DPAS LIVE REVIEW

Ian Paice & Friends
Rivermead Centre, Reading. January 13th 2006

I went to the Ian Paice do in Reading on Friday. The main chums were Marsden, Murray and Airey ("the English Whitesnake") and the "proper" Whitesnake songs were nice to here. There were a couple of "youngsters" who played occasional bass and guitar too. The show was recorded and will be released on DVD. T-shirts were available.

(review & photo: Richard Breese)

A very intimate venue, and perfect for such an evening. Ian came on to very enthusiastic applause - gave an 'agenda' for the evening, and then commenced his first demonstration of why he remains one of the greatest rock drummers this country has ever produced. Effortless, but in total command, showing subtleties as well as speed and power!

Next up was audience questions which covered subjects such as changing style of playing over the years, working with other drummers, who was Ian's favourite modern drummer - what a great answer: "That these days no-one is around long enough to show their style & character" - the music buisness ain't like it used to be. Bizarre question of the night had to be "How do you not get blisters when playing the drums?" - Well I guess if you have never watched Ian play on the 1,000 DVD's available, you wouldn't know that you hold the sticks lightly!!!! Best question of the night : "How do you do the one handed drum role, and if you show it now I will add another £20 to charity?" Well the evening was for charity, so I guess Ian was more than willing to perform it, and he did, to the utter amazement of the audience. Especially when he performed it with his right hand as well!!! "But I'm not going to show you how I do it!!!!" - There are some secrets you are entitled to keep to yourself!

After the questions, another display of the man's enormous talent beginning with the 'Fireball' intro. Time then for the guests - Don Airey, Neil Murray, and the brilliant Bernie Marsden. They ran through some classic Whitesnake, BB King, and despite the promise at the top of the show, from Ian "There will be no Deep Purple, its nice to play some other stuff from time to time.", too much to resist ripping into 'Burn' (still the best riff ever??!!), and then into 'Smoke on the Water' - some day Bernie may want to share exactly what words he was singing, because I think he has written his own version!! - It goes something like - "mumble, mumble, mumble, mumble, mumble...... Smoke on the Water, a fire in the sky"..........

Brilliant entertainment, these type of evenings should happen more often. Ian is a special talent, I am fortunate to have seen Bernie play in some small intermate pubs and he should receive more recognition (back to Ian's point earlier that music business ain't like it used to be/neither is radio!!). A two hour evening that raised an enormous amount of money for a good cause - and provided more quality and entertainment than you will hear from any of today's radio or TV programmes (With the exception of Jools) Thought I'd share the experience.

review: Adrian Whyles

Read the organisers response to the Paice Drum Clinic and the charitiy it helped here:

"A resounding success!" commented New Seekers guitarist/ vocalist Mark Hankins, who was one of several celebrities in the audience at a sell-out charity rock concert in Reading over the weekend. Led by Ian Paice, drummer with stadium rockers Deep Purple, top rock musicians Bernie Marsden, Don Airey and Neil Murray wowed the packed audience with their rendition of rock classics like Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water' and Whitesnake's 'Fool for your Lovin'.

Between them, the four players have been members of some of the greatest names in British rock, including Black Sabbath, Rainbow, ELO, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple and Whitesnake. Over the course of the evening there were guest appearances from former Jamoriquai bass player Nick Fyffe and 'Oz' Wright, guitarist with up and coming metalers Head-on, who feature in the soon to be released movie "Colour me Kubrick," starring John Malkovich.

The event was compered by former Argent and Kinks drummer Bob Henrit. Other celebrities in the audience included former ABBA star Frida, plus ex-Jethro Tull drummer Barriemore Barlow, former Big Country drummer Mark Brzezicki and guitar legend Mick Ralphs from Bad Company.

The event had been put together to raise funds for the charity 'Tong-Len', which supports highly deprived children in Northern India. Organiser Chris Wright commented: "We exceeded our expectations. We raised enough both to fund the existing project for a full year and to meet a substantial part of the start up costs for a second. As a trustee of the charity, I am delighted." As well as being a trustee of the charity, Chris is Managing Director of specialist drumstore 'Drumwright', based in Woodley, and a Director of the Music Industries Association, which aims to promote music in all forms. He has worked with Ian Paice on previous fund-raising events for the NSPCC and BBC Children in Need. "It was a huge team effort to make the event the success it was. On behalf on Tong-Len I would like to thank all the performers for giving their services absolutely free, and particularly to the staff at Reading's Rivermead, for looking after us so well, and Mark Payne and his team from The Sound Foundation, who did a superb job on sound and light."

As well as raising funds for the charity, it is clear that the evening was greatly appreciated by the 1000 plus audience. Dick Sable from Slough went with his young drummer son: "My son enjoyed every aspect of the show. I was particularly impressed by what a nice guy Mr Paice seemed to be. It's good to see a rock star who is so obviously grounded and aware that he has a gift to share with others".