[% META title = 'Tour Reviews' %]
Author: Kari T Ahokas
Newsgroups: alt.rock-n-roll.classic
Subject: Deep Purple. Suomeen? ;)
Date: 18 Nov 1993 09:13:29 +0200
(All right, everyone knows where the postsubject comes from...)
by Kari Ahokas
Tremendous Deep Purple ended their European tour here in Helsinki yesterday. Unfortunately, there was some messin' taking place during the show:
Roger had lost all his equipment and he was bound to play synth bass with one of Jon's keyboards. Ian Paice was experimenting with drum machines throughout the show. Also, Jon's massive techno-synth sounds on "Child In Time were impressive...... calm down, I was just joking! Let's get on the real thing:
The running order was exactly the same as in Norway. During the "Difficult to cure" -jam Jon played selections from Jean Sibelius' "Finlandia" , naturally instead of that Grieg stuff. This was also one of the higlights of the show, Jon showed that he still got the touch despite his grey hair :)
The band played well through the set. No bigger mistakes, cool rhythm & solo playing. I was standing some 5 m from the fence (the first section of course) and from there bass and organ were easiest to listen to. Ian's singing was a bit low on the mix. He's voice carried on quite nicely. And what a charming guy he is...(Hey, I am not that kind of guy, just facing the fact....!!! -Kari)
Ritchie was in a good mood; also his playing made an impression. It's a bit hard to believe that they were about to quit: everybody gave the audience (and each other) smiles & funny grims. All the five Purples seemed satisfied and happy - there was no word about quitting or anything like that. Ian didn't even mention that was their last gig on this tour.
A nice detail I got to tell: people were wondering what was goin on when the band took new places on the stage just before "Anyone's Daughter". I couldn't resist shouting with the top of my voice the name of the song that was about to come. You should have seen the faces of the crowd nearby me; they didn't quite understand how could I know what was about to be played... Also Ian mumbled (is that the word? to speak not-too-clearly...) after the song something like "extraordinarily recognized" or something.
"Anyone's..." was a cool piece of jamming. Jon's electric piano sounds weren't the most suitable for the tune when comparred to the original studio cut but anyway...
The gig was, after all, a good one. Audience seemed to be satisfied with what they get. I liked it. I loved it. 9 points out of ten. I've seen them and I was proud of them. Long Living Rock and Roll as one guy sang right to my left ear during the "Black Night" -jamming last night... ;-)
ps. The guy with weird clothing (guitarroadie??) was also a couple of times on stage...
(He's referring to me mentioning a guitar roadie dressed up as a witch. -Trond)