Circus, Stockholm, 2. October 1995

Newsgroups: alt.music.deep-purple
Subject: First review of Stockholm?
From: Christer Lorichs 
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 03:00:09 GMT

During my trip back from Stockholm (200 km) I've been saying to myself over and over: "I don't get it, I just don't understand". Let go through the show and see if I can make my point.

The old Judy Garland intro broght back memories, classic intro by the whole band and then into Spotlight Kid. It's always exciting to see Ritchie. And there he is getting down to business, playing very well.

Too late for tears, Long Live both sets the initial tempo of the show and it's quite alright. A break and singalong in LLRR a la Dio. Then comes the first Purple quote/song of the evening, Black Night, just the riff. But why make a Purple reference already? As Stathis is very good proof of he has said he doesn't wan't any Purple connections?

Doogie, who sounds good and appears to be the very nice guy he looked in the promovideo, takes up "if I'm high on a hill she'll still be looking down at me". Yes, lets hear it! But no, no more Rising references.

Hunting Humans is good. Good solo by the man.

Wolf to the moon is next leading right into a real happy surprise that I really missed on the last Purpleshows with Morse and Satch: Beethoven's 9th! Hurrah! This item can never get too much airing and I think they should repeat it as an encore!

I was so disappointed. Up to now it had been OK with really good, sharp playing by RB. And as if that wasn't enough we get a keyboard solo. This guy Mr Morris does the absolutely worst and most embarrassing keyboardsolo I've ever heard. I didn't know where to look. I tried too pretend it was a terrible dream. Finally solo, or whatever it was, is over. Pheew!

Tempo has really fallen in the show after mr Morris solospot and we're straight into Still I'm Sad. Which leads into the obligatory Drumsolo. Maybe it was well executed, I don't know, or care.Tempo falls again.

Man on the silver is OK. Then the highlight - Temple of the King. And very well done too, good playing and singing and an absolutely superb solo by RB. He still can bring you shivers. An absolute stunner. Loved it.

Black Masquerade follows. Ariel is good but Ritchie doesn't quite get going when trying to improvise subtly over Candice voice.

Then another goodie. RBs Blues. I mean it's three chords in all Blues but you can get thousands of variations out of it. So why does this get a note by note repetition? Disappointing, despite always sounding good. This leading into Since you've... Well OK.

And then we get Perfect Strangers including simulated laserbeems. Why play this - pick any Rainbow track like Tarot Woman, Stargazer, Light in the Black, Run with the wolf, Eyes of the world - but why choose Purple tracks? Then finishing with Hall OTMK. No, I still don't like it.

Encore is demanded by the full house. And for all of you who wants Purple to do it, here comes Burn! OK, the riff is really great but the rest is just OK. They even share the singing. Doogie and Ritchie, sorry I mean Doogie and bassplayer. (I'm almost falling asleep here. It's nearly two hours past midnight)

And then RB starts picking the slow intro to that immortal Rainbow track - Smoke on the Water. Yes, I would really have been disappointed if they had left this one out.

All shows with any Purple connection must contain this song and preferably end with it.

Why can't he really let go of his past, especially since he says he really want's too. By now I was rather depressed. Yes, he (RB) appeared very nice, shaking hands with the crowd, concentrated on his playing, but still I'm just left empty.

And I still can't understand his reasons for holding onto things like Beethoven, RBs Blues, Smoke, Black Night and Perfect Strangers and why include a drumsolo in the set. And how he can put up with Mr Morris solospot is beyond me. Sorry for all these ramblings but I had to let it out. Now, I'll post this and then read the Helsinki reviews.

Do you share my views, Per?

Goodnight
Christer Lorichs