Mexico city concert review
It's 7:30 P.M., Wednesday February 4th, I'm outside the National Auditorium and not less than 10 guys have asked me "do you have an extra ticket for tthe concert" because the 10,000 seats of the venue have already been sold out. My obvious answer is a rotund "No". It's been more than three years since Purple came to this contry and presented Steve as their new guitarrist, in his first concert with the band and Mexican audiences were hungry of a good hard rock show.
The opening act was scheduled to start at 8:30 P.M., I had first row
ticket, just in front of the man
with the Hammond organ. At 8:35 the house was packed and the fans were
anxious and whistling
in order to put some pressure on the opening band, because the show was
already running late.
Lights went off, and my girlfriend told me "There's Lord Jon" (as she
calls him). I didn't believe her,
but suddenly I saw Roger and someone sitting at little Ian's drum kit.
Other's noticed that there
was not going to be an opening ac, so the cowd went wild.
Here's the set list in exact running order:
Hush
Fireball + Into the fire (complete version)
Ted the mechanic
Pictures of home + Morse solo with Cascades finale!!
Black night
Bloodsucker (unexpected, good version)
Sometimes I feel like screaming
Woman from Tokyo
Seventh Heaven (nice intro by Morse, good newie, it's hard!!)
No one came
another Morse solo + La Bamba + Smoke on the water (short sing along, just
like in LATO '96)
extremely short disappointing solo by my lifetime idol: Jon Lord + When a
blind man cries (highlight)
Speed King (a lullaby) - a 12 minute hot version of the classic, monster
Morse - Lord - Gillan interplay
Perfect Strangers
Highway star
Total time 1hour 50 minutes aprox.
I'm a real die hard Purple fan for almost 19 years (I'm 25), every person
that knows me relates me with
this band and to be honest there were several things thad really made me
sad:
1.- Jon and big Ian were low in the mix (all the show)
2.- They didn't bring all the equipment necessary to fill of sound a 10,000
seater
3.- No lasers and in general very poor lights
4.- Lord's solo lasted less than a minute, and there were no Leslies
I think the band played good. Morse was the MVP by far, Gillan sang well, good bass by Glover, Paice was in good form and Lord was good on the songs but his performance was far from that on November 23rd, 1994 at the Sports Palace in this city, when he was the frontman.
As a matter of fact, in my opinion it's a lack of respect to the 10,000 fans that packed the auditorium, that bought tickets that averaged in price about $20 US. dollars, that waited more than three years for a second show in the 30 years of life of this band, to have received back a band that didn't bring enought equipment to make them vibrate (take into account that in Mexico this band is known to be "the loudest band in the world"), that didn't bring the light show we expected (as in Come Hell and High Water) and that played a slightly short show for Purple-starving people.
However, Purple is still by far the greatest rock and roll band on earth, with all the power, brightness and mastery that has put them deep in the soul of many guys like me worldwide.
I hope if the band come's back to my country, the management take note of my complaints in order to bring the necessary equipment that 10,000 + loyal fans deserve.
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