Seeing the shows in Luxemburg, Halle and München, here are some few notes I took afterwards… I hope you enjoy!

Audience I

While in Luxemburg the audience seemed to be typical orchestral music listeners (most with subscriptions to go to such shows), the audiences were quite different in Halle and München. In Halle most people seemed to be rock music fans (at least what you could tell from their clothing) while in München the audience was mixed.

Audience II

In Luxemburg the people just sat there enjoying the show and giving standing ovations at the end, while there was always some annoying background noise in Halle and especially in München. Also there weren’t too much autograph hunters in Luxemburg. In Halle some people stood at the front of the stage from the beginning of the encores until the end of the show waving with pencils, tickets etc just to get an autograph.

One person I will for sure never forget was this ruthless idiot, who was trying to get about 20 to 30 LPs signed by Jon in München. Sometimes I feel like screaming! Very funny was a guy in München wondering why the complete first part of the “Pictured Within”-show sounded that much like the album. Well, ok - he didn’t know the album at all - according to what he told me, he wasn’t able to find the album during the last 9 months :)

Venues

The venue in Luxemburg was the “Conservatoire De Musique”, a music school with a main concert hall built for orchestral concerts.

Halle was a variety theatre with two large balconys and a heaven consisting of lots of small lights. The Muffathalle in München seemed to be an old discarded factory building with all inner walls painted black.

Organization

Best organization is when you never see people organizing. Very very relaxed in Luxemburg. When we arrived, we found the conservatoire with doors wide open and had the chance to step in and listen to the rehearsals. Also not much security after the show - just a female sitting on a chair before the backstage entrance. - that was all… Also a very relaxed organizing in Halle, as there was also just one single security guy in front of the backstage door.

Very annoying in München. A lot of people behaving much more important than they really were. Security at all possible and impossible places - and one of them trying to throw out cello player Hagen Kuhr before the soundcheck :) That’s the way it shouldn’t be done…

Music & Sound

Music and sound was great all three evenings, although in Luxemburg “Unsquared Dance” was missing and they didn’t improvise as much as during the later shows. Some songs were played the first time in one part at showtime in Luxemburg, but as Sam Brown had forseen during the rehersals: “It will all work perfectly in the evening!”

Musicians

I had the chance to talk at least some few words to each of them. Most of them didn’t know more than “Smoke On The Water” from Jons “normal” job. They all enjoyed this tour and played brilliant. Too bad the tour was that short, it was extremly enjoyable to watch (and of cource hear) them grow from their first steps in Luxemburg to the final show in München.

Sam Brown

Brilliant. Excellent. Incredible. Weird.

Jon Lord

It was very interesting to see Jon acting in a different role, not as keyboarder of a rock band (his “other job”) but as host and musician in one person. It’s a shame he doesn’t take the microphone more often. I rarely heard that interesting and funny narrations during a show. And it was great to see how much he enjoyed doing his solo stuff and how much he enjoyed to play with the others.

Setlist

A great choice of songs, although a setlist can never be perfect for everyone. And so there was also something I hoped for - one or two songs from Sam Browns “43 minutes…” which would have fit perfectly into the set. A funny experience was that while in Luxemburg and München “Stop” was received with much applause, noone seemed to be familiar with this song in Halle - well, it was a hit in western world before the iron curtain came down.

Thanks

First of all thanks to Jon Lord for that album and tour. Also thanks to all other musicians, especially Sam Brown for being the way she is and Hagen Kuhr, who turned out to be a great guy. Also thanks to all people who sent in reviews and pictures from this tour.

Last but not least a big “HELLO” to all the people I met before and after the shows - hope to see you again soon.

Sometimes I have the feeling it’s not only the evil emperor Palpatine from Star Wars who leans back in his chair from time to time and mumbles to himself “Everything is proceeding as I have forseen”. Looking at the tracklist of Jon Lords new solo album “Pictured Within”, the track “Wait A While” could have been a song describing the release procedure of this album, as the release has been delayed several times – but finally the album has emerged to face the public.

I have had the opportunity to listen to this album for some time now, but I still dig out new facets with every additional listen. “Pictured Within” is certainly not to be played in the background while washing your car or doing the housework; rather, it’s for these silent, private moments of life when you light a candle, turn off the lights and relax with a good glass of wine (or something similar for those not drinking alcohol).

I have most Jon Lord works in my collection and I’m not sure exactly what I expected when I first put the tape into my recorder, but even still “Pictured Within” was totally different from all my expectations. “This one has nothing to do with rock’n’roll” Jon Lord said in an interview, and that’s an accurate statement. Rather, it’s a collection of keyboard-based works with orchestral accompaniments for many of them.

When first listening to “Pictured Within” and seeking for something similar to offer as a comparison, only one album popped up in my mind: Jim Matheos’ “First Impressions” (guitarist for the band Fates Warning). an album recorded back in 1993 with a few other people using just acoustic guitar, cello and violin.

Most tracks on “Pictured Within” are instrumental; only three songs include vocals. The title track, “Pictured Within”, is sung by Miller Anderson – and I still wonder why I never heard of this guy before, as his voice is brilliant – and the other two tracks, “Evening Song” and “Wait A While”, are sung by Sam Brown.

“Wait A While” especially found a way to my heart during the very first listen; I can no longer say how much time I’ve spent listening to just this track. “Evening Song” is the newest track on the album (it was recorded in July) and replaces “Miles Away”, which will be left out of the final release (a fact that leaves me with some mixed feelings, as “Miles Away” was one of my personal favorites). But there’s still the chance to see it as a track on the hopefully-to-be-released “Wait A While” single.

Of course I can’t guarantee this, but I’m convinced everyone who gives “Pictured Within” a fair chance will find a bright shining jewel.