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Cincinnati, Ohio review
Deep Purple opened their 2018 North American tour with Judas Priest on August 21st at Riverbend in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Temperance Movement opened the night with a solid set and then gave way to the mighty Judas Priest. Priest played a combination of a few new songs along with their classics. Overall it was a great set and a great performance.
The crowd generally seemed to be there to see Judas Priest and I overheard more than a few guys stating that they were going to leave after Priest played. Even I wondered how the crowd would react to Deep Purple before they took the stage and I’ll admit that the combination of Priest and Purple seemed an odd one.
Purple hit the stage with Highway Star and never looked back however as they ripped through their set for roughly one hour and 20 minutes. The band itself was tight and Ian’s voice was in fine form. They were energetic and of course the crowd was sending out some “great vibes.”
From my perspective, the crowd really was sending out some great vibes. This was my 9th Purple show and I don’t recall ever seeing a crowd react the way this one did. The crowd really got into the show and I was amazed to hear everyone singing along to Perfect Strangers and Knocking at Your Back Door at the midway point of the set.
While I’m sure that some of the fans left after Priest, it didn’t appear that many did and it seemed that the crowd really enjoyed both bands. I still think it’s an odd pairing, but that night, the combination worked really well.
My only disappointment of the night was the stagnate set list. Perhaps because the band was touring with Priest, the set list, other than the inclusion of Uncommon Man, was more or less a greatest hits evening. In no order other than beginning and end, they played Highway Star, Space Truckin’, Perfect Strangers, Knocking at Your Back Door, Uncommon Man, Strange Kind of Woman, Hard Lovin’ Man, Smoke and Hush.
I would have liked to hear a few deeper cuts or something off of Infinite, but I understand the shorter set due to co-headlining or perhaps feeling that they needed to play a greatest hits set list due to the pairing. Either way, it was a great show and I was thankful that I got to see them play again before they call it a day. If this was it, I walked away happy (thanks for the pick Roger!) and I think they might have earned a few new fans as well that night.
Thanks,
Scott McNay
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
It was a great show!
August 29th, 2018 at 08:20Ma cosa stanno combinando con il set list. Sempre stravolto!!!!
August 29th, 2018 at 09:45As with most hard core Purple fans the set list is very important. They have been playing Uncommon Man and dedicating it to Jon Lord since it came out on Now What back in 2013. Although it’s a really good song, what I would rather see them do is have Don Airey’s keyboard solo dedicated to Jon and have the solo based on about 5 or 6 Jon Lord solo’s throughout his years with Purple. I think it would be really cool to hear a medley of the solos from Burn, Smooth Dancer, Rat Bat Blue etc. We all know what a great player Don is and he could really come up with something special. I too believe this is the last time I will be seeing them this week. I noticed they have also been doing Sometimes I feel Like Screaming as well. I don’t think this is the best idea after following Priest. Great song but to mellow for the night. Again all of this is just my opinion. There is no right or wrong. The set list I would like to see for the night is as follows:
1. Highway Star
2. Pictures Of Home
3. Bloodsucker
4. Time For Bedlam
5. Hell To Pay
6. Fireball
7. Lazy
8. Knocking At Your Back Door
9. Don’s solo featuring the solos from the great Jon Lord
10. Perfect Strangers
11. Space Truckin
12. Smoke On The Water
13. Hush
14. Black Night
Regardless of what they play I know they will be great!
August 29th, 2018 at 10:35Thanks for your review,Scott.
August 29th, 2018 at 13:07We’ve all grown used to North American Tour = Greatest Hits set list, that’s no surprise.
From the YT clips I’ve seen,the band is playing well,and Big Ian is in good voice.
Very nice review! In the past 33 years I have been fortunate to see Purple a total of 8 times. Despite their advancing ages, they have always performed a polished, high quality show.
As you have noted, Purple have abbreviated their show this year to accommodate a pairing with Priest, and as a result have confined the performance to “the standards”. Likewise, in last year’s tour with Alice Cooper, Purple also had to trim back their running time somewhat, but at least back then they played a couple of tracks from Infinite. Now it seems that Infinite has completely fallen off the setlist which is very unfortunate. At least one song, either Birds of Prey and/or The Surprizing would be nice to have in the set.
I had been holding off buying tickets for this particular North American tour as I suspected that Purple’s concert run time would be impinged by a co-headlining bill with Priest. And further, given that no newer material is being played from the most recent album, I am therefore content this year to simply remember past Purple shows with more fulsome setlists and greater spontaneity due to a less restrictive timeframe, (ie): curfew.
Hopefully I can catch Purple one last time, maybe in the UK perhaps where they will be the sole headliner, and will stretch out the performance to capture some of the many other gems of their catalogue. In the meantime, I nevertheless wish Deep Purple and all those who go to see them this summer, a very enjoyable concert experience
August 29th, 2018 at 14:00I said it all along! DP would/will not go under following Priest. Their music is not that far apart, Priest’s origins can be easily traced to DP style music. If you like omelettes, you like eggs, that easy. I’ve never met a Priest fan who didn’t cream into his pants when he heard Highway Star blaring from the speakers and you could actually very well envisage Robbie Halford singing that particular song while cracking his whip (except that it is about sex with women, something ole Rob is not even fleetingly interested in). And if Blackmore’s chugging rhythm guitar and double and triple leads on Highway Star are not a blueprint for much of Priest’s music, then what the hell(-bent-for-leather) is?
That the Purps play safe with a greatest hits set is no surprise, they did the same thing when they toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd (who had a greatest hits set themselves, Purple played a lot of Bananas on that tour initially, but eventually succumbed and changed the set around: one man’s One More From/For The Road is another man’s Made In Japan!). Priest, after all, have never done anything else but tour greatest hits sets. I love the band, but they never had the guts to tour, say, Nostradamus properly (playing it completely, not just two or three songs) which killed that particular project. A band like Iron Maiden would have stuck to their guns and toured the damned thing completely, ramming it down (pun intended) their fans’ collective throats until they came to like it.
August 29th, 2018 at 14:14I was at the next show in Chicago. While there were some fans who left after Judas Priest, their were also fans who arrived just for Deep Purple.
I also would have liked something from the last album, but hearing Bloodsucker for the 1st time (my 7th show) made my night.
August 29th, 2018 at 16:06This greatest hits thing is only common for artist when they are playing in America. classic rock and all that shit.
european concert goers seems more happy with mixed setlist.
August 29th, 2018 at 18:35Will be going to see them in Kansas City soon….I hope they change the setlist somewhat!! Looks the same as last years tour with Alice Cooper that we saw/heard in St Louis!?
August 29th, 2018 at 22:35It’s been a while since I’ve heard Woman from Tokyo from the boys. Ted the Mechanic, Wasted Sunsets, The Battle Rages On, Johnny’s Band and Bananas would all be welcome and surprise additions.
I won’t even get greedy and ask for Child in Time…
August 30th, 2018 at 00:06I’ve watched 8 0r so YT clips from the show in Hamilton,ON on Aug 27th. Very high energy and it looks like the band is having fun. Seems like scaling back on touring this year is working out quite nicely.
August 30th, 2018 at 16:40Good review.
Like George Martin (#3)…I’d like to hear Fireball, HTP and Time for Bedlam.
Looking forward to Sept. 29th.
August 30th, 2018 at 20:24Would be a good time to revisit the Abandon record touring with Priest. When I asked them backstage years ago they said most Americans only know there hits and there marketed as a classic rock band. Would love to see a Morse era only show with maybe a couple of oldies for encores just to change things up. When he first joined the band the 1st & 2nd records were heavy in the set.
August 31st, 2018 at 00:41I honestly believe that the guys from DP only tour America just to enjoy chicken wings with good beer. I just wish you could buy common sense by the kilo from eBay or Amazon. This is double act defies any logic on any given day. Everyone has gone Bannas as Ian Gillan once sang on Bannas. I still admire their craziness that something money can’t buy.
September 2nd, 2018 at 00:49