Columbus Ohio Dec 2, 1996

This was my first time I had the privilage of seeing Purple. I was a little bummed because my longtime guitar hero had left the band, but I thought the new album was a lot better than the last one and figured I'd give Steve Morse a chance.

I was lucky enough to be in the second row and never imagined that this band would knock me off my feet. I didn't know what to believe, RB had said that Ian Gillan couldn't sing, and I was expecting his voice to be gone. From the opening notes of Hush, to the last screams of Highway Star, Gillan sounded great. They played six songs off of the new album and gave me a much better perspective on what it was about. I didn't mind that they played so many new songs, it was good to see them working towards the future. They also whipped out some great surprises including Pictures of Home and Speed King. Steve Morse was excellent. It's not the same without Blackmore, but just like Mark 3, the band was excellent. Sure there were songs that I'd have liked them to play, but in order to play all the songs I want to hear we'd have been there for days.

The tunes stuck to all Gillan tunes, except Hush, which was fine. My favorie Purple though, would probably Coverdale and Hughes, and Turner wasn't bad either. I will say that my view of Gillan changed after seeing him live, the man is just an excellent singer. He has a unique styule, unlike someone else's current singer.

I have a ticket for their Palace appearence in Detroit, and will probably review that show as well if anyone cares. The things that bothered me about the Columbus show, which were really minor, was the abscence of an extended Ian Paice drum solo. Lord took a short solo after Smoke, but from where I was standing it sounded like he was playing a lot of bad notes, the organ was not very loud in the mix in the second row.

This was the best concert I've been to in a long time.
I'm really excited about hearing what theese guys can do on another album.

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