This is a review of Deep Purple’s latest appearance in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Nine years ago, I saw them, also in this city, during the Purpendicular Tour. This new gig, however, was better.

The show started right on time, at 9:00 PM, and last for two hours. The following set list was played (no suprise here, but some details from the solos are provided):

Pictures Of Home
Things I Never Said
Into The Fire
Strange Kind Of Woman
Rapture Of The Deep
Fireball
Wrong Man
Steve Morse solo (Included: Well Dressed Guitar, Sweet Child O’Mine, War Pigs, and more)
Kiss Tomorow Goodbye
Lazy
When A Blind Man Cries
Don Airey solo (Included: native song, classical pieces, Star Wars Theme)
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Highway Star
Smoke On The Water
Hush
Black Night

Remarkable moments of the show were the execution of the new song (Wrong Man), the performances of Steve Morse and Don Airey (congratulations), and the classics before the encore (“Space Truckin’, “Highway Star”, “Perfect Strangers” – songs which seems to be written specially to be played in a live concert).

I did miss the new song “Junkyard Blues” and some “Bananas” material.

Ian Gillan was very pleasant about the audience, and performed very well also.

Great concert, I hope there are new appearances in the future tour schedules, for South Brazil.

Joni Coser

Ian Gillan in Curitiba. Pic by Bruno Mathoso. See more photos below.

November 26th will be forever an unforgetable night in my life. It was the first Purple concert I’ve watched live, and the guys are in their better form, Gillan looks like a funny kid on the stage, smiling and joking all the time with the others band members and with the crowd.

The concert was in the same place where Deep Purple performed in the begining of the 90’s years. In these time I wasn’t at the concert, so 2006 was my first Purple concert.

If there are many years I already love Deep Purple in all yours lineups, now I can say the band is fantastic really, their performance alive is very very very better than in videos, dvds and all stuff I have.

Magnific, fantastic, incredible, Gillan, Roger, Paice are in their better form, Gillan screaming very loud in almost all songs. “Into The Fire” was perfect one, “Wrong Man” looks how done to be perform alive. Steve Morse’s solo conquest the crowd, “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” show the power of the Gillan’s voice.

But the better performance in the concert was “Perfect Strangers”, in this song the band reach the loudest sound in the concert, was great, the walls looks going down on the groud for some minutes. And “Space Truckin'”, “Highway Star”, “Smoke On The Water”, “Hush” and “Black Night” were the anthens, with the crowd participating all the time in all songs.

A perfect night for more than 4.000 peoples in the concert. Unforgettable.

Thank you for exist, Deep Purple. Thanks God.

Set list:
01. Pictures Of Home
02. Things I Never Said
03. Into The Fire
04. Strange Kind Of Woman
05. Rapture Of The Deep
06. Fireball
07. Wrong Man
08. Steve Morse guitar solo
09. Well Dressed Guitar
10. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
11. When A Blind Man Cries
12. Lazy
13. Don Airey solo
14. Perfect Strangers
15. Space Truckin’
16. Highway Star
17. Smoke On The Water

Encore:
18. Hush
19. Black Night

Bruno Mathoso

See Bruno’s excellent photos.

After a few days the details of the concert slip away. Just can´t recall if Morse played a Zep. riff (which he did) or if Airey played the imperial march (which he did)… Who cares if they played Thing´s I never Said (wonderful song) or if Ian Gillan “ghosttravelled” the stage during Rapture Of The Deep?

But one thing can be said, the feeling´s still there, ringing in the back of my brain, in my stomach.

It was my fourth time seeing this amazing group of friends who play music as they smile and laugh joking with each other. We are allowed for a few moments to be part of the magic. And we are gratefull, you can bet!

When we arrived at the Outdoor venue (Velodromo, cycle track) Rey Toro were at their best in one of the highlights of their carreers anyone would guess. There we went to form in line outside with hundreds of other fans…

“Years and years of waiting…” said one man on his 50´s just behind me. Fathers with their sons and daughters, even grandfathers and little kids… From hard edge heavy metal fans with their long hairs and Iron Maiden t shirts, to whole families. Everyone were in great mood and spirit. Most of the people there had never seen DP live, and a lot of them had been waiting for this dream to come true for a long time.

I don´t know how many people was there, maybe 6 or 7-8 thousand… Minutes before the show it was raining, Deep Purple made the clouds go away!

Form in line, show the ticket (that would be later signed by Gillan and Glover back at the Hotel!!! pictures included!) and make our way to the seats, seats that would never be used! we and everybody else never touched them. This was no Concerto (which I loved to see comfortably seated a few years ago), this was a Rock and Roll show, rock and roll and chairs don´t match!

Lights off… heart pounding. That feeling again! fourth time seeing Purple and it´s always there…

Pictures of Home, pa na nanana nanana na naaa, naaa nanana nanananananaaaaa and we lost it. Dont´ask me for a set list. From Fireball to Wrong Man, from Perfect Strangers to When a Blind Man Cries, and a song from In Rock, my memories blur in the mist of complete joy.

The band was SUPERB (Gillan dixit) and the Uruguayans responded accordingly. Solos included, Deep Purple stamped a grin in everybodys faces!

As usual, the band were always smiling, enjoing the show as much as we did. Gillan saluted the young ones and not so young who streched their anatomies to shake his hand.

Flawless show, even when Ian gave his throat a rough treatment! haha. Morse left everybody who was asking “so who´s playing the guitar?” with their jaw in their knees.

Technically flawless as i said, but Purple is not that. Purple is a smile in Ian´s face and fans. Purple is all about enjoing. Screaming Smoke on the water to the top of our lungs…

Black Night came, and the show ended leaving us breathless and as you know “…it´s hard to breathe when something spiritual has taken place.”

Juan Obes

P.S.
Later I had the chance to meet Roger and Ian… They were so kind that I didn´t want to bother Ian Paice who walked down to a local restaurant for a beer. I just looked in awe as members of my favorite band enjoyed themselves in the summer night of Montevideo.

Winter Carols has just entered the radio charts at number 4 for the month of November 2006 for Public Radio Stations and College Stations throughout the USA.

New Age Reporter Top 100 New Age/Ambient/World Radio/Internet Airwaves Chart.

Thanks to Mike Garrett and Blackmore Productions for the info.

Bangalore Times has an amusing report about our boys stay in India, including name check on an old time AMDP regular Mahesh Srinivas. Here’s a few excerpts:

Mahesh is part of a team that’s working to ensure the band doesn’t forget their two-day stay here. The hotel where they will be staying is pulling out the stops to make things memorable. From a purple theme at the hotel’s restaurants and bar, to lilac and purple aromatherapy candles, soaps and cosmetics.

Roger Glover, who loves painting abstracts, will find an easel and paints in his room, while sporty Ian Gillan will find the latest sports magazines in his and a sports bike in his porch, says Ritu Chawla, assistant manager, accommodation. “We’re going to download photographs of their family members to frame for their bedside tables, since they’re been on tour for a long time,” she says. Ritu is creating monogrammed robes for them in pure Bangalore silk, as well as silk scarves and stoles. “These will look great even on suits later on,” she says.

We just hope that Indian hospitality is not going over the top. 🙂

Thanks to Mike Garrett for the info.

UK’s Classic Rock magazine has borrowed our story on the Machine Head t-shirts with Blackmore’s face missing. Sadly, the current management remains silent.

Read more in a previous blog entry.

Ian Gillan’s tour of Australia has been cancelled. On his website Gillan published this message from himself and his management:

We regret to announce that the Australian Ian Gillan tour dates have been cancelled. The main reason for this cancellation is the bullet which remains in Rodney Appleby’s neck from his recent shooting by a crazy neighbor who was trying to kill him. While Rodney is recovering well, and is expected to recover fully, at this point the doctors are advising caution for Rodney because they don’t know what will be required to extract that bullet, or whether its current location will cause other problems.

A video interlude. This is not a reference to the erstwhile practice of humans taking horse tranquilizers called, “Quaaludes.” Shortened to “ludes” as those two-syllable words can really hit the drugged out pretty hard. I think it might be a sedative and hypnotic nonbarbiturate drug C16H14N2O that is habit-forming, but I don’t exactly remember.

Drugs are bad. Don’t do drugs.

Okay, tonight I have a mishmash. An olio. A potpourri, if you will.

I think this is the biggest waste of a doubleneck in history. The drummer is hitting as if his sticks are brittle and irreplaceable. Also, the bird singing looks like JLT.

JLT Bird and the Wasted Doubleneck

Now. Lip-synching on Playboy After Dark. Deep Purple played live when they were on Playboy After Dark. Remember, that song Hush? Much more complex than Iron Butterfly. Somehow Deep Purple played live, didn’t they, then? I’m just asking, that’s all.

Just lip-synching on Playboy After Dark. Good dancing though.

Finally, I’ve been having recurring nightmares about being married to Edgar Winter. His albino looks are fine with me, it’s just he hogs all the instruments. Drummer Chuck Ruff should close his mouth more, but he sure plays drums well. Oh, and that’s Rick Derringer on guitar, not Ron Montrose. Dan Hartman (RIP) is on bass.

The Edgar Winter Group.

So, maybe there will be a Rod Evans update next time.

Ta,

Jo

Ian Gillan will sing a song or two on Jon Lord’s new record.
Thanks to Ian Gillan for the information.

So, there’s an insane cult who practice very bad hygiene, undoubtedly drink too much, and listen to Deep Purple as if it’s, oh, I dunno, Deep Purple or something. One might own the acetate from the original demo of “Shadows,” a MK I outtake. Another might be cataloging every Purple appearance anywhere, ever.

That sort of thing.

These are the Purple Maniacs. Do not confuse Purple Maniacs (might lose a toupee at a modern day DP show) with the similar classification, Blackmorons (might skip any DP show without RB, what’s the point? they might think). Blackmorons, as a rule, have little interest in any music that does not involve Ritchie Blackmore. They hold the opinion that Ritchie Blackmore is and has always been the sine qua non of Deep Purple. Ritchie’s role in Deep Purple’s history, character and catalog is immeasurable, so arguing seems silly. It’s all a matter of degrees with me.

Blackmorons are often equally slavish about Blackmore facts, figures, and history if not more so than Purple Maniacs. They can also be dedicated collectors. Surprisingly, Blackmorons are rarely actual morons, either. Many wash regularly. They love Ritchie, but they wear garlic at his shows. Better safe than sorry.

Purple Maniacs have a designation for people associated with the core band Deep Purple. It is similar to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but weirder and more secretive. Suffice it to say, John Lennon is closely related to Deep Purple.

George Harrison was friendly with Jon Lord, and George jammed onstage with Deep Purple in Australia in 1984. Ian Paice more recently played for Sir Paul “It’s Cheaper to Keep Her but Screw That” McCartney on the Run Devil Run album and subsequent live appearances.

And Friday was the anniversary of John Lennon’s untimely murder by overweight psychopath Mark David Chapman. I was surfing in Florida, USA, and if the media mentioned it, I missed it. Pity.

Well, this blog is media, or a medium. Technically, when I paste in a link, it becomes media. I have spoken. Long live me.

I hereby tip one to John, on behalf of Purple Maniacs and Blackmorons everywhere. Have a chaser for Tommy Bolin, who died thirty years ago Monday. The space shuttle is going up now here in Florida. The house shakes. The sky lights up. I barely need any of this Oauhu Red Hair sinsimilla skunk weed to make that experience a fun one.

Ta.

Jo

And for those with the requisite bandwidth, I offer these memorial clips:

John Lennon. Imagine, indeed. Not sure who the Hawaiian-looking conga chick is.

Here’s Tommy Bolin with Deep Purple playing Love Child. In case there’s any confusion, Tommy’s the one dressed like Stevie Nicks.