Location: Zagreb / Arena / Croatia
Date: Tuesday, 16.05.2017
The legendary rock giants Deep Purple hit the road this year with a tour called ‘The Long Farewell Tour’, which is supposed to mark the start of their goodbye after they announced that »Infinite« (2017) will most likely be their last album. They’ve outlasted almost all of their hard rock peers, led by Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, so it’s kind of hard to believe they’re serious about the announced retirement. Next year they’ll celebrate fifty years since they burst onto the scene with their first single »Hush«, and if they follow through on what they’ve said, they’ll be doing it at the most fitting moment, having achieved practically everything there was to achieve in rock music over five decades. The health problems of the only original member, drummer Ian Paice, are what pushed them to slowly wrap up the success story, although most fans of course still hope they’ll change their minds next year. Then again, the current Deep Purple lineup, together since 2002, is the most stable of their entire career, so it doesn’t seem all that unthinkable that the departure or retirement of just one member of this lineup would spell the end of the famous band. During the current tour they also dropped by the capital of our southern neighbors and, in their trademark style, put on an unforgettable concert spectacle.
The good vibes in Zagreb’s Arena were first served up by Bosnian heavy rockers Divlje jagode, led by the unbending guitarist Zele Lipovača, who brought two special guests along for the night: cult singer Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath) and guitar master Andy LaRocque (King Diamond, Death). The two only joined them on stage in the closing part of the set, when they played the energetic catalyst »Headless Cross« from the album of the same name and the immortal »Cross Purposes« (1994) ballad »Dying for Love«, two Black Sabbath classics from the era with Martin in the lineup. While LaRocque shone on his guitar, Martin’s vocals aren’t what they used to be, and he needed plenty of help on the choruses from Livio Berak, the current Divlje jagode singer. The upbeat Bosnian heavy rock champions, who reached their peak popularity in the last decade of the former shared country, wrapped up their set with the evergreen »Motori«, where Martin also joined in on the chorus, not all that successfully. Even though Martin’s voice has faded quite a bit over the years, his bandmates delivered both Black Sabbath classics with confidence, and plenty of people wished they’d heard a few more songs from this unjustly forgotten era of the legendary band that night. As a fun fact, in 1987 Divlje jagode worked with current Deep Purple and former Rainbow keyboardist Don Airey on their only album in English.
After Divlje jagode, Canadians Monster Truck took the stage, swearing by a pretty loud mix of hard rock, southern rock, blues rock and stoner rock. The relatively young band, around since 2009, confidently played their most representative songs without blowing anyone away, since bands like Monster Truck are a dime a dozen. The energetic Canadians are reportedly quite popular back home, and their music has found its way into quite a few popular video games, especially hockey-themed ones like Electronic Arts’ popular NHL series. Most of their songs are cut from the ‘same cloth’, so it all started to get a bit boring, but a lack of energy and commitment is the last thing you could accuse them of, with the songs played so confidently. It’s maybe a little interesting that their music also features Hammond organ, which is fairly unusual for bands like this.
Deep Purple surprised us before the band even hit the stage, with an impressive set design featuring three huge screens for rich projections accompanying individual songs. First they wowed us with a clever graphic of an iceberg with the carved faces of the band members, which was more than obviously a tribute to their cult album »Deep Purple in Rock« from 1970. The unbreakable rockers finally marched onto the stage and went full throttle with a new song, »Time for Bedlam«. Legendary singer Ian Gillan was in great form that night, considering his age and the well-known fact that he can no longer sing vocally demanding songs like »Child In Time«. No less legendary, Roger Glover on bass and Paice on drums were also in great spirits on their instruments, and for years now they’ve never run out of high spirits. Guitar virtuoso Steve Morse and keyboard wizard Don Airey have long been the engines of the current crew, which they proved at every turn, not just during the epic solo spots that, by tradition, never miss a Deep Purple show.
Deep Purple quickly went back to the ‘good old days’ and thrilled the crowd with roaring versions of the evergreens »Fireball«, »Bloodsucker« and »Strange Kind of Woman«. The latter was accompanied in the background by a relatively erotic ‘clip’, which added extra spice to one of their biggest hits. That was followed by three newer pieces, »Johnny’s Band«, »Uncommon Man« and the progressive rock treat »The Surprising«, which for many is the highlight of their new album »Infinite«. Gillan, who took off his jacket and his slightly goofy glasses after the very first song, cracked more jokes than usual that night and occasionally, between the evergreens, reminisced about younger days. »Lazy« was, as is pretty much tradition for them, stretched out properly, this time with the help of a pompous keyboard intro. After two modern standards, »Birds of Prey« and »Hell to Pay«, came Airey’s solo spot, which, as always, was full of delightful improvisational surprises, followed by a triumphant segue into the classic »Perfect Strangers« from the ‘reunion’ album of the same name. Interestingly, there was no Morse solo spot this time, but nobody really missed it, since he got more than enough chances to show off his admirable virtuoso skills.
The ever-breakneck »Space Truckin’« also turned out great that night, with Gillan squeezing out every last vocal ‘atom’ he had, while the high point and close of the main set was, as you’d expect, Deep Purple’s biggest hit, »Smoke on the Water«. It was accompanied in the background by vivid and almost moving projections of Frank Zappa, smoke over Lake Geneva, a burning hall, and an image of the sheet of paper with the hastily scribbled lyrics of this huge hit. There was no long wait for the encore, since this is a band that never played ‘hide and seek’ with its fans, but always dearly valued its loyal audience and knew how to reward it properly. Deep Purple returned to the stage with the always vocally demanding »Highway Star«, which Gillan pulled off pretty well, while »Hush«, their first hit, was once again the only song from the rare periods in their history when Gillan wasn’t behind the mic. For the finale came a somewhat surprising Glover solo spot with improvisations on bass guitar and the more or less expected classic »Black Night«, which sealed Deep Purple’s show in Zagreb in highly successful fashion.
Many of those in the crowd at Zagreb’s Arena were sorry to see the show by these indestructible rock veterans fly by while they were reveling in the one-of-a-kind Deep Purple evergreens, as the seasoned masters of music once again proved they have no equal when it comes to creating an exceptional concert atmosphere. Throughout the whole show, Deep Purple filled the hall with incredibly positive energy, so much so that even the writer of these lines almost got cured while watching them, after battling a nasty virus and fighting off an annoying fever the whole time. Deep Purple once again confirmed they belong to the elite of those bands whose music has a healing effect on body and soul, and who are best experienced ‘live’. Once, in the early seventies, they were considered the best live band in the world, and even now, after almost five decades, very few of their peers can come close on that front. The sound was more than decent throughout the show, so there’s no reason for any complaints on that score either. Of the bigger hits from the classic era, only »Speed King« and, for understandable reasons, »Child In Time« were missing that night, while there were no major surprises apart from maybe »Bloodsucker«. From the newer material, with the emphasis on »Infinite« and its predecessor »Now What?!« (2013), they picked some of the best stuff, so nobody complained about there being too much of it. Old was brilliantly blended with new in terms of the setlist, while the ‘old cats’ were positively bursting with vital energy, so it’s really hard to come to terms with the thought that the current tour is probably their last.
author: Peter Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
DIVLJE JAGODE:
1. Let na drugi svijet
2. Divlje jagode
3. Želim da te imam
4. Ciganka
5. Kap po kap
6. Headless Cross (Black Sabbath cover)
7. Dying for Love (Black Sabbath cover)
8. Motori
MONSTER TRUCK:
1. Why Are You Not Rocking?
2. Old Train
3. Don’t Tell Me How to Live
4. The Enforcer
5. She’s a Witch
6. For the Sun
7. Sweet Mountain River
8. The Lion
DEEP PURPLE:
1. Time for Bedlam
2. Fireball
3. Bloodsucker
4. Strange Kind of Woman
5. Johnny’s Band
6. Uncommon Man
7. The Surprising
8. Lazy (keyboard intro)
9. Birds of Prey
10. Hell to Pay
11. Keyboard Solo (Don Airey)
12. Perfect Strangers
13. Space Truckin’
14. Smoke on the Water
—encore—
15. Highway Star
16. Hush
17. Bass Solo (Roger Glover)
18. Black Night
