Dortmund 29-10-2000
Well folks, one night after one of the most remarkable concerts I have ever seen, here is my short report from Dortmund, Westfalenhalle.
This honourable concert hall is well known for bad acoustic, but yesterday the sound was clear and damn loud, Sometimes my chair was trembling! Perhaps 7000 people screamed and shouted during the whole concert. It started just in time at 8 pm with Jonīs "Pictured Within", which was destroyed a bit by late arriving people, slamming doors and the noisy atmosphere you find usually at the beginning of a concert.
Then holy Dio climbed stage and - to be honest - set a standard Ian Gillan could not hold. After four songs the Deep Purple party began, and what a party!! Before the concert a few people thought it might become a very serious evening, like a classic concert or an opera. But even after the three parts of the concerto the people went absolutely crazy. Poor young people of today listening to plastic music made by plastic people on computers - after seeing and listening to gifted musicians you can only be proud to be a part of this great evening!
"When A Blind Man Cries", did they ever played this after 1970? [They only ever played it once! Ed.] "Pictures Of Home" sounded, as if it was composed only for Deep Purple and an orchestra. "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming" was perfectly arranged and "Perfect Strangers" with real string arrangement was the heaviest thing they can bring ever.
The party ended with the complete giving-up of full seating in the hall during "Smoke On The Water", with Ronnie again (mighty!). And then "Black Night" and "Highway Star" to top everything. That was the end of three sensational hours, just give me the next three, six, nine, twelve, fifteen............
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