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Deep Purple, Montreal August 29
The boys stormed into to town last night literally on the heels of a huge summer thunderstorm that knocked out power to some 100K households on the island of Montreal. To complicate things further, the insane construction in and around the city prevented easy parking and therefore I missed the opening act; hope it it was good!
Judas Priest lumbered their way on the stage with a walloping wall of sound. Not being a Priest fan, Ill leave my review thus; the fans that knew Priest, thoroughly enjoyed Priest, `nuff said.
I have seen every Deep Purple show in Montreal ( and Toronto, Ottawa and Boston) since the great reunion of 84. My expectation is always the same; to see absolute professionals at their best. Was I disappointed in the set list? Yes. I definitely could do without Strange Kind of Woman but was thrilled when the played Sometimes I feel like Screaming!. Drop Uncommon Man ( yes I know who its dedicated to, and he will always be missed but it may be time to move forward a bit), and replace it with Time for Bedlam. That would have made the greatest hits show that much better. and in my option a great show opener after Priest. Don`s intro to Perfect Strangers tossed a little nugget by exquisitly playing Leonard Cohen`s Hallelujah( Montreal’s son). Overall, I left the show content, and maybe just maybe we`ll all get that long good by show again with a few changes to the list..
The Set list;
Highway Star
Pictures of Home
Bloodsucker
Strange Kind of Woman
Sometimes I feel Like screaming
Uncommon Man
Lazy
Knocking at your Back Door
Perfect Stranger
Smoke on the water
encore
Hush
Gary from Montreal
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Great review. Love the addition Sometimes I Feel like Screaming to the set list.
September 2nd, 2018 at 10:19It amazes me everytime people moan and groan about the set list. Get over yourself! It’s so ridiculous and childish. Everyone, including the five members of Purple would have a different set list. I’m always happy just to see Purple and they sound great on this tour.
BTW, this complaining about a greatest hits set list. In the last few years I’ve seen at least 20 major acts and guess what? They all play their greatest hits live. Aerosmith, Sabbath, Journey, Foreigner, Joan Jet, Guns N Roses, Boston, Styx, Whitesnake, Rainbow, Queen, Def Leopard, Heart, Doobie Brothers and a few others…..they all….every single one….every time…..every show….always….play their hit songs……did I say every freaking time!
September 2nd, 2018 at 20:31@2
Well, well, since 2013 Deep Purple never play a dominant greatest hits sets. They only play 7 big hits from their usual 13-15 songs set. They are SKOW, Lazy, and the last 5 songs on set. Knockin on Your Back Door is only played on US tour plus few non-US shows. Fireball is only played on the 1st Infinite European leg, and I’m still not sure it is a big hit (I consider Made in Japan as definitive Purple’s classic greatest hits).
If you look at Deep Purple set lists since 2013, they played minimum 3-5 new tracks and 2-4 deep cut tracks (since 2013 : Bloodsucker, Hard Lovin Man, Pictures of Home, The Mule, Into the Fire, songs that Blackmore might don’t care about). So Purple’s
greatest hits tour is only for USA.
Exception for Guns Roses, they played a lot from the latest Chinese Democracy. But for other acts you mentioned yes it is true, greatest hits sets. Whitesnake even don’t care to play any recent track in the last 4 years. Foreigner in the last 10 years, STYX in the last 13 years until their recent new album. Journey also the same nostalgia act, except in 2008, 2011, and 2014 where they played ‘only’ 2 new/recent songs.
Queen has been a greatest hits tour since their Paul Rodgers era. Aerosmith played many rarely / occasionally played songs on concerts, but they ignored their recent/new albums. But don’t compare them with Deep Purple who have guts to promote their wonderful new albums – at least excluding US tour 🙂
What make people groan is because on this Priest joint tour, Purple ruthlessly cut any new songs from new album Infinite and stick to greatest hits which is a pity. But of course it is not their fault, since they are simply billed as classic rock act here, most audience don’t care about their new works. Look at the set lists on any Europe concerts, they put 3-4 songs from Infinite, so by total they got 4-6 songs from Morse era.
I can even sense the band felt atmosphere went back down when they played Infinite tracks during Alice Cooper joint tour in US last year, hence in this tour they played nothing from it. Bad experience, I might do the same if I’m on their position.
Most Purple fan will say Infinite is really a fantastic album, and not playing any of it in concert is a pity, which is happening on this Priest-joint tour.
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:34Lazy is a boring Song…and Strange Kind is boring too. Give me Rat bat Blue etc…..
September 3rd, 2018 at 14:47I had a great time in Montréal. It was a great pleasure to see the guys, probably for one last time here. Great musicianship, as usual, and a lot more energy than I expected. As for the set list. just went with the flow and enjoyed every minute of it!
September 3rd, 2018 at 15:05@2 Everyone has an opinion as to the set list and so we respect yours! It will not change my mind as to hoping they change it up at least a little…I’ll go see them no matter what they play. DP fans have always complained about the set list.. its what we do LOL but its neither ridiculous or childish!! When you have as many great songs as they do it would be awesome to freshen it up ocasionally! btw…. nice resume on concerts and if i were fortunate enough to see all those groups I would want to hear their hits as well
September 4th, 2018 at 00:52I saw the show in Hamilton (The Hammer!) and it was GREAT! One of my favourite concerts of the year. Right up there with the Foo Fighters & Greta Van Fleet in Ottawa. JP was better than in the spring when I saw them with Black Star Riders (Who were awesome!) and Saxon. What made it for me was Glenn Tipton coming on for the 4 last songs. The Temperance Movement rocks and I suggest everybody go early and check them out. Better still – catch them at a club/bar near you!
As for DP – Professional as always. The boys looked like they were having more fun on stage than other shows. (It probably helps they are not doing casino tours in front of a bunch of blue hairs!)
@2 – SETLISTS! – Yes all bands play their hits (or hit depending on who it is – LOL).. FANATICS want track 6 off outtakes and B sides album that only 50 people in the crowd know. I am a huge DP fan and I would love a 2.5 hour show with 4-6 tracks from Infinite, 3-4 from Now What and Hits. But that aint going to happen because they are OLD! Take a look at who has lost their voice recently (Dave Grohl & Bono) and their bands play 2+ hour sets and are MUCH younger than Ian.. DP plays 90-100 minutes tops at any show and only so many tracks can fit that time frame. Also in North America – If you don’t play hits – You don’t have a crowd. (Except the 50 FANATICS – I would be one!)
September 4th, 2018 at 19:10I think it’s that they argue so hard that Deep Purple are just the current members and excluded Ritchie from the HoF performance that people then complain it’s a greatest hits set list, essentially trading on Ritchie’s legacy of riffs. When Rainbow go out these days there’s no pretence that it’s anything but a nostalgia gig.
September 4th, 2018 at 20:55@ 4 ……Go Away! ………….Far Far AWAY!!!!!.
September 6th, 2018 at 17:12