![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/morse7.jpg)
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Deep Purple at the O2 London – December 3rd, 2015
Last night I had the privilege of seeing Deep Purple once again, this time at the O2 arena in London. Opening the show was Rival Sons with an energetic set taken mostly from their latest album Great Western Valikyrie. At the conclusion of their performance they were very gracious in their praise of Deep Purple for being so welcoming and supportive during the tour together.
After a 30 minute intermission Purple came roaring out with “Highway Star” which then segued seamlessly into “Bloodsucker”, “Hard Lovin’ Man” (with a great extended solo by Don Airey) and “Strange Kind of Woman” before stopping for breath at which time Ian Gillan told us “that concludes the avant -garde Jazz portion of the show” . The band then ripped into “Vincent Price” after which Steve Morse played a tune vaguely similar to “Contact Lost”, but not quite the same as I remember it – it seems to be a variation, or perhaps a new tune. From there it transformed into “Uncommon Man” and continued into “Well Dressed Guitar”.
Then it was Ian Paice’s star turn with a fine drum solo on “The Mule”. Then onto the stage walked a man with a violin?! Ian Gillan introduced him as Steve Bentley-Klein who then started sparring with Steve Morse until it turned into “Lazy” with a fiddle twist – a nice variation on an old tune! Another nice surprise was “Demon’s Eye”, the first time I have heard Purple play it at a show. Then there was “Hell to Pay”, followed by an eclectic keyboard solo from Don Airey which turned into “Perfect Strangers” . After that it was time for “Space Truckin’”.
We were in for a real treat after that – Rival Son’s guitarist Scott Holiday came on and started jamming with Steve Morse. The jam turned into “Smoke on the Water”. Great to hear the duel guitar sound on that tune, really powerful . At guitar solo time Big Ian said “Show us what you got Scott!” – Scott put his own personal stamp onto the song which was then complemented nicely by another a great solo by Steve. At end of the show Ian G. thanked Rival Sons for a great tour together and Purple said goodnight.
Encore time was something like “Green Onions” which turned into “Hush”, a fine bass solo by Roger Glover and the finale of “Black Night”. After a few more goodbyes and souvenir picks and sticks thrown out to the crowd, the house lights came on. The show had lasted exactly 2 hours. And the crowd of what I estimate to be at least 10,000 was very appreciative.
In the past 5 years I have seen Deep Purple in Bangkok, in Singapore twice, and in Tokyo. Last night’s fine performance in London was as strong, tight and polished as all those other shows. Deep Purple shows no signs of slowing down. I am looking forward to their next tour of the upcoming new album.
Long live Deep Purple!
Gary Halverson, London, U.K. , December 4th, 2015
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Sounds great! So pleased to have them come to Denmark next year! ?
December 5th, 2015 at 15:52It was a fantastic show , they get better n better !!
December 5th, 2015 at 18:35Watching some YT footage….. sounds great. Gillian…..errr amazing…… too amazing maybe??!
December 5th, 2015 at 22:13Superb support and purple were really on top form. Great set. Highway star and Bloodsucker! Heaven!
December 5th, 2015 at 23:11Great review, thanks.
December 6th, 2015 at 01:18It was indeed a fantastic performance, the band were very tight more so than previous years. Great humour from Ian Gillan with underwear flying out from behind the amps during the solos in Hard Lovin’ Man etc
December 6th, 2015 at 09:58His name is GILLAN!! Nothing else!”!
December 7th, 2015 at 06:26@1 Whats the news of a Denmark concert, I see nothing under Tour Dates ?
December 7th, 2015 at 14:21Cheers
A really super evening, Rival sons played a strong set, and were well appreciated by a large audience. Deep Purple were wonderful, I cannot praise them highly enough for still being able to put on such a super show after almost two years constant touring. While things may not be as wild as in their younger days the total enjoyment and interaction between the band members is truly a breath of fresh air.
December 7th, 2015 at 16:38If they do come round again , and lets be honest , with Ian and Roger in their seventies, who knows, I for one will be there! Long live DP !
hmmm sounds tempting
December 8th, 2015 at 03:55flying underwear 🙂 love the humour from Ian…
December 8th, 2015 at 11:29Even if the performance was top, what was really surprising? Demon’s Eye, I would say. It’s a great song and they should play it more often. Besides, the new material is mandatory. The rest we have seen TONS of times. The band has a great catalog and they could add The Battle Rages On, Bananas stuff. Perfect Strangers albun has some great tunes, like Gypsy’s Kiss and Wasted Sunsets, for instance. It’s about time for the band start doing those songs. They will not last forever and the clock is ticking.
December 9th, 2015 at 19:25Dear Gary, I had very much the same less than a week before in Stuttgart, Germany. Being in London on Dec 4th I missed the boys for one day. Ain’t it great that we still have a favourite band with a record coming out soon after 47 years? I am looking forward to seeing them again in Austria twice next summer. Have a great Christmas and keep on rocking from Graz,(remember Purple 1975…my first show as a 13yrs rookie then)…
December 10th, 2015 at 13:24Looks like there may be a new Purple doc? Some folks were there to start a new project….
Check out @CoolheadFilms’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/CoolheadFilms/status/674232404479971328?s=09
December 10th, 2015 at 22:45Great review. Had a look at some of the clips online. Great sounds and great crowd as well!
December 11th, 2015 at 17:19