On the evening of August 27th a couple hundred fans packed into the bare bones graffiti-ed and stickered up Reggie's Rock Club in Chicago for an intimate evening of pure musical energy and magic. The legendary vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes who has performed with the likes of Trapeze, Deep Purple, Hughes/Thrall, Tony Iommi/Black Sabbath, Black Country Communion, California Breed, and countless others as well as having an enormous catalog of his own solo material.
When I got in the club I was rather amused by the fact that they actually had a bunch of fold out chairs right in front of the stage, though they had all be reserved for folks who had paid double the price of a normal ticket. My guess is they were catering to the fact that almost the entire audience was above 40-50 years old. I guess I can't say I blame them, though it did make the experience a little awkward. It was definitely weird to be one of the only people there below that age range.
In the space of an hour and a half Hughes managed to cover over four decades' worth of works across multiple projects he has been involved with at some point or another. He managed to play stuff from Trapeze, Deep Purple, Black Country Communion, solo work, and even a tune from the somewhat obscure Hughes/Thrall album that came out back in 1982. I would have been a bit more surprised by that, but I'd already heard about it being included in the touring set ahead of time.
Hughes went pretty bare bones in this show; having only himself on bass and vocals, Soren Anderson on guitar and backing vocals, and Pontus Engborg on drums. I get the feeling that he was going for more of a raw, punchy rock n' roll kind of feel to give his old school fans more of a Trapeze vibe. It definitely worked in certain areas, though in a couple songs made things a little lackluster. Surprisingly this three piece was able to pull off some of the Deep Purple era songs pretty well without a keyboardist. They worked pretty well as a group and managed to get quite a variety of different sounds while still making the performance fresh, vibrant, and unique.
Hughes for a man of 65 years old had astounding energy up on that stage. The way he looked, the way he moved, the way he sang and played.... You honestly would have thought he were a younger man. I guess that's what happens though when you take good care of yourself in old age. Hughes was also incredibly happy and grateful to be there. He kept thanking everyone for coming out, telling us all how much he loves us, etc. You can tell the man loves what he does and is grateful to his fans for still being able to do it after all these years.
I think one of the most extraordinary and stunning aspects of the whole evening however were the parts where Hughes would do certain vocal runs as well as manage to use his surprisingly well preserved falsetto to hit notes that could put countless younger, more famous singers to shame. All I could do in those moments would just stand there still in amazement and then just applaud when he got through. I didn't think it was possible for ANYONE to do the things he can do.
I do have a few gripes, but they are fairly minor ones. Personally I kind of wish there would have been one or two more songs each from Trapeze and Deep Purple, but I realize Glenn has over four decades' and multiple bands/projects' worth of material to cover so I can't get too unhappy about that. I was really hoping to hear one or two tunes from the Seventh Star album Hughes did with Iommi, but that would have required a keyboard player (which he did not have).
I also wish that the set could have lasted another half hour (as Glenn's set was only about an hour and a half including encores). There were also moments where I think the guitar should have been turned up a bit louder in the mix. I think my biggest gripe though was the fact that the opening band didn't even go on until an hour after the ticket said the show was supposed to start. They only just started letting people in the building at the printed time.
On a more positive note, I was quite pleased with the opening act Hughes brought on; an English singer/songwriter/guitarist by the name of Joanne Shaw Taylor. My god. That woman could sing like a soulful southern blues belle like Melissa Etheridge or Koko Taylor while also absolutely tearing it up on guitar like Jimi Hendrix and Slash. Then of course she and her band which was also a power trio were also an insanely tight unit. There wasn't a moment where the three of them weren't completely in sync with one another. I think what stuck out to me most aside from the performance itself though was how she could go from singing like she was from the southern US to talking with a rather thick English accent between songs. She is definitely someone to keep an eye on.
Overall it was an excellent performance. Even if you aren't a big fan of Hughes's work you would probably still have gotten great enjoyment out of watching him perform. His voice is so impressive that it alone made the price of admission well worth it. Plus, getting to see a man so legendary up close and personal like that was really a surreal and life completing moment. It's not every day you get to see a man who was in Deep Purple right in front of you like that give you the performance of his life. I would HIGHLY recommend you get to his next show if his next stop is in your town.
This performance receives 4 out of 5 stars.
