Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Majano / Festival Concert Area / Italy
Concert date: July 24, 2013
Attendance: 5500
Ticket price: €46.00
These days, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath are the only ‘old school’ heavy rock bands with roots in the sixties that can fill bigger concert venues with ease, as was proven once again at their recent show in the picturesque Italian town of Majano. They drew crowds of mostly older, but also younger fans from all over Europe, and even a Slovenian ‘delegation’ was among them. This jolly bunch, which has been going strong with an unchanged lineup for ten years now, had two goals on this tour: to thrill the crowd with long-time Purple favorites and to present songs from their latest studio effort, »Now What?!«, which is even one of their best albums since the end of the ‘golden’ seventies. The set of Deep Purple performances this evening was definitely something special, with a few beloved evergreens thrown in that they don’t exactly play every night. It’s no secret by now that the critics’ perennially overlooked »Fireball« (1971) is the favorite album of the old singing tomcat Ian Gillan, so the bombastic opening with the title track of that studio classic wasn’t exactly a huge surprise.
Gillan was slightly under the weather this evening and coughed a few times along the way, but he held up well the whole time and sang even the more demanding songs with dignity, as we could see 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 audience of their latest album with an excellent version of »Vicent Price«, a dark tribute to the legendary horror-movie actor, recently released as the third single from »Now What?!«. The crowd really started to ‘go nuts’ for the first time during the unexpectedly early performance of the legendary single »Strange Kind of Women«, where Gillan always provides plenty of fun and laughs.
Steve Morse was in great spirits the whole time and seems to have fully recovered from his serious illness. Besides the expected solo spots during »Contact« Lost«, he had a longer solo moment in »The Well-Dressed Guitar«, plus several shorter solo bits between songs with extended guitar improvisations. With energetic renditions of »All The Time in the World« and »Hell To Pay«, both lead singles from the current studio effort, the faithful Purple crew warned us that even their newest creations can stand up to the beloved classics. The old bass wolf Roger Glover was visibly having a blast too and, as usual, did the most of anyone in the band to hype up the crowd and keep spirits high. This evening the hard-rocking veterans ‘forgot’ about »Highway Star« (probably because of Gillan’s cough), but they nicely made up for its absence with a superb 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 total ‘drumming animal’, even if he too, hairdo notwithstanding (it sparks plenty of funny debates), can’t hide his real age. His solo spot, a perfect picture of drumming power and perfection, grew straight out of the always hugely entertaining »Fireball« classic »The Mule«. Keyboard wizard Don Airey is always a story in himself, and as the man who had to take on the most thankless task imaginable, replacing the irreplaceable, legendary keyboardist Jon Lord, he deserves special praise. The song »Above in the Beyond«, which closed out the run of »Now What?!« numbers, was dedicated to the late keyboard legend.
With the »Fireball« classic »No One Came«, one of those Purple masterpieces that former guitarist Ritchie Blackmore has always hated from the bottom of his heart, they delivered another big positive surprise of the evening. 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«, almost thirty years after the release of this classic, always comes off brilliantly.
The modern Purple incarnation doesn’t shy away from playing it in the slightest, even though Blackmore’s spirit and the influence of his former band Rainbow are always in the air. »Space Truckin’«, which they invariably stretch out with a jam of any length they feel like, is also one of the most eagerly awaited live favorites, when the crowd ‘eats out of the legendary band’s hand’. The close of the main set was, as expected, completely predictable: they played their biggest hit »Smoke On The Water«, where the crowd 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. and the MG’s, which they quickly segued into the unforgettable »Hush«, the only Deep Purple classic, a cover of Billy Joe Royal, that wasn’t recorded with Gillan in the lineup (still with original singer Rod Evans), but which the current incarnation still always plays with special fire. After Glover’s solo spot, which rounded off the individual showcases of all four Purple instrumentalists, came a happy end to the concert with »Black Night«, yet another unbeatable classic that drives fans completely wild, even though they’ve heard it in all kinds of versions ‘countless times’.
In great spirits and backed by top-notch sound in the middle of Majano, Deep Purple proved once again that they deserve everlasting respect and admiration from lovers of good music, because even after 45 years they remain one of the biggest live attractions around. That’s exactly why seeing their show, at least once in a person’s life, should be written into the core guidelines of high school education and youth cultural programs of the Republic of Slovenia.
RockLine travels to concerts safely, thriftily and comfortably, and for that it also uses the perks of the travel agency “Koncerti.net“, which it sincerely thanks for their services on this occasion:
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 (including drum solo)
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)
22. Black Night
Photo Gallery
