Hello, Purplemaniacs all over the world !
It is a great satisfaction to send my review of the "Concerto" performed yesterday in São Paulo (Brazil).
I obviously bought the 1999 "Concerto" CD as soon as it was released, and listening to it we just can't help feel a bit envious of the English fans, who had the opportunity to see it live. But, we have the VHS and the CD, so we could just use our imaginations. Well, great surprise that the management and the guys made it real to transform the "Concerto" in a tour!
By the way, reading the booklet of "Gemini Suite", Jon says that in 1969 the other band members (Paice, Gillan, Roger and obviously Ritchie) were not so kind to the "Concerto", and were afraid that they should tour it, or in his own words: "They got frightened that we'd get railroaded into playing hundreds of "Concertos"..."! Well, things have changed, cheers!
The gig ran quite well, with some very good surprises! The Orchestra that played with Deep Purple was the Orquestra Jazz Sinfonica - or The Jazz Symphonic Orchestra, a fine orchestra that has done a very good job playing popular music in a symphonic way.
First surpise was that the Conductor was Paul Mann himself. The night started with the Orchestra on their own, playing "Philarmonic Dance op. 46 no. 8" (by Dvorak) - at least, it was what I read in the newspaper. If that is wrong, another reviewer will correct it soon...
After that, the band came onstage and performed the three Movements of "Concerto For Group And Orchestra". Fabulous!! I was there with ten friends of mine, some of them not so aware about the music, and they couldn't believe that this great piece was written by Jon Lord.
Good surprises were Morse's solo at the end of the first movement (longer than the CD), and Paice's solo. Gillan was not in a very inspired mood. Believe it or not he apparently forgot a part of the lyrics - at least, he didn't sing one verse of his (short) part...
A little pause, and then they started in on the 'solo career songs, starting with another great surprise: Miller Anderson is also on tour with them, and the audience (well, myself especially!!!) was gifted with a superb performance of "Pictured Within". Simply fantastic!! What a great voice in a great song!
After Jon's number, Dio came onstage, the public welcomed him warmly. They played the two Glover songs exactly as on the CD: "Sitting In A Dream" and "Love Is All". Then, one more great surprise (in fact, two): together with Deep Purple, he sang two Dio songs: "Fever Dreams", from "Magica", and "Rainbow In The Dark". A great, great moment of the show. Dio's band probably will never have such a fantastic line-up (Morse, Lord, Glover and Paice).
Gillan came onstage and sang his songs. First "That's Why God Is Singing The Blues", and secondly "Via Miami". Mickey Lee Soule played the piano 'four handedly' together with Jon. Good performances.
After that (unfortunately, we didn't have the Steve Morse band to play...), came the Deep Purple numbers, starting with "Wring That Neck" (Paice, Jon, Glover and the orchestra), followed by "Ted The Mechanic", "Watching The Sky" (stunning, with the orchestra playing a remarkable arrangement), "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming" (a favourite of the Brazilian crowd, and why not, already a Purple classic), "Pictures Of Home", and the grand finale: "Smoke On The Water" with all the guys on the stage, and Dio singing the second verse (somehow, the Mk III arrangement, or am I exaggerating?) just like on the CD.
In fact, an unforgettable night of music, and a very good feeling of having watched a so few times performed live act. And furthermore, Deep Purple have visited us almost once a year since 1997 - the more Purple we see, the better we feel...
No more envy...
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