The band sounded fantastic!
It's really, really late, so a more detailed review will follow.
Short version: out of five times seeing DP (once in '85, once in '96, twice in '98, and tonight), this was the BEST show ever!!!! The band sounded **fantastic**. Ian in excellent voice, Steve and Jon both really on - Jon even took off his dark glasses! I hadn't seen the man's eyes since the '70s!
The set list, other than being too short, was perfect in my opinion. I had never heard "Fools" played live before and it's one of my all time favorites, so you can imagine how jazzed I was to hear it tonight. (Side 2 of "Fireball" - from back when albums had sides - is my favorite side of rock music anywhere.) Really good version too. Fantastic solo by Morse.
The whole band really seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage and believe me it showed in the performance. The chemistry on stage is so ideal that I feel sorry I ever said anything bad about Morse - and I haven't said very much that was bad about him! I brought a friend who knows Morse from the Dregs days but isn't very familiar with Purple and made a total convert out of him.
Skynyrd was actually quite good but totally anticlimactic after Purple.
P.S. Sorry I missed the pre-show get together. Silly bastard that I am, I didn't think to inquire about one and didn't see the post on it until after I got home.
P.P.S. Nugent played a bit of "SOTW" during "Cat Scratch Fever" - and DP did a few bars of "Sweet Home Alabama"! Funny.
Nugent was Nugent. If you like him (I do), you liked his set. If you don't, he ain't gonna change your mind about it by now.
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