Review of show at Beacon Theater, NYC, Nov. 27th

The upper-west side of Manhattan was crazy on Thanksgiving-day-parade-float-blowup-evening. I felt lucky to get a parking spot 20 blocks from the Beacon. But my distance from the venue was contrasted by my 3rd row, left-center seat (standing space) at the concert.
What I was about to witness was pretty intense.

A brand-new pair of Sonic II's saved what is left of my hearing after too many years in front of my own Leslies. The wall of sound coming from the left speaker column, in front of my face, propelled the entire orchestra to stand through the whole show.

Steve Morse was clearly enjoying himself. He was smiling throughout the concert. And why not--he is one of the premier guitarists in Rock. What unfolded before me was the guitar performance of the year (decade?)! I'd LOVE to see Blackmore respond to the challenge.

Ian Paice's splashy snare and bass-drum work during Fireball was as good as ever. Roger Glover's thumped his purple sunburst bass during Pictures of Home, which I’ve always felt was a bass player’s song. I like his work on Loosen My Strings (which they didn’t play). Glover is the fulcrum between Paice and Morse. Often during the show Morse would come over to stage-left to sing backup vocals with Glover at their dual mic stand, or just rock in unison. The interaction between the two skinny guys in the band was beauty to behold.

Gillan introduced a song as a "mellow one, actually sort of a lullaby", and went into Speed King. Gillan often looked "Ozzy-esque" when he shook his stringy hair at the stage right audience. His voice was good, however. Jon Lord, to whom I owe a good deal of my own organ-playing style, seemed a little tight during his solos. His studio work on the new CD is much better.

Morse's guitar intro to Smoke on the Water included quick quotes from Page and Hendrix. I couldn’t help getting the feeling that he's been playing that song in copy bands since high school.

The encore consisted of Perfect Strangers, Hey Cisco, and Highway Star. The new songs, especially Hey Cisco and Sometimes I feel Like Screaming, were among the highlights of the show. After a two hour show, I really wanted to hear more.

Afterward, I had to go to a bar and de-compress for a while. The combination of the energy projected by the band, and the perspective of being that close, left me with a sense of sensory overload. I hadn’t seen Deep Purple since 1974. They had just released "Who Do We Think We Are", and surpisingly, didn’t play anything from it. The band was clearly feuding, and about to undergo a personnel change. They are much, much happier now.

Roy Altman

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