Back to reviews

Ripening 1

Ripening 2

Current reviews

SECC Hall 3, Glasgow, Scotland
June 25, 2003

Highway Star
Pictures Of Home
Woman From Tokyo
Haunted
Speed King
Knocking At Your Back Door
Well Dressed Guitar
Lazy
I've Got Your Number
Perfect Strangers
Smoke On The Water
Space Truckin'

Hush
Black Night

It was a Skynyrd crowd in a Skynyrd town and they knew it. They came, saw, and so very nearly wiped the floor with the headliners. Lynyryd Skynryd were superb. No messing about, they really took Glasgow by the scruff of the neck and played an awesome set.
How would Purple follow that? I'd read the reviews of previous shows and it was all looking a bit dodgy for them - but like 20 years ago they somehow pulled the cat out of the bag and produced a stunning show.
The set list had changed, gone were Mary Long and I'm Alone, and in came Knocking at Your Back Door. The momentum of Highway Star was carried forward and the first four songs really moved at a brisk pace grabbing the audience attention and keeping it focused. How could I have ever doubted this band, they produced a set of stunning quality.
Steve's guitar parade incorporated Amazing Grace, and Don's solo included Weiss Heim.
Apart from a slight dip around the time of Well Dressed Guitar and I Got Your Number, the whole set was brilliant. We have all heard the songs before, but something tonite just clicked into place and they were just brilliant.
This was five musicians raising their standard, and reminding people exactly what they could do. I have to admit I was stunned by the performance, how could I have ever doubted them. In the words of Mr. Gillan, this was quite simply superb.
Haydn Corelli

By a stroke of good luck I had the opportunity to see two of my favourite bands within the space of two weeks. Blue Oyster Cult and last night Deep Purple. BOC played a small venue in Glasgow - Renfrew Ferry - so it was very intimate. Purple played the huge iron barn - SECC. Both events were well attended, both events were noisy and both events were very hot (temperature wise). Purple was a bonus as I managed to pick up my ticket via eBay having left it too late to buy one.
The set list played all my favourite Purple songs and I couldn't have picked them better. Of the two new songs I've Got Your Number was better but I can't say I'd rush to get the album on the basis of these songs.
The band were tight and fantastic. Don's solo was superb usual 'Stuff including "Star Wars" and at one point the whole ground vibrated. He did a good a version of 'I belong to Glasgow' which was fun. No drum solo from Ian but he was also brilliant.
As for Gillan, what a performance. Unusually his banter wasn't up to the norm mainly consisting of telling us, the audience, how good we were.
My only disappointment with the show was how static the crowd was. Is this a sign of our age :-) Are we becoming old crusties ?
All in all they were fantastic and I feel very lucky to have seen the gig.
So overall a great gig but the question is who was better BOC or Purple. For me the intimacy of the BOC gig won over but only just. June's been a good month.
Gordon Wilkie

I am 18 and that was my first Deep Purple show but I wasn't disappointed. I have been a fan for a good few years now.
The show was unbelievable from start to finish. From the first chord played by Morse to the last note played by Airey the band were fantastic. They never let up once throughout the show, going all out to produce a performance I will never forget.
One of the many highlights of the Glasgow show, was the excellent skill of Steve Morse. From Steve's very own Well Dressed Guitar to Purple classics such as Smoke On the Water and Lazy, to his intro solo for Haunted, a track from the new album, he was superb.
As long as I live I will always remember my first Deep Purple show.
Walter Carey

We were eight boys of various ages visiting Glasgow from Norway to see Purple.
After reading the earlier words from other shows I got the impression that I really could look forward to Skynyrd as well. And they was absolutely right. A steaming raw show which took us through the greatest hits departement from Skynyrd's earlier days. It was hot like hell in Hall 3 and Skynyrd really got the audience steaming. The absolute peak was when they came on for an encore, asked the crowd what song we wanted and got a thundering Freebird in return. Absolutely brilliant.
Purple kicked off around 30 min later with a killer version of Highway Star. From there on it was pure gold.
Gillan had a great day, laughing and teasing the crowd to higher levels. And it was such a hard rocking first 30 mins of the set including Knocking At Your Backdoor, Lazy and Pictures Of Home. By then I personally was drenched in sweat and screaming my lungs out.
Around here came the first of the new songs, Haunted, which to me was a nice surprise. Nice and steady rythmic ballad that will be a great addition to the evergrowing universe of Deep Purple songs. Not very long after came the other new song, I've Got Your Number, which I will describe as class all the way. It will absolutely be a rocking crowdpleaser in the years to come.
When the encores came and they finished off with Hush I was completely drained. I could barely walk away from the SECC on my own two feet.
All of my friends has the same opinion of the show, from one of my friend's son, who saw DP for the first time, to me, who was experiencing my 10th DP show. All of us will guaranteed be out there when they visit Norway in November.
A thanks from eight very satisfied Norwegian boys to Deep Purple and everybody else who made this trip possible.
Per Bjørge Hansen, Norway

Special mention to Ian's singing in 'Haunted' the new "slow song" which was awesome! How I love that man's voice!
Don slotted in perfectly and as usual Steve and Roger just had a big grin on their faces.
We did miss the drum solo but all in all it was a brilliant gig!
It looked like they were amazed at the reaction of all the old (and young) rockers.
Haste Ye Back!
Elsie Johnstone

Having travelled up from Portsmouth, I was slightly concerned that my 900mile round trip may be a bit of a waste after reading the writeups of previous shows, but stupid me, I should have known better!
This was my 2nd DP show, after seeing them last year in Portsmouth, and to put it quite simply, they gave an absolutely outstanding & magical performance.
Skynyrd were ok, but to be honest I think they were on for too long.
The set list was just right, including some of their greatest songs, a couple of their new tracks (I'll definitely be buying Bananas in the Autumn - which is when I believe it'll be ripe! - Gillan, June 25th 2003).
This was a brilliant birthday present (which was on the 24th), & all I can say is I'm so glad we got on the front row again as it was indeed an honour to shake Gillans hand at the end of the show when he came down to the barrier - this was very much an unforgettable evening and I look forward to my next DP Gig.
Craig Rycroft

The band played a strong set as usual, so why didn't I get the thrill I had just nine months before at the Armadillo?
Lynyrd Skynyrd played a shorter set to a crowd who hadn't seen them in four-five years. They bantered with the (dare I say partisan) audience and really kept the pace up to the inevitable encore. They worked the audience.
Purple by contrast tried too hard to convince, seemed nervous and (as a skynyrd fan said to me in the pub last night) played a medley. It wasn't Purple's night.
Having said that I've spoken to people who thought they were great, and they were. They played immaculately throughout the night, but I could have listened to Nobody's Perfect and spent the £30 on drink.
The only high points for me were the new songs. And this is the point; I'd like to hear Hard Lovin' Man, No No No, Flight of the Rat and The Mule - not to mention the 20 odd songs from the last two albums (Any Fule Kno That). I was also looking forward to I'm Alone.
And how about an adaptation of the Concerto's 3rd movement instead of individual showcases? I really like Steve Morse but I want to hear him, not James Patrick Page, etc.
Sorry if this seems negative but it's not. Let's have an adventure.
Ivor Lloyd

During the interval, the talk amongst the sweat soaked fans who had crammed into the confines of the SECC on what was Glasgow's warmest night of the year, revolved around one question - 'How can Deep Purple follow that?'
'That' was the rousing set performed by Florida swamp rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd and there were fears that, possibly for the first time ever, Purple had miscalculated and were about to be upstaged by the support band.
Such concerns were eradicated, however, the moment Ian Paice touched his bass drum pedal to signal the opening bars of Highway Star, thankfully restored as the band's curtain-raiser. The crowd reaction confirmed what everyone knew, ie there's not an act on the planet capable of blowing Deep Purple off the stage.
The set revolved largely around songs from the Machine Head album, undoubtedly the group's 'Sergeant Pepper', interspersed, often with almost apologetic preamble by Ian Gillan, with a few tasters from the forthcoming Bananas album.
The seminal anthem Smoke on the Water was, once again, preceded by a display of guitar virtuosity from Steve Morse who took the crowd thorugh a series of classic riffs from rock history (no doubt playing just enough of each to avoid having to pay a royalty!)
On a personal front, while I've total respect and unmitigated admiration for Morse, I've always felt that DP were the quintessential British rock band and I've found it difficult to accept that their ranks could incorporate a redneck Texan. The task of replacing the supremely talented, if temperamental Ritchie Blackmore, however, was clearly one which called for the best man available and if that meant that the remaining members had to look overseas for a replacement (as with the FA's recruitment of Sven Goran Erikkson) then who am I to argue. Morse has proved beyond all doubt that he has the ability to dovetail into the Purple infrastructure, even if fish and chips on Southend pier doesn't necessarily constitute his own personal concept of Utopia.
My long-standing friendship with Ian Gillan had helped me obtain backstage access but there was still the small hurdle of the stage door security guard to be jumped.
"VIP pass? - that means fuck all, pal" was his reaction as I confidently approached the hallowed entrance. As Basil Fawlty might have opined, perhaps his charm school was bombed during the war.
After some delicate negotiation I was finally reunited with my old mate Ian who seemed genuinely overcome by the response of the audience and who, despite the fact that his 60th birthday is rapidly approaching, appears determined to continue with the touring ritual which has been his life for the past 35 years.
One of my fellow backstage guests told him - "my four year old grand-daughter loves Deep Purple."
That in itself should provide sufficient incentive for IG and the others to keep on rocking.
Alan Fairley

back to reviews