Masters of Rock Concert, Grand West, Cape Town

There are so many ways I could have started this post:

• My Tinnitus has tinnitus this morning
• What? Pardon? Speak up please...
• Mindblowing, earth-shattering...what the fuck was that noise?
• Old fuddie rockers lift the roof
• And more...

A good friend of mine went to see the concert in Joburg late last week and the text messages he sent me afterward, as well as his posting about the concert and the song he phoned me to listen to (still don't know what it was, which should have given an indication as to how loud the show was) all prompted me to see if I could get last-minute tickets to the Masters of Rock concert at Grand West Casino, here in Cape Town.

Every bit of my body (except my ears) are ecstatic that I managed to get some...

Wishbone Ash, Uriah Heep and Deep Purple, all legendary 70's (and currently active) rock bands performed some of their smash hits to an audience that, beforehand, looked like it would be better off at a Celine Dion concert. I estimate the average age of the crowd must have been in the early 40's, even though a small percentage must have been early 20's. There were people who have not been alive for as long as these bands have been playing.



Wishbone Ash are relatively unknown in SA, but by the third song had the audience woohoo-ing and yelling at the brightly-lit stage. With 27 albums and EP's (!!!!!!) to their name, these guys are seriously hard rockers and there are going to be a whole load of downloads of their tunes today following what we heard last night.



Their piece-du-resistance was a 1978 song called Way of the World, which they kept blasting out for somewhere around 15 minutes! An absolute masterpiece of guitar and drums...no computers...unadulterated, mind-fuck rock!! It's a song I will never forget, ever.



Their latest offering, Reason to Believe, was also played and, while a great rock song in itself, was nowhere near as hard-hitting as the rest of the playlist which included Phoenix off their first album in 1970, another phenomenal track.

Go get some of these guys...you will not be sorry!

Next up, Uriah Heep.



These old-timers waltzed cockily onto the stage, took up instruments and let rip with over an hour of harmony, synchronised noise, heart-wrenching drums and piercing vocals, but about three songs into the repertoire, you could see the crowd thinking to itself "Who the fuck are these guys?" A large portion of the crowd didn't know the really old stuff from the Heep, but the fourth track struck a chord and sent everyone wild: Free Me.



After that, it was just loud and wild. These guys blasted the roof off the arena. By the end of their playlist, the crowd was baying for more and Bernie Shaw on vocals obliged as the band took an ovation.

Mick Box on lead guitar was simply masterful and he is, as the saying goes, growing old disgracefully. His fretwork was absolutely amazing as, at times, he played one-handed while waving the other hand in the air in side to side motions.

Russel Gilbrook on drums was loud, very, very loud. The subwoofers on the stage took a serious beating at his hands and on many occasions you could feel the vibration shaking your innards.

Needless to say, the clapping and howling went on for a little while after they left the stage.



After another twenty minute break for instrument changes, the headline act took to the stage to a tumultuous welcome from the amped-up audience, now expecting not just great stuff, but based on the Heep performance, expecting a phenomenal finale to a great evening of rock.

Much to their disappointment, I might add...at least, I was seriously disappointed.



I was first introduced to Deep Purple by my dad, way back in the early 1970's and they have remained a favourite since. They are absolute legends, having been around since 1968 when I was just a kid (that's a fuckin' long time ago). Their most famous hit, Smoke on the Water, is THE rock anthem of all time.

Nevertheless, I was disappointed by the vocals from Ian Gillan. His voice, after years of belting it into a microphone, I am sad to say, is buggered. Most of the time, you could not hear him over the instruments and a lot of the time he was just screaming his words to be heard.

Don Airey, on keyboards, was masterful. His solos were phenomenal and there is not another band, nor will there ever be one in future, that will use keyboards the same way as Purple still do.

Steve Morse, on lead guitar, is the youngest of the band members and only joined Purple in 1994. As brilliant a guitarist as he is, and his rendition of songs written before he joined was brilliant, I still say Ritchie Blackmore was the better of the two for Purple. Ah well, that's all history.



Ian Paice on drums was outstanding. His beats were perfectly tuned into the rest of the band and he kept them, and the crowd, in perfect time with each other.

As soon as Smoke on the Water was played, you knew this was the end of their time on stage. Just being there to hear that song, played live, was worth every cent of the price paid for the tickets. The majority of people cannot say they've heard it, but I have, and it's a great feeling. I can already hear myself telling someone in the future "Remember Deep Purple? I saw them play Smoke on the Water, live in Cape Town. Beat that if you can."

The ovation song was Black Knight, another favourite of mine and, again, Airey's keyboards were brilliant.



This was a shot of the crowd in front of us between the Heep and Purple sets. The anticipation of what was coming was electric, but a sad disappointment overall compared to the Heep session.

The buzz of the crowd, all the way out the door of the casino resort, left me knowing that there was not one in the audience that didn't have an absolute blast. Listening and talking to people, the undeniable winner on the night was Uriah Heep.

The Joburg show ran for approximately four hours, but our show started at 19h10 and ended at 23h50, almost four and a half hours long!

Wreckless...thanks again for the recommendation to go, man. Without that, my life would be a tad less lived. Now I know what your epiphany was all about.