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DPAS
LIVE REVIEWS Well, after experiencing Wembley and Birmingham I did not hold out much hope of Purple being any better at Dublin. But I had my ticket, hotel and flight sorted so I chose to go and check it out anyway. No Darkness at this gig. Skynyrd opened at 8.15pm and blew me away, the crowd we moshing at the front and everyone in the whole arena was screaming and joining in. This band are masters at crowd control. The Dublin crowd were literally shaking the balcony the energy and enthusiasim in the audience has to be experience to be believed. Skynyrd got off on this and, in my opinion gave their performance of the tour. The set was identical to previous dates but the feeling in the audience towards the band lifted it to another level. By half time I was gasping for a pint but totally exhilarated. I was now also concerned for Purples performance. as in the past gigs. I have felt the audience just did not respond in the same way to Purple as they did to Skynyrd and like it or not a poor audience reaction doesnt bode well for a good band performance. My seat was on at the back of the standing area directly behind the mixer and lighting desk. I had a perfect view. The sound guy came up an placed the set list on his desk right in front of me and I immediately noticed a couple of changes, I'm Alone was gone as was Mary Long, in there place we had Knocking at your Back Door' and Woman from Tokyo. These may be classics and not new or Morse era material but IMHO definately preferable to the former numbers. I was praying for a great performance from Purple and boy did I get it. The set was (as
far as I can remember, I was too mesmerised to write it down):HIghway
Star / Knocking
At Your Back Door / Woman
From Tokyo / Haunted
/ Speed King
/ Well Dressed Guitar
/ I Got your Number
/ Lazy / Perfect
Strangers / Smoke
On The Water / Space
Truckin' . Encore:
Hush
/ Black Night. Purple were obviously up for the gig, Gillan was screaming like a banshee from the opening notes of Highway Star. Morse and Glover were all over the stage interacting and generally having a ball. Paice was driving everything on as usual (does this guy ever have an off day?). Don's playing shone through. He did a nice solo prior to Star Wars / Perfect Strangers and the audience contributed by raising lighters in the darkness for a very nice effect. (Very American). Gillan was a lot more talkative tonight with many praises for the audience and a few interesting Gillanisims.. "The album is called Bananas, and it will be released when it is ripe." (dearie me..) The vibe was right, the set list powerful it was a fantastic experience. The key to this whole gig was the audience involvement and support. They never let up the whole evening and before anyone says anything about age the cross section was from about 15 - 70 as far as I could see. Purple played a stormer and finished around 11.40 with Gillan shouting "you are the best, its true, we will play here any time you want us" This brought a tremendous roar from the audience. I left the gig with my faith restored and the experience of Wembley and Birmingham well and truly behind me. Now off to the SECC....Come on Scotland lets show our Celtic brothers we know how to party too..... review: Mike McBain |