Blackmore’s Night have released a new video Locked Within The Crystal Ball in support of their new album Secret Voyages. The album enjoyed reasonable commercial success and was at number 1 for two straight weeks on the New Age Billboard charts in USA.
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Frontier Records is set to release as a live album Joe Lynn Turner’s performance at the United Forces Of Rock Festival in Ludwigsburg, Germany on September 30, 2007. The new live album will be aptly (if a little unimaginatively) titled Live In Germany and will hit the street on October 10. This will be the first JLT’s solo live album. Track list will include: Death Alley Driver; I Surrender; Power; Street of Dreams; Power of Love; Can’t Let You Go; Jealous Lover; Your Love is Life; Blood Red Sky; Stone Cold; Can’t Happen Here; Spotlight Kid; Burn.

In the meanwhile, the second Sunstorm album is in pre-production stage for the recording. JLT will contribute 4 tracks: Standing In The Fire, Forever Now, Save a Place in Your Heart, I Found Love and Walk On, while Jim Peterik (ex Survivor, Pride of Lions) has offered 3 more songs. Four more songs written on purpose by Tom and James Martin (Khymera, House of Lords) will round up the album. Musicians confirmed include Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69) on bass and guitars, Uwe Reitenauer on guitars and Chris Schmidt on drums. Frontiers hopes to release the album in early 2009.

Thanks to Elio Borgi of Frontier Records and to Tatti Oscarsson for the info.

Eigentlich ist es ja nichts Besonderes, dass die britische Hardrockgruppe “Deep Purple” auf Tournee ist, denn auf den Bühnen rund um den Globus ist das Quintett offenbar lieber als in Tonstudios. Das “aktuelle” Album “Rapture of the Deep” datiert von 2005 und wurde im Februar 2006 auch in Wetzlar präsentiert. Bei dem aktuellen Tourabschnitt gibt es Größeres zu feiern, nämlich das 40. Jubiläum der Bandgründung.

1968 begannen sich die Briten mit einem Konzert in Dänemark und dem noch etwas richtungslosen Album “Shades of Deep Purple” langsam auf dem britischen Markt zu etablieren. Das dritte Album “Deep Purple” enthielt 1969 die Kultnummer “April”, aber da war die erste Besetzung (“Mark I”) schon Geschichte, Sänger Ian Gillan und Bassist Roger Glover bildeten mit Gitarrist Ritchie Blackmore, Keyboarder Jon Lord und Drummer Ian Paice die klassische “Mark II”-Besetzung, die bis 1973 hielt und zehn Jahre später reformiert wurde. 1989 wurde Ian Gillan nach endlosen Streitereien mit Blackmore mal wieder vor die Tür gesetzt, ist aber seit 1993 nonstop dabei.

Seit 1994 ist der Amerikaner Steve Morse der Gitarrist von “Purple”, Don Airey löste 2002 Jon Lord an den Tasten ab. Weil Airey ohnehin schon zum erweiterten “Purple”-Stammbaum gehörte, blieb dieser letzte Wechsel musikalisch fast folgenlos – auch wenn man den Gentleman Jon Lord vermisst, der maßgeblich für Crossover-Projekte wie das “Concerto for Group and Orchestra” verantwortlich war. Der immer gut gelaunte Saitenhexer Steve Morse lässt vielleicht den Funken Genialität vermissen, den Blackmore an seinen guten Tagen zu zünden imstande war.

Dafür aber hat er das lange zerstrittene Quintett die Freude am Zusammenspiel wieder entdecken lassen und sorgt für ein konstant hohes Niveau aller “Purple”-Shows. Sein Gitarrensound ist fetter, verzerrter, seine Spielweise virtuoser und weniger roh als die Blackmores. Aber natürlich bringt er die Mutter aller Hardrock-Gitarrensoli, den legendären Lauf in “Highway Star”, genauso sauber – und wenn das Killer-Riff des bewährten Openers “Fireball” aus den Boxen knallt, zählt sowieso nicht mehr, wer da oben auf der Bühne steht.

“Purple” haben sich nie durch allabendlich wechselnde Setlists ausgezeichnet, aber von Tour zu Tour warten sie dann doch immer mal mit netten Überraschungen auf. “Into The Fire”, bisher immer nur am Ende von “Fireball” kurz angedeutet, wird komplett gespielt – Fans des brachialen “Deep Purple”-Meisterwerks “In Rock” (1970) wird es auch in Siegen, wo die Gruppe am letzten Freitag auftrat, gefreut haben. “Strange Kind Of Woman”, ebenfalls ein Megahit, hat den Weg ins Programm zurückgefunden, danach kommen die “Rapture of the Deep”-Stücke, die sich live am besten bewährt haben, nämlich das Titelstück, “Contact Lost” und später “The Well-Dressed Guitar”, bei denen vor allem Morse mit allerhand gitarristischen Soundspielereien glänzen darf.

Eine echte Überraschung ist “Wring That Neck” vom zweiten Album – mithin neben der gewohnten Zugabe “Hush” das einzige Stück, das genauso alt ist wie die Band. Ende der 60er dehnte “Neck” sich mit seinen Gitarre-Orgel-Duellen schon mal auf über 30 Minuten, in Siegen fällt es sogar kürzer als die LP-Version aus. Aber immerhin verschafft der Instrumentaltitel dem 63-jährigen Ian Gillan eine höchst willkommene Gesangspause. Die Stimme klingt angenehm und unverwechselbar wie eh und je, aber bei einigen Passagen – fast Mitleid erregend spürbar bei “Highway Star” – ist ihm die Anstrengung deutlich ins Gesicht geschrieben.

Wohl nur mit Rücksicht auf die Stimmbänder verzichten “Purple” später auf die dritte Zugabe “Speed King”. Mit “The Battle Rages On” hat die Band den majestätischen Titelsong des letzten Albums mit Blackmore (1993) wieder ins Set genommen – ähnlich heavy-melodiös wie “Perfect Strangers”, das nach wie vor zum festen Repertoire gehört.

Auch wenn einige von der mit 135 Minuten knapp bemessenen Spielzeit leicht enttäuscht waren: “Purple” können mit ihren schieren Spielfreude und ihrer traumhaften Musikalität auf der Bühne nach wie vor begeistern. Die nächste Chance, sie zu erleben, ist am 7.11. in der Frankfurter Festhalle.

Wer auch im Pantoffelkino nicht auf “Purple” verzichten will, kann sich das vor kurzem erschienene 4-DVD-Set “Around the World live” genehmigen. Auf drei DVDs sind Konzerte von 1995, 1999 und 2002 festgehalten, die zum Teil bereits vorher erschienen waren. DVD 3 allerdings zeigt die Gruppe mit altem und neuem Keyboarder bei einem Konzert in England. DVD 4 erzählt in der handelsüblichen, also liebevollen, aber etwas zu unkritischen Art die Geschichte der Band mit etlichen Interviewteilen und Konzertausschnitten.

Allerdings werden ehemalige Mitglieder wie Coverdale, Hughes, Bolin oder Satriani wirklich nur in einem Halbsatz erwähnt – dieser Film konzentriert sich ausschließlich auf die Zeit mit Steve Morse, also von 1994 an. Erzählt wird die Historie der Wiederaufführungen des “Concerto” 1999/2000, des unglaublichen Auftritts in den verschneiten Schweizer Alpen – und zum x-ten Male geben Gillan und Glover den Hintergrund von “Smoke on the Water” – vom brennenden Casino bis zu Songnotizen auf einer Serviette – zum Besten.

Wer nur am Rande “Purple”-interessiert ist, gehört sicher nicht zur Zielgruppe der DVD, wer aber mal genussvoll über mehrere Abende verteilt in die neuere “Purple”-Geschichte einsteigen möchte, sollte zugreifen. Sehr zu empfehlen, weil immer aktuell, ist auch die offizielle Homepage www.thehighwaystar.com.

Axel Cordes, Giessener Allgemeine Zeitung

A short report from the gigs in Ravensburg (Saturday, August 2nd) and Benediktbeuren (Sunday, August 3rd):

The sound was excellent, in Ravensburg/Oberschwabenhalle quite bearable regarding volume, at least my ears didn’t ring afterwards although I didn’t wear earplugs (so either my ears are so jaded meanwhile or it was more quiet as usual). In Benediktbeuren (Open Air in the court of the abbey) was significantly louder, but here the open courtyard had to be filled.

The ambience in the abbey of Benediktbeuren of course was extraordinary. But the surroundings were unprofessional. The box office was after the security check! The men’s restrooms were outside. To eat they offered only sausage, cheese or fish rolls (we expected roast pork), to drink they had beer, apple juice and mineral water – no Weizen, no Cola. I expected the abbey kitchen to be much better, and the Lenten season is long over.

The opening band in Ravensburg was not – as announced – Gotthard (for whom a lot of Swiss fans waited in vain), but Andrew Paul Woodworth from Los Angeles. A name you don’t need to remember. I myself will try to forget it asap. Drums, bass, keyboards and acoustic guitar. The style, well how should I call it, Softrockpop? Elevator music might fit best. It was not really bad, but didn’t fit as opener for hard rock at all. And didn’t go down well for the audienc. But at least Mr Woodworth had a good voice.

In Benediktbeuren the opener Feedback was a real highlight. There plays abbot Notker Wolf, the highest man in the Benedictine order. He is a convinced hard rock fan and plays transverse flute (Locomotive Breath) and guitar. Their own songs were straight hard rock, style partly like AC/DC, Status Quo, Purple and other classics.

Deep Purple themselves were in excellent playing mood, in R. almost 2 hours, in B. a bit shorter, because at 10 pm it is sleeping time in the abbey. In R. Ian had a wonderful voice, many screams and duets with Steve, like the good ol’ times. In B. it was much harder for him. Due to the choice of songs and Steves long solos he had a lot of time to recover his voice. Because of that the whole gig was very guitar bound. Steves solos in the songs and his solo pieces were (as usual) first class.

For SOTW abbot Notker came on the stage again and played the famous riff (with a lot of help from Steve with the timing). Both obviously had a lot of fun, and the abbot was absolutely happy and proud to stand on stage together with his idols – who would hold it against him.

Altogether two great evenings, and the long travel froom Stuttgart (and the way back in the night) was worth it.

Little anecdote besides: after the gig in Benediktbeuren the boys disappeared directly from stage into the bus and left everybody waiting for a backstage meeting out in the rain (well not really, it was blue skies, perfect open air weather). The official explanation said that the travel to the next gig was so long and they had to leave immediately.

I heard directly from the tour assistant, that the boys simply wanted to avoid the expected traffic jam around the abbey and wanted to drive as fast as possible to the hotel. However the next gig is in Copenhagen – two days later.

The setlist:
Fireball –
Into The Fire
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture of the Deep
Demons Eye (Ravensburg only)
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (Benediktbeuren only)
Contact Lost with solo Steve Morse
Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
Wring That Neck
Well Dressed Guitar
The Battle Rages On
Don Airey Solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Jam of Roger and Steve, leading into Highway Star
Smoke on the Water

Encores:
Speed King with duel between Steve and Don, Solo Roger and another jam with Ian G. (Ravensburg only)
Hush with Solo Ian Paice
Black Night (in Benediktbeuren Solo of Roger as intro)

Having seen DP one week ago in Cologne, the set list was nearly the same in Ravensburg last Saturday.

The encore was extended by a breathtaking version of Speed King including some songs from the sixties, a stunning guitar-keyboard duel and s short bass solo from Roger. Stuff for a live record!

Despite the fact that the temperature in the hall was sauna-like, the band was in a really good mood, playing extensive versions of their songs. Unforgettable evening!

View Helge Andreas Mayschack’s photo gallery from Ravensburg.

Firstly the venue, The excel is excellant!,great place for the motor show,so much roomand the temporary arena was great too,good time to go to the motorshow,late in the evening,no queues,got to do loads of things that you would normally have to wait ages to do,show was on until 8pm..

I saw little Ian wandering around having look at the shiney motors and luckily he was\’nt getting hassled,which must have been a relief for him..not a petrol head myself,but the Alfa Spider fair turned my head,if anyone is wondering what to get me for Xmas,one of them will do!!!
Now the main event.

The arena is in a great setting,planes landing where just feet above the stage,I wondered if our lads would drown out the sound of them,no contest..purps 1 planes nil..

Opening with fireball,they were bang on form from the start,the crowd were with them from the start,with no support band everyone was a purplehead and it did,nt have make a differance,last time I saw them I sat next to a Styx fan who moaned the whole way through!

It was fantastic to hear Wring that neck,sure made my night and another highlight was Perfect strangers,not one of my personal favourites,but tonight is was so powerful and right,I finally got it!..Sifls is a great live track and should stay…

My one critism is Steve could sorta do a differant solo now nad then,what he does is brilliant,but dos,nt vary much,but his playing especially during HS and BN was incredible,Don adding Maybe it\’s because I\’m a Londonder\” to his set and was in top form throughout,Gillan,Glover and Paicey were just there usual incredible selfs, they are a tighter and better oiled unit than alot of of those supercars on show there! and have lasted longer than most of them too!

all in all a great night..

my one worry is London transport,DLR was down into Central London and Something was on at the O2 arena too,there were more people in my tube carraige then live in my Village…god knows how they are going to cope with the Olympics!!!

A very different and refreshing set from the past few years. Started of with Fireball and finsihed with Black night with many favourites in between.

From where I was the sound was great and the boys looked like they were realling enjoying themselves. I even managed to take a few pic\’s. [May we see them? /Rasmus]

A really superb gig, thanks guys.

It’s the first time I’ve seen Deep Purple outside since Knebworth (23 years ago!) and it’s a perfect, warm evening, a nice big stage, beautiful lights stage lights gathering prominence as the daylight fades, and a perfectly balanced sound.

The arena is just a square of tarmac surrounded by some temporary-looking grandstand seating. The crowd must be several thousand — and surprisingly young, with people my age and older a minority. I arrived 15 minutes before doors opened, expecting to make it right to the front of the stage, only to find a mile-long queue already there. But the stage was so ridiculously high that being at the front was probably a disadvantage. So I picked a spot no more than 30 feet back where I had a perfect view and full benefit of the perfect sound. There were big screens at either side of the stage, showing close-ups of the band, but to be honest the cameras weren’t very good at showing the right bits so it was better to watch the stage.

There was no support band and Deep Purple came on at a couple of minutes past nine and played just under one hour forty minutes — not as long as I expected, but Gillan kept the chat to an absolute minimum so they packed in plenty of music. The set was pretty “safe”, but with enough rarities to keep me happy. But anyway, it’s not the songs but what they play between (and within) the songs that matters at a Deep Purple concert, and there was enough of that to raise this concert way above the greatest-hits arena package tours they have been stuck on for the last few years.

Ok, what they played…

The bass-drum roll of FIREBALL opened the show, so powerful that you feel it deep in your chest, the most perfect sound you will ever feel. Ian Paice is obviously the star of the song but the whole band is on top form and everybody gets his turn in the spotlight. The song segues seamlessly to INTO THE FIRE — the full version, not just the token riff they have been playing recently.

Ian Gillan is rationing the screams and there’s a noticeable drop in power on the highest notes but his tone and his delivery is beautiful .I know his detractors are going to be analysing the bootlegs to prove he’s off key, or missing the high notes, or whatever they claim, but you know what? I don’t give a damn. Even if all that is true, and even when he forgets the words, or laughs instead of reaching for a note, or pauses for a breath, he’s still the best live performer I’ve ever heard and there isn’t anybody in the whole world I would rather see on stage right now.

Into the Fire moves straight into STRANGE KIND OF WOMAN, a predictable crowd pleaser, and the whole band looks as happy as we are as they decide it’s time for the first bit of extra-curricular activity — the return of the good old vocal/guitar call and response. But this time it’s Gillan leading it, spouting long lines of nonsense lyrics which Steve “happiest man in the universe” Morse echoes perfectly on the guitar.

The title track of the last album, RAPTURE OF THE DEEP, is next, the Arabic-sounding introduction getting a big crowd response, disproving the theory that the fans are just there for the nostalgia.

MARY LONG (I’m getting the order wrong now, I think) has the whole audience singing along — most of them so young that they can’t possibly have been alive during Mary Whitehouse’s reign of terror!

After a short run through the beautiful instrumental CONTACT LOST, four of the band exit the stage to leave Steve “best guitarist in the known universe” Morse alone for a five-minute solo of great beauty and so inventive it stuns the crowd into open-mouthed silence. Silence broken by a huge roar as he picks out the opening notes of SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE SCREAMING, the rest of the band re-joining him for this, probably the best song in their entire catalogue.

Roger and Steve join in the chorus, leaning in to sing into Ian’s microphone. When, in the middle of the song, Ian apparently discovers a problem with one of the on-stage monitors and wanders off to have a listen to it, they gamely sing the next chorus into empty air until he remembers and runs back to stand between them again.

Another instrumental, a powerful version of THE WELL-DRESSED GUITAR, with Steve “too good to actually really exist” Morse playing the fugue with extra added harmonics, for which purpose I think he probably grew an extra finger especially.

THE BATTLE RAGES ON… when did I last hear this? 1993? It sounds phenomenal, monstrously heavy.

And a huge surprise: WRINGTHAT NECK! When did I EVER hear this live? Never! (Uh… Albert Hall, 1999, Ian Paice’s impromptu jazz orchestra, but that was something different.) It’s a comparatively short version compared with the infamous 25-minute live versions from the 70s, but it’s still a great showpiece instrumental and another really welcome surprise.

SPACE TRUCKIN’, perfectly constructed to give the whole band solo spots and still have good sing-along choruses for the crowd. It looks like Ian Paice is finally going to break into his first full drum solo of the night, but he reins it in and contents himself with just hitting everything in sight for the duration of the song. Never content to play a simple beat, the whole gig is one huge drum solo for Ian anyway.

“New boy” Don Airey (ye gods, has it really been six years?) gets his solo spot. He eschews the organ, instead running through a sequence of half-familiar tunes on the piano, eventually leading the crowd into a sing-along of “Maybe it’s because I’m Londoner”. (He’s not, you know, he’s from just down the road from me in Sunderland.) He finished with a gloriously discordant run through the possibilities of a modern synthesiser, including bass notes so deep that my legs shake and the WHOOSH of air coming out of the speakers makes my hair stand up at 30 feet away.

By some strange alchemical process the solo turns into the opening organ chords of PERFECT STRANGERS and the band appears out of nowhere to join in the highlight of the night. On record, this is probably the most perfect thing the band has ever done. In this live arrangement it takes on a majesty beyond anything else I’ve ever heard, and has some kind of primal energy that has the entire crowd literally jumping up and down in time with the riff. I have no words to describe this experience. It’s awesome.

It looks like Steve is thinking about another guitar solo but he changes his mind after a couple of blues licks and instead launches into The Most Recognisable Riff In The World ™. There is no emotion that can match that of being at a Deep Purple concert and singing Smoke on the Water. It is better than… everything.

There isn’t really much that can follow that, and, as expected, Ian begins the drum pattern that announces HIGHWAY STAR. But instead of starting the bass riff, Roger decides to make up a completely new tune. Steve joins him in the centre of the stage, they face each other, and you can literally see Roger teaching him the tune as they jam together. Behind them, Ian automatically changes the drum pattern to meet Roger’s new tempo, and they’re away, just playing for the fun of it without worrying about the curfew or anything. Until Roger shifts slowly back to the Highway Star riff and the whole band is there with him, as if by telepathy. This is what makes Deep Purple the undisputed best band in the world, and it doesn’t matter who is in the band at the time, it’s something about this unit that makes it greater than the sum of… well… anything really.

And Highway Star is really rather good, Steve Morse soloing like a maniac and Ian Gillan — yes, 63-year-old Ian Gillan, whose voice is claimed by some to be burned out — can still sing all the guitar parts. It’s astonishing. By now I would confidently expect them to turn round and walk across the surface of the Thames just behind the stage.

They are only off for a very short time before they are back for an encore: HUSH. The crowd love it. It’s 40 years old and it still sounds as fresh as a daisy, and the little 8-year-old girl who has been standing next to me all night (on a box!) knows every word. It’s beautiful. Don’s Hammond playing really shines, as it has throughout the show — it’s clearly HIS Hammond sound but it’s equally clearly a Deep Purple sound. Exactly as it should be.

And there’s a drum solo.

Oh my God, at last there’s a DRUM solo. Including obligatory one-handed drum roll. Perfect.

Last song, and Roger plays the intro… it sounds like it might be BLACK NIGHT… yes, there’s the riff… but just as the crowd gets into the familiar chant he waves them off and side-tracks into a bass solo full of power and distortion and intricate runs. The rest of the band leave the stage to him. You can keep your Chris Squires and Geddy Lees and your whoevers, THIS is the best bass guitar player in rock and roll.

And he winds his way circuitously back to Black Night and the band is miraculously there to back him — how do they do it?

The song is a nice, familiar bit of fun to close the show, with Gillan leading the crowd in a sing-along and Steve leading us in a guitar call-and-response.

And…

It’s over. On a superb high note, and while I would love another two hours of the same I know I’m too drained to appreciate it and the band have timed it perfectly.

This is Deep Purple as they should be. Everybody should see this.

Best concert I’ve ever seen.

Seriously, I’ve been to a lot of concerts in the last 12 months, more than ever before, in a lot of different styles, and heard some phenomenal things. I thought no gig would improve on Breathing Space in Hartlepool. I thought nothing could equal the incredible musicality of Ian Pace playing Messiaen in York. I thought nothing would top the emotional thrill of seeing Bryan Josh and Heather Findlay walking on to support Jethro Tull in Newcastle. But Deep Purple in London beats them all on every count. Deep Purple, freed of the arena package tours of the last few years and given room to breathe, are still the greatest rock band in the world, and this was, truthfully and seriously, the best concert I’ve ever seen.

My throat is hoarse from singing, my hands are bruised from clapping, my legs are barely able to move, and as I crunched my way out over the plastic bottles that littered the arena I could only think of seeing them again next year. This is the 31st time I’ve seen the band live and it feels as fresh as 1985 again.

They are still the best there is.

They may even be better.

Last night i went to a very wonderful Concert of DP at EXcel in London. The set list was nearly the same as the DP-Fan from Belgium has written. They started with Fireball and ended with Black night.

This concert was much better than the last one i saw in Germany / Mannheim. I cant agree that Don airy has only replaced Jon Lord. I’am alwys surprised how DP brought their, somtimes nearly 40 years old song, trough time
for example hush.

I wish all DP-Fans that Dp will still rock on.

P.S. hopefully they will release a new cd

Because the other performers at the festival did not interest us at all (Isabelle A, Bart Peeters, Eddy Grant,…) and the Purple show would only start at 23:00, we left sunny Bruges rather late, around 18:30. Due to the returning tourists heading inland from the coast it took us a while to arrive in Tienen.

By huge chance we found a great – free – parking space only 200 meter away from the market square where the festival took place. After changing our ridiculous big tickets (A4) for a wrist thingy, we took a stroll around the square, looking at the pubs (looking for Johan’s favourite brand of beer) and at the young crowd, most were younger than we are used to see at a Deep Purple gig.

With it’s own advantages: thanks to the great weather the view was nicer; although the forecast was not very good: showers were predicted, and this part of Belgium even had some flooding. We even did not pay any attention to which ever band that was playing on stage.

After a while we found us a café where they had a bigger choice than the ordinary pils beers, only to find out that we had to drink our Duvel and Trappist beer in a plastic cup. Disgusting!!! In Belgium every beer (we have over 750 sorts!) has it’s own glass.

The music they played was good: Deep Purple, Golden Earring, Rainbow, and the likes. But the volume was way too low, one had to make an effort to hear some music. So we took a hike to the pub next door. And that was more like it: a hard rock café (not the “real” one!) with beer served in a bottle, and loud music (Deep Purple, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Black Label Society, Whitesnake,…).

To understand each other, we even had to shout. However, when they played Slayer, Throwdown,… I felt too old (I just turned 50, normally I feel like a thirty-something): much too heavy for me and without “real” singing. We spend rather a long time in that pub, once in a while I had a soft drink, because I “drink, don’t drive”! (kind of).

Around 22:15 while Johan had yet another beer, I went back to the festival site; we almost always split up during concerts, to meet afterwards front stage. As always, I bought a t-shirt, this time it was a difficult choice: they all looked nice; the girl behind the counter helped me by choosing one . My wife would be very pleased: yet another Purple t-shirt to my already huge collection! I proudly was wearing my Deep Purple Hub t-shirt (I wanted to wear my Korean Deep Purple t-shirt, but I suspect that my wife washed it too hot – or could it be possible, being a head chef, that I have gained a little weight over the years?)

Although I was quite a distance away from stage (I guess 60 m. As a rule I am in the front rows), I found a good place in front of the TV camera to enjoy the show. Because of the crowd there was almost no room to move, to take pictures or to write. Normally when people see me taking pictures and making notes at a gig, they move over a bit, so I have ample room to do all this things. And yes, while taking notes and so, I still enjoy the concert a lot!
Unexpectedly, at 22:46 Deep Purple already was on stage! Quarter of an hour too soon, but we weren’t complaining, not at all.

The first 3 songs were, as usual,- all performed in one go (Fireball, Into the Fire, SKOW) and, as usual, played rather routinely.
During Ian’s introduction of the next song:

“It is also the title of our new record” someone shouted “Rapture of the Deep”. Ian replied with: “I did not know you were coming.”

By now I was sitting on the fence between the camera and behind me, so I easily could look over people’s head in front of me, however after a while my bum was hurting, as a consequence the rest of the night I was on and off the balustrade. “And now, without further ado I want to introduce Steve Morse”.

Who played a lovely intro to SIFLS. The elder man next to me got tired of sitting on the fence, jumped off, turned his back to the stage, smoked a cigarette and moved oh so subtle to the music. At one moment during the gig, Ian spoke some French words.

Unexpectedly… a big surprise (in opposite to my normal behaviour I had not read any reviews prior to this concert): they played Wring That Neck, and although I am not a huge fan of this song (too jazzy for me; I even disliked it when we were at the London Royal Albert Hall Concerto, 1999) it was great to hear it again. They used it as an intro to The Well Dressed Guitar. Even though most of the audience never heard it before, they liked a lot! “Yeah oh yeah.”

The Battle Rages On. I did not notice anything wrong with this one, but Ian said: “there is always someone who messed it up: Don Airey! I am sorry, I should not have said that.”

His solo was a goodie, a tad more different than his normal one. Perfect Strangers was as usual: grand. However, I still and always will miss the fantastic green laser show they did during the 80’s. Furthermore I will, until the end of time, be connecting this song with 1984 when I read the newspaper that Deep Purple would reform!

“I don’t know if you have noticed it, but there is a split in the sky. It will be gone in the morning.” Space Truckin’. During this one it started to drizzle lightly, I was getting worried because of the shower prediction. Space Truckin’ was a treat, but, as always, much too short. By this time the audience really was awakened, it also was more difficult to take pictures because now the fence was shaking due to the raving masse.

I have known them doing better intro’s to Highway Star. The last years Steve did a swell long intro to this one. So good I often re-listen it over and over again, when playing a bootleg in my car. Maybe he shortened it because this is a festival? Yesterday in Köln they did 1 more song (Mary Long), today there is no drum solo, nevertheless they only shortened the show about 8 minutes. Yep, I already have the bootleg!

A too short intro to the crowd pleaser Smoke on the Water. Without any of his known riff parade. I like the ‘awful noise’ Don nowadays makes when Ian’s sings the lines about ‘the gambling house, it died with an awful sound’. My neighbour thought they started Child in Time! Which reminds me of a colleague at work who claims to be a fan of Deep Purple, he especially likes Stairway to Heaven!!!!

At 23:57 the first part was over, quickly followed by Hush. Part of the intro played by Don Airey was a short “Happy Birthday”. Dunno why or for whom. Black Night was powerful and great, but without drum solo, pity people here could not see his famous one armed solo. At 00:11, It all was over much too soon.

I had the impression everybody was pleased to see and hear the legendary Deep Purple, I heard a lot of good comments. This is one positive part of doing festivals: they always gain new fans. I’ve seen them a few times performing at festivals, and almost every time people are in disbelieve that these old rockers are as good as they are.

And everybody was, on excellent form indeed: Big Ian singing like a rock star (although he can’t reach the high notes no more in Child in Time, but I don’t blame him for that (hey, remember In Concert 1970!) I would errrm…kill… to see and hear this song live again ), Steve being the smiling guitar god he is, Roger bassing and singing away, Don has proved since a long time that he is the worthy successor of Mr Lord and Little Ian drumming like only he can; I think if I would try mimicking him, I would be exhausted after only half a song, if only I have the faintest idea how to play drums.

Because otherwise we had to face the heavy traffic back home, we had another drink at that same hard rock café 😉 On the way my wife texted me Brugge had some serious thunder and lightning. Guess we were very lucky that evening only to have a tiny drizzle! Downside was I only had 3 hours to sleep before I had to get to work.

The next day I saw a positive review on Belgian TV news and the radio was positive as well. I already had a browse through the 862 pictures I took. After a first sift I still have 275. (in Liège 2007 I took 1664 pictures!)