IAN GILLAN: SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
Luzhniky, Moscow, Russia - April, 9, 2000
I'm happy! I'm disappointed! I'm crazy! This time I can compare my impressions with the previous Deep Purple gig Moscow. I still don't know if the show last night was better or not. The sound in "Luzhniky" was sure enough much better than in "Olimpiysky", but... I think I have to think once more and write another review in more detail just a little later. Now only some very brief news from Moscow. There was as little street advertising as is possible to imagine but the house was sold out - about 7000! No posters, no booklets!
The show started 35 minutes late and the set list was as follows:
WOMAN FROM TOKYO (6'00") FIREBALL (3'30") INTO THE FIRE (3'15") SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE SCREAMING (7'00") '69 (including Steve Morse solo w/Paint It Black and some other hits of that time) SMOKE ON THE WATER (including You Really Got Me by the Kinks when Jon Lord played with them!) FOOLS BLACK NIGHT (with a beautiful duet of Steve Morse and Ian Paice) SPACE TRUCKIN' WATCHING THE SKY INSTRUMENTAL JAM ANY FULE KNO THAT PERFECT STRANGERS with a long keyboard introduction from our Lord WHEN A BLIND MAN CRIES SPEED KING (dance mix including well-known rock'n'roll hits such as Born To Fire, Blue Suede Shoes and Great Balls of Fire)
Encore: LAZY HIGHWAY STAR
Total time: 2:03'
Ian started the show dressed all in white singing "Woman From Tokyo." "Fireball" transformed into... "Into The Fire" without any pause. Only then did Ian say his first words to the Moscow audience. The very first one was "SPASIBO" in Russian! Ian: "Spasibo! You are fantastic! You are wonderful." I think he needed to make this little pause, but a few word about the audience. This time there were a lot of foreigners and I hope some of them who knows English better than I do will write you too. After "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming," which sparked a lot of lights in the hall, Ian introduced the next song as follows: "This is about English clubs, English words, stories… which is an interesting position." It surely was "'69" (Nice work, Morse!). After that (between two numbers) Ian made a little solo on percussion. Then they started the long-awaited "Smoke On The Water." By now Ian was in black. The main person of the show seemed to be Steve Morse. I was surprised to hear "You Really Got Me," the famous song, which The Kinks recorded with Jimmy Page and Jon Lord!
All other songs you can find in the list above.
I only would like to add that the only really new number was an instrumental jam of about five minutes (after "Watching The Sky"). I know that every concert is unrepeatable and every song appears in a new version. That is why I love Deep Purple. But I'd like to hear something really new. I like improvisations but I also need new tunes. And that's why I feel disappointed... a little...
The last words Gillan said from the stage at the show were: "See you next time!" I hope so. Maybe then they will sing "Don't Make Me Happy" and some more new songs.
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