Lahr 6-7-97

It was a bit to travel this time but thanks to the German railway and some friendly taxi drivers in Lahr that was just a matter of time. For obvious reasons I only went there for Sunday and I arrived early enough to watch Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Marla Glen before. Marla Glen did a wonderful performance and I can recommend her CDs, too. After her show it took quite a time to prepare the stage for Purple, I think mainly because of some problems with Steve' s amplifiers, so it was 23:00 already when they finally started.

The setlist

1. Hush
2. Fireball
3. Into the Fire (full version)
4. Ted the Mechanic
5. Black Night
6. Bloodsucker
7. Cascades
8. Woman From Tokyo
9. No One Came
10. Smoke On The Water
11. When A Blind Man Cries
12. Speed King

Encores

1. Perfect Strangers
2. Highway Star

The show lasted approx. 100 minutes, so it was a bit shorter than the European shows I saw last year. Into the Fire was the biggest surprise for me, it sounded as fresh as had it been written last week. We got only a few Gillanisms, Ted was introduced as 'Edward' this time and the inspiring pub for Cascades was 'The Nachtigall's Leg' . It was great to hear Bloodsucker again and my highlights were No One Came (just like always!) and the Gillan/Morse duet in Speed King, when they were accompanied by Lord on the piano. Perfect Strangers was a majestic performance and Highway Star just thundered away. Incredibly good.

Unfortunately we didn't get any new numbers and the overall sound was clear but it lacked a bit of warmth, but this has to be said for the whole day, so the band can't be blamed for that.

It was a good concert and I am very happy that I've made the trip. Now I'm looking forward for Machine Head's 25th anniversary and the new CD next year.

Uwe

[ reviews | the highway star ]