Tour Review: Deep Purple World Tour 2000 in Athens, Greece, April 13th, 2000
After my first live Deep-experience there's only one statment I can make:
Deep Purple were, are, and will be the best rocking band of all ages. They proved it a couple days ago at the O.A.K.A Sports hall here in Athens.
The rock Gods broke through onstage with "Woman Trom Tokyo" which made the crowd go crazy. It was followed by "Fireball" during which the crowd (including me!) were turned into possessed dancing-to-the rhythm machines.
The band's dynamic entrance predicted what was going to happen next in the show and of course we didn't expect less.
The setlist was almost the same as the one in Russia (very nice choices).
At last I heard "Smoke On The Water" performed live and believe me, I felt like the guy with that flare gun who burned the Casino when Frank Zappa performed there.
Highlights of the show: Hey!!! The whole show was a highlight, but to be more specific I say that "Perfect Strangers" was performed perfectly, a reeaaally long version of "Speed King" drove us mad, especialy the part during which Steve Morse, Roger Glover, Ian Paice and Jon Lord performed solos. In addition I have to mention "Black Night" on which the crowd begun to sing "naaaahh nah nah naaaah..." {the guitar riff} followed by Morse's guitar and the whole song was performed like that!!! It was an amazing combination indeed.
The whole show lasted about two hours and when Ian announced that it was over we couldn't believe it, so we cried for more! So the band came back and performed almost half an hour more!! Their last song was "Highway Star" which drove us insane (yes once again!!!), but this time it was different, heavier. The whole crowd was messed up (I was 20 meters away from the stage and when it was over I found myself at the front row moving and shaking all over with other people sharing with them the heat of the moment. I really can't describe the emotions. :-) After having finished the show :-( Gillan promised to see us next year and we all hope so... ;-)
Conclusion: As I was heading out of the hall full of sweat and still shakin my head to the rhythm I heard an old man (about 50-55 years old) saying "Oh man, just like the old days..."
Long live Hard Rock. Long live Deep Purple.
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