THE DOORS AND THE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA | livemusic.fm

Ray Manzerek and Robby Krieger displayed brilliance so mesmerizing it helps one understand the use of the term Godlike. Something I always felt to be a curious expression to project onto the mortal. The gig surpassed all expectation and it was myself that foresaw witnessing nothing short of excellence – this perhaps was musical perfection.  I now believe one can read the future for I am certain I will never set vision on a better band than this.

We arrived early to assure we had great seats. Settled in and mused that we were so close we could touch Manzerek. This would all become irrelevant!

The Philharmonic Orchestra shuffled onto stage and found their seats. The glorious drone of tuning hummed from their snug seating area.  And then perfectly on time Ray and Robby jaunted onto the stage.  Ray took his seat next to his white organ and lent over to address the crowd.  “We are The Doors” the tone carried a knowing confidence of a brilliant man void of arrogance. Robby stood in his familiar pose next to his amps having been handed his iconic red SG. Then it was the turn of the singer to arrive on stage to perform possibly the hardest job in the world. Nothing short of brilliant and he would have endured the sub-zero of cold shoulders. He was INCREDIBLE! Note perfect, he mimicked the intonations with the easy brilliance of a master. He turns out to be Miljenko Matijevic the lead singer of Steelheart (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxnGaURm3B8). Matijevic auditioned to be the vocalist for Velvet Revolver – this cat has got some pretty special pipes. Listen to his other work and you’ll notice his voice is actually significantly higher in pitch than Morrison’s. He modified it to perfectly recreate Morrison’s baritone vocal. He nailed it like the Roman soldier driving the metal through the palms of Jesus.

The band began with Love Me Two Times. Jim Morrison’s propensity to sing about death and ‘The End’ charged this event with extra meaning. ‘Love me two times cause I’m going away’ that was the magnificence of this, it managed to shift consciousness, it made you feel alive! It gave you a sense of the precious brilliance of being here in this strange and enigmatic space.

It was not long until the crowd’s enthusiasm had overflowed the cup, as it were.  We could no longer remain seated, in one epic surge we leapt from our rather conservative chairs and flooded to the front of the stage. We broke on through! The music had moved us from our propensity to suffer the constraints of society, even if it is the rather simple example of being told you must remain seated! We were all like ‘Fuck off Dad! I’m dancing innit!!!!!’  At the end of the song Matijevic gestured to Manzerk expressing that is was fairly phenomenal that he could still pull this sort of reaction off! The most bizarre aspect to this gig was it didn’t even sell out. There was a break in the set. After the interval lame security guards attempted preventing the crowd from standing in the isles. In my particular isle there was a particularly sour-faced short African lady and some balding pony-tailed half-wit that appeared to have lost his way from the Warhammer shop. ‘We weren’t expecting this sort of crowd’ the lady growled from her puckered mouth. During 5 to 1 as the lyrics ‘They’ve got the guns but we’ve got the numbers’ were belted out the security could not withstand. We flooded through and began to mosh at the front of the stage.

For their encore The Doors performed LA woman. ‘Mr Mojo Risin’ Mr Mojo Risin’’, indeed the spirit of Morrison rose from the crucibles of the ether in a deluge. It was a musical and idealist dream. It was our tiny revolution in a stagnant world that echoes Morrison’s sentiment ‘Television, children fed’. It brought us freedom, it was and I know will remain the best gig I will ever see.