First off - the support band - Pan Ram ?
Thought they were ok - wasn't really paying close attention but they reminded of Gamma Ray without Kai Hansen :-) Most of the audience were in the bar anyway......
Right onto the headliners - the set list was slightly truncated from other ones I've read here,they played (in order I think) :
Encores :
IIRC,the Capitol has a fairly strict curfew so this might explain the slightly truncated set list....anyway what was played was so good nobody really missed the other songs......
I'll do this slightly differently - instead of a track by track account I'll do a member by member one :-)
Ian Gillan - Seemed to be having a whale of a time,much better than when I last saw Purple in Edinburgh (198?).Generally joking and messing about.He even found time to wind up a roadie who appeared on stage to sort out Morse's pedals by standing beside him and pointing to an imaginary watch.Threw a knackered harmonica into the crowd.Also,was he reading the lyrics for Bloodsucker off his monitor ? He seemed to flick a page over before the band started playing it.Like he said though - they haven't played it for ages.
Roger - Seemed a lot more comfortable.I've never seen him move around the stage so much as well.Maybe he's not scared of getting a clip round the lug for stepping into the guitarist's 'space' anymore :-). Some great playing and the start of 'Sometimes....' was just awe-inspiring - sounded even better than the album.The bass was fairly audible in the mix,and there was a lot of good playing going on in there.
Paicey - What can you say ? I was actually a bit disappointed that we didn't get a proper drum solo (there's not many drummers I would say that about - actually two,Ian and Neil Peart),but the guy was totally solid all night and it never ceases to amaze me how he manages with such a small kit when far worse drummers have ones twice the size and still sound shit ;-)
Jon - Bloody brilliant as usual.Excellent solo and he even chucked in a bit of 'You take the High Road' or whatever it's called.Funniest bit of his solo was during a quiet moment when someone shouted out 'Play Ace of Spades' and the whole audience cracked up....Only in Aberdeen....;-)
Steve - This is going to be the hard one.I've been a major fan of Steve's for a long time and I never thought I'd get the chance to see him play live in a million years.So this is going to be a wee bit biased....He was fucking awesome - easily the best guitarist I've ever seen live and that includes Blackmore (who admittedly didn't have a good night in Edinburgh).Along with Roger,the intro to 'Sometimes...' was superb.His solo during 'Speed King' was incredible as well.I got the distinct feeling at some points he was looking round The Capitol and thinking 'What a toilet' (he's right BTW).I could go on for hours. Oh,his duelling with Jon was brilliant as well.
As some people have said he did look a little nervous but after this tour I don't think he need worry.I was afraid that there would be a lot of 'Where's Ritchie' shit going on,but 99% of the audience seemed to warm to Steve straight away.Which of course enabled me to stand there with my favourite 'I told you so' grin on all night :-)
Of course - there's always one.One of my friends didn't even know TMIB had left......
Anyway,a great night out and I'm off into town tomorrow to complete my Purple collection :-)
Cheers- Mark Kennedy
Newsgroups: alt.music.deep-purple Subject: Aberdeen/UK 1/3/96 - Review From: babylon@wintermute.co.uk (Mark Kennedy)
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