Ventura: This was a show that had originally been scheduled at the Hudson Theatre in San Bernardino, which is 100 miles east of Ventura. The Ventura Theatre is old and grand, much like its headliner.

A very steamy hot night greeted the band as they ripped into the opening four-song burst and Ian was in fantastic voice and spirits.

We noticed things might get surprising when “Woman From Tokayo” was replaced by a spirited “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye”, then Michael Bradford pounced on stage for some rip snortin’ lead guitar on “Highway Star” and “Smoke on the Water.”

To cap off the evening, a a nasty verison of “Speed King,” complete with Paicey’s solo, replaced “The Battle Rages On” as encore #1. Too bad, I wanted to hear that one live. C’est la vie!

“Speed King” included several Buddy Holly verse snippets and other 50s nuggets courtesy of a wringing-wet Big Ian. “Hush” really delivered as the closer, the Ventura audience on its feet and chanting the lyrics to the delight of the band.

Good show!

David Linck

The opener Blue Oyster Cult was abysmal. This was the worst band I have ever seen in 40 years of gigging. Why does a band with no fire and the talent level of a bar band have a name that has people gaga?

How can Purple accept cheers from a lame and real dumb crowd that was head over heels for a band that sang out of key, had a bad mix and was old, stale and moldy as month old bread. Deep Purple are good enough to not have whistler’s mother opening up! This was God awful.

Next Deep Purple and the start was totally heavy. Steve Morris [You probably mean Steve Morse… Rasmus] came on and was burning on guitar, he was on fire. I have met and had the luck to see him over 20 times in Purple and solo. This was Steve at his best.

Don Airey was king and now has much more rope to show of his massive musical talents. Don was raging on the keys and played like a true master.

Now, Ian Gillan this was not to be his night and this was the beginning of the end for him in Purple. He is not happy any more. How can I say that? Well, I have had the blessings to see him dialed in all the way and he was as bad as he could ever be. That is the magic of a super star vocalist like Ian. He is the greatest Rock vocalist ever and when he goes south it is not good.

Ian could not hit one high note all night long (he was pissed off and looked to be very angry with the situation) nothing from the 4th octave in the passagio. All songs that Purple played, Gillan would not even be able to get close to the highest note in the tune so he would let Steve or Don fill. What else can you do when your vocal mix, vocal range and his ugly shirt were not working for him at all? Now is time for him to leave this Deep Purple joke behind him.

Last year for the Gillan’s Inn gig at the HOB in Anaheim, Ian was the King he was so happy he bounced up and down all night long. He sang with a gold plated voice, hit all high notes. Blew my friend away who first saw DP in 1968 and he played and studied drums with Cobham and Bellson.

Why play in Deep Purple and not be happy? Is it for more money, for his ego, for more fame that is lame? Now is the time for a new Gillan solo and part 2 of what has not been finished from the 80’s.

We are sick of a Deep Purple show almost all songs at moderate tempo cut version of Space Truckin’. They do jam these mid tempo tunes but the set is too slow from the lagging down tempo tunes. This is not fun as a long time Deep Purple fan.

Tommy Bolin with Deep Purple was much better. If Ian thinks this is as better than the other line ups at the top of there game he is fooling and lying to himself! It’s just another lie!

Well, I played $20.00 for a scalp ticket and was I happy to not pay full boat for this large disappointment. Boy am I looking forward to Uli Roth Sky Academy next week at Music institute in Holly Weed.

All the best and hope the needed changes will be made.

Jason Halvorsen

Deep Purple gave the animated crowd a solid and strong performance that was a credit to the influential troupe’s legacy – writes The OC Register.

Hampton: The band did not differ from their previous sets at other recent shows. The crowd was enthusiastic and appreciative.

I finally got to meet the greatest band ever and what nice people they are. When the after show party was over the band was greeted by a couple of hundred fans waiting outside the venue next to the two vans waiting to take the band back to their hotel.

The entire band greeted each fan and signed many autographs and even had pictures taken. What an evening! Several pictures attached… Rock on… See you at the next show!

Denis Patrick

Just got back from seeing Purple for the second night in a row, this time at the Ventura Theater, 100 or so miles up the West Coast from their gig the previous night. What an unbelievably different show!
Having never done this before, I was interested to see what, if any differences there were in the shows. Any thought that they don’t mix up the set or respond to the audience differently was put out of my mind.

Check my review for the Costa Mesa show before reading this if you like, but I could not believe how different the performance was. While the band played flawlessly and masterfully at the very FM radio style classic rock fest the previous night, this performace was like seeing Deep Purple at a theater in Europe.

The energy from the crowd was better, the band seemed more into it and Steve’s solos veered more towards his own as opposed to sound alikes of the originals from the MKII songs like the night before.

The set list was as follows with notations as to the differences:

Pictures of Home
Things I Never Said
Into the Fire
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture of the Deep
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (instead of Woman From Tokyo)
Contact Lost (again, not a solo, with the whole band joining in)
Well Dressed Guitar
Knocking At Your Back Door
Lazy
Don Airey Solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Highway Star (w/Michael Bradford)
Smoke on the Water (w/Michael Bradford)

Speed King/oldies rock & roll medley (encore)
Hush (encore)

Having just seen them play the night before, it was awesome to hear WFT dropped in favor of a Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. I was shocked to hear it and the band stormed through it with some of Paicey’s most intense drumming I have heard live.

I saw Michael Bradford lurking around behind the amps during the set change from the opening band, so I knew he was going to make an appearance. He snuck on stage after an extended Steve/Roger jam which led into Highway Star. He stayed afterwards for his introduction from Ian (to a surprised crowd who didn’t seem to know him, as I was about the only person yelling his name) and then played SOTW.

Steve seemed to surprise him by indicating Michael should take the solo. Michael caught on quick but the soundboard operator seemed surprised too and had to quickly bring him up higher in the mix.

The real shocker was the double encore. The previous night, a large portion of the audience got up and left almost before SOTW had ended, thus missing Hush and really killing the energy. That was the first time I have not heard IG say thank you for the good vibes from the audience.

Tonight was vastly different, and you could see it on the band’s faces as they retook the stage. Ian, bathed in a single spot light, announced in a hushed voice: “dearly beloved, we are gathered here tonight, to rock & roll”. The band then stormed into Speed King like it was 1972, not 2007. The song lasted nearly 10 minutes and featured an oldies medley of Elvis: I’ve Got a Woman, one I didn’t recognize that went “sweet dreams baby all night long,” It’s Now or Never and High School Hop. All this was followed by solos from Roger and Paicey!

Yes there are plenty of live shows the band has released but this one was so tightly played and sounded so good that it is definitely worthy of being put on disc.

Rick Damigella

At Bethlehem’s Musikfest Ian Gillan and friends proved they are still relevant today with a high-energy, musically solid performance – writes The Morning Call.

Costa Mesa: One of my all time favorite bands is back, touring in support of their new cd Rapture of The Deep. The cd has been out well over a year and they were supposed to tour last year. However, Ian Gillan released a solo album and a solo tour followed. As a result no Deep Purple. Sad.

However they are back, and rocking! Last night’s set was awesome! I really enjoy them much more now with Steve Morse on guitar than the old guy (what was his name? I cant remember!) Steve has always been a precise and excellent guitar player.

His Dixie Dregs and solo work have always been nothing short of amazing! I have felt that his presence in Deep Puple gives the band new life during live shows as he always has fun and interacts well with the band and the audience. Last night was no exception.

Ian also sounded very good last night. His voice was crisp and the energy level was very good by all of the members.

A big highlight was that Jill and Gary were there doing photography work for their friend Edgar Winter, who opened the show (I will post his set a bit later). Anyway, Edgar came out for Smoke on the Water and he and Deep Purple just ripped it up! It was a great night with great seats and great weather. I can’t wait for the bands return!

Set list as follows:

Pictures of Home
Things I Never Said
Into The Fire
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture Of The Deep
Woman From Tokyo
Guitar solo (short)/
Well Dressed Guitar
Knocking At Your Back Door
Lazy
Keyboard solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Highway Star
Smoke On The Water

Hush

The jam on Smoke on the Water went a bit extended with Edgar, which was awesome! As a result, the did not do The Battle Rages On during the encore, but having Edgar on stage with them was well worth it!

Mark Ploesch

Deep Purple roared back into Southern California after nearly two years and sounded fantastic as always with a non-stop performance. This was the first time they had played the recently reopened Pacific Amphitheater, which was almost but not quite filled to its 8,500 seat capacity.

Edgar Winter delivered a short, jam filled set, while Blue Oyster Cult played just around an hour. Played the biggest hits and sounded good. Rudy Sarzo is on bass for this tour which was cool and strange all at once. His playing on “Shooting Shark”, was fantastic, but his hair-metal strutting around the stage really stood out in an odd way compared to the rest of the bad. Too each his own.

Deep Purple took the stage after only a ten minute break (they ran a REALLY tight ship on the set changes). The show opened with Steve playing a spacey-middle eastern mode on his guitar off stage with the lights down. Morse’s rig being the only source of light with numerous spaceship control panel pinpoints of colored light eminating from stage left. They hit the stage running with the typical four songs in a row without a break before Ian said hi to the crowd. The set list was as follows:

Pictures of Home
Things I Never Said (AMAZING LIVE!)
Into the Fire
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture of the Deep (again, amazing live!)
Woman From Tokyo
Contact Lost (not a solo, with the whole band joining in)
Well Dressed Guitar
Knocking At Your Back Door
Lazy
Don Airey Solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Highway Star
Smoke on the Water (with Edgar Winter on sax and his guitarist Doug Rappoport)
Hush (encore)

I was very bummed that they didn’t play The Battle Rages On, but this is Southern California where we have strict rules from the local communities and police about concerts ending on time. This was most apparent as Ian did very little talking with the crowd between songs and the band ended promptly at 10:30, half an hour ahead of the unspoken Southern California concert curfew.

This was unfortunately a very classic rock best of oriented crowd, with very few of us hardcore fans getting into the new songs. Most of the people around me didn’t realize Contact Lost and Well Dressed Guitar were songs! Makes me want to emigrate to Europe or Japan. It also seemed a lot of Steve’s solos didn’t stray too far from the familiar, especially during the set closing ST/HS/SOTW bit. Not complaining mind you, but it was interesting.

So much is said about hearing SOTW again and again, well frankly, the past several times I have seen Purple they have always done something special to take the song somewhere different. Having this young kid (swear he couldn’t have been more than 20-something) from the Edgar Winter Band joining Steve along with Edgar Winter on sax, made for a really cool and different performance.

Off now to see them at the Ventura Theatre up the Cali coast. Review to come!

Rick Damigella

Costa Mesa: The triple bill of Deep Purple / Blue Oyster Cult / Edgar Winter played in Orange County at the Pacific Amphitheatre. Lucky for me as it’s only 1/2 a mile from my apartment!

Edgar Winter opened the show… I last saw him open for Uriah Heep 6 years ago. Edgar is a fantastic performer and musician. I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed his set. Great back up band and a fine entertainer! He seemed to really enjoy what he was doing… playing music for the people.

Blue Oyster Cult… I did not know they were still around. Last saw them in 1984 when they would fill arenas. Excellent playing by all, but the only musicians with energy was the bassist (Rudy Sarzo) and the 3rd rhythm guitarist/keyboardist. Bloom and Dharma looked like they just got off from their Wall Street job to play a gig. Still, an enjoyable set of hits.

Deep Purple came on with Pictures of Home. The set was like the others listed.

The entire band was brilliant… even if Gillan’s pipes were not as “ballsy” as they once were. The range he does still have sounds fine and powerful. Don, Steve, Paice, and Glover… are superb.

There were teenagers in the audience… one with his hippy dad and wearing a Misfits T-shirt… *he* was REALLY getting into the show. It wasn’t just all fat, middle aged people, although they were in abundance.

Glover was, at times, jumping up and down while playing. That man is really 20 something in age in my opinion. In fact, the playing from the band was from men 40 years younger… not 50 or 60 year olds. I give this show a solid A. There is no reason they should stop playing nor stop making albums any time soon.

The only complaint is that there is NOT enough new material played. If they played only Morse-era material for at least 1/2 the set, I would be far happier. I’ve heard the Machine Head album enough performed live. Give the true fans some variety before DP finally calls it quits.

Carl Hardwick

Hampton: Deep Purple’s perfect record continues. I’ve never been disappointed with a Deep Purple show and I’m glad to say this tour is no exception.

The opening act was The Gary Hoey Band. A very good band indeed. Three excellent musicians who were a blast to see and hear. They played a great version of Hocus Pocus they got the crowd fired up.

The Casino is an odd venue, a little rough around the edges but I like it. It sort of adds to the hard edged rock n roll flavor of the show.

As for Purple I saw them in Boston and in NH. I have to say NH was the better of the two shows even though they skipped playing “Battle” Ian’s voice was stronger and he seemed to be in a really good mood, joking around with Steve and Roger.

We had great seats. It’s the closest I’ve ever been to my favorite band. The volume was a little low at first, especially Steve’s guitar. He made a couple of adjustments and then it was fantastic. To quote another famous banjo player “It was like being inside the Machine Head album” It really was!

When Don started playing the Lazy into, that awesome Hammond growl reminded me of the first time I ever heard it. Don was just fantastic through the entire show. His playing and feel for DP’s music is IMO, much improved on this tour. He’s still Don though and that comes through in his solo spot. His technical ability is second to none.

Mr. Gillan was all over the stage. It was hot and humid in the Casino but that didn’t stop him from bouncing all over the stage and screaming like a banshee. He gets help from Steve sometimes, sometimes not. It’s funny, he doesn’t shy away from trying to sing the difficult stuff. He just goes for it. The whole band does it too. They still have the hard rock attitude.

Ian Paice was GREAT! I love watching him play. His hands are still lightning quick. The one handed roll during his Hush solo spot was cool but his playing throughout the show was signature Ian Paice.

Steve and Roger were super! They were really good to the crowd too. They kneel down and let the people in the front play their guitars a bit. It’s not an act, these guys love putting on a show for a crowd that appreciates the music.

Roger is such a gentleman. When the picks were being tossed out to, one woman didn’t catch one and Roger carefully placed one in her hands. Nice guy! The Purple rhythm section was as heavy and locked in as always. It’s one of my favorite things about this band. They lay down a monster groove!

Steve went from the newer sunburst guitar to his trusty blue one and played a great version of Contact Lost and Well Dressed Guitar. When the classical feel morphs into the classical over the hard rock backing, it’s just so cool.

I could go on forever about these guys. I only wish there was a little more Morse era stuff. I think Don’t Let Go, MTV or Wrong Man would go over well. So would SIFLS or Don’t Hold Your Breath.

As for Purple, they do something few can match. For a little while, I forget about wars, violence, work, money etc. and just enjoy the moment. It’s reassuring that there are still moments in life when you can do that. Thanks Ian, Steve, Don, Roger and Ian!

Setlist:

Pictures of Home
Things I Never Said (Goes over very well live)
Into The Fire (Killer version of this for sure! Listen for Ian’s new lyrics ; )
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture Of The Deep
Woman From Tokyo
Contact Lost/
Well Dressed Guitar
Knocking At Your Back Door
Lazy (Killer Hammond intro)
Keyboard solo (Amazing Don Airey)
Perfect Strangers (Best I’ve heard in a long time! Very Heavy!)
Space Truckin’ (Another highlight)
Highway Star

Smoke On The Water
Hush (With Ian Paice solo!)

Frank Fitzgerald