A good warm feeling inside

It was the second time Deep Purple came to Riga. First time it was in 2000. For 30 years we had been hearing them but never seen them. It was unbelievable that finally it will happen. But this time we were concerned about seeing something less impressive. This feeling was intensified with the information about Jon Lord leaving Deep Purple. How would Deep Purple sound and look with Don Airey?

We were the first standing near the doors of Kipsala hall at 5 pm. The concert had to start at 8pm. But some of the gear didn't arrive till 7pm. The concert started an hour late. All the efforts of the sound engineer running around the stage and having his supper at the same time for one hour were honoured when Woman From Tokyo started.

Ian Gillan's voice was not heard at all, something strange happened with the guitar and the bass, but new comer Don Airey was very assiduous and everybody in the hall could heard it - his organ was beating up all the other guys. In other words, the first piece consisted of many grimaces and f***s targeted at the sound engineer. When it was over Gillan made his excuses to us and the real magic started.

Maybe it was the absence of Jon Lord and the good backing by Don Airey that inspired so much energy and fervour in Steve. It was his show, he was the main figure there and any comparisons to Ritchie are out of place here.

At least half of the show was dedicated to fantastic improvisations. There were many classic DP pieces plus The Aviator and other things from 90's. The audience was in euphoria. Gillan noticed that no one was shouting for Smoke, but every move and every note was soaked up and enjoyed. Even the lack of Child In Time was not so tragic.

We were happy to see DP one more time, to applaud them and have a good warm feeling inside after the concert.

Mihails Galushka

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