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A great Night to Rock with Purple
Deep Purple live at Mountain Winery (Saratoga, USA 2014-08-13)
So glad I made this one .Took some money and time but I thought the guys put on as close to a perfect show as could be . I’ve lost accurate count of how many times I’ve seen the band .Saw 4 shows at The HOB in Hollywood when they first toured with Steve Morse (Perpindicular) . At least 5 shows after that . 2 at Concord , 2 at the Warfield in SF , once at Konocti ,CA. Before that , Perfect Strangers , and House of Blue Light tours . Saw them at Winterland in SF in the 70’s when they did not headline . So, at least 16 times counting this one in Saratoga , CA. Here’s as close as I can come on the list . : Highway Star, Into The Fire, Hard Loving Man, Strange Kind of Woman , Vincent Price , Lazy, Contact Lost , Above and Beyond , Well Dressed Guitar, Hell to Pay , Perfect Strangers ,Space Truckin , Smoke on the Water, Encores : (surprise) My Woman From Tokyo , Hush, Medley of guitar , including Led Zep and ZZ Top , just a couple minutes of Black Night . Got to be something wrong with my exact order , but pretty close . The sound was perfect .Vocals may have been a bit low , not sure , at the beginning but after two songs things were dead on . Any doubts about the pipes on Ian Gillan are out the window .Having a couple days off may have helped , but he sang beautifully . There is a part where Space Truckin could have had a squeal near the end that he avoided , but he was fronting the band in grand fashion ,I must say . Don Airey is an absolute virtuoso .I was fortunate to have a seat to the side which afforded me a great view of his nimble hands . Roger Glover never disappoints and Ian Paice was a drumming Dynamo . Of coarse people will say the usual poop about no Richie , but Steve Morse , to me , can play with far more detail and accuracy to the songs than , dare I say , Mr. Blackmore probably could .We’ll never really know . Sound was loud and powerful but no way excessive and very clear .You could even hear Ian play the tambourine ! Not sure how they did that , short of having a mic attached . The new songs were spread into the set at good spots to not stray too far from the more familiar numbers .And they nail them .Hell to Pay is a winner . Bang up job on Lazy . Steve’s solo on SOTW was different from the original but they still play it so strong you instantly recognize it . Lots of songs I miss , Pictures , Speed King , No One Came , Bludsucker , Maybe I’m a Leo , Ted ,Silver Tongue , Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming . They can’t do them all ,and what they have now is smooth and polished and moves through the set for an hour forty five with great precision . Lets do it again sometime .
review by Mr P
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I was there. A great night of rock!
August 14th, 2014 at 17:05Nice succinct review thanks! As to you’re comment: “but Steve Morse , to me , can play with far more detail and accuracy to the songs than , dare I say , Mr. Blackmore” makes me wonder…
August 14th, 2014 at 17:34Not to start any flame wars but i would be curious as to poll results on which guitarist fans of the band would prefer to see IF given the chance???!? Just a thought…neither is better as they are SO different. Apples and Oranges….
Don’t have a lot more to ad to the review , but should have mentioned Davey Pattison’s Gamma + rocked for a half hour to open the show with two guitarists and some great old Robin Trower and Gamma tunes .
August 14th, 2014 at 17:59I hope Davey will come to Holland 🙂
August 14th, 2014 at 20:39@3 Yeah the opening act (Davey Pattison’s Gamma +) was short and sweet.
August 14th, 2014 at 21:41I was there last night. Great stuff!!
August 14th, 2014 at 21:51http://citywestvideo.com/
August 15th, 2014 at 00:37here are some Deep Purple pictures from the USA tour 2014 in Scottsdale.
Well Scott , I’m not a writer and in trying to express what I saw Steve Morse do I’m sure rankles some who say no Richie , no way .But what I’ve seen in the past as well as Wed night was a band who plays the songs in just such great authenticity . Old songs , like Into the Fire , Woman From Tokyo , Hush, ( which they now expand into a rocking jam ) were played with all the elements of the originals with some added bits that just made them better and really entertaining . The new songs , ( which may or may not have been written , had Richie been with the band ) sounded as sharp as the recordings . Steve Morse managed to hog it for a few minutes at a time and then the band would take it home song after song . I find it hard to think of Richie being able to play with the kind of control and precision of the hour and three quarters set . All I can say ,( well, probably not all ) is I can’t afford to spend that kind of money and effort to see the band and be disappointed because the guitar player is bored with some old chestnut of a song or doesn’t think the singer is worth the effort to perform full out . They all look like they thoroughly enjoy playing for some pretty big crowds keeping the music alive . Real music , real rock . The band lives , and god bless their sweet hearts . What the fans WANT , is one thing .What is actually possible , is what is happening now .
August 15th, 2014 at 00:59For mountain winery I had tickets 8th row left which was tough with the bright stage lights. An usher moved us to 6th row center – that’s the way to see purple great show. The band still rocks . We came from Texas for the concert and the getting choice seats for my favorite band was well worth it
August 15th, 2014 at 01:05I like both guitar players…. Maybe Ritchie a little more. Ritchie is a legend and wrote so many great songs…. But Steve is one of the all-time technical masters. Guys like Steve Morse and Al DiMeola are better players, in my opinion, because they approached the instrument differently when they started out. Steve and some of the great fusion players like Al and John McLaughlin did not try to copy rock players. Even I can play a lot Ritchie’s stuff but cannot touch Steve’s clean technique. That being said, art is not about technical precision. I think we all love Ritchie because of his variety and the feeling he could convey on a good night.
August 15th, 2014 at 01:50Did they take The Mule out of the set??? And Uncommon Man???
August 15th, 2014 at 04:42The Mule was in .Must have been 5th or 6th in the set .Big ass drum solo. there is a mistake in my list .It was Uncommon Man , not Above and Beyond . You are a regular eagle eye .
August 15th, 2014 at 05:36George @ 10- Yes indeed, Blackmore is a ‘feel’ player, very spontaneous & melodic! Morse is a ‘fusion’ type of player, many styles & technically efficient! I have also noticed with Morse that I still fast forward through some of his solo’s on Now What! I don’t know what it is, too much the same maybe? I have many of his albums (Dixie Dregs, The Dregs & SMB from 1978 to mid 90’s, also including the 2 with Kansas. Blackmore is incredibly melodic & there is something about the Stratocaster also. Does it contribute to the players feel, perhaps it does, plus he is ‘old school’, there is a difference there also! Talking of fusion, DiMeloa & McLaughlin are incredible at what they do, I have a few albums from both, but I find I really have to be in ‘that’ mood to listen to them at times, & sometimes only a few tracks here & there. They are both more ‘jazz’ fusion than Morse in my book, Morse comes from a more ‘country fusion’ sort of background! If that makes any sense at all. Cheers.
August 15th, 2014 at 08:31@8 & 10
August 15th, 2014 at 16:51Thanks for both of your opinions! I think it’s great to hear why a fan likes one or the other a bit more and why, without taking personal offence. I like both, but i grew up with Ritchie and like his persona and showmanship not to mention his playing. I hope both of them have many more years left in them! The fact that RB has been at it so long, and his very lengthy pedigree (playing with 50’s stars like Gene Vincent etc etc) just blows my mind…58 years playin’ the banjo…Wow.
@ 10. Very well said George Hyland! Exactly my opinion too!
August 15th, 2014 at 17:28@11
Nope. The Mule and Uncommon Man were both in the set list. Only Black Night was axed for WFT.
August 15th, 2014 at 20:21I was fourth row right in front of the drums and for the most part the show was great. Unfortunately they botched Lazy pretty badly, during the modulation at the end where it goes back to the verse, neither Don, Steve or Roger were in the same key. Something weird also happened in the middle of Space Trucking, with Don getting very angry and yelling the chord E at Roger, – pretty funny to see the replacement guy yelling chords at the guy who’s on the recording. I suspect the higher altitude could have caused these mistakes, I had this happen to me last month at a gig. Other than these , the show was as good as Costa Mesa, and the added playing time and songs was great. Most people would not notice- we musicians hear everything. The guy sitting next to me also noticed the mistakes when I mentioned them. Gillan went and had a little laugh and head shake with Don after Lazy about it and the band were doing the whoops body language all musicians do after mistakes . Also it was fun when Gillan noticed my air keys playing during highway star , nodded at me and started doing it too – that was cool!
August 17th, 2014 at 20:25Johnh @17
August 18th, 2014 at 16:09Nice observations! I too noticed little mistakes as i reported in my Lincoln, CA show review. Nice to see that these things are not only noticed by myself. We are all human and thats what makes the live experience exciting, watching a band play on the edge and take chances… there is nothing better…!