Venue: Palazzo del Turismo / Jesolo (near Venice) / Italy
Concert date: 11.12.2009
Attendance: 6000
Ticket price: €40
Deep Purple are regulars on the concert circuit. Their peers hit their creative peaks in the early ’70s, and in quite a few cases their commercial peaks too. Compared with those peers, it would be hard to find a worthy rival for Purple when it comes to live activity today. RockLine caught the godfathers of heavy rock in action last Friday, just a stone’s throw from Venice in the seaside town of Jesolo.
Despite their enviable years, Deep Purple are still in excellent shape. The exception is Ian Gillan, whose voice hasn’t had the edge of the first half of the golden ’70s for a long time. This time we’ll linger a bit longer on Ritchie’s “favorite buddy”. The simple fact that Ian hasn’t been able to pull off dizzying vocal acrobatics for ages never stopped him from straining his voice way too much. As everyone knows, Gillan’s famous scream was gradually pushed out in later years by a pale imitation of the metal gadget that uses steam to froth milk on your home coffee machine. The criteria for the final performance thus became more and more flexible, depending on the singer’s form on the day. Anyway, Ian never quite gave up, and his voice has suffered accordingly, all the way to today. Now it seems the old boy would hand over a kidney without a second thought for even that “coffee shop” screech. As expected, the Jesolo show served up more of the singer’s agony. In the mid-range, meaning most of the verses, Ian got through without too much straining of the facial muscles. Those muscles only dug in visibly in the chorus of “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming”, where choosing a vocal line plotted a third lower seemed the only (healthy) alternative.
Friday’s show once again confirmed the old Deep Purple rule that radical lineup shake-ups have never really threatened the tried-and-tested balance of power inside the band. Deep Purple still spit fire on the wings of incredible dynamics and the interplay between the tireless attack of the guitar and the venomous responsiveness of the Hammond organ. It’s a classic old-school rocker way of communicating, and its magic remains elusive, in fact unattainable, for younger generations of musicians. Don Airey in particular has come a long way over the years in terms of improvisational originality. To recall, at both Tivoli shows Don seemed anything but unburdened, and his duties at times felt pre-scripted. There was the odd eruption of technical polish here and there, and of course the obligatory solo spot, traditionally reserved for the inventive reworking of some Mozart or well-known Beethoven tune. That’s just how it was. Lord’s shadow evidently hovered over every move of his former Rainbow comrade long after his departure. Judging by what we saw in Jesolo, Don has finally shaken off the burden and the stiffness that came in the package with being a sort of hired keyboard player. Even more! Don was often the first to step on the gas on the biggest Purple heavyweights. The old boy understandably shone on “Lazy”, and on “Thing I Never Said”, for instance, he soon got into a sharp scrap with Morse. Don’s thematically varied intro to “The Battle Rages On” even served up a few outlines of the famous Mr. Crawley overture. The solo spot mentioned earlier of course couldn’t be missed, only this time the German-Austrian duo was replaced by a playful musical collage of Grieg’s favorites.
The Deep Purple machine is well-oiled down to the last detail, and it’s practically impossible to imagine a situation that could throw the dinosaurs of rock & roll off the rails. The excellent sound setup of the hall in Jesolo only underlined the intensity of the action on stage, which revolved around an energetic, often unexpectedly inspired cross-section of the band’s forty-year career. “Highway Star”, almost four decades after it was written, is still heavy rock dynamite, a proper juicy orgy of musical brilliance, like opium for legions of old-school rock addicts who knew exactly what they’d come for. Deep Purple also wove a few not-so-obvious chapters from their vast story into the show. One was Not Responsible, a Perfect Strangers tune forgotten by the world, and the revival of “Wasted Sunsets” was a pleasant surprise. The highlights of the rest of the set were shared out amicably among the indispensable favorites “Strange King Of Woman” and “Fireball” (for the latter, a well-disposed Airey briefly borrowed a few passages from Flight of the Bumblebee). “No One Came” also dropped on us from the album of the same name, in a first-class airborne-assault formation. Steve Morse once again “blew up” beautifully on “Well Dressed Guitar”, which remains the ideal proving ground for a taste of the guitarist’s fast-fingered wizardry. Energetic, inventive and thrilling once more! It would have been unreasonable to expect anything substantially new right at the end of the night, the big climax that was approaching unstoppably. It sounded off without any improvised detours, following the notes of the proven trio “Hush”, “Black Night” and of course “Smoke On The Water”.
The proverbially good turnout at Deep Purple shows isn’t really surprising, especially when you consider that chances to enjoy the real thing, velvety Hammond sounds and instantly recognizable guitar riffs, are rare these days. The addiction to sampling the classic rock kitchen is simply too strong, and its delicious flavor evidently can’t be spoiled even by Ritchie’s absence. Debating the consequences of Blackmore’s absence became pointless over the years, and even those of us who are the most hardcore Ritchie loyalists have to admit that Morse has settled comfortably into the role of his successor. In the eyes of the demanding Deep Purple crowd, Steve has piled up a heaping measure of credit over the years, and the same goes for the indestructible spirit of Don Airey. Stick the irreplaceable old-timer Ian Paice between the two of them and you get the trio that today undoubtedly deserves the most credit for preserving the eminent musical status the Deep Purple institution has nurtured for a good 40 years.
Photos: Mojca Perdih
Setlist
1. Highway Star 2. Things I Never Said 3. Not Responsible 4. Strange Kind Of Woman 5. Wasted Sunsets 6. Rapture Of The Deep 7. Fireball 8. Contact Lost 9. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming 10. The Well Dressed Guitar 11. Pictures Of Home 12. Lazy 13. No One Came 14. The Battle Rages On 15. Space Truckin’ 16. Smoke On The Water —encore— 17. Hush 18. Black Night
Photo Gallery
