Deep Purple Get Klagenfurt on Its Feet With Form That Doesn’t Hint at a Farewell (2019)
Location: Klagenfurt / Messe Halle / Austria
Date: Sunday, 01.12.2019
You wouldn’t have thought it. Seriously. The most tenaciously hard-working live band across all eras of rock and roll? They rank among the greatest concert workhorses — that much is certain. A day wrapped in nostalgia and purple hues on the eve of festive December in Austrian Carinthia. Ladies and gentlemen, one and only. One of the most important groups in the pioneering days of rock and roll and the founding fathers of metal — Deep Purple. They are not giving up. The Long Farewell Tour has been running since spring 2017! Still (partly) in support of their twentieth studio album, Infinite. Well, after catching Deep Purple in mid-May 2017 at the Zagreb Arena, we were already quietly saying our goodbyes to these legends and biblical patriarchs of rock and roll (RockLine concert review HERE). But as mentioned. A long goodbye. Just look at KISS’s farewell. How many years has that been going? Well, Deep Purple mean it for real. They feel they’re no longer twenty-year-old stallions capable of everything, and they don’t hide that in their official statements anymore. So let’s enjoy them while they’re with us and while they themselves still feel that creative and live drive. Their show in Klagenfurt confirmed that the band still plays brilliantly and that they enjoy being on stage enormously. So let the farewell go on.
So! The extended farewell brought the legends back to stages across the old continent, and a new run of dates kicked off right here at the Klagenfurt exhibition hall! The evening’s opener slot went to German hard rock revivalists The Weight, whom we managed to catch back in March 2016 at one of Uriah Heep’s concerts in Vienna (concert review HERE), as part of their tour at the time. The quartet traffics in seventies revivalism, heavily leaning on Led Zeppelin, seasoned with a good dose of psychedelic tricks, with the occasional whiff of The Doors sneaking into their sound and style. In short: a band who were promising their second studio album In Control in spring 2020, and proved to be a very assured and tight — that is, cohesive — live unit, sharply focused, with an authoritative vocal presence that works the stage with ease whenever he’s not tied to the electric piano. Rich, full-bodied, rough, jagged, stripped-back, old-school hard rock and roll revivalism that in 40 minutes pleasantly paved the runway for the arrival and encounter with the legends. The Weight have, compared to the March 2016 experience, grown a clear notch or two higher. As composers and in stage confidence!
Gustav Holst would have been proud to know that Deep Purple chose Mars, the Bringer of War as their intro — a piece from his seven-part suite The Planets. And here they are. Highway Star! One of the band’s most recognizable anthems — and of rock and metal in general (alongside Smoke on the Water, of course). The band have always loved kicking off their set with it. Some 6,000 people in the hall go absolutely wild. And from the opening note the band serves up their sophistication, instantly building that elemental, signature sound. Routine — and yet? Enormous feeling and sensitivity. Deep Purple still enjoy being on stage immensely, and they proved it right from the off. Roger Glover’s pulsing, penetrating, rattling, coiled bass — who had celebrated his 74th birthday the day before — in clear, audible contrast to Morse’s charging phrases. Gillan was visibly having a blast again. Grinning constantly, casting a few piercing looks into the crowd, spicing up the classics with his charismatic vocal stamp. From the very start it was clear that the solo spots would mostly travel the road of fiery cross-dialogues between the two combustible matadors Don Airey and Steve Morse. Two “youngsters” who are effectively the driving force behind Deep Purple today and bring the most excitement to the band’s identity in the post-Blackmore era. Those two “youngsters” alongside the three cult figures recognized as the load-bearing icons of the Deep Purple Mk. II lineup. After the explosive opener Highway Star, Ian Paice perfectly bridged the song’s exit with a vivid transition straight into Pictures of Home, and the revival of the classic Machine Head album continued. With Bloodsucker the band neatly nudged into In Rock (1970), while the classic Demon’s Eye from the iconic — but sometimes unfairly overlooked — Fireball (1971) also found its way onto the setlist. The band also brought back the excellent Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming from Purpendicular (ha, the memory of the concert in Izola on Friday, 13.09.1996, Gillan with his long mane, and the late Jon Lord is very much alive). Easily the best track on that unforgettable Deep Purple album — it grabs you with mystery, melancholy, and a perfect melodic arc. That held true this evening in Klagenfurt too. Morse in the best possible light! The band also thoughtfully reached back to the previous studio album What Now?! and brought back one of its most compelling moments, Uncommon Man. A piece where Airey seizes the attention and, as the concert progresses, steps into the absolute center — slowly setting the stage for Morse to swing into the thematic framework with his guitar weaving. The two masters were already playing the intro to Lazy. The mischievous, needling Lazy — Deep Purple at their most gleaming moment of sarcasm. And Gillan, as ever, got the crowd properly laughing several times with his generous comments, packed with gallows humor. A genius wit. Overflowing with dark humor. Always has been, always will be.
There was plenty of soloing. Goes with the territory. Purple are a band who (after Cream, for instance) popularized on stage what they did in rehearsal — Jam. And suddenly three-minute songs became twenty minutes long and more! Pioneers who have always taken the breath away with this element; they were at the absolute cutting edge of it for a long time and nobody came close for ages. Whether in the Lord-Blackmore partnership, which today is of course carried on by the Airey-Morse combination. Extraordinary entertainment. A combination of unleashed mayhem and bravura technical polish, sparkling with agile wit, driven by in-the-moment stage inspiration! Deep Purple were really cherry-picking the best moments from their later era. From Infinite they played the excellent Time for Bedlam, then Airey launched into a long keyboard solo where he simply entertained with a gorgeous blending of classical music elements with blues, boogie… and jazz too. And then? Yes. Perfect Strangers. The one thing that simply cannot be missing from any Deep Purple concert. Two classics from Machine Head follow. As expected. Space Truckin’ and then, of course, the one and only, rapturously anticipated Smoke on the Water. Glover stayed on his Vigier bass. In previous years he used to pick up his Rickenbacker for that song — the one he recorded the original on, which he also used during the time Made in Japan was recorded.
The obligatory encore opened with Hush — a track that gratefully eased and cooled Gillan’s scorched vocal cords, which were by this point showing visible signs of wear. The man navigates with extraordinary skill through the parts of songs his voice can no longer fully reach. He handles it all with complete dignity, adapting the lines, naturally. But you absolutely cannot walk into this concert with the Gillan from the seventies studio recordings in your head. Special guest and violinist Lidia Baich stepped onto the stage for the final song, Black Night, and fired off a violin solo. She and Morse then traded a few solo dialogues before locking into a shared three-part harmony. After that transition, one more solo was in store. This time it was Airey going berserk one last time that evening on his stocky Hammond organ!
It was all over too soon. But enough to convince us that Deep Purple really are doing a long, long farewell — and that’s a very good thing. They announced a new album, their 21st in total, due out the following year. The form is still excellent and the band impresses. That’s the least that can be said. The band remains compelling in every respect, as it always has been even in the post-Blackmore era! Not a trace of rust on them. Deep Purple ride on, then. Into infinity, into eternity! The iconic group crossed into myth and legend a long time ago! A salute to the guys for all the stubbornness, faith, dedication, and above all, for whatever it is that keeps them going after all these long years of musical grind! One great, unrotten heart!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. Highway Star
2. Pictures of Home
3. Bloodsucker
4. Demon’s Eye
5. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
6. Uncommon Man
7. Lazy
8. Time for Bedlam
9. Keyboard solo
10. Perfect Strangers
11. Space Truckin’
12. Smoke on the Water
—encore—
13. Hush (orig. Joe South)
14. Bass solo
15. Black Night
