[ d e e p P u r . p l e ) The Highway Star

Deep Purple and Lynyrd Skynyrd

I saw Deep Purple at Jones Beach on the foggy evening of June 14. We arrived just as Purple took the stage. At this point the place was only about half full. It was still very much daytime and it seemed difficult for many there to get into the music until about midway through the set. Here is the setlist including riff-raff details:

"Woman From Tokyo"
"Ted The Mechanic"
"Lazy"
"No One Came"
"Fools"
"Pictures Of Home" - with Morse sneaking in an excerpt of Kansas' "The Wall"
"Perfect Strangers"
"When A Blind Man Cries"
Steve Morse riff-raff (backed by band: "Strawberry Fields" (Beatles), "Stairway To Heaven" (Zeppelin), "Back In Black" (AC/DC), "Won't Get Fooled Again" (Who), "Come Together" (Beatles), "Freebird" (Skynyrd)) leading into-
"Smoke On The Water"

Encore:
"Hush"
"Highway Star"

Gillan went barefoot and his voice was on - I barely recognized him with his new hair. Sound was much better than on the A.Band.On Tour. Glover's bass was very strong, but not overwhelming and Paice supplied his usual excellent pounding. Jon's hair could be no more white; he was slightly low in the mix. Steve was amazing as always. "Fools" was definitely the turning point of the evening. By now it was starting to get dark and everyone seemed to start to get into the mood of things, and "Fools" is a great mood piece and sounds incredible live with Roger adding shakers during the second "quiet" part. By the end of the show everyone was really into it - but then it was over. A lot of people have been complaining about Purple opening, but by my watch Purple and Skynyrd had almost about the same stage time (75 minutes or so). The real difference is in the mood and it is really tough to set that mood so early.

Skynyrd put on a great show. I was upset they didn't play "Simple Man", but they did play just about everything else. Four guitars (including the bass) playing all lined up next to each other is quite a sight. For those interested here is their setlist:

"Workin' For MCA"
"I Ain't The One"
"Workin'"
"I Know A Little"
"One Thing"
"Searchin'"
"Gimme Back My Bullets"
"On The Hunt"
"Tuesday's Gone"
"What's Your Name"
"That Smell"
"Gimme Three Steps"
"Call Me The Breeze"
Rossington guitar solo
"Sweet Home Alabama"

Encore:
Powell piano solo leading into-
"Freebird"

Dave Scharf


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