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North America 2

Jones Beach, Wantagh, Long Island, USA
Aug 15, 2004

Silver Tongue
Woman From Tokyo
I Got Your Number
Strange Kind of Woman
Bananas
Knocking at Your Back Door
Contact Lost
Keyboard solo
Perfect Strangers
Highway Star
Space Truckin'
Smoke on the Water

Speed King
Hush

Deep Purple rocked Long Island. I have always been amazed that Deep Purple does not have a bigger legion of die-hard fans, considering how they have been responsible for some of the most iconic riffs and songs in rock history. Don't believe me? Just rent School of Rock.
I was nervous about attending last night's show, since I always thought that Lord and Blackmore were integral to the Deep Purple sound. I found that I only had half a reason to worry, and, in the end, it didn't matter. The band sounded great.
The nearly 59-year-old Gillan sounded great, with his soprano Brian Johnson-like scream hitting all the notes. He stalked the stage like a Zen leader at a biker rally, barefoot in a white linen shirt and matching pants, even sitting yoga-style to introduce a song. And Glover and Paice tightly laid down the heavy rhythms that helped make the Deep Purple sound so unique.
Airey did a great job of fitting in, recreating Lord's sound where necessary, respecting the songs he was playing, and never stepping out of his role. Unfortunately, I felt like Morse wanted to put his stamp on the Purple's music, asking the band to bend to him instead of vice versa.
Despite my feeling the loss of Blackmore, I still felt the show was fantastic, and showed why Deep Purple still matter.
The first half of the show had the band bouncing back and forth between songs from Bananas and classic hits. I liked I Got Your Number and Silver Tongue, but didn't like Bananas as much. And, I thought Contact Lost was self-indulgent and hard to listen to. But the classics sounded great. Knocking at Your Back Door sizzled and was the highlight of the first half of the show.
But the second half of the show, freed from the obligations of playing the new stuff, was incendiary, showing why the Purple's music has survived for more than 35 years. A menacing Perfect Strangers, segued into the night's highlight, a blazing Highway Star. Space Truckin' and Smoke on the Water were high-energy crowd pleasers to close the set.
By the time the encore of a rousing Speed King and beefed up psychedelic nugget Hush was over, the crowd had been treated to a rock lesson worthy of School of Rock as to why Deep Purple mattered. And hell, school has never been that much fun.
Mitchell Bard

This was the second time I saw them this year. I would have to say that the first time when they did the Machine Head Tour was a little better, but that may be because Machine Head is my favourite album.
Thin Lizzy played for about 45 minutes, same as last time and they played the same as last time too. Everything was tooooooooooooo fast. They should slow down their drummer a bit. They opened with Jailbreak and closed with The Boys Are Back In Town and everything lacked the feel of the original because it was played way too fast.
Next was Joe Satriani. First off he's a great guitar player but after about 30 minutes my son said I can't take him anymore. Myself and most of the audience seemed to feel the same. He should try playing a little melody once in a while not just show us how good he is. I've been playing guitar myself for the past 30 years and he bored me after a while.
Deep Purple went on just before 10pm and played an excellent show. Ian Paice seemed a little more into it on this show than the last time I saw him (although he was great both times). Thin Lizzy's drummer should listen a little more closely to him and slow down.
Overall they played everything well. My only complaint was the solos in Speed King. I guess I'm to used to hearing Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord trade solos. They did it much better than Steve and Don did that night, but they also had a lot more practice doing it. They only played a little longer than Satriani. Joe should have played a 30 minute set and Deep Purple should have played a little longer. Anyway, overall it was an excellent show.
My son loved it and so did I.
Tom Abiz