Newsgroups: alt.music.deep-purple
Subject: Kazoo "Review"
From: "Doug C" 
Date: 4 Dec 1996 01:04:16 GMT

Went to the show in Kalamazoo on 12/1/96 and loved every minute of it. Great show - great band. They all seemed genuinely interested in performing well for the audience. With all that in mind, I've typed up the review from the local paper for the groups' perusal. Any thoughts on this? I don't use that type of language, very often, so I'll keep my personal retorts just that, personal.

     The 1975 "Guiness Book of Records" listed Deep Purple as the "world's loudest band." Sixteen years later, the quintet from across the ocean still holds the crown.

     More the 900 fans mostly Baby Boomers began the week at the State Theatre with Deep Purple Sunday night and they probably will end the week sporting Miracle Ears after two hours of brain-numbing rock 'n' roll powered by enough wattage to light up the entire city of Kalamazoo.

     Faced with what one theater employee called "50 kinds of loud," my companion and I had the option of scanning the lobby for cigarette butts to cram into out ears or giving up our chushy front orchestra seats to hold up the wall in the very back row of the balcony section. We chose the latter. It didn't help.

     It was a paradox to hear the band open with a version of "Hush" loud enough to activate the New Madrid Fault. And it only got louder as the night went on.

     To his credit, however, vocalist Ian Gillan held on for the entire two-and-a-half hour show, rarely slipping off pitch or even getting lost behind the wall of sound emitted by bandmates Steve Morse, Jon Lord, Ian Paice nand Roger Glover.

     Morse, who replaced guitarist Richie Blackmore was a force within himself.

The erstwhile fuitarist, formerly of the Dixie Dregs, Kansas and The Steve Morse Band, awed the crowd with a non-stop flow of technical theatrics, ranging from a soft, nearly vocal touch to classic rock wailings that earned him numerous ovations throughout the night.

     Celebrating the 27th anniversary of the classic Mark 2 lineup of Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice, the band mixed plenty of old with the new, dishing up a healthy helping of sweets from its new album, "Purpendicular," and a main course of hit tunes that have become staples of rock radio.

     The moody power ballad, "Sometimes I Feel like Screaming," and the shoulder-shaking "Ted the Mechanic" were the strongest of the new songs, although when put in context, the themes and rhythms were firmly mired in '70s arena rock.

     This may be hard to believe, but the band managed to crank the volume up even louder for the 1973 hit "Woman From Tokyo" to a point where the statue above the stage was sporting headphones and even that lady in Japan had her fingers in her ears.

     By the time they got to "Smoke on the Water" at 10:15 p.m., we couldn't even stand up for fear of slipping on the blood gushing from our ears. OK, so maybe that's a slight exaggeration. But only a slight one.

     Lord, one of the most revered keyboard players in rock, followed up "Smoke" with a dramatic "Phantom of the Opera" type solo mixing classical music with classic rock, bringing the audience once again to its feet.

     Shortly before 11 p.m., the band came out for a three-song encore starting with Moore's riff on I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo."

     Deep Purple finished the night with an ear-splitting, breakneck paced version of "Highway Star" that left the audience battered and begging for more.

Author's note: I was in row 7. Great!!!!! :)))))
Eviscerator

[ reviews home ]