Venue: Križanke / Ljubljana
Concert date: 06.06.2010
Attendance: 3000
Ticket price: 45 €
RockLine has already said and written plenty about picnicking at concerts with the legendary hard rock dinosaurs Deep Purple (if I’m not mistaken, going by the number of published gig reports in the super-heavyweight category, only Uriah Heep and Jethro Tull beat them on our pages). Yesterday the „Jurassic Park” of deservedly cemented top-tier musical reputation settled into the very center of Ljubljana and, after a recent visit to Zagreb (RockLine report here), delivered its unique musical lesson in the warm custody of the European Union’s large intestine. The sight of Ljubljana’s Križanke packed to the last corner quickly turned into a friendly nod in favor of the claim that local music gourmets still have plenty of appetite for sampling traditional hard rock cooking, especially when Deep Purple take the wheel of the tasting. How else would you explain the regular stopovers of the hard rock titans in our parts?
The more-than-fitting concert setting served up one of the sweetest visits by revered music legends here (that is, if we dismiss all three gigs from the late, great Yugoslavia right from the start). The lineup on show at Križanke is of course not the one the average fan of the band would hand over a kidney for without a second thought, but it’s a bunch that has successfully shaken off the inferiority complexes that grew up at the dawn of the post-Blackmore era. A lot of years have passed since then, and the old wounds have more or less healed. The current Deep Purple formation remains in good shape, especially considering the not exactly spring-chicken age of its main players. It’s obvious that Ian Gillan lately shaves a big chunk of stage time off for „relaxing” in the background (we’re certainly used to seeing more of him in the past), where, Wyman-style, he keeps tabs on the always-in-the-mood instrumental section putting in its diligent overtime, while of course saving his voice for the moments when it becomes an indispensable thread in the weave of the Purple sound again. The dizzying heights of the famous „Child In Time” days waved Ian goodbye ages ago, and he doesn’t lose much sleep over it. Most of the vocal lines used at Križanke stayed in close contact with the originals, except where circumstances simply didn’t allow it, say when punching through the choruses. When there’s no other way, as in „Highway Star”, Ian doesn’t hesitate to invite an inspection of his neck veins, from which a sadistically tuned screamer keeps crawling out. Not to just grumble, though. Once Ian has „taken off his neck” the bit of the repertoire with the most breakneck vocal acrobatics, he’s confident for the rest of the vocal voyage. Gillan of course remains a frontman born for big stages, full of charisma and tangible stage presence, who always locks into the flow of things at the crucial moments.
Every Deep Purple concert adventure of course means a chance to hand out a lesson in virtuosity and the nobility of musical playing. Glover, and above all Airey, Morse and Paice, lived up to their reputation as musical masters, as expected, by constantly cranking up the gears of lively mutual communication, proverbially rounded off with numerous devil-inspired improvised-melodic rafting trips. That goes especially for the keyboard warrior Don Airey, a master at handling the genitals of the vintage B3 Hammond rig and its synthetically polished little sisters, who supplies Deep Purple with inexhaustible stocks of groove, old-school roughness and cheek. When Steve Morse then dives into the ruckus with filigree precision, one of Deep Purple’s most recognizable character traits is quickly sketched out. Spontaneous improvisations, directed by tirelessly inspired jams, show up as well-tended safety valves through which the many-times-played classics, on vinyl, CDs and ultimately in our heads, draw freshness and agility to great effect. With these and other masterful performance moves, which are the exclusive virtue of top-class musicians, even after 30 years and more „Lazy”, „Fireball”, „No One Came” and the rest of the gang remain melodically baroque-gifted beauties, and so all the more attractive lasses for pampering the ears.
Ian and company add an extra dose of excitement to their live shows by frequently changing the repertoire. Compared with one of our latest visits to a Deep Purple party abroad, dating back to last December 11, when the old boys were stirring up nostalgia near Venice (RockLine report here), „The Battle Rages On” and „Wasted Sunsets” dropped out of the spotlight this year, while „Perfect Stranger” decided to show off its curves again. It’s surely a better fit for today’s Deep Purple incarnation than the two songs mentioned before, which for most people are fairly obscure anyway, and let’s not even waste words on its popularity with the crowd. The band’s discography is a real treasure trove of stone-solid rock artifacts, from sturdy heavy rock rippers to evergreen tunes in every possible shade of mood, and let’s not forget the sense of humor, ingenuity and innovation that has always been part of the band’s make-up, which strolled across the Križanke stage in a pinch with the musicians visibly enjoying themselves. The crowd took such gifts with open arms, obligingly swallowed the stage energy and kept sending it back through wide-open throats, feeding an ever stronger cluster of electrified atmosphere, until Deep Purple, after climbing toward that peak of the night that most people were still so eagerly awaiting, finally came to a halt on the famous Smoke On The Water field.
Deep Purple remain a fixture of the concert offering on the sunny side of the Alps, which is certainly a good thing, at least as long as they keep up such a high level of performance. The traditionally excellent turnout at their gigs might mean that the ears of Slovenia’s Joes and Janes are still hungry for the ever-reliable good old rock, which, it must be admitted, has gone properly gray, most often closely accompanied by the ever rose-clad auntie nostalgia.
Photos: Mojca Perdih
Setlist
1. Intro (Prokofjev: Romeo in Julija)
2. Highway Star
3. Things I Never Said
4. Strange Kind Of Woman
5. Maybe I’m A Leo
6. Rapture Of The Deep
7. Fireball
8. Contact Lost
9. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
10. Well Dressed Guitar
11. Mary Long
12. Lazy
13. No One Came
14. Perfect Strangers
15. Space Truckin’
16. Smoke On The Water
—encore—
17. Hush
18. Black Night
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