Blossom Music Center
Well, I must say that after reading these reviews the last couple of weeks regarding Ian's voice, (yes he definitely has a cold), I was prepared for the worst. What a pleasant surprise, Ian kicked ASS! As did the rest of the band, but I had no doubt about that. To begin with, I've been a Purple fan since IN ROCK, and a major Gillan fan ever since. I've seen them three times:Dayton 1972, Cincinnati 1985, and now in Cleveland. This show was the best!! Sorry to the Blackmore fans, but these guys have been able to really stretch out and come into there own since his departure. My wife of 8 years,Cathy, (who has now become a major fan as well, and has a web page dedicated to Gillan check it out Mitzi Dupree's Ian Gillan Links) was there with me as we watched from the first row, in front of Roger all evening! these guys were so cool! After the last tune we both got to shake hands with Roger Glover and then after the encore Gillan remained on stage for probably 5 minutes shaking hands and signing autographs. When he spotted my wife from across the stage holding up her pen and paper he headed our way but was sidetracked by other hand shakes and autographs, but still made his way over to us afterward and signed it and shook our hands, What a guy!!
I don't remember the exact running order but the songs they played were : Ted the Mechanic, Strange Kind Of Woman, Speed King, Bloodsucker, Smoke on the Water, Lazy, Highway Star, Pictures of Home, Perfect Strangers, Any Fule Kno That, Almost Human,Watching the Sky.
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