Sweden Rock Festival 2009: Over The Rainbow - 4th June 2009

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Approximate Setlist: Tarot Woman / Kill the King / Street of Dreams / Man on the Silver Mountain / Death Alley Driver / Eyes of the World / Ariel / Power / Can’t Happen Here / Jealous Lover / Stargazer / Long Live R’n'R / Since You Been Gone / I Surrender / All Night Long
  • Q. What do you get if you put Jürgen Blackmore, Joe Lynn Turner, Bobby Rondinelli, Tony Carey, and Greg Smith together in a band?
  • A. Over the Rainbow.

First of all, I should point out that I’ve always been a big fan of Rainbow and saw them a few times, with a couple of different line-ups. I was at the first Donington festival in 1980, unarguably one of the best Rock Festival bills ever. I’ve seen Joe Lynn Turner live a few times (with Glenn Hughes), Bobby Rondinelli when he was playing with Blue Oyster Cult and, in spite of the fact that the former guitar player from Deep Purple is a complete munter these days, I still love Rainbow. 

These days, the Twat-in-the-Hat has his lute and his baby boy Jürgen ‘JR’ Blackmore is spanking his papas plank. Apparently, JR is an accomplished guitarist in his own right; I can’t really agree or disagree on that, but I do know that he has all his daddy’s licks down cold and plays them as well as his old man ever did, but he lacks the originality and flair that set his old man apart. I can see why he is doing this: there is a market for it. If he wants to be respected for his own talent though, he should do his own ting. Not with a lute though... that dubious position has already been filled.

JLT has one of the best voices in the business, still, and the band features players from a variety of line-ups of the original band. They play a wide range of material and they do it extremely well. I enjoyed the set, I really did. 

Still, I can’t help but feel that this is Carlsberg Rock: Probably the best tribute band in the world.