 | | Ray Manzarek (pic: Alli Price/Digitalli) |
The tantrums of former drummer John Densmore may stop Ray Manzarek (keys) and Robby Krieger (guitar) using the name, but this is the closest you could get these days to an authentic Doors live performance. Ok, we all know the story of Jim Morrison… the Lizard King, Mr Mojo Risin’, the face that covers the damp spots on the walls of a million student bedsits. July marked the 35th anniversary of his death, while 2007 marks the 40th anniversary of the band. But in four short years, The Doors produced a canon of material most would struggle to emulate over a career five times that long. And most of it is on show tonight, in a faultless setlist.
 | | Robby Krieger (pic: Alli Price/Digitalli) |
Manzarek and Krieger are, of course, the focus for most of the packed (despite three-figure prices for the best seats) Apollo. But they’ve found the perfect vocal foil in ex-Cult singer Ian Astbury. Described by Manzarek as Jim’s “European cousin”, his appearance and vocal cadences suggest Morrison, but he’s a consummate-enough performer to establish his own identity in this setting. What follows is like a script… Roadhouse Blues, Break On Through, When The Music’s Over and Five To One fly by, before Krieger’s fleet-fingered flamenco solo mutates into the inevitable Spanish Caravan. His playing throughout is a revelation; one minute applying understated latin-flavoured licks to classic Doors tunes, the next fret-tapping like Eddie Van Halen’s psychedelic dad. Still they come, the main set culminating in Touch Me (dedicated to the late James Brown) and a glorious, incendiary interpretation of LA Woman.
 | | Ian Astbury (pic: Alli Price/Digitalli) |
The sound effects heralding the encore suggest we’re about to get the song from which the band – also including much-travelled bass genius Phil Chen and drummer Ty Dennis – took their new name. Instead Krieger’s vintage Gibson SG guitar launches into Peace Frog, which feels somehow appropriate as it’s the bassline on which the entire Madchester movement was founded. All that remains is for Light My Fire to provoke the audience into one final, blissful rapture. Astbury’s pleas for a public campaign to “get these guys on at Glastonbury” should not go unheeded. | 
