Location: Majano / Festival Concert Area / Italy
Date: Wednesday, 24.07.2013
These days, Deep Purple are, alongside Black Sabbath, the only ‘old school’ heavy rock band with roots in the sixties that can still fill big concert venues with ease. They proved it once again at their recent show in the picturesque Italian town of Majano, where they drew crowds of mostly older but also younger fans from all over Europe, and a Slovenian ‘delegation’ was among them too. The merry bunch, who have now been together in an unchanged lineup for ten years, set out on this tour not just to thrill the crowd with long-time Purple favorites but also to showcase songs from their latest studio effort, “Now What?!”, which is even one of their best albums since the end of the ‘golden’ seventies. The Deep Purple setlist that evening was definitely something special, since it included a few beloved evergreens that they don’t exactly play every night. It’s long been no secret that the critics’ perennially somewhat overlooked “Fireball” (1971) is the favorite album of the old singing tomcat Ian Gillan, so the bombastic opening of the show with the title track of that studio classic wasn’t all that big a surprise.
Gillan was slightly under the weather that evening, clearing his throat several times, but he held up well the whole time and delivered even the more demanding songs with dignity, as we could hear on both “Deep Purple In Rock” (1970) burners, “Into the Fire” and “Hard Lovin’ Man”, which were among the nicer surprises of our get-together with the patriarchs of heavy rock. They reminded the crowd of their newest album with a great version of “Vicent Price”, a dark tribute to the legendary horror-movie actor, which recently came out as the third single from “Now What?!”. The audience really ‘lost it’ for the first time during the unexpectedly early rendition of the legendary single “Strange Kind of Women”, where Gillan always makes sure there’s plenty of fun and laughter.
Steve Morse was in great spirits throughout and seems to have fully recovered from his serious illness, so besides the expected solo spots during “Contact” Lost”, and a longer solo moment in “The Well-Dressed Guitar”, he threw in several shorter solo bits with extended guitar improvisations between songs. With energetic versions of “All The Time in the World” and “Hell To Pay”, both lead singles from the current studio effort, the faithful Purple crew reminded us that their newest creations can hold their own against the beloved classics too. The old bass guitar wolf Roger Glover was visibly having a blast as well and, as usual, was the band member who worked the hardest at hyping up the crowd and keeping everyone feeling good. That evening the hard-rocking veterans did ‘forget’ about “Highway Star” (probably because of Gillan’s cough), but they nicely made up for its absence with a splendid version of “Lazy”, another unforgettable “Machine Head” (1972) classic.
What’s most fascinating about Ian Paice, the only original member, is that after all these years he’s still a complete ‘drumming animal’, even though, hairdo aside (which sparks plenty of funny debates), he doesn’t hide his real age either. His solo spot, which was a picture-perfect showcase of drumming power and precision, grew straight out of “The Mule”, an always hugely entertaining “Fireball” classic. Keyboard wizard Don Airey is always a special story of his own and deserves special praise as the man who had to take on the most thankless job imaginable: replacing the irreplaceable, legendary keyboardist Jon Lord. “Above in the Beyond” was dedicated to the late keyboard legend, and with it they wrapped up their run of “Now What?!” songs.
With the “Fireball” classic “No One Came”, one of those Purple masterpieces that former guitarist Ritchie Blackmore always hated from the bottom of his heart, they delivered another big positive surprise of the night. During Airey’s solo spot, most of those present were left breathless once again, while the seasoned keyboard wizard kept grinning mischievously through his keyboard orgies. “Perfect Strangers” always comes out brilliantly, almost thirty years after that classic first came out.
The modern Purple incarnation doesn’t shy away from playing it one bit, even though Blackmore’s spirit and the influence of his former band Rainbow are always in the air. “Space Truckin'”, which they always stretch out with a jam of whatever length, is likewise one of the most eagerly awaited concert favorites, with the crowd ‘eating out of the legendary band’s hand’. The close of the regular set was, as expected, completely predictable, as they played their biggest hit, “Smoke On The Water”, where the audience naturally sang along far more fiercely than on the rest of the songs.
The encore brought a surprise with “Green Onions”, a cover of Booker T. & the MG’s, which they quickly slid from into the unforgettable “Hush”, the only Deep Purple classic, a cover of Billy Joe Royal, that wasn’t recorded with Gillan in the lineup (it still had original singer Rod Evans), but which the current incarnation always plays with special fire anyway. After Glover’s solo spot, which rounded off the individual showcases of all four Purple instrumentalists, came the joyous finale of the show with “Black Night”, yet another unbeatable classic that drives fans completely wild, even though they’ve heard it in various versions ‘countless times’.
In top form and backed by superb sound in the middle of Majano, Deep Purple proved once again that they deserve universal respect and admiration among lovers of good music for all time, since even after 45 years they remain one of the biggest live attractions around. That’s exactly why seeing their concert, at least once in a person’s life, should be written into the core, forward-looking guidelines of high school education and youth cultural education in the Republic of Slovenia.
author: Peter Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. Fireball
2. Into the Fire
3. Hard Lovin’ Man
4. Vincent Price
5. Strange Kind of Woman
6. Contact Lost
7. Solo (guitar)
8. All the Time in the World
9. The Well-Dressed Guitar
10. The Mule (drum solo included)
11. Hell to Pay
12. Lazy
13. Above and Beyond
14. No One Came
15. Solo (keyboards)
16. Perfect Strangers
17. Space Truckin’
18. Smoke on the Water
—encore—
19. Green Onions (Booker T. & The MG’s cover)
20. Hush (Billy Joe Royal cover)
21. Solo (bass guitar)
22. Black Night
