DPAS
LIVE REVIEWS
Deep
Purple
'Monsters Of Rock', Milton Keynes Bowl
June 3rd 2006
Pictures
of Home / Things I Never Said / Hush / Rapture Of The Deep / Strange
Kind of Woman / Fireball / When A Blind Man Cries / Lazy / Perfect Strangers
/ Space Truckin' / Steve, Roger jam ~ Highway Star / Smoke On
The Water. Encore Black Night. [set
list: Rob Walton]
Purple
struck it lucky with fantastic weather and an appreciative crowd. Taking
the stage at sunset they stormed through an hour and half (too short
as is usual nowadays) of high energy rock - 13 songs by my count and
solo spots were kept to a minimum. Bearing in mind the diverse nature
of the audience I suppose it was not surprising that they played such
a predictable set, but I don’t see how they can complain about being
tagged as a ‘Classic Rock’ act when 80%+ of the set included songs recorded
over 30 years ago.
Consequently,
there was no room for Rapture highlights such as ‘Wrong Man’, ‘Clearly
Quite Absurd’ and ‘Junkyard Blues’ although, bizarrely, they did play
‘Things I Never Said’. That said, the band played well, a couple of
surprisingly missed cues apart, and the Paice/Glover axis was on top
form. A highlight was the extended and revamped ‘Highway Star’,
which breathed new life into the classic. Another was a more sparse
‘When a Blind Man Cries’ and a great ‘Rapture of the Deep’.
review:
Andy B
Oh
boy, what a night and what a performance. Topping the bill and on the
back of some decent performances, especially from Thunder, the boys
took to the stage and let rip. In playful mood, with Gillan unusually
these days appearing in jeans rather than his usual flowing whites and
blacks (although remaining bare footed) they launched into Pictures
of Home, bringing rapture to a group of Purpleheads near me who
gave every impression of not realising the band has been touring over
the last many years.
The
set was clearly designed to appeal to the masses who might not have
been as familiar with the Morse-era band as the rest of us. It certainly
did the job with the audience reaction absolutely tip-top. I got the
feeling the band were quite overcome with just how good their reception
was. And that no doubt influenced the performance because they went
from strength to strength. Strange Kind of Woman rocked and Rapture
Of The Deep was surprisingly well received considering it will have
been unfamiliar to most there. Fireball was interesting not least because
Ian, in classic Gillan style, mangled the lyrics but got away with it
with a raised eyebrow and a smile! Hush, appearing quite early
in the set, was absolutely stonking as were the performances of Lazy
and Highway Star. When A Blind Man Cries is one of my all time favourites,
and though I have never quite got used to Steve's rather fidlly solos,
it was played as well as I have heard this line up play it.
The
obligatory Smoke On The Water was roared along to by the by crowd
who by now, if they had begun with any doubts, had been fully won over
and Black Night was equally well received. They seemed to have
fun and so did the massed ranks at the Bowl. To sum up: the following
comment from someone to whom I have been "selling" the chaps for years
says it all - "Never having seen Deep Purple live before, I just have
to say that I think they are one of the best live acts ever. What a
performance!" review: Charles Ashmore
And so it began,
a 1000+ mile round trip to the resurrected Monsters Of Rock, just like
the old days. And as such we decided to do it the hard way. No luxuries
for us, it was overnight coach trips and poor personal hygeine all the
way.
So, a bright and
early arrival in London saw us heading for Paddington for an 8.30am
connection to the Milton Keynes Bowl. It seemed ludicrously early, but
at least we found the bus and, surprise, surprise, arrived long before
the gates were due to open. It was nice to see that some things hadn't
changed since the glory days of MoR, with the over zealous mini Hitlers
working the gates refusing entry to an array of deadly sandwiches and
soft drinks. Heaven forbid I should hurl a chicken sandwich at Ian Gillan!
But soon enough we were in, spot claimed on the hill, arrangements made
to meet fat friends, so let the rock begin!
Roadstar
suffered the usual 'punish the opening act' sound problems, but won
over a substantial number of the early arrivers with their old fashioned
good time rock and dodgy fake American accents, but the real start was,
obviously, the Motor City Madman, the Great Gonzo, Mr Ted Nugent!
And he didn't disappoint, beginning with some severe roadie baiting
for the bass tech - "I'm gonna skin you and make a dress out of you"
- being the star turn. But once the music began it was good. He churned
out everything you could want - "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang", "Stranglehold",
"Free For All" (hurrah), "Cat Scratch Fever" and more. He was in fine
audience rapport fettle, and MoR 2006 was officially underway.
Of course you can
always rely on Queensryche to ruin a good party, and by
starting with their one good song, "Revolution Calling", it gave me
some valuable sleeping / sunburning / admiring the view time before
the arrival of Thunder. Now we all know why they were
so far up the bill, but they were a real revelation. I've seen them
a fair few times over the years, good, bad and indifferent, but they
pulled out all the stops, working the audience in tremendous style,
getting the party going after the yawnfest that had went before. Now
I could tell you how good Journey were, but you probably
wouldn't believe me. With only an hour to kick it large, they rattled
through more hits than you could shake a very big stick at. Opening
with "Separate Ways" and running through "Wheel In The Sky", "Lights",
"Any Way You Want It", "Faithfully", "Open Arms" and more. I'm feeling
quite faint just thinking about it. A near perfect performance, only
marred by Steve Augeris mustard coloured strides. Please! Nothing is
worth 25 years for, but seeing Journey now completes my musical mission
to see the best bands ever created - and they deserve to be in that
pantheon.
Alice
Cooper was also in good form, but as the set was nearly identical
to his recent tour I didn't pay particularly close attention. Just a
truncated mid section differed for the shorter set, but he is a consummate
showman, and well deserved the adoring audience reaction. And then it
was the headliners. Twilight had arrived, the big screens were switched
on, and Deep Purple blasted into "Pictures Of Home". I
wandered back up the hill to savour the full effect of the band, crowd
and lights, and it was a sight to behold. Then
to the strains of "Black Night" it was off to the coach park, only to
find out the coach wasn't there, misdirections from the mini Hitlers,
hooky t-shirts for a fiver, 20 minutes in the countryside before finding
the coach in a layby near the exit - bastard, road works on the M1,
the driver getting lost in London, taxi drivers refusing to stop for
the dishevelled maniacs leaping at them, getting to the hotel at 2.30am
for the shortest stay in a hotel ever, before getting on another coach
for the 500 miles home!
Was it worth it?
Oh, yes. Of course the glorious weather helped, catching up with old
friends, making new ones and once you got past the evil stormtroopers,
everything had a feel good, friendly vibe. Here's hoping it was successful
enough to warrant a regular return, and special thanks to the two girls
(brunette and bluehead - you know who you are) who made the return leg
to Edinburgh a much more pleasurable experience. See you next year,
at MoR 2007 and SwedenRock 2007!
review: Stuart
A Hamilton
A short sharp run-through
of the greatest hits. Everyone in great form and looking happy but Gillan
struggled with a lot of the songs and was coughing again. The same set
list as current tour except cut down to the basics to please a mixed
crowd. Only Things I Never Said and Rapture Of The Deep from the Morse
era. To me it was a shame that they didn't show off some more non-Blackmore
stuff to let everyone know that they are not just rehashing the past.
Having said that the crowd loved what they did,even the thick b******ds
who kept calling out for Child in Time or Smoke On The Water in-between
songs.
review: David
May
"Sorry about
the all the rain!" says Big Ian! Very funny. I think rain of Knebworth
proportions would have been less of a trial than the blazing sunshine
we had a the MK Bowl - too damned hot, I didn't see it coming and am
sunburnt! Damn, there goes the "pale and interesting" look!
On the bright side
(groan) MoR proved to be a mostly very enjoyable day. Roadstar, Thunder
and Journey were all impressive and Alice Cooper was as much fun as
only Alice Cooper can be. I wish Ted Nugent and Queensryche hadn't bothered
though - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
First
thoughts when Purple hit the stage were how happy and relaxed they're
all looking, especially Gillan. I hope I'm that lively when I'm 60!
He was also in very good voice throughout the show although his patter
with the crowd seemed unusually forced. Maybe a hint of nerves at such
a big, high-profile show? If that was the case then he needn't have
worried, Purple were very good and as far as I could tell, very well
received by the crowd. Walking out after the show I heard two guys in
front of me discussing it: Guy #1 (obviously a fan): So would you go
and see Purple again? Guy #2 (obviously not): I would if they're going
to be that good! so they've made at least one convert on the day!
Highlights for me
were Fireball, which really raced along and the crowd went wild for
it, When A Blind Man Cries, which was a pleasant surprise and Space
Truckin'. Although it's really hard to pick highlights as everything
was very good. Even Black Night sounded a lot less laboured than I remember
from the last time I saw them although I think I'd rather have heard
Speed King. Two songs from the new album retained, although I think
something like Wrong Man would have gone down better than Things I Never
Said which, by being a complete unknown to fair proportion of the crowd
kind of stalled the show a little from a crowd perspective. No major
complaints, though. A great vibe throughout the crowd, which happily
mingled kids with pensioners, bikers with goths. A success, I feel!
review:
Greg Harrop
WOW!!!!!!!! Didn't
think much of the first three bands, but Thunder as usual didn't let
us down with an excellent performance, such a great band. Journey, in
my opinion a truly underrated band, gave a solid performance. The penultimate
act was the legendary Alice Cooper, the crowd going crazy for School's
Out and Poison. Then the main event and Purple hit the stage at approx
9.15pm. The sound was really spot on, as it had been all day. They did
all the usual numbers which given the age of the audience was only fitting;
my feeling was that the audience kind of expected and wanted it at this
gig and Purple delivered to perfection. Lazy got the crowd really going,
while Perfect Strangers, Highway Star, Space Truckin' and Smoke On The
Water got the crowd really hyper. Black Night was the encore. Personally
I think Smoke On The Water should have been the encore, but that's only
my personal view. A really superb day and the organisers did a great
job, a big " I Thankkkkkkkkkk you!" to all those concerned. review:
Ashley Cobb - Gloucester, UK.
photos: Andy
Worthington
|