HTP  (Hughes Turner Project)

Pili Axiou, Thessaloniki,Greece

March 2^nd 2004

JOE LYNN TURNER IS GOD. NOTHING LESS, NOTHING MORE

live review by Dimitris "Heartcollector83" Theodoropoulos

all fotos ©  by Dimitris Theodoropoulos

The public use of these fotos is strictly prohibited without written permission.

INTRO

            This band (HTP) might not be known to many of you but the 2 musicians that formed it are LEGENDS of rock music. We are talking about Joe Lynn Turner who sang in Rainbow, Deep Purple, Yngwie Malmsteen and has put out some solo albums with the 3 latest ones being the best ones. The second member of the band is Glenn Hughes who has played bass and sang in Trapeze, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and released many solo albums as well.

            At first it was announced that they will play only in Athens but soon they announced a date for Thessaloniki as well. I was really looking forward to this gig because it was a chance to hear all time classic songs such as I surrender, Street Of Dreams, Burn, Mistreated etc from the original members that wrote and sang them back in the 70’s-80’s. Another reason not to miss this gig is because HTP have released two very good studio albums and it’s good to know that the artists you admired many years ago are still able to write great music nowadays. Especially the HTP 2 album is excellent,  suggest everyone to go and buy it. The promoters did a splendid job advertising the concert with posters all around the town and booked an excellent venue where we could enjoy a good concert even better. About 2.500 fans came to honour the two legends.

SUPPORTERS

            There were 2 local bands to warm up the crowd. First band to hit the stage was Long Live, a hard rock act that although they play many covers in their concerts this time they presented us only their own material and especially songs from their new album. Very cool band, nice tunes and professional performance. Through out the half hour set they did i enjoyed every minute. Next band was The Troublemakers who can be described as a Whitesnake clone band, but they were just good. They did a Bon Jovi cover and in their encore they did a Whitesnake cover. Good band but they should have played before Long Live.

HTP

            The stage had a cool platform that took the drumset of the support bands and leveled it underground. With this platform the 2 singers were risen up in a glorious intro to the stage and the crowd shouting in excitement. Joe Lynn Turner is a majestic person, i had shivers just looking at him from half meter distance and thinking of his great past. I was also excited to see Glenn Hughes, how i ignore an artist like him. They opened their show with Hold On, a song from their latest HTP album called just “2”. They continued with Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll from the HTP 1 album and then came the first shock of the night. I Surrender, one of the most classic songs Rainbow ever wrote after the Dio years and everyone recognized it from the very first notes. Joe Lynn Turner’s voice was simply brilliant, he interacted with the fans and was very pleasant. Losing My Head from the HTP 2 followed, probably the best song of their latest effort and we saw Joe becoming the second guitar player. Catchy song, perfect for playing it live. The next song was introduced with bad criticism towards George Bush from Joe and Glenn, both admitting not having voted for him. The song was Alone I Breath, another tune from the HTP 2 album. What i felt during the next 15 or so minutes can’t be described with words. I’ll just tell you that Joe left the stage and left Glenn sing alone the all time Deep Purple classic Mistreated. Amazing performance on this song, Glenn is a god. Full stop. Can’t describe the reactions of 2.500 people to this song. Such moments must be experienced. Joe got back on stage for the next song which was Street Of Dreams, a song that is very special for me, a true Rainbow classic tune. I couldn’t believe i was experiencing live this epic. Joe disappeared again for the next song where Glenn paid a tribute to his very good friend (he said they were like brothers) Tommy Bolin. The guitarist that replaced Ritchie Blackmore in Deep  Purple back in 1975 and then in 1976 this talented artist died. Getting Tighter was a song that Glenn wrote with Tommy back in those days and playing it live was a little tribute he could do to his friend. Of course no one had a problem with this because the song is a killer. Another song then again with no Joe on the horizon yet. Keep On Moving from Deep Purple,  song written by Glenn and David Coverdale and Glenn did another excellent performance on this song. His voice hasn’t changed a bit throughout the years, he can still do the very high screams he used to do and all the difficult parts he sang. Death Alley Driver, another Rainbow song and Joe shines on this one as well. The song that ended the first part of the concert before the encore was Stormbringer. Probably one of the best songs Deep Purple ever wrote and Glenn surely knew how to reborn the old feeling. 

After a few minutes the band came back on stage again for the encore which had another song from the first HTP album, Devil’s Road. Then the last Rainbow song for that night the blasting Spotlight Kid with everyone headbanging like maniac and Joe proving why he is one of the best singers in rock music ever. The time had come to end this excellent show and is there a better way to end it from Burn? Of course not, everyone was asking for this song from the beginning and this all time classic was heard live after many years since Deep Purple haven’t played it for more than 10 years live. At this point no one could just stay and watch, headbanging, moshing and any other form of someone expressing his excitement in a concert. This song burned the place down and closed the concert in the best way.

            In conclusion i must say i saw one of the best concerts of my life, Joe Lynn Turner is a HUGE artist and Glenn Hughes as well. They honoured their glorious past with songs people wanted to hear and not like some other recent bands that play always their latest songs even if they are boring. Mr. Turner and Mr. Hughes are fully aware of their careers and although they had two excellent recent albums they filled most of their set with all time classics. New bands still have many things to learn from artists like these. The only thing that makes me sad is why i didn’t go to Athens a day before to see them there as well. But maybe i couldn’t imagine how many strong feelings such artists can wake inside you, no matter what genre you listen to....personally i listen everything from rock to black metal but some people that contributed to create the music that we nowadays call heavy metal are to be treated with the most respect possible. I should stop here because i can’t find any more words to describe what i felt that night. Joe Lynn Turner is GOD. Nothing less, nothing more.

Dimitris Theodoropoulos

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