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UK reviews 2002 (rescheduled)
 

Weiss Heim in Portsmouth

After arriving at about 7:00pm and seeing the huge queue waiting to get into the Guildhall my anticipation rose that this was going to be a great show, and I was not disappointed.

The Planets were on first and they delivered another good opening performance, a really good sound. I just wish the lead guitarist played a more prominent role. His acoustic solo was brilliant, and in the words of the guitarist "now for the big boys."

After seeing Deep Purple in Bournemouth in March I was looking forward to hearing Ian Gillan minus his sore throat and I must say I have never heard him sounding so good.

The opener of Fireball was brilliant, as soon as it started you could tell that they must have spoken to the sound boys to crank it up a bit.

The rest of the show continued along the same lines with Don Airey for me the star of the show. I was not sure what to expect, but if there were any doubters out there surely they must have come away more than pleased with Don's performance. His solo which included Weiss Heim (a nice touch) was breathtaking.

This was certainly the best performance I've seen since Ritchie left. Don't leave it too long before you come back.

Dave Paul

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