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Much older tours...
1968-1995

Deep Purple - Essen, Grugahalle, Deutschland

Tuesday, 13 March 1996

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BOY, WHAT AN UNBELIEVABLE evening. It started at around 3.30 PM, When I picked up Fedor DeLange from the train station and drove down to the Grugahalle, around 2 hrs away. Got the tickets and checked out the merchandise. Opening act PanRam was your average metal band, at times sounding like Queensryche. The music was a bit too loud . So I went out to save my ears for better things after a couple of songs. Tried to see if anyone matched Thorsten Nickels description

Purple hit the stage at around 9.30. Set list (not in order and missing a few songs, I'm sure):

• Fireball
• Pictures of Home
• Ted the Mechanic
• Bloodsucker
• Speed king
• Cascades I'm not your lover
• Rosas cantina
• SIFLS
• _|_ waltz
• Somebody Stole my guitar
• Black night
• When a blind man cries
• Smoke on the water

  Encore:

• Perfect Strangers
• Hey Cisco
• Highway star

We were stage center, some 25 feet from it. The music was crisp and clear. The 1st thing that strikes you is that the band look really happy to be playing together. Smiling faces on the stage makes a concert better for me. As some one pointed out earlier, SM has a permanent one! SM is a blistering guitarist, puts his own trademark on the old classics. I'm really happy that DP got SM, a true origin al, and not some RB wannabe.

He had a great guitar solo during Cascades. The guitar duels with JL were awesome. Especially the one in Black Night. Jon bending forward peering down near SM's fingers, and then stretching back, pushing his glasses up with one finger and then attacking the hammond ... JL's sound was majestic as ever. Although I wouldn't have minded Fur Elise.

IG was his usual cheerful self , although the number of I thaaaaaaannnnk yooouuuuus were less than usual. He introduced Bloodsucker as an anti-management song, and Pictures of Home as a song about Roger (who had a surprised look on his face), emptiness and eagles. He was in the black _|_ tshirt and loose pants. His voice was kinda low in the mix early on, but got better later. I was kinda concerned about his his voice, coz someone from the 1st gig in germany said that he was not too great. Well, he was back in form tonite, belting it out for Speed king. RG with a bandana, started out with the brown Rickenbaker, then switched it for the maroon one, and finally the black & white. Solos on Pictures of Home was neat. So was the thumping bass line in Rosas cantina. Paice was awesome, although a drum solo would have been very welcome.It was funny, but the drummer for PanRam (who was, well, average) had a much bigger drum arrangement that IP. Shows you that quantity doesn't always makes good quality.

After the gig, we hung around backstage for an hour or so in the cold. SM signed couple of autographs and we got pictures with him. The rest of the band rushed into a van and left in a hurry.

Finally a big thank you to Fedor for accompanying me. Going alone would have sucked. Drove back to the Netherlands with Fedors new tape blasting in the car stereo.

Gig Highlights:

• Speed King
• When a blind man cries
• SIFLS
• Perfect strangers

Hmm, if I can make it to the States in time, guess I would have seen them on both sides of the big-pond (any one else?). See you all in Great Woods, Mass, USA

---

Newsgroups: alt.music.deep-purple
Subject: Essen Deutschland 13/3/96 - Review
From: afn23732@afn.org
(Daniel S. Jeyraj)



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