Newsgroups: alt.music.deep-purple
Subject: DP In Hartford
From: purpwaltz@aol.com
Date: 25 Nov 1996 01:45:42 GMT

Finally saw my first ever DP concert after 14 years of being a fan. :-)

Setlist

• Hush
• Fireball
• Ted the Mechanic
• Pictures of Home
• Black Night (with hints of LLR'n'R in SM's solo)
• Cascades: I'm Not Your Lover
• Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
• Woman From Tokyo
• The Aviator
• Rosas Cantina
• No One Came
• Smoke On The Water (with JL's solo)
• When A Blind Man Cries
• Speed King (IP solo)

Encores

• Perfect Strangers
• Hey Cisco
• Highway Star

Some thoughts:

Missed the DP party at the Hartford Brewery because of various screw-ups. Remembered on the way to Hartford that we'd forgotten the tickets at home. Took the longest possible route to the place (I am a genious at this sort of thing :-) ) and reached the Brewery around 7:30pm, just as the party was winding to a halt. :-(

What can I say about the show? AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME!

IG sang like a god throughout the show. And displayed the inimitable "Gillan humour" too (Sometimes I drink like screaming). The rest of the band was in terrific form too.

The band seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. Great spirit, lots of smiles, lots of great moments.

Ted - IG introduced the song as being about someone they'd met at a pub in Stowe, Vermont ( I assume it must have been at 'The Pub'). Excellent solos by SM, and the band clearly having a rocking time.

Pictures of Home - excellent solos by JL, SM and RG. A song introduced by IG as being about the contents of RG's pockets.

The Aviator - Absolutely brilliant singing by IG. I seem to agree with his assertion that he sings better now than he did in the seventies.

No One Came - The song of the evening! IG introduced it as a song written in 1970, and being prophetic. He and SM seemed to share a joke at this point, and IG elaborated with "No more prophetic then than it is now - hasn't improved since then." The playing was masterful. A song I honestly didn't pay much attention to for the many years I've known it will now become a favourite.

Speed King - IG introduced this song as a ballad that he sings to his daughter every night to lull her to sleep, and sometimes in the mornings too to wake her up, and BOOM! Speed King in all its fury. I envy his daughter Grace! ;-) Good interplay between SM and JL first, then SM and IG. At one point, IG bounced away and started off into "Not Fade Away" - great moment.

IG fell off the stage after the show - I hope he is not too badly hurt.

Thanks to DaveH (indebted to him for life! :-) ) I went backstage and after about an hour's wait, met SM first, then RG. At one point my wife nudged me and whispered "Mahesh, turn around quick." I turned, and seeing nothing interesting, turned away again, but this time she grabbed my shoulder and turned me around once again and hissed "Don't you see???". I saw nothing. Then suddenly my eyes focussed and I saw the Big Ian, a glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other, barely a couple of feet away. I stammered "Big Ian! Can I shake your hand?" Well, I got his autograph and asked him about Dreamcatcher, but he was interrupted in his reply, and I didn't ask him after that. He looked worn out and tired, and the worse off for the fall he sustained after the show. Also met IP and got his autograph too. The only person missing was JL.

For me, it was an unforgettable night. I was reminding myself quite a few times during the show that it was for real - that this was the same band whose In Concert tapes had been blasting through my speakers since 1983.

Rock on forever DP! :-)

Mahesh Srinivas
EMail: PurpWaltz@aol.com

--
"Sometimes I drink like screaming..."
                       -- IG (Hartford, Nov 23, 1996)

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