Youth gone Deep

Now, I'm only 19 and haven't seen Deep Purple in concert before, but even based on my non-existent experience I can say they were f**kin' awsome. Two and a half hours of some of the most perfectly executed rock ever! No modern band could have done that.

Set list (not necessarily in correct order, but nearly):
Woman From Tokyo
Ted The Mechanic
Mary Long
Child In Time
Lazy
Fools
The Aviator
Well Dressed Guitar
Up The Wall
Perfect Strangers
No One Came
When A Blind Man Cries
Smoke On The Water (with huge Steve Morse guitar feature)
Speed King

Encore:
Black Night
Highway Star

What struck me throughout the gig was how they extended most of the songs with extra solos and instrumental passages. Child In Time was huge and Speed King was split in half by a solo from each member of the band, after which they all left the stage, in turn, leaving Paicey on his own, keeping beat, then they all came back, in turn, and finished the track. Simply stunning. A lot of the old classics have really benefited from being heavied up by Steve, especially Fools and Smoke On The Water.

The version of Woman From Tokyo to open was very different in the middle and very interesting, with a quieter passage that I'd not heard before. As embarrassing as it may be, I'd never heard Mary Long before, and it was excellent. Of the new stuff, Well Dressed Guitar was the most impressive but of the two new songs (Well Dressed Guitar was an instrumental) Up the Wall was the better and heavier.

I'd also never heard No One Came but that was also very good. Was very glad they played Perfect Strangers since it's my favourite DP song and the Hammond intro from Jon was stunning.

To lead into Smoke, Morsey started playing a solo then went into Voodoo Chile, Jon had left the stage for a bit but the other three (Ian Gillan on the congas) joined in, until Steve shook his head and held up a hand. All lights went out bar one big spotlight on Steve. He 'widdled' at bit before chugging out another classic rock riff (Sweet Home Alabama). The lights returned and the others joined in until Steve once again held up his hand. This continued for another five or so classic riffs including Back In Black and a couple I didn't recognise. Finally, the last riff (coinciding cunningly with Jon's return to the stage) was the immortal Smoke On The Water. And it was stunning. An immense solo from Steve and I think the first song where the whole place sang the chorus. And we all thought they'd finish there, but oh no. Speed King followed with it's huge solos, Jon and Steve trading back and forth.

The encore simply rocked and Black Night sounded excellent when played that bit heavier and Highway Star was an excellent extended version

All in all an amazing gig.

Andy Lye

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