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Koseinenkin Kaikan Hall, Nagoya Japan
March 18, 2004

Deep Purple's Nagoya show was promoted by the local broadcast station, CBC. It opened with an announcement, "welcome to the Nagoya show by Def Lepard..." ;-)
The first song was from the Bananas album. Ian Gillan, in white costume, started to sing energetically. I've been a fan of him since I was at high scool, and tonight's show brings back all the memories of past shows with Deep Purple in Nagoya. Here are some them:
1973 - The Mark 2 show was at Nagoya Shi Kokaido. Both the promoters and fans knew that Gillan and Glover would be leaving the band. Before the encore, Gillan bows to Jon Lord, as if to say "good-bye, Jon." A photo of this scene is well known through a bootleg. The last shows of the golden era still brings us tears when we think back.
1985 - The reunion that we had all craved for, and the second golden era. The show opened with Highway Star. Gillan's words: "thank you for waiting for so long, here we are, back together again." It went straight into the hearts of the long-term fans.
He then introduced other members onstage: "on guitar, Ritchie Blackmore!" Yes, the guitarist on the left-side of the stage, dressed all in black, was Ritchie. We turned to his direction, expecting him to say or do something in return, but he didn't react to the introduction, just kept on playing and rocking. It was the Purple sound that we had all long waited for.
1993 - Nagoya Rainbow Hall. How could we forget the 1993 show? A week before they were due to play here, the old Ian Gillan vs. Ritchie Blackmore conflict flared up again. Ritchie got fed up and left the band! If only he could put up with it for another week... Joe Satriani took his place for the tour. (Later on, Yngwie Malmsteen said "I hope they'll ask me, I can play every Deep Purple number.") [But who needs DP played at double speed? Rasmus]
Ian Gillan was dynamite on the night of the show, he was in a great mood, perhaps now that the guitarist he couldn't stand was gone. He sang and rocked so energetically, exchanged jokes with Jon Lord, interacted with Satriani and pushed him into great performance. Jon Lord later said IG was a completely different person from when Ritchie was in the band. His stage chats were perfect too (yes, I mean it ironically), not mentioning Ritchie once.
2000 - Aichi Prefectural Arts Hall. This venue is supposed to have the best accoustics in town, and indeed I remember enjoying the excellent Deep Purple sound here. On guitar was the fresh face, Steve Morse. As the band had released the RAH album before coming to Japan, I had half expected this show to be a classical one (esp. considering the venue.) The opening number, Highway Star, put my mind at rest. One could not help feel the show sounded like that of a Deep Purple cover band. My impression of Steve Morse was "a guitarist who loves DP joined in for the occasion". I know, it hadn't been that long since he'd become a member...
2004 - Koseinenkin Kaikan. There are about a dozen venues in Nagoya, the biggest of which being Nagoya Dome (where the likes of Aerosmith play.) Koseinenkin Kaikan is one of the smallest. According to Gillan, it's hard to get through to the audience in huge venues, so perhaps this is a good choice.
The show concluded with Hush. What's happened to Child in Time? Gillan hasn't sung that for four or five years now. Why not? He looked strained while he sang the hard rock numbers. For Gillan freaks like me, the show left a touch of anxiety as to what's going to happen now.
Sadayuki Hoshino