Deep Purple "Concerto" - Oct. 15 2000 in Frankfurt/M./Festhalle
I was very excited before this concert because I love Deep Purple very much.
First of all: It was fantastic, superb, excellent, amazing, great..... The first look into the Festhalle was curious, everybody had a seat like at the opera or in the theatre. It was the first Deep Purple concert where I have seen something like this.
At 20:05 the orchestra came on, and then Jon Lord. He welcomed us and introduced his guests. Miller Anderson began with "Pictured Within". He has a great voice but some idiots disturbed him (like in other concerts before) with whistles and yelling.
After that some friends of Jon Lord's entered the stage: Ronnie James Dio and all of the band except Ian Gillan. Dio did a great show: "Love Is All", "Fever Dreams" and "Rainbow In The Dark". He was fantastic!!
"Wring That Neck" followed and Deep Purple and the orchestra together sounded fabulous. Big Ian came and did an excellent show. I love his voice. He sang: "Fools", "When A Blind Man Cries" (superb), "Ted The Mechanic", and "Sometimes I feel Like Screaming". Exceptional cooperation between the guys and the Romanian Philhar- monic Orchestra. The crowd went crazy.
Then the 45 minutes of Jon Lord's "Concerto", explained by Ian Gillan, and really excellently performed by the group and orchestra. They got standing ovations after that and I think they enjoyed it too, as far as we could see. I think they had a lot of fun during that evening.
I should not forget the conductor, Paul Mann, who did a wonderful job and I think he has a lot of fun too with this project.
"Perfect Strangers" (great to hear it live) and of course "Smoke On The Water" followed. Nobody took his seat now. The crowd pushed to the stage and went mad. Minutes of clapping and endless standing ovations.......So we got two encores: "Black Night" and "Highway Star".
Then, after nearly three hours, it was over.
Now I'm sitting here writing my review, listening to the Royal Albert Hall CD and remembering an evening I'll never forget.
Thank you guys, hope to see you soon!!!!!!!
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