Exciting and mysterious
I have been a Deep Purple fan ever since I have listened to rock and roll! I own every thing ever recorded by every line up, with the exception of the Tommy Bolin era. Until two years ago though, I had not had the opportunity to see Purple live. The show on June 28th was nothing short of brilliant! I took my son for his birthday, as Deep Purple and Lynyrd Skynyrd are his two favorite bands (guess I'm raising him right), as are mine. I also saw them two years ago (when it was still called Pine Knob), and I was floored! This show certainly lived up to all the live albums I have with the current line-up, as well as the 1999 show.
I have never heard Ian Paice (in my opinion, the greatest living drummer) more on his game. His timing was impeccable. Ian Gillan's voice was as perfect as it has always been. A true pleasure to hear! Jon Lord's organ only improves with time (if it's possible to improve such a fantastic talent). Roger Glover is truly a joy to watch play. He obviously enjoys the show as much as we do, and it shows in his abilities, providing a perfect bass from which to build masterpieces! Lastly, Steve Morse's guitar slinging is just so incredible, I don't think I could imagine anyone else as perfect a fit in Deep Purple!
The set list was both exciting and mysterious. Who could have ever imagined seeing Deep Purple doing "Fools" in concert? I was completely taken aback, as was the entire crowd, when Ian announced it! The usual standards for the live show such as "Pictures Of Home", "Smoke On The Water", "Highway star", "Speed King", "Perfect Strangers", and others, were only enhanced by such classics as "No One Came", "Lazy", "Ted The Mechanic", etc. I only wished they had played "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming" which is my favorite Purple song! In addition, Steve's treatment of the intro to "Smoke On The Water" was nothing short of genius, with his emulating a radio searching for the best tune, and the band following suit when he found a station, a la the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Stones, etc.
Its always great to see Lynyrd Skynyrd, my other favorite band. Nothing, however, compares to Deep Purple in my book! I would have gladly paid any amount to see that show again.
[ reviews | the highway star ]