Guitars and Strings in Hamburg
After having checked the local newspapers' announcements and finding most of them mentioning in their headlines (!) that Deep Purple would play "The Concerto", as well as some other stuff, I had hopes that this night would pass without disturbing idiots. And it did!!!
At 8pm, when the show should have started, a German announcer (no idea who he was) told the audience that due to technical (!) problems the show would start late. Three members of the band were stuck in a traffic jam and hadn't arrived yet. The show would start at 8:30pm, or earlier, regardless, and would go straight for 2 hours without a break. (Speculations in the audience: what would they do if the missing members were still not there - did it mean that those who were to start the show were already there?) Finally at 8:45, the orchestra entered the stage and the show lasted for 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Needless to say, this was the greatest show I've ever been to! I've dreamt of something like this happening for more than ten years (since I first discovered "The Concerto" at the age of 15) - and now it came true! Even my dad (whom I took to a regular Purple gig in 1996, which he didn't like at all ;-) was fascinated!
I am pretty curious whether it will be the same setlist in Frankfurt in two weeks time - or if band and orchestra will be able to play together even better after two weeks of 'practising', though this is hardly imaginable! Steve, especially, was great and obviously happy to be rid of his plaster. The setlist is not identical with the one that is found on the Royal Albert Hall recording done last year - those of you who want to go to a show and keep the suspense (which I recommend) should stop reading my review right here.
Setlist with comments:
"Pictured Within" / Jon Lord (Miller Anderson on vocals).
"Sitting In A Dream" and "Love Is All" / Roger Glover (Ronnie James Dio on
vocals, Miller Anderson playing the second guitar).
"Fever Dreams" and "Rainbow In The Dark" / Ronnie James Dio (no orchestra involved).
"Wring That Neck" / Deep Purple (Jon Lord announcement: "A very old song from the
sixties - recorded before the madness started."
"Fools" /Deep Purple (no orchestra involved).
"When A Blind Man Cries" / Deep Purple.
"Ted The Mechanic" / Deep Purple (Miller Anderson started to join the female backing
singers here, but this was hardly audible).
"Guitar String" / New piece! (basically Steve, Paicey and the string section,
with a little bit of Roger and the wind section).
"Pictures Of Home" / Deep Purple (included the intro like on the Royal Albert Hall recording).
"Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming" / Deep Purple.
"The Concerto" (introduced by Ian, standing ovation after the first movement, 'normal applause' after the second movement (for whatever reason), standing ovation at the end).
- "Perfect Strangers" / Deep Purple.
- "Smoke On The Water" / Deep Purple (one of the riffs Steve put into the intro was
Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" - but obviously neither Ian nor Ronnie felt like
singing it.
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