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Reviews, Europe 2003

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Norwegian newspaper reviews

Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
November 25, 2003

Highway star
Strange kind of woman
Silver tongue
Knocking at your back door
House of pain
Lazy
Bananas
Contact lost
Doing it tonight
Space truckin'
I got your number
The well dressed guitar
Keyboard solo
     (incl. Morning mood and In the hall of the mountain king)
Perfect strangers
Smoke on the water

Hush
Hit the road Jack
Black night

Amazing Purple. After my 4000 km roundtrip to see my favorite band for the 6th time, I must say they do not dissappoint me...
How can it go wrong with Highway Star as opener? It is good to hear this tune back where it belong, at the start! The lads seemed to enjoy them self in Oslo, the last time in Spektrum was in 1998... and by golly, this was ten times better. The guys played the best concert I have been to this year, and probably will.
I'm pleased with the inclusion of many tracks from Bananas! Just love Contact lost, but they could have dropped Well dressed guitar...
Don is doing a great job, and included some Norwegian tunes by Grieg in his solo (Morning mood and In the hall of the mountain king). He fits in wery well.
Glover played really well, but he missed the quiet part of Strange kind of woman. In his solo in Hush he played Norwegian wood and got a big cheer from the 8.000+ crowd.
I love Gillan's between songs chat, and he sings better and better. Paice was wery good as usual, a too short drum solo. Steve was all smiles as usual.
I was not the only one enjoying myself. One of Norways biggest newspapers gave the consert 4 (of 6), which is 3 points better then last time in Oslo. The crowd had its shares of baldness, but where I stood (left at the front) there were lots of 14-year-old boys and girls and they enjoyed the show just as much as me.
High points: Highway star, Knocking at your backdoor (Gillan: "This is not everybody's cup of tea"), Bananas, Hush, House of pain.
Low points: well, none.
Off course I missed a few songs, I'm alone, Speed king, Mary Long. But they only have so long time (and the tribute bands can play the other tunes).
I only saw half of Uriah Heep's show, and they where no match for Purple.
Tore, Alta, Norway

I went to see "Heep Purple" and had a really great night with lots of great music!
Uriah Heep kicked off the show with their Easy Livin', and they sounded really great. I knew that they were good, but I have never seen them live before and I was positively surprised! They rocked! Bernie Shaw gave an really impressive vocal performance during their part of the show - very good singer!
After an hour or so it was time for the greatest band in the universe - Deep Purple! They came on stage, looking good, and started with Highway Star. It was very clear from the first moment that they were in top form. I was a little concerned about Gillan's voice after listening to the live show on the internet, but there was no need to be worried. He sang very well and did a lot of really high screams. I said to the guy next to me that Gillan must have the largest collection in Europe of ugly shirts (he did not disagree) - please do some shopping, man!
Instead of wasting time doing Well Dressed Guitar and Smoke On The Water (c'mon, we've heard it too many times now), they could've done something interesting like Demons Eye, Mary Long, No No No or No One Came. The Well Dressed Guitar is just a "guitar-wanking" song, and IMHO it has nothing to do in a Purple show. It's not a very good tune anyway...
The thing that was very, very good about the setlist was that they did six songs from Bananas! I loved it! They were fantastic, and worked very well with the older stuff.
Everybody put in a really good performance. Paice and Glover are still the best at keeping the "train on the tracks", and did an impressive job as they have always done. Don Airey was very, very good, and I was happy to see that he was not trying to be Jon Lord. He has his own unike style, and it fits Purple like a glove. As I said earlier, Gillan did a great job. Cool guy (with not so cool shirts)!
Steve Morse? Well, we know by now that he is a really good guitarist, but sometimes I think that he (in lack of imagination?) plays too fast instead of trying to play from his heart. Where Blackmore used his heart, Morse often uses technique. Where Blackmore turned the volume down and "talked to us" with his guitar so tenderly, Morse cranks up the volume and "scream in our faces"! Guitar playing is not so much about technique as it is about expressing emotions and feelings. To be honest (and one should be!) I find it a little annoying at times, and I can see no reason for him to be louder in the mix than the Hammond.
Anyway, it was a great show, and I will still breathe, eat and drink Deep Purple for years to come!
See you on the next tour:-)
Roy Hårstad

Newspaper reviews:
Aftenposten - 4 out of 6, with several photos
VG - 4 out of 6, with photo
Dagsavisen - 3 out of 6
Puls.no - with several photos