Olympia, São Paulo, March 19th and 20th

     For those who really appreciate Deep Purple, it is not possible be absent at a concert, once you know they are playing so close...
     And so, I was there, to see them at their second and third night playing in São Paulo!
     The three concerts at Olympia were sold out, just like all other concerts they played during the Tour on Brazil.
     The set list was almost exactly the same of other nights; there were just some variations on individual solos. Steve played excerpts from Back in Black (yeah- AC/DC's one) on 19th, and introduction and Page's solo of Whola Lotta Love, on 20th, both during the solo preceeding Smoke on the Water. Paice made his (sadly short) solo during Speed King, and Lord, soloing in that way I think he's the only one who knows how to do it, taking place at the end of Smoke...Gillan, despite of being a bit hoarse, gave us some screaming performances on Woman From Tokyo and Smoke on The Water.
     Another surprise was during Jon's solo on Perfect Strangers, with a couple of girls jumping to the stage, and dancing Capoeira (I'm afraid just Brazilian people will understand this...).
     Well, and it is finished!! After 17 sold out concerts, that received not only the attendances an fans approvation, but also some very good reviews on local Press - which is such a surprise, The Press is usually less interested in paying attention to the music, preferring to waste lines and lines using the same words - "...too old for rocking..", "...jurassic Rock...", "Legends living on their past...", etc; (of course some of them used exactly those words..), but it was not difficult to realize that Deep Purple is a quite active band, playing for people that should not know them, once Purple music has little airplay and they are not part of MTV programs also! Deep Purple is strong as ever, and Gillan, Glover, Lord, Morse and Paice showed us they still have a lot to do for Good Rock'n'Roll history!!
So Long, guys... and please, come back!!

Fernando Mattedi

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