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UK reviews 2002 (rescheduled)
 

A Purple night

So, this was it - the start of the 2002 European tour leg for Deep Purple [More like an added bonus to a four-year world tour! Rasmus] - out in the middle of nowhere between Zurich and Basel in Switzerland.

Deep Purple did us the honour of allowing us to welcome them as the headlining act of the small Schupfart Open Air. They entered the stage around 11pm, after local upstarts Mash [Upstarts? Obviously no relation to their UK namesake! ;^) Rasmus] and the well-renowned Dr. Feelgood finished their fine sets. Purple released us into the mild night again at 1 am.

Heading out there with my father and a couple of friends, I was convinced there wouldn't be the slightest reason to stagger at the thought of Don Airey overseeing the crew from his prominent position on stage. And, in fact, he at times truly appeared to be treated and featured by the rest of the band as a sort of new, cheerful captain at the helm. Surprisingly, it was during the second solo in Lazy and throughout The Well-Dressed Guitar that the figure of Jon Lord as - shall I say, musical director, rather than keyboard player - seemed to be missing the most.

Right after those songs, however, this sentiment duly disappeared again and diddn’t return at any moment whensoever. Musically and emotionally, I believe, much of what needed to be mentioned has been said before; the tight set has remained the same and many, many highlights make the hours go by so fast that one can only hope the months until the next concert will do so as well - and that by then, DP will perhaps dare to offer a tad more recent material for which there truly is no shame to be taken.

Just one more thing: hats off to the light and sound crews - they deliver a solid piece of work. Even Perfect Strangers blaze up in ways strangely reminiscent of days gone by.

Let's wait and see how the pictures and the bootlegs will turn out…

Fireball
Woman From Tokyo
Mary Long
Ted The Mechanic
Lazy
Well Dressed Guitar
When A Blind Man Cries
Steve's solo
Space Truckin'
Airey's solo
Perfect Strangers
Speed King
Smoke On The Water

Hush
Black Night
Highway Star

Jan G. [email address witheld]

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