I enjoyed a very pleasant Saturday! First I attended Steve’s guitar clinic at the club Samba and than I saw my favourite band in full action!

In the afternoon I took my car and headed for the small town Winnenden near Stuttgart to attend my first guitar clinic. Being a guitarist myself, this was about to be a real treat….First I was surprised of the people at the club! I was the only one showing my colours with a Purple shirt!

It was a very mixed audience of young and older, female and (mainly) male persons. Talkative as I am I used the time until the clinic started and talked to some of the guys. Well…. I was shocked: None of them was a Purple fan, they were much more into Steve Morse and one of them even told me, that he regrets that Steve spends such a lot of time with Deep Purple! Only one of them wanted to see the show!!

Well, now to the clinic: It was sponsored by Engl and a local music shop. You could buy all kind of different things and they even gave you 10% on each item. Anyway, at 4 o’clock Steve arrived and came on stage. He was very relaxed, joked a lot and even tried his German. Then he told us about his guitars and asked if anybody had a question. Someone said: “First play, then question!” Steve laughed a lot and said, that the message was clear!

He played several “songs” backed up by a tape. Then he explained about his every day practicing routine. It was very interesting: He showed us a lot of high speed runs up and down the fretboard. He talked about his equipment and the different sounds that he uses.

He finished after 90 minutes. Unfortunately I couldn’t wait for his signing session, as I had to go to the hall and it was getting late… I think most of the people stayed, but they had no plans for the concert anyway!

I arrived at the Schleyerhalle just after the doors had opened. I managed to get a good position with a good view and waited for the show. Gotthard, a band from Switzerland, opened for Deep Purple and I have to admit that I had a very pleasant surprise. Their blend of melodic, grooving hard rock was very enjoyable.

The singer has a very good voice, the sound of the band was very balanced and clear (something that is not always the case). They finished after 75 minutes and the woman next to me said, that it would get very hard for Deep Purple to match this show. I told her, that after the first chords it would be clear who is the “boss” in the house….

Well….how wrong I was! Deep Purple opened with Pictures Of Home/Things I Never Said and the reaction of the crowd was close to zero! It seemed for me, that I was the only one who was shouting and yelling.. What a big difference to the shows that I had seen before (two of them were at exactly the same place)! Usually it’s hard to get a view of the band during the first minutes because everyone is waving and putting their fists in the air…

During Into The Fire things good a bit better and after Strange Kind Of Woman everyone (well, almost) was on their feet! Rapture Of The Deep and Wrong Man cooled down the audience a bit, but after Contact Lost (dedicated to Pyro) and The Well-Dressed Guitar people were warm…. Ian has become very skinny, mainly around his legs, but that doesn’t mean that his voice is worse than before. He sang with such an energy and affection….he will go on doing it for a long time!

The band have changed the stage a bit. Most remarkable is, that little Ian’s drumkit is not put on a drum riser any more, but directly on the stage floor.

Next was Knockin’ At Your Back Door. This song is a monster and I really don`t know, why they don’t play it on a regularly basis. Maybe there is someone in the band who has a certain dislike of that song…. But I thought, that the last one who sometimes had little errrr “problems” with some songs left the band 15 years (my God! Has it been that long?) ago. Anyway, this song IMHO is one of the best live songs that they have ever written!

Next we were in for a fresh sounding version of Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming. Although this is definitely the most outstanding number of the new line up, it was only the second time for me to hear this song live (I have been to 12 shows since Steve joined the band).

The most funny part of the evening came next, when Ian told us that he had learned about the next song, when, as a child, he was sitting on his mothers knees listening to her old Purple records. Wring That Neck was given a ”4 minutes treatment”, but it was a nice idea to play that song again.

Next on the list was The Battle Rages On, which turned out to be maybe the highlight of the show. I’m quite sure, that the (quiet) people around me didn’t know the song, but they obviously were very impressed by the song. The Battle Rages on (together with Anya) is one – maybe the – most underrated song of Deep Purple. Unfortunately it was written during a very difficult period of the band, so I understand that they don`t have the best memories when they play this song. But hey, it was 16 years ago…

Don’s solo, to the enjoyment of the Suebians, included “Muß I denn zum Städele hinaus”, an old German folk song. Perfect Strangers was performed with all its majesty and power. Space Truckin’ and Highway Star were brilliant as usual and Smoke On The Water was the crowd pleaser (as usual).

They opened the encores with Lazy (I had hoped for Speed King) and they finished with Hush (no drum solo) and Black Night. The show was over after 105 minutes.

What can I say? Was it the best concert that I have seen so far? Well, after a show you are always intended to think so, but I am very cautious to use this term. But one thing is for sure: They played the most balanced set I ever saw them play! There were songs of almost each period of the band and they offered a lot of new or only rarely performed songs. They came very close to the definite setlist!

Catch one of their shows if you can!

Keep on rockin’
Harald

Wow … what a great concert it was. Congratulations to the guys. This was the way the fans want to experience Deep Purple Stuff.

They were in a really great shape, everyone of them. Especially the enormously powerful “The Battle Rages On”, “Sometimes I Fell Like Screaming”, “Knocking At Your Back Door” and “Highway Star” as well as “Black Night”, both with brilliant instrumental openings, were my special highlights of a great evening.

Thank you Deep Purple! I’m loocking forward excitedly the next concert.

Nearly exact 15 years ago, on 16th October 1993 I’ve seen the guys the first time, at Schleyer Halle in Stuttgart to. In the meantime I saw DP a lot of times and I know I will not get tired to see them. My advice to everybody else, go an see them.

My wife and I drove 625 kms from Holland to Kassel in Germany to see DP. We have seen the band several times in Holland and Belgium to. It again was worth “the trouble”!!

We could see the joy you have on stage, and we enjoy it with you.

The concert wasn’t sould out, unbelievable. But Kassel is in the middle of almost nowhere… Bad excuse for those Germans in that neighberhood… They don’t know what they have missed.

Purple thanx again and see you next time, I hope in Holland again.

greetings from Carla and Willem

Zuerst: Tolle Leistung der Band. Leider nicht eine Ballade. Dafür reichlich Klassiker.
Schade: Die Tontechniker waren nicht in der Lage, die schlechte Akkustik der Halle auszugleichen. So kam beim Publikum eigentlich nur ein Lärmbrei an. Zeitweise waren die Verzerrungen und Überlagerungen so stark, dass man glaubte, Steve hätte das Gitarrespielen verlernt.
Liebe Band: deshalb war das Publikum auch so zurückhaltend: es war leider kein Genuss! 5 dB leiser und es hätte so schön sein können…

Martin Popoff has a new book published — Gettin’ Tighter: Deep Purple ’68 – ’76. According to his press release, the book is 250 pages long and covers “every last recorded track throughout the band’s celebrated albums from the ’60s and ’70s”, “b-sides and key solo career moments” together with “previously never published photos by Rich Galbraith”.

We don’t have a copy (yet), so this is what we’ll have to rely upon.

You can purchase the book directly from Martin’s site.

There’s another Steve Morse’s guitar clinic on November 17. It will be held at the Musikhaus Thomann, Treppendorf 30, Burgebrach (near Bamberg). The clinic starts at 16:00. For further information please call +49 9546-9223-0. The clinic is once again sponsored by Engl.

Steve Morse will hold a signing session in Basel in the afternoon of November 18. The session is organized by Engl to promote their Steve Morse Signature E656 amplifier. Admission is free, but interested parties are required to register beforehand (click on ‘zum Anmeldeformular‘ to get to the registration form and enter your name, address and email).

When: November 18, 2008
Doors open at 15:30
Session starts at 16:00

Where: Nordberg Basel “City”
Kellergässlein 7
4051 Basel
Switzerland
Phone: +41 61 461 36 36

More info: nordberg.ch

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

I was surprised by this very emotional gig last night in Erfurt. The absolutely great support act Gotthard made the Messehalle turn into a ring of fire. Perfect show and great sound!

After about an hour of wonderful Rock’n’Roll Deep Purple entered the stage. And while several people in the crowd where transported to the outside because of sickness and other struggles, Ian G. seemed to be 99 years old.

I was really scared as he tried very often to put the microphone back in the mic-stand – always failing to grab it, he was also little tumbling. He looked very thin, and a little ill (touching his belly several times). Sometimes he seemed a little confused and the band was quite strained by the situation.

At the beginning he wasn’t really in shape but his singing was getting better and better and at the end of the show he was back in vital form – dancing, screaming, smiling.

After all it was a great show, good setlist (I don’t remember the complete setlist, maybe someone else adds that) and I love the video screens and light effects.

The band’s energy level was very high that night and the whole show was very exciting with lots of tempo and vitality. That’s good Purple and I’d like to see it once more (maybe with a better regenerated Gillan).

Steve Morse will hold a guitar clinic in Stuttgart, Germany this Saturday, November 8. The Clinic will be at the Liveclub Samba, Max-Eyth-Str. 54 (Industriegebiet Langes Gewand), Winnenden. Doors open at 15:00, clinic will start at 16:00. Free admission. The clinic is sponsored by Engl and Soundland. Call +49 711-510980-0 for more info.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for info.

Whitesnake has won the Album Of The Year for the Good To Be Bad at this year’s Classic Rock Roll Of Honour awards. Here’s a picture of one very happy Mr. Coverdale collecting the prize.

Other celebrated glitterati included Ozzy Osbourne (living legend award), Foo Fighters (band of the year), Paul Stanley (best showman), Airbourne (best new band), AC/DC (DVD of the year for Plug Me In), Metallica (reissue of the year for the first three albums), Led Zeppelin (event of the yar for the O₂ Arena reunion show), Jeff Beck (outstanding contribution), Peter Green (classic songwriter), Harvey Goldsmith (music promotion), Wayne Kramer (metal guru), Cream (classic album for Disraeli Gears) and Slash (Marshall ‘11’ award). Syd Barrett was posthumously awarded the Tommy Vance Inspiration Award, which was collected by Syd’s sister.

The ceremony was held in London’s Park Lane Hotel and also celebrated 10th anniversary of the Classic Rock magazine.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson and BBC for the info.