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

5-øren, Copenhagen, Denmark - June 13, 1999

Ok, so I went to see the purps at Amager on the 13th. We had ordered our tickets a bit late and got them by express mail the day before (that was a saturday but the company we had ordered the tickets from had made some kind of mistake, so they had them delivered up to our front door).
I was a bit nervous about that because I didn't know if we were getting any tickets or not. Oh well, we got them and now onwards.

We started our journey towards Copenhagen from Perstorp (that's where I live. A small little town in Sweden) at 8:00am (Swedish time) and arrived safely at 5-øren about 10:30, 11:00 or so. I don't have a watch so I don't keep that good track of time. Anyways, me and two of my friends rushed into the concert area and got a glimpse of the stage as they we're sound checking for Deep Purple (we got a chance to do this last time we saw them to. It's fun to see how the stage looks like several hours before the concert when they're rigging everything).
After a while a guy from the DP crew told us to leave and come back when the gates opened (I could tell he was from the dp crew since he didn't speak danish... Well neither did we but...ah...whatever!) so we went outside. And well...we we're 12 people watching that concert and everyone decided to go and have a meal except for me and my friend Stefan who are very big fans of Purple and wanted to make sure of front row places.
We asked the guards when the gates would open and they told us that they probably would open at 12:30. It was about 1 hour+ left til' the gates were opening so we just stood and waited as the other ones went to have something to eat. And well, time went by and the gates opened. We rushed into the concert area and bought ourselves one french hot dog each. Then we went to the t-shirt stand and asked a DP crew guy when they started selling t-shirts: "I don't speak danish" he replied, "Neither do we", I said an then asked him in English.
The first band ("Led Zeppelin Jam") started playing at 2:00 PM and well, that was when the t-shirt stand opened. So well, we went up to the stage and took place in the middle of the stage. When the time was 1:30 PM or something like that I saw guys running around with t-shirts and other merchandise so when the guys came back from eating at 1:45 or so I gave them money to buy several items which I pointed out.
And well, at 2:00 PM a guy entered the stage saying "bla bla bla" or something in Danish (I didn't get shit out of what he said except for the fact that Deep Purple we're going to perform at 6:45 PM). So well, then Led Zeppelin Jam started and well, I'm not going to review the other bands since they we're really not that great, and well.
Oh well, at 6:40 PM or something a couple of VIP's entered the stage and took place to the left outside the actual stage area (the VIP's where still on the stage though). I saw Svante along with them and waved to him but he didn't recognise me from the last time I saw him. So well, then Deep Purple entered the stage and man, I started screaming. "Iaaaaaaananana Paaaaaaaaice-ah!" (from "Come Hell Or High Water" video). And well, the concert was awesome. Gillan was really in a great mood and was funnier than ever. I'm going to review every song right about...now!

The boys are back in town
They only played about 1 minute or something but this one was a great act. All of the audience was singing along.

Pictures of Home
Paice interupted the previous song and started drumming the intro to this one. This was probably the longest and best version I've ever heard of this song. Great audience support. And wow, it was real tight!

Ted The Mechanic
Gillan introduced this song as a song about a guy he met in a bar called Ted [The guy was called Ted, not the bar. ;^) - Ed.] who told him the entire story of his life in a couple of minutes. I just love the intro to this one. This song gets better and better each time I hear it.
This one also had great audience support with almost everyone singing along.

Strange Kind Of Woman
This one is my all time favourite. Also the best version I've ever heard of this song. This one had even better sing alongs since EVERYONE knows this song.

Bludsucker
WOW :o)
Gillan got those high tones better than ever. A real heavy act.

69
What can I say? This was really not my favourite song of the album but it was very well performed and about 100000000 times better than I could ever imagine. Not very good support from the audience...it seemed like me and big Ian were the only ones who knew the lyrics to this one.

Woman from Tokyo
This one is a big time audience favourite with some great piano works from Lord.

Sometimes I feel like screaming
What can I say. This was the first time I saw this song being performed live. It was just so damn good. :o) Thanks Steve and Jon for a great time. I just love the way JL plays the piano in the second verse when this one is performed live.
This one also included a very funny story from Gillan as he did the usual introducing, like when someone's left a message and you can't read it cause it's in a different language and you go down to the bar to have a couple of drinks. He then introduced the song to be called "Sometimes I feel like going down to the bar and have a couple of drinks with my friends". After the song itself he went like "that was Sometimes I feel like going down to the bar and have a couple of drinks with my friends". :o) Anyways, I think it was a very good decision to put a slower song into the setlist. Now we only have WWhen A Blind Man CriesW left for a perfect setlist.

Watching the Sky
WOW!! :o) This is one of my favourites from the album and it's performed even better live. Some funny jokes from Gillan in the introduction: "watching the desk...eh...sky!". :o)

Space Truckin'
Very heavy! A bit too short though. One of my favourites. Great sing alongs from the audience.

Guitar solo
This one was completely different from all the others I've heard. Excellent works steve!!!

Lazy
This is one of the best songs every time. It includes some great solo works and well...I just love it. :o) Gillan did not throw his harmonicas to the audience though and that was a pity. Oh well...I've already got one harmonica from the last time I saw them so I'm satisfied for now.

Smoke on the water
A very cool intro with Steve playin some different classical riffs and then went on to "Smoke On The Water"... What can I say? This is really not my favourite song but everyone knows it and it's a great sing along song and all of the audience gets like "WOW" at this one... This one is truly the audience's big time favourite. Though I miss the part they used to have where big Ian conducts the audience to go like "Smoooooooooooke on the water - A fire in the sky!!!" for several minutes.

Keyboard solo
Way to go JL!!!

Perfect Strangers
This one was real heavy and wow. :o)

Speed King
This included solos on every instrument imaginable including - believe it or not - "It's now or never". :o)
Astonishing! And the guitar-gillan duel. What can I say...you won Ian. :o)
The drum solo was excellent with Ian holding one hand up waving to the audience under a pretty damn fast part! :o) The Morse-Lord duel was also very good and well, let's wrap it up. This one kicked butt!

The Encores
Black Night!!!!
I was expecting "Seventh Heaven" but I heard Paicey's drumming and thought "Black Night" so we started shouting the melody for it and then Gillan followed. Steve played the intro and the audience got crazy. This was the most loved song from the audience's side since they don't play this one usually. Everyone was singing along and jumping, headbanging and everything. Truly great song.

Highway Star (as usual)
Very great song. I just love the solos from Jon's and Steve's sides. Everyone was singing along with this one. Very heavy song!

You could feel how much the band seemed to enjoy themselves. smiling and laughing.
Everyone playing their heart out. They gave everything. And it paid out good. I've never seen/heard a better show than this one. Truly amazing!
Rock on and I'll see you next time Purple is in Scandinavia.

Cheers!
Fredrik Jiglund


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