The Hard Rock Hotel’s “The Joint” was the venue in Las Vegas. My wife and I flew from Seattle, WA and met up with a friend from Great Falls, Montana here in Las Vegas.

Set List:
Pictures Of Home
Things I Never Said
Into The Fire
Strange Kind Of Woman
Rapture Of The Deep
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
Knocking At Your Back Door
Contact Loss
Well Dressed Guitar
Lazy
Don Airey Solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Highway Star
Smoke On The Water

Harry E. Heathman III

San Diego: It took five years to see Deep Purple back in San Diego again (I would prefer to live in France, you know why), last time was in 2002 at the Coors Amphitheatre with Scorpions and Dio.

This time it was also a great experience, but quite different, the place was small and appropiate for an intimate session, the crowd filled the place and was pretty enthusiastic and responsive, so was Ian Gillan, who acted as an orchestral director.

The sound was comfortably loud, clear and tuned.

The set list was pretty much like those posted before, but as far as I remember, they didn’t played Woman From Tokyo and The Battle Rages On.

Pictures of Home
Things I Never Said
Into The Fire
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture Of The Deep
Contact Lost Guitar solo
Well Dressed Guitar
Knocking At Your Back Door
Lazy
Keyboard solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Highway Star
Guitar jam
Smoke On The Water (with Michael Bradford AKA Ritchie Moreblack)

Hush

They took the stage a 9:32 pm, and went away at 11:04 pm, enough for me, but with a little frustration because of the songs they didn’t play. Into the fire was as terrific as Lazy, Perfect Strangers and Highway Star.

Everyone was at his best, especially Morse, who was pretty enthusiastic and played the guitar furiously, Glover interacted playfully with the crowd, Bradford was nice too.

It was an exciting and intimate concert for me.

By the way, the crowd age distribution corresponded well with that of the poll.

Martin Salazar

Last night, while visiting in Denver, Colorado USA I had the time of my life rockin’ with Ian, Ian, Roger, Don and the almighty Steve (I tell you, that guy’s smile is contagious and I am a GUY).

The band was having so much fun the enjoyment permeated the entire audience and Ian Gillan is right. (there were ALL ages in the audience which surprised me). I don’t see any reason to mention the tune list because they play Hush and tunes off The Rapture of the Deep with the same energy as if both were written and recorded last week.

I can not say how many times I have seen Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake, The Steve Morse Band, Dio, Satriani etc… but last night’s show, in a relatively small auditorium, was nothing less than an absolute GAS…

I am 47 and a professional guitarist (I’ve spent many hours stealing tabs and trying to figure out what Steve pulls off going back to the Dregs as well as a million hours as a teen getting down the Highway Star solo) but the only downside I could see which I’m sure – because I even talked with a few new friends from the concert – the average fan would not pick up was the difficulty Ian Gillan was having with the high notes.

However, I do not see how it is possible that between Steve and Don they could have done a better job to help out…. Only a player like myself, with 20 years experience, would pick this up, but Steve and Don are so on -top- of it they can play three people’s part at the same time if need be… Talk about an AWESOME line up….

And Ian, after screeching the silver-throated Child in Time for what, 35 years, I’d have to say you did an exceptional job. I guess you guys didn’t have time for Steve’s long solo — I was looking forward to see what tunes he decide to jam on…

But I guarantee you I will be back… When will we know when Deep Purple will be back at The Montreux Festival? Hey all – you want a fun night, get a pint of the local brew and be ready to be rocked to the Stars and Dance around with Borealis…

Joe Russo

Denver: After the local band was finished, it was nice to see a big stage with no monitors. This is especially appealing to someone who was right up front like I was. It was quite intense since I realized afterward that I enjoyed every song.

The only problem was that there was such a low turn-out. I can’t help but wonder if it makes a band try to finish sooner. Maybe they’re so polished that they can do it in exactly 90 minutes.

Ian sang very well, considering the altitude and heat he had to endure. I was surprised how well he sounded to open the show, as well as on Into The Fire. To me, he seems to adjust his voice to the natural inability to hit high notes.

Roger really seems to enjoy himself. Don is Mr. Cool, and Paice…(speechless). Steve was loud and raw. One of my favorite live albums is Made In Japan 2000, and that’s what this sounded like.

Wearing earplugs is customary for me, and I’m especially glad for them after hearing someone say something about their ears having melted. He may not seem to smile as much, but he still has his fun moments.

There’s been more grimacing than I’ve seen by Steve in the past, but when he did a tighter performance of Smoke On The Water, I’d say there’s fire in this guy.

Dave Urstadt

This show was announced with less than weeks noticed and was booked at a venue that maxed out around 425. The unofficial word from an employee the following day was the crowd reached over half capacity. The show didn’t get much press outside of the Aspen area.

But Aspen has rockers! I talked with several people who had kept up with the current Deep Purple and were down front with me. The show started around 10:15 and went untill 11:45.

Steve, as always, played on the mark and seemed to enjoy the intimate crowd. The sound mix could have been better – the vocals were low, Steve’s sound dominated – maybe that’s what I get for being up against the stage.

But well worth the interaction with the band. It was “In Your Face” high energy night. the small stage was just below waist level and Roger, Ian and Steve just about always within reach.

I heard it was very loud even in the back. Some guy did a stage dive during Smoke, Ian looked annoyed, Steve looked concerned.

The set list was – see photo ->

Pictures of Home
Things I Never Said
Into the Fire
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture of the Deep
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
Steve’s Solo (Contact Lost and Rockin’ Guitars)
Well Dressed Guitar
Knocking at your Back Door
Lazy
Don’s Solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Highway Star
Smoke on the Water

Hush

Battle Rages On had question marks by it on the set list taped at Steve’s feet, someone in the band must have been getting tired.

Eric Slivon

San Francisco: With all the talk about song lists, and, what should be on it or off it, August 15th, 2007 brought this lad back to what really matters – Deep Purple on stage lovin’ life and the music they play.

Ya, know what, I even wrote in a blog that I’d only go to one show on this tour because they weren’t playing enough of “Rapture of the Deep” – I’m sorry lads, I was wrong.

You played every song with so much conviction, passion & pleasure – I was blown away. I’m sorry I didn’t take my vacation time to correspond with your visit.

However, since the 15th, I’ve done nothing but listen to Purple on my commute to work & back. And, I bought the est 1968 tee. Next time around, guys, next time around.

Victor Martinez

Phoenix: Yeah! Everything I expected from the band and more!

I am a 40 year old who used to listen to my big brothers 8-tracks, been rockin for a long time, been to many concerts.

The Perfect Stangers tour in the 80’s was the best concert I had ever been to….untill Rapture From The Deep.

After the Arizona concert I went straight to the internet to find the next closest show. Hope to see another album and tour in the future!

Rob Golladay

A band ON!

San Francisco: To begin, this was the 8th time I’ve seen Deep Purple in concert. 3 times with MKII, 2 times with MKIII, and 3 times with MKVIII.

The show at the Warfield was one of the best shows I have ever seen with the band. From the beginning of Pictures Of Home, to the closing Hush. The band was full of energy, and they went all out playing just under 2 hours.

There were some highlights for me that gave me goose bumps, and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up! Ian Paice’s drum roll intro to Pictures Of Home, and Roger Glover’s bass line were awesome. Ian Gillan’s vocals on Into The Fire took me back to 1970. Don Airey’s solo before Perfect Strangers took me back to the Jon Lord days.

Now about Steve Morse. I can only imagine the comparisons that have been made between Ritchie Blackmore and Morse through the years, including myself. I don’t believe there is a bigger fan of RB, than me. From the first time I saw DP in 1973 (see review in Much Older Tours) RB has been my favorite guitarist of all time. He might be arrogant, and we always had to wait for him, but he can play!

Last Wed, at the Warfield, I finally accepted Steve Morse as being a true leader of the band. His solo during Lost Contact brought me to tears. Not an easy thing to do for an old rocker like myself. He threw in a few licks from Dazed and Confused, Led Zep, Sweet Home Alabama by Skynyrd, and Sweet Child Of Mine by GNR. His leads on Highway Star were note for note perfect! He was also having FUN!

The last 2 times I saw MKII, RB was not having fun. Morse really inspired the whole band, which is the sign of a great leader. I was also impressed when they played Speed King for an encore. The playing between Airey and Morse, during the middle bridge, was awesome.

They really are a BAND! I’ll go see them the next time they come around.

Mark Zimmerman

Seeing a DP show is such a special experience, that I find it hard to express myself without using the same words (marvelous, amazing, wonderful) that I have used before… so I’ll try to avoid those words.

I don’t want to be long winded so I’ll simply relate a few random surprises from the show.

“Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” returned to the set list, making a total of 3 songs from ROTD that were played at the show. And I don’t know if this is a just a subjective personal perception, but it seemed that “Things I never said” was played “heavier” than on the CD… it really rocked.

Special guest was Jeff Watson of Night Ranger fame. He shredded, and also “helped” on SOTW.

“Speed King” was played during the encore… with a Roger solo, and a Paicey solo included.

Since going backstage is really not part of the “show”, I’ll not bore by relating too many details of our backstage “adventures”, except to say that it was quite interesting discussing philosophy and set lists with a half naked Ian Gillan, and that it was just flat out fun when Steve Morse and I went “hunting” for DP manager Bruce Payne. 🙂

Re. the show, itself…Of course there were smiles all around, and it really is physically impossible not to have fun in the audience, when the band is so obviously have such a grand time onstage.

It will be difficult to top such a great evening.

Lucy and Rich Franz

All in all, a pretty good show. The sound didn’t really grab me right off the bat. First four songs were kept a little brief as they really did play a long set.

I had resigned myself to the new material being scarce, and yet to my surprise we got Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. Lazy and Knocking may have been a little later in the set than how I have it listed here. At any rate, they surprised the hell out of me by including Speed King in full fashion with bass solo, drum solo (including the one handed roll demo), organ/guitar trades and of course Ian’s R&R medley which included “I got a Woman”, “Sweet Dreams Baby” and “High School Hop”.

They had a day’s rest and I think the ticket sales took up to the day of to get close to a full house, so maybe they really felt they had to a little bit for this SF crowd to remember so as to possibly return some day. I Hope.

I’ve seen them a good many times and this was one of the better balcony seats I’ve had. But I was to the side of the PA and that could have been why the vocals were a little crowded by the heavy bass sound for the first half of the set .Things did hit stride about the time they got to Lazy.

Ian Paice is still one of the most consistent drummers on the planet. I didn’t think the guitar sound had a great ring to it but Steve’s Contact Lost segment went very well. He also brought out Jeff Watson from Night Ranger, and let him take most of the solo on “Smoke”. And he did it very nicely.

They did an hour and 45 minutes so you can’t say we didn’t get a big set. They all played their asses off.

A good time was had by all.

Pictures of Home
Things I Never Said
Into The Fire
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture Of The Deep
Kiss tomorrow Goodbye
Knocking At Your Back Door
Lazy
Contact Lost
guitar solo
Well Dressed Guitar
keyboard solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Highway Star
Smoke On The Water
Speed King
Hush

Mr P the DP fan