Review of the concert

30 years ago I was at the original concert. What a treat it was to be in the second one. The only thing that was missing was the original guitar solos of Blackmore... It seems that Steve Morse is trying the best he can to run away from the original solos - he's very technical but what about the soul???
I flew 5 hours from Israel to be in this concert - I was ashamed from some of the drunk British audience that didn't know how to behave - shouting "Highway Star" in the middle of the string section of the second movement is simply bad. I saw jon Lord's face and I felt really sorry.
The amazing thing was how the orchestra played - though I thought at times that the concerto was played very fast - faster than the original. As someone who knows the concerto very well I feel that the group member's solos were too short - mainly Jon's organ solo that was a bit weak. I heard some better solos at the time in "normal" concerts. Paicey was great yet his solo was too short.
The orchestral parts, mainly the last complicated one was perfect!!!
And lots of parts that one can't hear on the original recording came to light this time.
The idea of enlarging Gillan's Part on the second song "How can I know..." was brilliant yet the guitar connection wasn't tight enough.
As a whole I feel that the concert was a real success and it was worth flying all the way down to rainy London.
The first half of the concert was brilliant - Jon Lord's "Pictured Within" sounded better than on the CD - Sam Brown is a wonderful singer. And Ronnie James Dio proved once again his talent (Roger, it might be a good idea to perform once again the "Butterfly Ball"...). Steve Morse's Band can be proud of their part!
But the best of it all was the natural excitement of the boys in the band - I got to know Roger, Paice and Lord personally when they toured Israel. I can testify that a part of being great musicians they are very genuine sincere people - to see Roger's face and Jon's excitement was worth every British pound!
The only word of advice I have is - next time you perform with a symphony orchestra ask your PA man to turn your volume down - in the "Shades of Deep Purple" section - the part where Deep Purple performs there classics with the orchestra one couldn't hear the wonderful orchestra at all - what a shame... [I agree! - Ed.] Hope you'll do better on the cd and DVD...

Adar Avisar
Israel

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