Deep Purple
Ost-See-Halle, Kiel, Germany
March 16, 1996
Third night into the German tour and the band is cooking! Iīd previously
seen three of the British shows and thought the band very good,
efficient,
to the point, but somehow lacking that final spark. Having now witnessed
them a little further into their world tour, I can safely say they are
evolving beyond expectations.
Itīs obvious that after having messed about with the setlist at the first
few British shows, they have now settled for this selection of songs.
Quite
a shame, as Iīd have loved to have seen more variation over the four
shows
I saw. Mary Long and Rat Bat Blue are very worthy liveset inclusions and
ought to have been included at more shows.
The band has a bigger set-up in Germany, indicated in one way by the
inclusion of a single follow-spot operator for Ian Gillan in the lighting
rig above the stage. On TBRO tour they used to have at least three such
follow-spots. Goes to show the bandīs scaled things down a little - also
the lasers are gone for good Iīm afraid. The Ost-See-Halle is a rather
nice sports venue with quite good acoustics, though I did miss the beauty and
comfort of say a Liverpool Empire or Newcastle Cityhall.
For some reason or other the band seemed much more relaxed and
comfortable
on a German stage. The feeling oozing from the stage was at times quite
elated. Ianīs between-song ramblings were back to the good old
stream-of-consciousness illogical nonsense of yesteryears. Wonderful!
Whereas most of the _|_ songs had been "completely true" on the British
leg
of the tour, most of them were now pure fabrications! For once going for
the ordinary explanatory introduction to one song Ian stumbles over the
words and repeats words twice over and in the end manages to screw it all
up beautifully, in true Gillan style. And such was the general state of
introductions tonight - hilarious!
Itīs always interesting to see how songs develop during the early stages
of
a new tour. For instance the ending to Somebody Stole My Guitar had
acquired a little adjustment between the show in Sheffield and the two
London shows at Brixton, making it that little bit different from the
album
version. Also SOTW had gained one line of singa-long during the chorus,
just the one, to make it interesting. I love the way this band uses
dynamics and manages to play the same set night after night and still be
able to alter things ever so slightly. For a musician itīs always a
pleasure to watch these guys at work.
The most interesting setlist inclusions for me were No One Came and
Bloodsucker, which were also the highlights along with Somebody Stole My
Guitar, Rosaīs Cantina and Speed King.
One thing I hadnīt been too impressed with at any of the shows Iīd seen
was
Jonīs solospot. On previous tours he always seemed to be going places and
trying new things. Heīd do little quotes from classical pieces or the
local
anthem and thereīd be all his little trademark runs and doodles. At the
four shows Iīve watched so far on this tour I found three of his
solospots
troubling. Heīd go for one of those runs we know him for, but somehow his
fingers would fumble and to cover up heīd quickly go into something else
that sometimes did and sometimes didnīt work. In Liverpool however, he
played the most beautiful solo where he went into a rather long quote
from
The Beatlesī Strawberry Fields Forever on the piano, complete with
underlying strings on the synthesizer. This had been one of "those"
moments. At the other shows his solos seemed to be nothing but noisy
effects on the Hammond and pointless doddles on the piano. Perhaps Iīm
being too hard on our dear friend here, but this is how it sounded to
these
ears. Iīve held a special place for Jon in my heart these past few years,
so it was with great pleasure I watched him during Speed King tonight,
chasing Steve Morseīs soloruns around. These two guys have it worked out
for sure. With Blackmore the solos in Speed King would often be a battle
over who could imitate what, whereas with Steve it becomes more of a duet
thing. Those old battles could be endlessly entertaining and exciting,
but
the way they do it now definitely isnīt dull either! There was one
hilarious moment in Kiel where Steve and Jon were chasing each otherīs
licks during Speed King and Jon suddenly did one of those funny little
runs
heīs done so many times before, but which completely threw Steve. Steve
failed to get it right the first time, hitting a bum note of un-ignorable
dimensions! Jon smiled a little at this, but when Steve continued to get
it
wrong Jon cracked up laughing and leant his forehead on Steveīs shoulder
and patted his back. Steve, who seemed to be in on the joke, put up a big
smile and walked to his side of the stage where he took us through an
incredible solo on his own. During this latter part of the show I found
myself unable NOT to just keep smiling, such was the joy I was
experiencing
from these guys. TBRO tour was and will forever be my favorite tour, but
tonight in Kiel Deep Purple Mark VII finally managed to justify their
existence for me completely. I feel rather sorry for all those whoīve
written them off after Blackmore left.
During the ending of Blind Man where Ian holds the show by drawing out
that
one line, he somehow wasnīt bending the note upwards like he usually does
and Steve, who was stood right next to him, turned and smiled and Ian,
realizing what was going on, smiled back at him. In fact, there are a lot
of smiling onstage with Deep Purple Mark VII. Can this now be allowed!?
The first encore was Queens Park Rangers and once this was over Ian
returns
from a short visit into the wings, complaining in a very loud voice over
some football result heīs just been told of (I pressume). Having
absolutely
no bearing whatsoever on anything else thatīs gone before during the
show,
he starts mouthing off that "they should have scored in the last minute!"
"Idiot goalkeeper...!" "Jürgen Summers..." Hmm, strange singer!
And winding down a major rock show by playing back a tape of a pisstake
of
your biggest hit, the one and only true classic, can only happen at a
Deep
Purple show! It is of course Rolf Harrisī version of SOTW and it really
does seem very apt, finishing off the evening on a light note.
Later back at the hotel, I was fortunate enough to meet the whole band.
And as if to prove my theory of this having been an exceptionally good show,
all four "old" members of the band spent about half an hour in the lobby
area with the just eight fans there waiting to meet them. They were in
such
an elated mood one would think theyīd just gotten off the stage five
minutes earlier and not the best part of 90 minutes earlier. Ian Paice
was
pretending to be a roaring-to-go boxer throwing punches in the air at a
German woman-friend of his - and then turning round to show an open cut
in
his finger that heīd gotten during the show, where a callus had burst
that
hurt like hell he said. Ian Gillan and Jon were trading lines off each
other like a couple of seasoned stand-up comedians in heat! And Roger was
trying to persuade a few female fans that in the movie on his life, he
would be played by Robert Redford! As for Ianīs between-song nonsense
during the show Jon said heīd heard something and then thought "Heīs
ranting! Heīs ranting again!"
Steve didnīt stay very long with the fans. He seems quite shy, seemingly
not accustomed to this rockstar-type treatment of fans waiting at hotels.
I
just hope he enjoys himself onstage and that he stays with the band. Jon
was saying in a German interview that once (when/if) Steve grows tired of
being with Deep Purple it will be the end of the band, period. Not just
yet, please!
The set-list:
- Fireball (Into the fire ending)
- Maybe a leo
- Ted the mechanic
- Pictures of home (Beethovenīs ninth ending)
- Black night
- Iīm not your lover (gtr solo)
- Sometimes I feel like screaming
- Woman from Tokyo
- Bloodsucker
- Purpendicular waltz
- No one came
- Rosaīs cantina
- Smoke on the water
- Jon Lord solo
- When a blind man cries
- Speed king
Encores:
- Perfect strangers
- Hey Cisco
- Highway star
- Outro-tape: Rolf Harris: SOTW
Rasmus Heide
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