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DPAS
LIVE REVIEW No matter how well I try to describe the events of May 29th, words can never come close to what I experienced on the night. One pleasant surprise came after another, for which I have to thank first of all the organizers of the Schwung festival, but mostly the Deep Purple musicians, and Ian Gillan in particular.
I hoped the backdrop would reveal something from the new album's cover, but all there was were a few black and a few white sheets! Mary Long was done in a slightly different way than usual. Tonight there were not that many solos but 'Mary had a little room' at least for a guitar solo. I took all of my 72 photos sooner than expected, but didn't get much time to complain about this as I'm Alone started and everybody was asked to leave the pit. Charlie Lewis (stage manager) saw to it personally. Trying to get something more out of my pass I drew Charlie's attention to it. When all were out of the pit he told me to follow him. We walked all the way back and up the stage where Luc and I were posted at the left, just in front of a demarcation line behind which John Sykes and other musicians were watching the show.
Steve Morse got straight to the point with the Smoke On The Water riff. In other places, such as Brussels, these few notes caused the crowd's cheering to shake the building to its foundations, but all I saw tonight were hundreds of fists in the air. No pushing, no jumping in the front rows. The reaction was certainly less violent than I expected. Was that due to the early hour (still a little before midnight) or was everybody still numb from the previous band? Steve - wearing a Mazda T-shirt - played the intro to Space Truckin' and after 65 minutes the main show was over.
Photos:
Patrick Peetermans |
It
was 22.55 hrs when the lights went out, Highway Star came out
of the speakers, and the band - a minute or so later - appeared out
of the dark. As had happened in August last year Ian came from the back
of the stage to shake my hand. I had hoped my friends Patrick or Luc
might have captured the moment on film but apparently I was suddenly
surrounded by photographers and couldn't be seen.
A
short, quiet intermission was used to segue I'm Alone into Pictures
Of Home, a song that ended far too soon. At this point, Ian said
they'd have a new album out soon, called 'Bananas'. I thought, "Yeah,
right...." Haunted was a track from that album: a quiet (typically
Steve Morse) guitar intro scarcely accompanied by drums led us into
a slow song, which sounded alright at first hearing. I guess it still
needs some work. Ian changed into a dry shirt before tearing into Speed
King. A short, heavy Hammond intro followed by some 'spielereien'
from Don acted as an intro for Lazy. I must admit to being rather
overwhelmed by the unexpected circumstances and the fact that I could
take pictures from an unusual position; therefore I may have paid less
attention to the music; anyway, I had the impression that everything
was passing by faster, or was Lazy really shortened? Also, imagine Ian
Gillan - during an instrumental passage - walking over to you in the
dark, greeting you a second time and asking if the tickets were o.k.?
I've
Got Your Number (actually 'Up The Wall' from last years's UK
tour retitled..) was less impressive, and brought back memories
of "Abandon". It sounded like a typical Steve Morse song, complete with
tempo changes, and that's not what particularly excites me. I like things
fluent and simple. A short guitar and organ solo finished the song.
Don Airey kept going with an organ / piano-intro à la Jon Lord featuring
all kinds of short classical themes to introduce Perfect Strangers.
Roger Glover was now on another bass guitar (I saw 3 different models!).
It
wasn't long before the five of them returned to the stage for the encores.
First there was a heavy rendition of Hush featuring an instrumental
intermission. Then a long constructive intro led to Black Night
which ended with an interaction between Steve Morse and the audience.
After 80 minutes (at 00.17 hrs) it was all over. People screamed for
more, Roger's guitar technician stood by, but I think the audience gave
up too quickly! I had the feeling an extra song would have been possible.