For real fans only.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be. Mention The Doors to most young kids now and they'll think first of the film and picture Val Kilmer before they picture Jim Morrison. Perhaps it's the curse of having the singer die in unfortunate circumstances, perhaps it's the curse of having a pretty boy singer which allowed countless scores of girls to fall for his looks, at the same time ignoring his abysmal poetry. Perhaps it's the fact that even during the bands existence The Lizard King's persona managed to dwarf over the other members that at times it seems as though their own mother would struggle to pick them out in a police line-up (and we don't mean Sting and his bunch of nostalgia riding, pension building troubadours. And don't get us started on that tosser Phil Collins.)
Anyways, that's enough of that digression, Riders On The Storm feature Ray Mazarek, the keyboard player of the original band and a vastly overlooked member of the act. Surely the mighty organ riff on 'Light My Fire' was one of the most memorable things that the band ever released? To most sane people yes but then again, good ol' Jim got his lad out on stage so that's obviously more rock n roll than creating a time-tested riff.
And that's why this gig was so intriguing. You see, The Doors have never sank too much into the psyche of this writer purely because its been impossible to get past the posturing or the deification of Morrison, so perhaps this was an attempt by the band to recapture some glory and their own moment in time?
Nah, because its geared towards the fans (and their wallets) so the young replacement singer moves swiftly and bellows throughout, whilst the backing band finds their music at times muted, well, that's probably pretty authentic for The Doors.
The early inclusion of 'Break On Thru' allowed the fans a chance to jump and jive and there was a lot of positive energy going on for the band but its only then you start to realise how few of their tracks made it to a general level and the show was purely for fans only. Perhaps it was because it was the Academy but back in the day The Doors were on the same label as Love and anytime Love made it to Glasgow in recent years, be it King Tuts or the Academy, Arthur Lee, God bless his crazy soul, felt like he was connecting with every soul in the venue. Don't get me wrong, Arthur never had a film made about him but he lived a far more interesting life than Jim, so its probably harsh to compare Arthur to the latest Morrison stand-in but the show lacked a vital connection.
The lead singer referenced this, a few times throughout the evening he said how lucky he felt to be singing these songs and lyrics, and hes right, his bank balance will probably benefit greatly and the exposure won't hurt but some of the better moments came when he took a back seat.
The lengthy Spanish guitar solo was captivating and the times when Manzarek cut loose, even propping his leg up on the keyboard, well you could maybe see why they captivated so many people in their time. They also pushed all the right buttons by dedicating 'Five To One' to George Bush and all the war-mongers out there but to be fair, that's probably no different from the bands stance back in the late 1960's.
When it came to the encore, it seemed as though the night might end on a really good note and 'Light My Fire' was probably the one the crowd wanted to lose it to but when that bass solo kept going, it managed to draw the line under the night and leave a lot more questions than it answered.
Unsurprisingly, its for fans only but for anyone hoping to see the band come out from behind the shadows and myths of their icon would be sorely disappointed.