Deep Purple, Germany,
Heidelberg 27-09-96

Once again, this time somewhere in the suburbs of Heidelberg, the small town of Eppelheim. We arrived very late at the Rhein-Neckar-Halle just in time to learn that Fireball even sounded good outside the hall.

Set list:

1. Fireball
2. Ted The Mechanic
3. Pictures Of Home
4. Black Night
5. Cascades
6. SIFLS
7. Woman From Tokyo
8. The Aviator
9. Rosa's Cantina
10. No One Came
11. SOTW
12. WABMC
13. SK

Encores:

1. Perfect Strangers
2. Hey Cisco
3. Highway Star

They did the same tracks as in Cologne but this time the sound was rougher. That created a different atmosphere that I enjoyed very much. The pub of inspiration for Cascades was called "The Nachtigall's Leg", the german word for nightingale. It was Ian Gillan's night, his singing and the in between nonsense were something special. They put a lot of effort into the new songs and especially "Rosa's Cantina" went down very well. Once again we got very inspired SM solos and even a "Lazy" intro for "Smoke". The keyboard solo was great as always and incorporated the "Kaiserquartett" by Haydn, a tune better known being the german national anthem. Speed King came along with "Peggy Sue", "Not Fade Away", the "Burn" riff and was introduced "This is not a lullaby, it's a lullaby"!

My personal highlights were SIFLS, Rosa's Cantina, No One Came (don't understand why I didn't like that song on first hearing it ages ago) and Highway Star.

It was their last show in Germany and they left me in high spirits. I was very sad when Blackmore left the band in 1993 but the new album and the seven shows I was able to watch this year have changed that mood completely. Hopefully they'll find a way to maintain that energy level for a long time.

Looks like I can't afford a trip to Japan, any donations welcome...

Uwe

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