Review: Deep Purple 25/06/1999 Cologne
I'm just back from one of the best DP shows I ever heard and the best DP show I've ever seen and wanted to give some impressions.
The Palladium in Cologne is a strange venue, it's located in an industrial area and is actually a converted factory or something, I have to admit I don't like it very much since the acoustics are not that good, which brings me to...
The Sound: From my position (first row, a little bit left of the middle) the sound was perfect. Very clear and the mix and balance of the different instruments was exactly right. It can't get better than this, I even heard at two times Gillan's congas.
Support act again Lenny Wolf. This was their last show as support for DP, they put on a really good show.
Setlist same as the last German dates I saw, but it wasn't that important which songs were played but what happened in the songs...
Lightshow: Put to good use, added much to the atmosphere, which brings me to...
The Show: Purest, deepest Purple.
Gillan's voice was in brilliant shape, no problems at all this night. And Gillan himself was in overdrive, chatting nonstop inbetween songs and at one time playing a plastic blow-up guitar (the kind you take to the beach) that someone in the audience gave him. Excellent performance.
Steve and Jon were in a great jamming mood, the solos in the songs were long and inspired and their solo spots were so outstanding, it was breathtaking. Roger and Ian were on the same high level, they supported the jamming parts perfect, but not only playing along but also doing some extra stuff on the side where appropriate. Especially Paicey was doing miracles on drums. And when he started his drum solo it was showtime, he gave the word "fast" a new meaning.
And and and...
I could go on like this for quite a while, but to keep this short: Wherever you looked, whoever you watched on stage, it was a pure joy.
A perfect night.
What made the night even better was that I meet some a.m.d-p-ers after the show, so here's a quick hello to Fedor, Nigel, Svante and Benny; hope to see you somewhere along the road again.
Now it's really time to catch some hours of sleep and then it's off to Plauen...
[ reviews | the highway star ]