[% META title = 'Tour Reviews' %]
Purple patch up New York
It was a beautiful summer night on the water, full moon, very appropriate for the sleeveless rockers and Ian G's beach attire, sans shoes, a far cry from the high healed fashion of the 70s...We were right up front with the older Deep Purple fans, one sporting a purple jeans jacket with patches of Rainbows, Purple and Whitesnake... what a history of line-ups!
I hadn't seen the band since 1991 at Radio City Music Hall, and 11 years later, this band put on a better show mainly because Gillan was fronting instead of Joe Lynn Turner and Steve Morse seemed to be having fun, unlike Ritchie at that earlier reunion show. Steve was first class and all smiles, along with Don Airey who was also visibly enjoying the whole gig. These are all such great musicians, there could have been some more improvisation but the short solos were powerful reminders of the level of musicianship that this band had and still has on stage.
The set was the same as in Atlanta, too short considering how much fun we were all having, featuring some real classics from the Mark 2 days. As much as I enjoyed the r'n'b and funkier style of Marks 3 and 4, it was great to hear the band perform the best of the earlier rock'n'roll like Fireball, Black Night and Speed King, after which Ian G. reminded us that it was off the In Rock album from 1969 and then told us that the band would play something much more recent which turned out to be SOTW, from 1972! The crowd loved it.
Having been such a fan of Ritchie's, I was amazed by Steve, who shared the spotlight for most of the evening with Ian and who was superb especially during Well Dressed Guitar and Black Night. Wow! Roger, whom I had seen twice with Rainbow, was just having so much more fun this time around. Hush and Highway Star made one of the best encores to any rock concert I have ever seen! Thanks and keep rolling.
The set list:
Fireball
Woman From Tokyo
Ted The Mechanic
Lazy
Well Dressed Guitar
Knocking At Your Back Door
Black Night
Perfect Strangers
Speed King
Smoke On The Water
Encore:
Hush
Highway Star