Deep Purple did it again
Yesterday Deep Purple gave a marvellous concert in Bonn. The weather was great, and so was the band. At 8PM they kicked off with "Woman From Tokyo", followed by "Ted The Mechanic". The setlist was pretty much the same as the one from the concerts on the rest of the tour, and if you have "The Soundboard Series", as with the Hong Kong gig, had "Hush" amongst the encores. Although The Highway Star stated that our dear Jon Lord would be there, he wasn't. Gillan told the audience that he's still suffering from a bad knee and that they were glad to have Don Airey standing in for him. Don did a terrific job, but from where I was standing, I couldn't hear him all that well. The organ wasn't as present in the soundmix as it is with Jon Lord. It may be my imagination, but that's how I felt about it. During the solo spots Don came through perfectly, and there he showed that he's a good temporary replacement of Mr Lord. Hopefully he'll be back on his feet again soon.
Gillan once again showed his beautiful voice (even on his 56th birthday, hope it was a good one Ian), Glover played his bass perfectly in harmony with Paice's drumming and Morse as always gave us the best of his magnificent guitar playing. In his solo spot just before he goes into "Smoke", he released his devils playing bits of Hendrix, AC/CD, Led Zeppelin and lots of others. I've listened to "The Soundboard Series", but in this show he did a really long solo before "Smoke". Just extremely good. It was definitely a very good gig and this Bonn audience had a great share in that. We were able to go backstage and the first thing Steve said when I congratulated him was: "wonderful audience." Which made me reply: "wonderful band."
I'd like to thank the crowd in Bonn for giving Purple the audience they deserve. And of course, the person who gave us the backstage passes and the complete band for making me a very lucky man by signing my guitar. I think I'll cherish this moment forever.
Thank you all for giving us a hell of a day.
Greetz,
[ reviews | the highway star ]