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Brighton Centre, Brighton, United Kingdom
November 16, 2004

Silver Tongue
Woman From Tokyo
I Got Your Number
Strange Kind Of Woman
Bananas
Demon's Eye
Knocking At Your Back Door
Contact Lost / Steve Morse solo
Don Airey solo
Perfect Strangers
Highway Star
Space Trucking
Smoke On The Water

Speed King (including Dream Baby, It's Now Or Never, Rave On)
Black Night

My expectations were very high. Since 1999 I've attended five DP concerts, all of these extraordinary experiences. The members in the band have set a standard that's very high.
But in Brighton I was disappointed. Very disappointed.
Most of all it was the sound. From where I was standing - slightly to the right, 10 - 15 yards away from the stage, and that should have been an ideal position - the sound was terrible. For some reason, Gillan's vocal and Airey's organ was mixed through the PA system that hang above the stage. Morse's guitar amps, however, were aimed straight to the audience. The result: You could barely hear Gillan, and the organ was only audible when the guitar wasn't playing. That is not what you expect at a concert with these guys.
They play loud and always have, yes. But for the last five years they also have sounded really good on stage. This sounded really awful.
Gillan pointed out that the band have been touring 38 countries for 18 months. I know, I went to see them in Gothenburg a year ago and have counted to more than a hundered concerts between then and now. It seems to have taken its toll too. There was a certain flair of tired routine over their performance in Brighton. That goes especially for Steve Morse.
He is a wonderful and inventive guitarist, but this evening it seems like he most of all wants to get over and done with the concert. It's a bit hard to pinpoint what causes this feeling - he still plays very good. But his heart does not seem to be in it.
I think the band ought to take a long, well deserved, holiday. They need two things now: A new sound-guy and a rest. They got so much to give, and they embody the spirit of rock. The energy is still there, but it has lost its sparkle. I'm sure they can get that back again.
On the positive side: Demon's Eye was a nice surprise. That song should stay in the set for a long time.
Not so good: Two less songs from Bananas. No House of Pain and no Doing It Tonight. Since those two went down really well in Gothenburg a year ago, I can't understand why they chose to exclude them from the set.
Normally walking out from a DP concert you can hear the enthusiasm in the crowd leaving the arena. Not so in Brighton. Instead, leaving Brighton centre, I overheard many complaints. That's a first for me since the HOBL-tour in 1987. And I find that sad, because I know how fantastic these guys can be.
Per Lundblad

Right, I thought I'd post a few thoughts about the show last night.
In general it was somewhat inferior to the one I saw on the ill-fated 2002 UK tour (which saw the band stretching out much more and also had an air of tension about it too being one of the last proper Jon Lord Purple gigs) but at the same time very very enjoyable (with some stonking highlights!) reaffirming my belief in the band (and also frustrating me enormously since I will have to wait till 2006 to see them again!).
I only caught a couple of songs from the Dean Howard Project (the ones Gillan and Danny Bowes sing on) before heading to the bar so it's probably a bit unfair to judge them on that basis. Still, they didn't sound like anything particularly impressive to me...
Thunder were, as I expected, excellent! They kicked off with Loser off their last album and for 35-40 minutes managed to squeeze in a cover of Gimme Some Lovin', River Of Pain, Low Life In High Places, Love Walked In and their new very Whitesnake-sounding single. I can't really understand how some people here seem to find them a disgrace since they were IMO the quintessential opening band, warming up the crowd in a sensational manner, getting everyone to their feet and also showcasing themselves very efficiently at the same time. Danny Bowes was awesome throughout (the ending bit on Low Life... was chilling!) with some very funny quips too (calling someone from the audience queer and then saying "maybe I shouldn't have said that in Brighton!", LMAO ). Anyway, as a result of their short set, I am seriously giving it some thought of going to one of their headline gigs in March, probably the London one! Only gripes? Their sound was considerably tamer in volume compared to Purple and Frampton plus Love Walked In, great song as it is, was a bit of a wrong choice for a short set as it ruined the momentum somewhat. Still, top marks for their effort!
Peter Frampton on the other hand was the audio equivalent of watching paint dry... A faceless band, a middle aged has-been, tired songs and some very average guitar playing (can anyone seriously argue that Morse didn't wipe the floor with him night after night?!). Boring pentatonic boc soloing with some talbox phrases thrown is hardly something to get excited about... Again, I left twice during his slot. I think it speaks volumes that Thunder despite being third on the bill had more people in the arena than he did!
As for Deep Purple... First the bad bits; Silver Tongue's a crap opener (they should have started with WFT instead), the sound was not as clear as last time I saw them (with Don sometimes getting buried in the mix) and most importantly the running time was too short. 90 minutes simply isn't enough for a band that has made its reputation on jamming... At times (with a good example being the shockingly short Strange Kind Of Woman!) you felt they were competing against the clock and that just ruined the atmosphere completely. Many times they went into a little jam only to abandon it seconds later... Shame.
Now, for the positive things! First of all the setlist was the finest I've ever seen them play since 2000, a great mix of both new exciting stuff (Bananas for example sounded like a real classic, they should really keep that in the set for future tours!) and "new" oldies (Demon's Eye was an awesome treat with fantastic soloing from both protagonists and some great singing while KAYBD, despite the lack of a decent ending solo -Blackmore-style!-, chugged along very nicely indeed).
Gillan was in pretty good voice, some patchy screams here and there (it was a bit embarassing trying to see him duel with Morse on SKOW and Speed King, he should just let that one go) but very consistent throughout. He also looked like he enjoyed himself immensely! Airey and Morse were the real stars of the night, funnily enough I've never been one for solo spots but theirs were the highlight of the night for me! Don has clearly gelled in with the band while Steve was his usual self, throwing more picks than a certain widdling Swede (!), touching hands with the audience and even playing the SOTW on the monitors on the right side of the stage! His Contact Lost/WDG solo left many people speechless (Mr Frampton please take notes!).
Finally, Roger and Paicey (who sadly was the only one that didn't get a solo spot apart from a short break at the end of a song) were spot on, settling nicely into grooves and providing a solid back-bone.
Was it worth it? Hell yeah! I would have liked to see them play longer and thus shake off the 'through-the-motions' feeling that crept in at times but this is Purple we are talking about, halfway through the set things started cooking very nicely indeed leaving most people with a show to remember! Roll on 2006, with a new album in tow the prospect of seeing them again is even more exciting!
Christos Gatzidis

I went to the Brighton concert on the spur of the moment after seeing tickets would be sold on the door. After a lengthy wait, 9:30 and time for the main act.
Highlights:
- Bananas sounding particularly menacing
- Steve's guitar solo was mostly backed by the band; I much prefer to hear him like this than completely on his own
- The new introduction to Highway Star; it shows the band do actually think about reinterpreting the classic material
- Black Night being blasted through with some oomph to make a fine closing number
- Ian Gillan convincing most of the crowd to play air Hammond whenever Don took a solo
- Choosing to play a standing venue which improves the atmosphere a great deal
- Getting to stand in front of Roger's bass cabinets to experience a distinctively bottom heavy sound
- Steve playing the 'Smoke' riff straight without the annoying twiddles he used to throw in.
Disappointments:
- The organ was mixed rather low (although this could be down to standing in front of Roger)
- Don still playing Star Wars in his solo
- Knocking At Your Back Door - I've never rated this song
- Only playing for an hour and a half. If they'd gone to two hours I'd have liked to hear House Of Pain, 69, The Aviator, Sun Goes Down and Seventh Heaven.
In all I was impressed by the show and the new line up (first time I'd seen them play a whole show with Don). Roll on the next tour - 90 minutes isn't long enough!
Richard Mackey

Strange Kind Of Night
Brighton was the only chance I got to see Purple on this UK tour, lack of funds and time! (It is hard being a struggling musician!). But what a great performance from the Purps!
Our Gillan looks much better now he’s growing his hair back, and I had to laugh when he came out dressed in the same gear as he was wearing on the Battle Rages On Tour and someone chucked a glass of water (or something) at the stage, I reckon Blackmore was there somewhere! Gillan was in great voice as well!
Morse did his Contact Lost and Well Dressed Guitar bit which didn’t go down too well, I was clapping for the poor bloke! Then Gillan stood up and got all the crowd clapping for him, maybe get those two out the set, eh? Get something from Purpendicular or even The Battle Rages On in the set? That’d be nice! It was real good to see the inclusion of Demon's Eye which was awesome, nice arrangement as well!
It was a very hard crowd in Brighton, it seemed not a lot of people were up for the audience participation bit, it had been a long night though! The band gave 100% and were truelly professional, proving why they are still here filling arenas (there were a few clams dropped though! Sort it out, son!). I also remember many people having seizures!?
Purple were the daddies as usual! Monster gig!
Matt Love