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PNC Bank Arts Center

Deep Purple live at PNC Bank Arts Center (Holmdel, USA 2017-08-28)

After reading a lot of the reviews from the other shows here in America, I have a little bit different take on this. First, Edgar Winter did a fine job but I found it really unnecessary to have him on this bill. Valuable time was lost as far as I was concerned. That time could at least have been split between Cooper and Purple with Purple getting a little bit more of it than Cooper. Next Alice Cooper was typical Alice. Tons of props, gimmicks fireworks etc. Just what you would expect from him. I think Alice should be on the same bill with someone more similar instead. The 2 bands are not a great mix in my opinion. Finally the ultimate professionals took the stage. The set list was the same as the previous shows except the order was a little different. As usual they were great but they always are. I still think All I Got Is You would have been a better choice than The Surprising and Hell To Pay would have been a better choice than Uncommon Man but that’s my personal opinion. One good thing, I did the meet and greet and asked Ian Paice if they would ever come through the USA again, especially the New York area for my own personnel reasons. He said next year there not exactly sure how it’s going to play out but they will be in the states again. This tour does not have all areas included. So fingers crossed America, If health is with them there may just be one last chance to see them after this is over.

George Martin

review by George Martin



12 Comments to “PNC Bank Arts Center”:

  1. 1
    Kim Peters says:

    Please do a show in the (San Francisco) Bay Area.

  2. 2
    Antonio Segura Lopes says:

    SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE SCREAMING in ARENA PALMEIRAS (ALLIANZ PARQUE). Please in the name of the fans in São Paulo. Great PALMEIRAS the best and great club, most champions from Brasil.

  3. 3
    Blackwood Richmore says:

    Perchance a last hurrah?!.

  4. 4
    Olivier says:

    Thank you George, but please focus on the writing process of GOT, instead of that review.:-)

  5. 5
    Mike says:

    Thank you for your book, George

  6. 6
    Jason S. Campbell says:

    Great to hear that last bit of info. Cheers for that!!

  7. 7
    Greg Cummings says:

    Dude is way too picky. I saw the show in Indianapolis and it was awesome! All three bands were great! I saw no problem with Winters opening. And Cooper and Purple together? Who cares!!! At their age and mine, I’m just happy to see them at least one more time!

  8. 8
    john mck says:

    The review above is right,you can`t go by other reviews.Hard to compare,they are two different rock acts.If you like Cooper,that`s who your going to see and if its Purple,the same thing.He forgot to mention DP played the first 30 seconds of Highway star in the dark,stage lights didn’t come on.Sound was good for all three bands.Edgar Winter was short and sweet,good band with him,Cooper was also solid,if you like guillotines , ballons and pyro stuff,its for you,but they were entertaining.Purple were just fine,Don Airey had that organ cranked up more than in past shows I`ve seen.Paice ,Glover And Morse , great as always.As for Gillan,Look the guy is 72,your going to get good nights with him and not so good nights.We would all love to see him again with the long hair , hopping all over the stage , but it is what it is.He held his own at this show.Gillan did mention Jon Lord before Uncommon man,so leave that one alone.Couple of more up tempo numbers like Speed King and woman from Tokyo would have been nice.If this is the grand finale,so be it,but if they come back one more time,better off headlining their own shows…Thanks

  9. 9
    Boswell's Johnson says:

    Good review. Props to Alice, but Purple are sharing the bill with a circus act. And that’s cool. That’s cool.

    We need to note that Purple are still an incredible live act from a musical performance point of view (which is exactly what they have always been). When I go to a show, I go to see musicians play, not fire works and whoopee cushions.

    The tone on the boards has been a bit somber lately. Maybe people are looking for a weakness that isn’t there?

  10. 10
    Tony says:

    I saw purple in Europe.
    I don’t understand why they are always playing “strange kind of woman”.
    Nobody’s understand what Gillan is saying against Morse, the song is too boring and at the end Gillan
    says …. exactually…. word for word Steve.

    And the setlist is in America even worser than in Europe.
    No speed king, fools, Rosa’s cantina, contact lost, well dressed guitar, child in time, anya, woman from tokyo,
    anyone daughter, sometime I feel like screaming; pictures of home, into the fire.

    But respect what they are doing at that age. Deep Purple is a real cool group to be fan off.
    And you can’t please all the fans.

  11. 11
    uwe hornung says:

    I always liked Alice Cooper AND Deep Purple, they come from the same era, were both never the darlings of critics but commercially successful, Alice, although a Yank, is firmly entrenched in a British Invasion influence (listen to Alice sing a ballad and you can hear the overt John Lennon influence in his singing), DP, although Limeys, did take up their share of Vanilla Fudge and Iron Butterfly, that massive organ/guitar sound. I don’t think the two bands are a bad mix at all – in fact my first two albums ever were Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits and Deep Purple in Rock! I liked the covers of both. ; – )

    I’d really like to see Edgar Winter too, so I’m a bit jealous about the combo our American friends are being served with.

    On stage, Alice can entertain even if you are not familiar with most of his music (I have all his output, just like I have Purple’s complete oeuvre as well). His music is not that dumb btw, those Bob Ezrin-honed lavish arrangements with umpteen layered guitars and multi-harmoney guitar melodies are not that simplistic at all and he pulls that sound off very well with his no less than three guitarists. Don’t be fooled by the make-up and Alice’s limited range (he is the first to admit that he was never a great singer, the benefit is that he has hardly lost any of his former vocal capabilities today), there is a good rock band at work with him.

  12. 12
    indrakusuma says:

    really wonder why didn’t they play ALL I GOT IS YOU , they realeased it as promo beside time for bedlam. All I Got is really ear catching, just one spin and like it.

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