Hughes Turner Project (Vienna - Planet Music - 17.09.02)
Written by: Milan Krušič

Two legends, Mr. Glenn Hughes and Mr. Joe Lynn Turner, decided to tour together, after their release of another first class hard rock product. Pure fantasy, except for one "small" problem that I had. The closest destination of a gig to Ljubljana was Vienna. And it was in the middle of the week. Lucky me. So I took a one-week break. After first bomb that had blown into my head two days ago in Planet Music when I saw Primal Fear, I was also planning to see Dio in Graz on October 19th. Shock after shock. I was like a rolling stone, hardly putting myself together. Everything went so fast.

So let's get to the point. After hometown support acts finished what they wasn't asked for, I mean that they gave us a real hard time, both Rock'n Roll stormbringers finally showed up on stage. At last. It was 11:00 p.m. They opened their gig with "Devil's Road" from their latest release and immediately showed the audience who's the boss here.

At the end of "Devil's Road" Glenn lost his nerves for a moment and got mad at his roady: "Hey, bass sounds like shit!!!" but immediately after that Glenn apologized to the audience with: "Sorry, I'm just an old grumpy man, but it will be better!" They continued with pieces such as "I Surrender", "Can't Stop Rock'n Roll" and "Death Alley Driver", where lead vocals were brilliantly done by Joe Lynn. After that, Joe Lynn left the stage for a while. Lead vocals were overtaken by Glenn. First real shock was to come. He said: "Next piece was written by Mr. Tony Iommy and myself and is called "Seventh Star"!" The audience could see live what abilities Glenn has in changing the colour of his voice and what a great feeling for improvisation he has. "Seventh Star" was complete magic! But that was only the beginning. Glenn, full of sarcasm, communicated with the audience: "The next song we'll do I also played together in a band called Deep Pimple!" I was completely astonished. As he would bring down heaven into hell. It was "Mistreated" that blew off the audience in "the seventh house".

After Glenn done "Mistreated", Joe Lynn returned on stage. Glenn couldn't remain silent, not for a while. He constantly joked: "Nowadays it is a trend to be a "gay" and I'm sure that Joe is also one of them!" Joe replied: "Glenn, what kind 'a bullshit are you talking about?" Well, the logical reaction was resulting in laughing audience. Both guys were full of spontaneity. Well, they are both "old bones" fully experienced, and the crowd really enjoyed their approach and especially their sense for humor. Joe did brilliant Deep Purple's "Stormbringer, that was followed by "Better Man" and finished with "King Of Dreams", where he got special "bonus" ovations from the audience.

The gig reached its boiling point at the end. After fast drive killer track from their latest release "Ride The Storm" they kicked everyone's arses with Rainbow's classic "Spotlight Kid". The main part of the show was over.

In encore they stroke with "Highway Star". And before they began their last song, Glenn asked the audience: "Does anyone remembers "California Jamming '74"?" And show ended in the best possible way. With "Burn" they burned down Planet Music. I'm still shaking when thinking back on that moment.

Glenn Hughes - "Voice Of Rock" and Joe Lynn Turner - "King Of Dreams", as they introduced themselves to the audience when saying their goodbye, thank you again for this once in a lifetime event. You brought back to life a feeling when music was made soulful.

After the show, when we were driving home, one of my colleagues, a true Deep Purple fan, said: "It is not worth to travel to Deep Purple's gigs in London for example, when I can get much better Deep Purple gig much closer to Slovenia. Nowadays I can only dream of Deep Purple playing live "Stormbringer, "Burn", "King Of Dreams" or especially "Mistreated"! But Hughes and Turner fortunately made my dreams come true!"

Hughes/Turner Project set list:

1. Devil's Road
2. I Surrender
3. Can't Stop Rock'n Roll
4. Death Alley Driver
5. Seventh Star (no Joe)
6. Mistreated (no Joe)
7. Jealous Lover
8. Stormbringer (Joe)
9. Better Man (Joe)
10. King Of Dreams
11. Ride The Storm
12. Spotlight Kid
-------------------------------------------dodatek
13. Highway Star (le Joe na vokalu)
14. Burn