DPAS LIVE REVIEW

Kinga Chapel,Wieliczka, Poland
23rd May 2003

Here we have a start of another Blackmore’s Night tour. Great expectations but, on the other hand, can they be better than they were the previous year promoting “Fires At Midnight”? How one could expect them record something beyond “Fires At Midnight”?

Dressed up, in the third row, here we stand. Beautiful surroundings of our Polish Kinga’s Chappel, everything’s perfect but our waiting. It all started after 10 p.m. with a new number promising everthing would be well... as it shows, not that well at all. From the second song on we see Blackmore having some difficulties with his amp. But people there get so excited, nobody really cares... BUT Ritchie does care... and we watch him get bad. He’s very much upset about the problems and it can be seen more and more every next song. But still the show must go on.

They play almost two hours but the new songs and atmosphere are not as they should be. The audience is still satisfied clapping to the beat and admiring the master. They prove how big their support for the group is. Still, Ritchie’s definitely not in a good mood. Candice and Robert of Normandie do their best to save the day – praiseworthy, indeed.

The new songs aren’t much of a sensation, they all have the well-known feeling to it and they include two average covers of Joan Baez’ “Diamonds & Rust” and Jethro Tull’s “Rainbow Blues” (which has actually been introduced before). Anyway, one can find amusing the new arrangement of “Past Time With Good Company”, great “Fires At Midnight” and a lot of new compositions. Certainly not a top notch performance but still it was Blackmore himself.

Review: Ola Szajbel & Bartek Kazana