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Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Sep 11, 2004

Saw the band on Saturday at the Orpheum. This is where the Vancouver Symphony plays so great acoustics and a capacity of 3,000. The place was full but not announced as a sell-out. The February date sold out in a week.
Having only two bands meant more Purple, (I think). We did get Demon's Eye, a little rough around the edges but well appreciated by the crowd who were on their feet the whole set and a little more appreciative then in February.
The big disappointment was the sound. No excuse in this venue. It was loud but not painfully so. It seemed like the PA was being pushed just past its limits so the bass was booming, not clean and no detail, plus Don was all but inaudible. This really hurt some songs such as Silver Tongue and KAYBD where the intro was just the loud hum that backs the jaws theme notes which couldn't be heard.
Don's solo was also mediocre and hurt by the sound. He started with some delicate stuff on the electric piano half of which was lost in the bad sound. There were some catcalls from the audience just as he switched to the Hammond and he quickly went into the PS intro.
The first encore was Speed King. Here the sound again impacted the guitar/keys duel as DA was hard to distinguish as was RG's bass solo, which came across as just a boomy piece with any detail lost.
On the plus side this line-up plays everything with energy, enthusiasm and precision, but the extra feel was missing tonight I think. IG's voice was in good shape again, that was true for all three dates I've seen this year.
I really hope they shake things up on the next round though, more improv and further set changes.
I watched the Montreux 2004 show earlier in the day to get in the mood and it was superior overall. I do hope they release this on DVD.
Patrick McDonald