Talent and energy
Set list: (not in order)
"Woman From Tokyo"
"Ted The Mechanic"
"Mary Long"
"No One Came"
"Lazy" - Dedicated to the late Tony Ashton
"Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming"
"Fools"
"Perfect Strangers"
"Hey Cisco"
"When A Blind Man Cries"
"Smoke On The Water"
"Speed King"
"Hush" (encore)
"Highway Star" (encore)
Deep Purple played the Sunrise Musical Theatre last night to an almost packed house. The evening was very odd and turned out to be one of the worst concert experiences I have ever had. We went to our seats only to find the entire row had been removed to install camera equipment. The woman handed me two seats in the fourth row side towards the middle of the stage giving us an excellent view of the band. We were later told during the first song we were in the wrong seats and should be in the 3rd row. We had a perfect view of everything. Roger Glover and Ian Gillan were 10 feet from me. [Doesn't sound too bad. Rasmus]
Unfortunatly we were surrounded by idiots who kept falling over their chairs, kicking us, spilling their drinks and making obscene gestures. Surprisingly security did nothing since the event was way under staffed as people rushed towards the stage. The same thing happened in 1997 when they played the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre but the behavior was much better. It just made for an unpleasant experience. It's kind of funny to see grown adults make complete fools of themselves.
But now for the band... THEY WERE HOT!!! They sounded great and looked fantastic. They performed the hottest version of "Lazy" I have ever heard and Ian Gillan dedicated it to their late close friend Tony Ashton. Jon Lord sizzled in his intro, I could have listened to him play that Hammond solo all night... He is the Master. His intro to "Perfect Strangers" was good and his duel with Steve Morse rocked as well. I felt Lord should have been showcased more.
Ian Paice played an impressive solo that received a standing ovation and even got my girlfriend, who doesn't like Purple, to stand and applaude. Many of the fans were not die hards and knew only songs like "Highway Star" and "Smoke On The Water", so my favorite moments were when they played rarities and 3rd LP cuts like "Mary Long", "Fools" and most of all "No One Came".
I tell you these guys still have it, talent and energy. And you can see they love playing together after all these years.
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