What a night!
Me, my best girl and 14th row centre tix for Purple! [Your best girl? How many you got then? Oops, sorry! Rasmus ;^)] The boys were in fine form, calling on the set list they've been using for this leg of the tour, kicking off with "Woman From Tokyo" and ending with "Hush" and "Highway Star" as encores. The crowd was into it right from the start, leaving their seats as the band, led by Morse and Glover, came on stage. Gillan was the last to arrive, wearing a pink shirt and grey pants and, of course, barefoot. The mood was relaxed right from the start with smiles all around. It was perhaps the most relaxed I have seen them. Steve Morse was good enough to make even the most diehard fan forget about Ritchie, calling on just the right amount of TMIB's signature licks in his solos to make them sound familiar and all the while leaving his own imprint on the classic tunes like "Lazy", "Pictures Of Home", "Highway Star" and "Smoke On The Water".
Despite sharing top billing with Lynyrd Skynyrd, it was pretty clear that many of the about 12,000 on hand were there for the Purps, judging by the large number of people who appeared to be leaving, inlcuding me and my wife, when they were done. About the only real disappointment on the evening was the set length and the lack of any songs from "Abandon".
For those who need to know, the set list was as follows:
1. "Woman From Tokyo"
2. "Ted The Mechanic"
3. "Lazy"
4. "Knocking At Your Back Door"
5. "Fools"
6. "Pictures Of Home"
7. Jon's Keyboard Solo/"Perfect Strangers"
8. "When A Blind Man Cries"
9. Steves Guitar Medley/"Smoke On The Water"
Encores
1. "Hush"
2. "Highway Star"
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