Deep Purple

Manchester Apollo

Thursday 14 February 2002.

I thought I would save the best til last. This is the best concert of all time and it would be difficult to think of one that could be better. Of ones that are technically possible, reunion concerts with the original members of Black Sabbath or Pink Floyd could possibly rival it, but nothing else could come close. The only thing that could better it is a Beatles concert, but as 50% of them are now sadly departed, this is something I am likely only to witness in the next world. Deep Purple, or more precisely, the classic mark two line up are my favourite group of all time outside of the Beatles, were the first group I got to like when I started getting into "proper music" and they have the best, most imaginative and most progressive back catalogue of tracks, and they are all close to being the best ever performers in their particular areas. Also, there are vast tracts of my music collection that remind me of a particular person, place, or what I was doing or feeling at a particular time. This isn't at al the case with Deep Purple. Of course it reminds me of the sixth form, working at the Midland Bank, studying for my degree or even my spell of time on the dole, but it reminds me essentially of nothing more than just brilliant, great imaginative music. It must be said straightaway that this concert  cannot quite be considered the perfect scenario, because guitarist Ritchie Blackmore has long since left the group - and sanity- and of course it is his guitaring that was pivotal to their success. Amazingly though, it isn't such a great loss as it may appear as Steve Morse is a brilliant guitarist in his own right, plays the old stuff fantastically and in a good individual style, and most importantly, the group seem very happy and at ease without him. The fact that they are all very old doesn't at all bother me, they are living legends to my mind, and it wouldn't have made much difference even if they were all ninety years old and in wheelchairs. For what it matters, they looked very good for their age, and the quality of musicianship was not effected one jot. The only slight reservation I have is that they used to hold the record for the loudest group in the world. This plainly wasn't in evidence tonight although I didn't go so far as agreeing with a cretin near me who was continually shouting at them to turn it up. I got a brilliant seat near the front and it felt that Ian Gillan and company were only a few feet away, as indeed they were. There's no way at this point in time that I can remember all the tracks that were played, but it was mostly classic mark two stuff. There was a heavy emphasis on the two lesser known albums, "Fireball" and "Who Do We Think We Are", but these are my favourites so I was very happy. Probably my favourite Deep Purple track is "Fools" from Fireball, because it combines to the best effect everything that I said about them earlier, and the version tonight was stunning. I particularly liked "Mary Long" also and "Smoke On The Water" was not done as an encore but as a main track, and I was very impressed with the idea of preceding it with a medley of classic rock riffs such as " Stairway to Heaven" and "Alright Now"  which segued into "Smoke.." which is the best of them all. In classic hard rock and prog rock tradition each member got his chance to shine at length with a solo spot, and Ian Gillan was no exception, with "Child in Time" being breathtaking, and to boot, he had apparently not sung it for many years. Ian Paice's drumming was even better than it sounds on record: loud, crystal clear and ferociously hard. Difficult to say much about Roger Glover's bass playing except superb. Jon Lord's classical stuff on keyboards was great of course, but the memory was to be laced with sadness as a few months later he announced his retirement, so I was doubly glad to have gone when I did. An evening which was close to being in heaven and it was even more so because the concert was a veritable "oasis" in what was the most difficult part of my life with Dad seriously ill in hospital. I now have two videos of Deep Purple live in concert to remind me for ever of what was one of the most enjoyable nights I could ever wish for. (05.11.03)