Back to

Current reviews

North America 2

Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, MN, USA
Aug 24, 2004

It took me a few days to absorb what I experienced at my sixth Deep Purple concert. First - that my wife actually rode 180 miles in the car to the Xcel Energy Center, she never went to the concert but at least I got an actual admission that a Deep Purple addiction is better than a deer hunting habit in Minnesota. The four highschool boys sitting next to me were there to see Satriani. They didn't know who Steve Morse ws! Now they doand claimed to be fans as we left.
Thin Lizzy I thought would be neat to see. A tribute band with two guitar heroes! I was standing 50 feet from John Sykes and Scott Gorham. I did not anticipate the nostalgic feeling of hearing Thin Lizzy songs played onstage in front of me by two guys that were in the band. I had no idea that Sykes would sing. Wow! Brian Downey was not the drummer, but Lizzy kicked ass! They were so fine. Guitar heroes are fun to watch especially when there is two onstage at once, and two more on deck! Sykes and Gorham, you guys deserve more. Record together please! [Indeed, a bit of new music might justify keeping the Thin Lizzy name in the tour ads. Rasmus]
Satriani... Honestly I have never listened to him. I have a bootleg of one of his Purple shows, and know he uses the wammy bar a lot. He is fun to watch. Kind of reminds me of Paul Schaffer from Lettermen. Shaved head and sun glasses. He moves the stage and puts on a good show. Maybe I'll check him out on CD.
Deep Purple are incredible. So professional. I was amazed with so much silver hair onstage... How powerful experience can sound. How spontaneous this band is. I asked the kids next to me how the old boys rocked. They were blown away. Thank God for classic rock radio. I never thought I would say that! I usually choose public radio over any classic rock crap, but apparently the masses love it because they sang word for word versions of Highway Star, Space Truckin' and Smoke On The Water. It was chilling to hear the crowd singing as loud as Gillan. I heard that one time on a Black Sabbath bootleg as they sang Smoke on The Water in 1983 at Reading. So cool!
We are all getting older. The crowd was sparce, but nobody rocks better than Deep Purple. What a tradition of professionalism. I am hoping that some of these shows are recorded with Don Airey playing. I was hoping they would actually play Mr. Crowley, as Don icluded the intro on his solo, It would be so neat to cover and I think Ian would do a great job singing that song. What a surprise that would be.
I hope to see at least one more Purple tour here in the US. Nobody does this better than Purple. The dream lives on.
Steve Charming