[ d e e p P u r . p l e ) The Highway Star

In the absence of the Lord

No Deep Purple in Holland this time, so we went to Halle.

Yes, it was with a 1200 km drive, a long way, but yes, it was worth it, every mile and every minute.

Deep Purple rocking at its best, laughing, having fun and playing as if it was their last gig.

And we had a wonderful time and all the audience was having a great time this evening. But enough of that.

We, my wife and I, were quite but very pleasantly surprised by the special effects during the concert: a very long guitar solo from Roger Glover, Roger singing solo (why didn't he do that earlier?) and a Gillan solo on congas! It has been said before, but we too think that Don Airey played very well as the substitute for the great master, the Lord of the keyboards, the one and only Jon Lord. We wish him well and a full recovery.

There is one special moment yet to tell, a very touching moment. Amongst the crowd was a blind man. At the end of "When A Blind Man Cries" he waved with his cane as a symbol of triumph or was it recognition? Thanks Ian and Steve for the magnificent interpretation this evening!

Thank you all, Purple gang, once again we enjoyed every minute of your concert. Halle was a fine place to be this August 21, 2001.

Dirk de Hen


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