Concert review, 2nd July, Burg, Clam
These are my thoughts about the concert on 2nd of July in Clam.
The concert took place in the village of Clam, a rather small place with a nice castle in Lower Austria. The stage was right under the castle's tower and it really was a perfect scenery (and no, they didn't play A Castle Full Of Rascals; it would had made sense, anyway...).
After a rainy day the sky cleared right at the start of the evening. There were about 2000-3000 people, but i may fail in this estimation. The crowd was interesting to watch: ages from 10 up to 60, young kids and serious looking elder men with pipes, lots of couples. The motto of the evening could have been "let's rock again like in the old days and take our kids with us to show them good music...".
At first the band Rage played for about an hour - nothing really exciting for me. They sounded like a copy of Black Sabbath and had their own string orchestra. It was funny how many people they had on stage at the end - about 10!
Deep Purple started after a 30min break and they played the same songs as in Stuttgart; i don't know if the order is correct, but as far as i remember:
Hush
Really nice rock&roll. The people instantly recognized it and sang along "Hush, Hush...". Everybody started dancing and the concert had a good start!
Bloodsucker
This was played very hard, like most of the songs this evening. After Hush it was a bit misplaced, i think (This was the first time some people looked at their partners and obviously thought: you're showing me this!?)
Strange Kind of Woman
Like Hush this was known by the audience and was received with enthusiasm.
Ted the Mechanic
Although a rather "new" song to most of the crowd they really liked it. As others said before, this is more a live-song. On Purpendicular i'm getting bored after a while, but live it works.
Pictures of Home
A classic played like on LATO, excellent
Fingers to the Bone
On Abandon this sounds good and has a nice melody. But it didn't work very well live. It's played much to hard and the softer mood is completely missing here... better they play SIFLS or WABMC. This is also an observation of this concert: i really missed some slower songs.
Almost Human
Steve played a long intro which sounded new and so i had no idea what song this would be. But suddenly i got the groove and so did all the others! Of the new songs from Abandon this is one of my favorites because of the impressing rythm play by Glover & Paice. Fits perfectly into a live show!
Into the Fire
Played again very hard but got the crowd singing with the band. It was a good decision to play this one because it's rather unknown (compared to SOTW) but is a perfect live song.
Woman from Tokyo
Not one of my favorites but played well.
Watching the Sky
This sounds like it could be a track of In Rock. It's really a new classic for me and live it's even more powerful.
Seventh Heaven
I like it on Abandon but live i didn't like it that much. It's heavy and fast riff needs a clearer sound than a live concert can give, i think.
Smoke on the Water
After a very long solo by Steve (impressing!) this was the highlight of the concert. This classic is known by everyone and even the people not knowing DP that much had fun.
Evil Louie
Before it started, IG introduced "And now Mr. Lord!" to the audience. JL was a bit surprised and after a short conversation IG came back and said "Well, i introduced a song as 'Mr.Lord' but it's called 'Evil Louie'" Obviously he had forgotten what song was next and expected Lazy...
Nevertheless this song is also a new classic for me. Some people don't like it, but on Abandon as well as live it sounds great! And i really like Steve's playing on this.
Lazy
Some people said JL isn't doing any long solos on this tour, but on this day he did! And because he played in Austria, he played a short Mozart, of course (something from a piano concert, i think). Lazy was played very well, but maybe IG had a black-out in these minutes (see before)? It seemed he took a look at some notes for the lines? Anyway, important thing is: he still sings great!
Perfect Strangers
Known by most of the people this worked well also.
Speed King
This really made the audience wild! Played perfectly it was the ideal title to end the show - and to make the crowd screaming for encores!
Like on the previous shows (AFAIK), SM did some duels with JL and then with IG. It looked like they enjoyed it very much and so did the audience. IP had a short drum solo as well.
Encores:
Any Fule Kno That
Its funky sound made the people dance again and it showed how good it is live! SM did a different solo then on Abandon, it wasn't that exciting for me. At the end of this song i always wish they will play the funky rythm from it's beginning again, but - sigh!
Highway Star
Nothing to say here - sheer power, speed, fun!
Most of the reviewers said they had been disappointed by the setlist. As always, it's a matter of taste - for me it was my 1st DP-concert, and from that view of point the setlist was ok. I'm sure most of the audience hasn't been enthusiastic DP-fans, more like casual DP- listeners. For this type of people the setlist was fine - there has been Hush, SOTW, Highway Star, SKOW, WFT and POH - all time classics. If DP would drop that kind of songs, they won't do anything good to themselves. I only wish they will play some songs from Purpendicular in coming tours - Loosen my Strings, SIFLS or Somebody has stolen my guitar.
The sound was fantastic! I talked to several people and they agreed the mix was incredible - you could hear every single note from every instrument. Congratulations to the people "behind the stage" ! And it was loud too, i mean LOUD! But this is a major reason why i think Fingers to the Bone will not work very well live - same for i.e The Aviator...
This was an exciting concert to all of the people! And DP played with fun and lots of smiles (not only SM, but also RG, IG, ... ;-) JL did a lot of solos, IG even more screaming and SM played like he had always been in DP. RG and IP were a fantastic rythm section and it was amazing to listen to the exact entries of the instruments - what a professional band this is!
I'm looking forward to the next album and the next tour! Deep Purple 2000!
[ reviews | the highway star ]