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

Review: Hamburg/Berlin 98

I'm now back home from a couple of DP shows in Hamburg and Berlin. I had to say it was a few days with lot of nice things happening. First of all the band is great. I have seen DP on every tour since "Perfect Strangers" and there have been a lot of great gigs but maybe they are better then ever right now. They were great in the 70's, but I had never the chance to see them live back then. It was also a magic moment to see them live for the first time back in 85. But if I compare the shows I saw in 85 with these shows (without the special feeling to see them live for the first time), they are now probably better then ever.

When I first saw the setlist in some reviews before I went for the shows I thought it was an interesting setlist, mainly because of the choice of song from "Abandon". But I had some doubts about to picking up songs like "Lazy" and "Strange Kind Of Woman" again. But when I saw the songs live it felt right (even if it would be nice to hear some other songs like "Demon's Eye", Hard Lovin Man, "Place In Line", "Mitzi Dupree" etc). This is a setlist without any lowpoints. It's rock 'n roll from the start to the end. It was very nice to hear the new songs like "Seventh Heaven" (a real masterpiece), "Watching The Sky" (except for the sad incident in Hamburg with somebody throwing a glass of beer on Mr Lord's head) and "Fingers To The Bone". Also songs like "Almost Human" and "Any Fule Kno That" was nice to hear live. The rest of the songs were all the classics songs like "Highway Star", "Woman From Tokyo", "Speed King" (it's always a big pleasure to hear that song live), "Smoke On The Water", "Black Night" (only in Berlin) etc.

But it was not only the shows which was great. I have some friends I met on this journey. First of all, a big thanks to my travel friends, Olle, Tatti and Svante (it was a big pleasure). It was nice to meet some other friends again like Fedor, Mikael and Rasmus. It was also nice to meet Ann and you from Orebro (forgot your name). I only wish it had been some more time. I also had the chance to meet and talk to the band both in Hamburg and Berlin. It was a big joy to talk to Gillan and Roger. A big thanks to DP and the camp.

If you have the chance to see DP on the Abandon tour, go for it. Now I looking forward to see them again at the Scandinavian Nights in October.

I have a couple of my photos in The House Of Blue Light. More photos will come later.

Benny Holmström


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