Great Woods, Mansfield, Mass. USA 8/8/98

The show opened with "Hush" - one of my old favorites - and just kept on roaring after that. Next came "Strange kind of woman" and many more old favorites.

Steve Morse is a monster! He really gives the band a shot in the ass! I met him back in 1984 while he was conducting a guitar seminar at the music store I worked at in Portland, Maine. He is genuinely an unpretentious, nice, great guy! You can tell he's having a blast playing with Purple.

Everyone was really on. Ian Gillan's voice sounded better than it has in years. Roger Glover was his typical, rock solid self and he pulled off his solo from "Picture of Home" from "Machine Head" perfectly. Ian Paice - well, what can I say? There are few that can hold a candle to Ian's tasteful, always right on drumming.

But, who I really came to see was my Hammond guru Jon Lord. He still has it - and then some. He tames the beast like no other. His playing was great from note one right through to the end which was "Highway Star". (I was freakin' thinking that they were going to leave it out of this show!) And, as any Hammond player can appreciate, when Jon gave his C-3 a loving kiss and a tap at the end of the show during the band's final bows, it affirmed my kinship with him as a lover of the instrument.

Great show gentlemen!

Hammonds & Harleys...Life is Good!
Scott E. Shuster
Oxford, Me. USA

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