments. Both instrumentals "Bijou Pleasurette" (duet between Michael and Don) and "Into the arena" plus the elongated "Lost Horizons" are the highlights. It's still the UFO-idea on the background, but singer Gary Barden is the vocal detection of 1980. Gerrit THE 1980 BOGUS DEEP PURPLE Deep Purple revivalists in 'complete con trick' scandal THE FIRST reports were brought back by tourists from Mexico; somewhere between the cheap tequila and sombrero keyrings the news that Deep Purple had re formed and had headlined a 40,000-seater bullring, swearing on their plaster crucifixes that this was the real item, Ritchie and all. Then, in July; a full-page ad in Performance (a trade magazine at the lower end of the scale). A pic of five men, four of them looking like any four guys you could pick up at the Starwood any Friday night, the fifth - Rod Evans - looking like a slightly bewildered stockbroker. This, the ad announced, was Deep Purple. 
It was taken out by a talent agency experienced in the field of revivals. A rehashed Jay And The Americans was on the roster, rubbing shoulders with a resurrected MC5, a zombie Herman's Hermits, a reheated Canned Heat a band that had been playing Colorado and other outback circuits billed as the original Steppenwolf. Geoff Emery and Tony Flynn, two of the guys in the Deep Purple pic (Dick Jurgens and Tom De Rivera were the others) were getting their feet wet in this 'comeback' (with no original members, clever trick) outfit.By all reports taking it in turns to be Michael Monarch. Their offstage hours, according to 'Steppenwolf's singer, were spent in a garage practicing Deep Purple songs. All that virtuous hard work paid off when the same agency decided that Purple's time had come to be reborn (to be Wild). Could be it was an attempt to upgrade somewhat sleazy proceedings by getting a token credibility member in the band; maybe it was a genuine try at putting together a decent band. Whatever, Flynn and Emery, along with some considerable financial backing and enough biz Big Guys to put together a Godfather III behind them, dug up Rod Evans - from 1968 till 1970 the singer in the earliest Purple lineup along with Blackmore, Lord, Paice and Nick Simper - from the American hospital where he'd been earning an honest living for most of the last six years since leaving the music industry. Together they did some test dates in small halls in Texas, billed as Deep Purple, then hightailed across the border to headline a packed Mexican stadium. Evidently some of the more prestigious American organisations are as impressionable as the Mexican HM fans, or possibly just unscrupulous. Handled here by the renowned William Morris Agency and booked to play the Long Beach Arena - a 12,000 seater stadium that even more than the Forum hosts most of Los Angeles' heavy metal concerts - by one of the top rock promoters, Avalon Attractions. A week before the show, tickets were selling well for the supposed Purple reunion. THEN, ON the day of the concert, a large ad appeared in the Los Angeles Times, no pics in this half-page announcement, just a list of names: Blackmore, Coverdale, Gillan, Glover, Hughes, Lord and Paice would not be performing with the New Deep Purple, as they were suddenly dubbed. Who the hell would be - other than Evans - was anyone's guess. Deep Purple (Overseas) Ltd, who took out the ad, also filed an action in the L.A. Federal Court on behalf of Ritchie and co., seeking an injunction to stop the band from using the name, plus damages. The show went on, but so do the lawsuits. Already the lawyers are stockpiling ammunition. Only last week, lawyers for Purple (the ones in the white hats presumably) had contacted local rock critics dutiful or stoned enough to sit through the New Purple (black hats) show to testify that the performance was dire enough to ruin Purple One's name, reputation and, more to the point, back catalogue sales. The Long Beach gig was pretty much sold out. The kids I spoke to were either curious to see what was going on, confused, or stupid, expecting anything from Blackmore to a complete reincarnation of all the Purpleites over the years, including the dead ones, or just for a HM night out. After a couple of numbers - barely recognisable renditions of 'Highway Star' from 'Machine Head', the opener, and 'Might Just Take Your Life' from 'Burn', a trickle were leaving and asking for their money back. Others seemed content to bang their heads when possible (difficult when the band were playing several different songs at the same time, to my ears, not to mention various tempos all at once) and cheer at the memory of classics that most weren't old enough to remember. 
They certainly weren't helped by a dreadful sound system, like a thousand industrial vacuum cleaners plugged in at once, but neither were they by a sadly amateurish standard of playing, shown up all the more by some of the most splendidly over-the-top visuals I've seen since Kiss.From the sublime - a whole network of multicoloured lasers aimed in the air, at the crowd, pyrotechnics, smoke, lights, bangers, dry ice, flashbins, more pyrotechnics and a fascinating laser-dot light show on a screen at the side swirling and circling and flashing and bleeping away - should have given out free acid at the door - to the ridiculous: drummer in glitter suit comes round the side with a chain saw and proceeds to demolish Geoff Emery's keyboards as he keeps on playing, a couple of sparklers coming out the back before the thing starts to smoke, still making that godawful noise, and Emery shoves it aflame into the pit. Oh Ritchie, what have you wrought! Talking of Ritchie, Tony Flynn makes a pretty good lookalike at a distance, but that's where the similarity ends. The solos are inflicted rather then performed, cranium-busters distinguished only by the laser accompaniment. Rod Evans has a pretty good voice, a bit rusty considering the time off but at the deeper end of the scale. Still I get the feeling it would sound better on anything but the songs they attempted, all latter day Purple standards, most not even good enough as cheap Top of The Pops soundalike record versions. 'Space Truckin', 'Woman From Tokyo', 'Smoke On The Water', renditions so pale musically that you'd have thought they'd stopped breathing, but so bright visually that you came out with a suntan. Still they battled on, even did an encore of sorts, so it wasn't entirely a bomb. But the production, the arena, the lights, the hype and the problems are just too big for this band. It's like sticking a midget in a Cadillac and expecting him to drive in a straight line. The band should have got a new name, given themselves a chance to grow on the club circuit, because they're not yet up to the standard that all this publicity brings, let alone the comparison with the Deep Purple we all remember. BACKSTAGE THE manager and various associates were rushing around, looking busy or determined. Middle-aged men in suits and ties with attaché cases and little speeches off pat, as if they were ready to be dragged into court at any minute. Perhaps they're used to it; the manager smiling, shaking hands, assuring me this was no con trick on the kids, that tonight wasn't their best but "the sound of the 80s", as he calls it, will prevail. They've approached well-known Michael Lloyd (of teenybop artists and record company connections fame) to produce the debut album so that it will be all things to all men - AM, FM, HM and 'experimental' stations - and that the line-up will be there on the album for all to see: The New Deep Purple starring etc, and - well he stops himself before be can say his true feelings about the nasty Ritchie B and lawsuits, telling me it's HEC (the original Purple management company based in England), not the musicians who are unfairly hassling his boys by taking out lawsuits. But, he reckons, they have right on their side, and they're going to win. What follows sounds like the Official Pep Talk (Rod Evans all but repeats it word-for-word to me later) about Sabbath, the Doobies, Humble Pie etc going round with hardly an original member between them with no-one losing any sleep, and this is, he says, no different, except that if anyone does, Rod Evans has a right to the Deep Purple name. He tells me a story of Ritchie and Rod sitting together in Germany, taking about starting a group, and naming it after Ritchie's dying granny's favourite song... He goes off to find Evans. The promoters are standing around, shellshocked. "I'm embarrassed" says one of the promoters. The other mumbled "Piece of shit". ROD EVANS is as nice a guy as you could meet, honest, straightforward and frank. Somehow he struck me as having landed himself in something that turned out to be a lot more trouble than it's worth. Either that or they should give him an Oscar. From talking to him it sounds like a few unscrupulous musicians and a hell of a lot of big industry organisations getting together to play a very expensive game of chess, and we all know who the pawns are. This line-up has been together since the end of January this year. It was the agency's idea to place the band in stadiums. Rod is a bit embarrassed about it. What were you doing between old Deep Purple and this one? "When I left Deep Purple originally, I came over here and joined a band called Captain Beyond. I was with them about four years and then I left - I wanted to get back into the so-called straight world somehow. You get tired of the road for whatever reason and so I went back to school and studied medicine, got my degree and worked in a hospital for five years. I was the director of respiratory therapy - a specialist field." Why come back to the music biz? "Old soldiers never die - someone says do it and you do it." Who said 'do it'? A friend of mine came up to me, the organ player and the guitarist Tony, and they had it in mind and wanted to go the whole route. As you know, it's not only the music that gets you there, there are certain other facets that will help push a band. So we had a certain amount of money behind us, record company interests and so on, so it seemed feasible. It came along at the right time because I was tired of what I was doing, you know, toeing someone else's line and working semi-nine to five. I was ready for a change. I had a little trepidation, but as soon as I got onstage it seemed okay." Are you saying someone presented a Deep Purple comeback to you as a fait accompli ready for you to just say the word and join? "Right - 'Are you interested'. Exactly - and the other guys who were in the original band with me, Jon, Ian and Ritchie, were all into their own projects." Did you actually contact them and ask if they wanted to do a comeback? "No, I didn't. I think someone in the band spoke to Jon and Ian and they said they really had no interest to reform Deep Purple in any way, so there was no problem." 
So they gave you their blessing? "I don't know if it was an actual blessing, but they at least knew about it and they weren't throwing all their money in together and making trips to America to nail our feet to the ground or anything. Hopefully it won't be detrimental to me in the lawsuit, but it does seem that at the end, as with any band, when these questions come up it's always accountants and managers that seem to dig their teeth into these things and want to keep it, whereas the years that went between the final break-up and now there was never any interest shown. Now all of a sudden there's an interest. It seems to be that angle rather that the ex-members. We got hold of Jon and Ian and they said we have no desire to get back into it, we're off on our own thing". You said the others gave their semi-blessing but you didn't mention Ritchie Blackmore. "We haven't really tried to get hold of Ritchie. Whether Ritchie gives his blessing or not is of no real consequence to me as my blessing to him forming Rainbow would be of no consequence to Ritchie. I mean, If he doesn't like it I'm sorry, but we're trying." But how can you rationalise going out and trying under the Purple banner, especially when you were in the band for just two - some might say relatively unimportant - years? "Sure, you've got to have certain rationalisations you can make to yourself because it's an established name to a certain degree and in a certain type of music, but we didn't see anything wrong because a lot of bands have been doing this. (The manager's speech follows.) "So it's a shame to kind of knock it on the head for the fact that it isn't everybody together. Plus what seemed peculiar to Deep Purple is that there were several formations of the band and it never seemed to really affect the fans of the music as long as it was played up to a certain par. They just wanted to hear the music... "I don't know, I feel at times at a certain disadvantage because I feel I should be making some kind of excuse or other, and the other part of me is saying to hell with it, I'm doing it, I'm going to make the best of it. We're not trying to shyster people in any way and we'll see what happens, how far the acceptance goes. The songs you chose for the set were not from your period with Purple at all. Now do you justify that? "Well, I think at first you try to justify it, but justification's not the right word. In the end it's obligatory, a lot of it. They expect it. You can sure enough play 'Hush' (the band's hit when he was a member), which we were going to do tonight except for technical difficulties. But you'll play 'Smoke On The Water' then someone else will ask for 'Burn' or 'Tokyo' so it's very hard. Even if we came out with a whole bunch of new material, which we're working on now, they'd still went to hear certain songs. The volatility of the kind of crowd that a rock group draws especially in the States - they can be very volatile at times." From all you're saying, wouldn't it have been better all round to come up with a whole new name and image, then you wouldn't have to deal with expectations and comparisons? Surely it would be more satisfying to do your comeback with a new band and identity, playing the clubs and building a name without relying on past glory? "No, it's very hard to do that. Would you like to be a cub reporter again? A lot of these things are very hard to explain because they're almost intangible. I can't say why I didn't, why I did - it's never that clean cut. You're in the flow and you follow the momentum and it builds up and you're in it." "There'll always be people in the crowd looking for Ritchie or asking where's Jon. When I was in Captain Beyond at the same time from the agent's standpoint they would always say, there's two guys from Iron Butterfly, one guy from Johnny Winter and one guy from Deep Purple, and people would come up to me all the time and say why the hell aren't you playing Purple material, or they'd go up to the Iron Butterfly people and say why aren't you playing 'In A Gadda Da Vida'. I think that kind of thing goes with the territory regardless. It might be a little more so with our project now, but of course it's advantageous as well". Did you reform Deep Purple to cash in? "No, I think the reason was that I wanted a change and it was a good opportunity to come back into music instead of, as you were saying, start out as Willy And The Wombats or something playing nine hours a night in some club somewhere. Very few bands, I think, rise from club level to national level because there are all these other facets that have to be involved to support you, certain organisations, like record companies and agencies. But it's whether we can suffer the slings and arrows and so on." "Sometimes it's very hard, but when you weigh it up, and we're in it for better or worse, we're gong to make the best of it. We're not in it to make a killing in a year or anything like that. We're actually serious about perpetrating the Deep Purple name and keeping it standard." TONY FLYNN we know about. Drummer Dick Jurgens and his chainsaw were well known to the others; Tom de Rivera won out in the auditions. Emery was at one time half an 'original' Steppenwolf, half an attorney according to Evans. Right now they're all committed to making an album which the plan to release in the New Year after the Christmas rush. Evans reckons they're ready to do so. In the years off, he says, he didn't really keep up with any new music, but was aware of the HM resurgence because it got a mention in Billboard magazine, making it legit, one of the things that dragged him away form the urine samples and back into the stadiums. Is this a long-term thing? "Yes it is long-term, though one never knows. You do your album and if people like it and want more and everything's copacetic in the band, you carry on. It's the same with most bands." How would you like your Deep Purple thought of - its music for example? "I think it's always going to be thought of in a certain way until hopefully we get a couple of albums out, then people will change their certain view of the band. But it's always a premier heavy metal kind of band, one of the first, and always in the forefront of that kind of music, and I think it will be very hard to change the public's opinion because you'd lose a lot of people in the bargain. We aren't the other people and we will write a bit differently and hopefully we can go off on a tangent, more towards the Genesis type of thing where it becomes musical - hopefully show a melodic side to Purple as well as brain-surgery rock." If you don't come out of the lawsuit with a smile on your face, and have to give up the Purple name, will you carry on under the new a new one or go back to the hospital? "Hopefully that won't happen. I feel we're in the right in a sense. But when it comes to the lawsuit, if the worst comes to the worst, we all feel confident enough that we can play under another name and make it as well." Sylvie Simmons, Sounds - September 20, 1980 This is the full article where the Dutch version on this website only had a summary. ELF Trilogy
ELF originated from THE ELECTRIC ELVES in 1970 and was featuring, after a change in the line-up: Ronnie Padavona vocals/bass, David Fernstein guitar, Gary Driscoll drums & Mickey Lee Soule piano. Roger Glover and Ian Paice discovered the group in 1972 after the second big US Purple-tour, produced the first ELF album. ELF Epic KE 31789 
The debutalbum of ELF was released in August 1972. The group was the support act for Deep Purple on two US tours so they could promote their record. The album "ELF" is full of unbelievable fresh sparkling boogie-rock. Quo-fans will not believe their ears. Right from the start with "Hoochie koochie lady". the voice of Ronnie "Dio" Padavona is ofcourse very recognizable. "First avenue" is a nice melodic blues. "Never more" is also a nice piece.More fresh sparkling boogie we get in "I'm coming back for more", and "Sit down honey" (nice pianosolo). "Dixie Lee Junction" is a song to recover. "Love me like a woman" is a real boogie-blues, which make you singalong. "Gambler gambler" is the last tracks of the album. Gary Driscoll drums here like on "Still I'm sad" on the first Rainbow album. For everyone who payed attention Ronnie played the bass on this album. He already played bass since 1957! In 1973 Feinstein left the band and was replaced by Steve Edwards. Early 1974 they recorded their second album. CAROLINA COUNTY BALL Purple Records TPSA 3506 (England) MGM 4974 (USA) L.A. '59 Safari MWX 4029 (Japan) 
The second ELF-album is recorded in England, Roger Glover produced it. This record was released in Japan in a different cover and with a different title."Carolina county ball" opens the record. It's a easy going start which speeds up during the song. We hear again the boogie-line of the first album. "L.A. 59", also released on single in England (Purple 118), is also a great boogie-song. "Ain't it all amusing", the b-side of the single and also on this album, takes you away to a dreamworld lead by the drums of Gary. "Happy" takes away all your problems: "I'm happy to see you're happy." The piano of Mickey Lee Soule introduce one of the best swingers from the ELF-repertoire: "Annie New Orleans". Accompanied by Mickey Lee Ronnie sings with a scraggy voice the intro of "Rocking chair rock'n'blues". To speak with Ronnie's own words: "It takes you away from the black nights." The first part of the songs sounds a lot like "Dixie Lee Junction". Halfway through the scheme is changed and we get into a higher speed. And then, oh my God, there's a song called "RAINBOW"!!!  Coincidence? Anyway, it's a nice piece of music. Boogie can be pioneering if you know how to play it and ELF could. In the Japanese inside cover "Do the same thing" is compared to "If you don't like rock'n'roll". It's a fast rock'n'roller, which goes over in the miniature "Blanche". After this record was released (march 1974), ELF toured again extensively with Deep Purple. They started in April 1974 in England, and late 1974 in the States. Then the group joined Ritchie Blackmore in the studio to do Ritchie's planned solo-single "Black sheep of the family." That record isn't released right away. ELF returns to England to record under the direction of Roger Glover and Martin Birch the third album. The group had in the mean time recruited a bassplayer named Craig Gruber (he also plays on Carolina County Ball) and the former Velvet Underground percussionist Mark Nauseef. TRYING TO BURN THE SUN MGM 4994 (USA) Safari MWX 4030 (Japan) As far as we know the third album is not released in England. In the USA this record was released in August 1975. The sound is pretty different than on the first two records. The typical boogie sound is for the most part gone. "Black swampy water" still sounds a bit boogie, but hard-rock is knocking on the door. "Prentice wood" is totally different. It's full of variations. 
There's an orchestra in "When she smiles", it's nice but don't sound like ELF. It reminds me to the "Butterfly Ball" LP. Logical, both arrangements are written by Martin Ford. "Good time music" is also different to what can be heard on the other ELF albums. Backing vocals by i.e. Liza Strike I hear too often. "Liberty road" sounds like the material we were used to on the other albums. "Shotgun boogie" is a superfast boogie, there's a leading role for the piano and Steve Edwards does a nice guitarsolo. In "Wonderworld" we hear the orchestra again and it fits in better this time. The seven minutes "Streetwalker" ends this record. It has all the ELF ingredients.This is a strange record, a weak side A and a lot better side B. By the way this album was recorded in the studio of Ian Gillan, Kingsway Recorders in London. Before they started recording ELF was no longer a group. Ritchie Blackmore wanted to take over the whole band. Mark Nauseef went to the Ian Gillan Band, followed by Thin Lizzy. On this moment he's in the new group of ex-Lizzy guitarplayer Gary Moore, G-Force. Guitarplayer Steve Edwards was dumped by Ritchie and we didn't hear a thing about him after that. Ronnie, Craig, Mickey Lee and Gary started with Ritchie the Rainbow-project and they play on the first Rainbow album. That this line-up didn't stood too long is known. Since then we didn't hear anything about the future activities of Craig, Mickey Lee and Gary. Remains the question: did Blackmore killed a promising group, yes or no? Gerrit RAINBOW
Saturday 16 August 1980 was the last performance of Cozy Powell with Rainbow. I had the feeling that this was going to be something special so I left the day before at 2 PM from Schiphol Airport to London Heathrow Airport. Via the underground to King's Cross Saint Pancras, I took the Intercity-train to Derby. It was quite a journey to the little village of Castle Donington.MONSTERS OF ROCK Donington Park 16 August 1980 RAINBOW/JUDAS PRIEST/SCORPIONS/APRIL WINE/SAXON/RIOT/TOUCH Nine o'clock I arrived in the expensive Donington Manor Hotel, the only hotel around. In the centre of the village there were already hundreds of fans. The next day after an early breakfast I took a cab to the worldfamous racing circuit. There were already thousands of people who stayed the night there. Half past eight the gates went open and the people got in. The place was a big mess. It had rained frequently that week in England and it was one big muddy mess. In front of the stage was the worst. The trucks, who brought the equipment the day before, ruined the place. It almost was like a swamp. 
At exactly one o'clock finally TOUCH took the stage, this is a new group from New York. Rumour said Ritchie discovered this group. At least they have the same manager as Rainbow: Bruce Payne. Their 50 minute set was not too impressive. Most of the songs sounded like they were ripped from Foreigner.A quarter to two brought us RIOT, a new group from the States. They play very weak hard-rock with all the wellknown clichés. There's was nothing that surprised me even a little bit. Next on the list was SAXON, also quite known in Holland with their albums "Saxon" and especially their massive hitalbum in England "Wheels of steel", that song also is on the moment a single hit. The lead-guitarduo Paul Quinn/Graham Oliver cooperated very good like in songs as "747 (Strangers in the night)". The group did a great set with not that many long solos. APRIL WINE is a group that's already a bit longer in this game. Their album "Harder...Faster" did quite well. Their show was that good. They were trying tho. Only the old King Crimson-song "21st Century shizoid man" took my attention. Half past five we got the German SCORPIONS, they did a short, but good set. They only did songs of their last two albums, so we didn't got their European successes like "He's a woman", "Fly to the rainbow" and others. They were not too convincing but the voice of singer Klaus Meine zoomed fast through the 80.000 Watts. The so much praised JUDAS PRIEST was the disappointment of the day. It was nice to see Rob Halford on his 750 cc-motor enter the stage, but the set was done without any enthusiasm. Ofcourse the 50.000 crowd wanted to hear the old Fleetwood Mac-success "The Green manalishi", so they were the first band that returned to do an encore. It was eight o'clock when Priest left the stage. Presenter Neil Kaye (played great music in the breaks) already announced that Rainbow would not start before the darkness would start to settle. It became a long wait. RAINBOW Exactly half past nine the tape started with "Land of hope and glory", followed by the countdown and Judy Garland who came to the conclusion that she was not in Kansas anymore but 'over the rainbow'. The synthesizer-tones starting "Eyes of the world" followed and the moment Cozy hit his drumkit the first time a thousand stars felt down on the stage so a few moments the whole group was invisible. 
But then we saw everyone of the band. Three cameramen close to the stage and one camera in the back registered faultless what was happening on stage so everyone who was standing far away from the stage could follow the whole event on a big screen left to the stage. Great service."Eyes of the world" was played the way they did last February. "Love's no friend" was not played too well. Ritchie's timing was not right. Still the tempochanges known from "Mistreated" went perfect. Graham Bonnet was leading the crowd with his great voice. All spots went out except for one that was pointed on Ritchie who treated us with the medieval "Greensleeves". He took his time and gave us some other classics like "Fur Elise" and after years even "Jingle bells". Finally "Since you been gone" followed, that went over in an excellent slide version of "Somewhere over the rainbow". Ritchie is getting better and better with the slide work. Then we got the musical surprise of the night: "STARGAZER". The last time the group did this song was during their first tour (also in the Hague in October '76). This time sung by Graham Bonnet. And I'm sorry for the many Ronnie Dio-fans among us, but I like the voice of Graham more than Ronnies. R.J. Dio better fits into the Black Sabbath-concept. Ritchie did a faultless slidesolo. "Man on the silver mountain" was kept short. No Lazy-intro and blues this time. "Catch the rainbow" also was shorter than usual, still it was as good as ever. Until now the whole band was on stage all the time. In the past it was surely different. For many reporters a reason to be negative about Rainbow. Anyway, those people will have written their offends on paper after "Lost in Hollywood", because in this track we hardly see the whole band on stage. Anyway "Hollywood" is Rainbow at it best. Actually it's a collection of a lot of pieces music. Don Airey opened the song with a short but nice solo, followed by the first two verses of the track including the short intermezzo between Don and Ritchie. Sometimes I wondered if Ritchie was touching the strings, he played that fast. He played again many excerpts by the old masters from long ago which ended in a long version of "Jesu Joy" from Beethoven's ninth. Then the complete group hit the stage again. After a great duet between Don and Ritchie- (including Katchaturian and Offenbach) only Don was left on the stage for a second solo, this time with many sound and light effects. 
And then we got Cozy's final solo for Rainbow. In a sea of light he worked himself through the 1812 Overture of Tchaikovsi. And finally after his last hit a smokebomb exploded behind the stage and fireworks were shot into the air.Cozy was standing on his drumkit and got a real ovation that took minutes and minutes. Finally Ritchie started to play again and via an excerpt of "A light in the black" he was left on his own. He produced many strange sounds which went round and round thru the soundsystem. If you closed your eyes you would think it was Jimi Hendrix who was playing on stage The rest of the group joined Ritchie again on stage and "Lost in Hollywood" (we almost forget that was the song that was played) was finished. Then it got exciting: could we expect an encore, yes or no? Well, it didn't took long and Ritchie was the first to return on stage again. He played the wellknown intro of "Lazy", followed by a long version of "All night long", in which Graham entertained the audience. It's a tough job to get 50.000 people going, but thru the big screen next to the stage he was close to everyone. Right away we got "Blues" and then "Will you love me tomorrow". It didn't gave me the impression that the band was doing an encore. An encore is normally one fast song to end the show, but Rainbow just played on and on. "Long live rock and roll" was played and the band left the stage. And again Ritchie returned quickly started an unknown theme on his guitar. Accompanied by Cozy, Roger and Don the man in black started his demolition act. The poor guitar quickly gave in and Ritchie came up with another old trick from his magicbox. He threw the body of the guitar against the Marshall speakercabinet, which went down in flames right away. It's an old trick from the 1970 Purple days. Graham returned on stage and "Long live" was started once more. The air was lighted by fireworks. It went on and on. Everyone was impressed. And then, after two hours it became dark. Judy Garland started singing on tape "Somewhere over the rainbow" and 50.000 left slowly, bathing in mud the field. I was thinking: "If this is the final Rainbow show, then they say farewell with their best show ever." RITCHIE AS GUEST AND HOST After the exciting day of the Heavy Monsters of Rock-show on the 16th of August I stayed another day in Castle Donington, so I could work out some things and enjoy the nice neighborhood. Monday 18 August I left for London, and that night I decided to go to the Marquee club to go and see a pretty new band, GIRL. This group is using quite some make-up to get a girlish look. Nice to see, but it's the music that counts. 
The support act, TAURUS, known for some of their singles, was very nice to see. GIRL then hit the stage with make-up and their hairstyle in the latest Paris fashion. How about the music? That was also great. Good songs, played very well. The crowd went wild and the show was followed by an encore. And then all of a sudden there was Ritchie Blackmore who walked the stage with his old Fender around his neck!!! The audience went crazy, who did expect this? Nobody! The Girl guitarplayer started "Born to be wild" and Ritch joined the song, smiled a bit and played a nice solo. Ofcourse everyone wanted more but the show was over. I decided to stay for a while because maybe there could be arranged something, cause after the Donington-event there was no possibility to talk with any of the bandmembers. After closingtime there were still about 30 people present, and Ritchie came signing autographs and then invited everyone who was still there for a party in the Holiday Inn Swiss Cottage. A whole queue of cabs was arranged and before I knew what was going on I was in a cab with four Japanese girls (they were fans of Girl who happens to be very popular in Japan). When we arrived in the Holiday Inn the party was already happening, there were about 100 people and the atmosphere was very good. I noticed the old Joe Cocker, ex-Uriah Heep-singer David Bryon and a few other celebrities. GIRL was present as well as the members of TOUCH. I didn't see Cozy, Roger and Don. About half past one Graham Bonnet showed up. Ritchie was an excellent host, asking a couple of times if we got enough to drink. Around four o'clock, everybody was exhausted and most people where lying on the couches or on the floor. The bar was quite a mess. Everywhere were glass, empty bottles and crisps. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance for a decent chat with Ritchie or Graham, but I made an appointment with Ritchie to meet him the next day at one o'clock. I then went to my hotel and got there, pretty wasted, at 5 in the morning. END PART 1 (Double issue Over The Rainbow en zo 5 & 6)  © Rainbow Fanclan 1979-1984
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