[ d e e p P u r . p l e ) The Highway Star

Mind Blowing

What should I say... SPELL BOUND.

The band that I listen so often even now, the real great musicians. Sunday April 1st got myself geared up for the live event. Yeah, to watch DEEP PURPLE LIVE. Around 6pm I left my place in Bangalore along with another friend of mine (Melvin) to the Palace Grounds.

Wow, I have been to most of the shows which take place in Bangalore, but I will tell you that this show was totally different. All the rock lovers had gathered in huge numbers (around 20,000), I could see the real enthusiasm. I was actually surprised to see a few families come to see the DEADLY event.

Once I got into the ground the only worry that hit me was the possible STAMPEDE. So I stayed a bit away from the stage to see the great purple men in action.

Thermal & A Quarter opened it with few of the numbers from their first ever album. Frankly speaking they have got to improve, and I was praying them to leave as soon as possible to see the LEGENDS of ROCK at the earliest. Thermal & A Quarter finally finished and at around 8.15pm the band whom we were dying to see appeared on stage.

Wow, it was a great feeling for the PEOPLE of Bangalore to see DEEP PURPLE. Gillan started off with "Woman From Tokyo". I was astonished to see the clarity of the BASS GUITAR which I actually had never even noticed in any other event. Glover was in full swing. What's more was to see Jon Lord toying with the keyboards, it was simply mind blowing. I have listened to him on tapes but to see Jon Lord perform was like as if the instrument was made for him.

With songs from the latest albums to the 60's, DEEP PURPLE were mind blowing. How do you guys sound the same even after so many years? I am a great fan of BRUCE DICKINSON (Iron Maiden) but BRUCE himself is a great fan of Ian Gillan. Bruce says that he wished he had been Gillan, that's what Gillan is all about. Man, man, he was tremendous with his smooth screams and deadly pitch. This man is just too much. Gillan singing "When A Blind Man Cries", "Speed King", etc was great.

But the song of the evening was "Smoke On The Water", I just don't know how they started the rhythm of the song. When they started the actual riff is when I knew this song was being started, Gillan making the crowd sing along with him was deadly along with the actual fires set in the sky.

PURPLE actually gave a scare when they finished off without actually playing my favorite song "Highway Star". No, they came back and played it with action.

The main attraction was STEVE MORSE. Man, I have never seen anyone with this kind of control. The guitar following along with Gillan's singing was AMAZING. Truly they are the LEGENDS OF ROCK.

Finally they finished at around 10pm and to tell you, I still suffer from the PURPLE HANGOVER, Anyway, how do like BANGALORE? The crowd was just great and co-operative, I guess.

Thanks and hats off to you guys. Bye, namaste and keep visiting bangalore.

Mohan G.


[ reviews | the highway star ]