![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/morse4.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse.jpg)
This time around
It’s been the same story many times before — the band releases a new album, starts touring, puts several new tracks into the setlist, but after some time the new material starts to dwindle. By the time they reach North America, few, if any, are left in the set.
Not this time around.
If you believe setlist.fm, setlist for the opening gig of the current NA tour on August 14, 2024, in Hollywood, FL, was as follows:
- Intro tape: Mars, the Bringer of War
- Highway Star
- A Bit on the Side
- Hard Lovin’ Man
- Into the Fire
- Guitar solo (incl. Misirlou)
- Uncommon Man
- Lazy Sod
- Keyboard Solo
- Lazy
- Show Me
- Portable Door
- Anya
- Bleeding Obvious
- Space Truckin’
- Smoke on the Water
Encore:
- Caught in the Act (snippet)
- Hush
- Black Night
So, the count is…
5 tracks from the new album:
- A Bit on the Side
Lazy Sod
Show Me
Portable Door
Bleeding Obvious
one each from ?! and Turning to Crime:
- Uncommon Man
Caught in the Act (probably Green Onions — THS)
6 “golden oldies”:
- Highway Star
Lazy
Space Truckin’
Smoke
Hush
Black Night
and 3 deep(ish) cuts:
- Hard Lovin’ Man
Into the Fire
Anya
We are sure there will be people not happy with this. Because everyone knows what the perfect set list should be. And it’s not the one that the band has played. /s
Thanks to setlist.fm for the fodder, to Darker Than Blue and Tobias Janaschke for the heads-up; and to Meteleco, DJ Buddys Rock Garden, and Judistica Loca 3rd account for the video clips.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Take out Hard Lovin Man and put in Flight of the Rat.
August 15th, 2024 at 18:49Take out Into the Fire and put in Fireball
Take out Lazy and put in another new one Now You’re Talking.
Take out Anya and put in Hell to Pay.
Gee, I guess I’m asking too much huh?
Five songs from the new album is a lot more than most bands do, you can’t complain.
August 15th, 2024 at 19:27I will be very happy with this setlist when I see them in Chicago next week.
August 15th, 2024 at 19:30I am very pleased with this development. Five of the best songs from the new album. And am so glad that they finally put Strange Kind of Woman out to pasture….it was getting really worn out. Anya is a stellar insertion into the set…am looking forward to hearing Simon’s take on the guitar solo. The biggest omission I can see there is the old chestnut Perfect Strangers, but having seen it multiple times, I’m ok with that, especially if the band stretches out a bit on some of the newer material. Looking forward to seeing them in less than 2 weeks….Montreal on August 27th!
August 15th, 2024 at 20:17Grrrrr !!
August 15th, 2024 at 20:24The year I move away from Toronto,Deep Purple puts 5 new songs into their set list ! Oh well…..Enjoy the show & have a beer for me !
Let’s be realistic, to most casual concert goers, five new songs is already testing their patience. I’ve been to gigs where they complained about four being too many.
The Sparks once did 20 or so gigs in a row at one place, devoting every night to one of their albums which they played in full plus a set of their usual hits. Every night sold out and the devoted of course went to of them all. Must have eaten up quite a bit of rehearsal time.
August 15th, 2024 at 20:45Perfect Strangers suffered badly from the key change that was introduced in the Noughties (or later). Don played the intro in the old key and then transposed the last chord to the new key, that always sounded clumsy to my ears. I don’t have issues with changing a key to accommodate a singer, but then do it for the whole bloody song.
August 15th, 2024 at 21:05..Mr Grover ‘n’ Mr Gillian
August 15th, 2024 at 22:57You musta made a million
The night that Frank Zappa caught on fire..
Mars the Bringer of War???????? Setting the scene. Sheesh, things certainly have changed indeed. Back in the day King Crimson had that for an opening intro. The real Yes had Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite for opening music for many many years. Don’t tell me Mr Grumpy Howe has insisted that Gustav Holst’s music is an apt beginning to proceedings for the dreaded Deep Purple. Cheers.
August 16th, 2024 at 00:19We all have our “deep” cut favorites. “Mad Dog” and “Time to Kill” are a couple I like. As someone said above, “Now You’re Talkin'” might go over well live. I like that more than “Show Me.”
August 16th, 2024 at 00:42Encouraging, but I humbly suggest that this setlist would be better, and braver:
Show Me
August 16th, 2024 at 01:33Portable Door
Lazy Sod
Woman From Tokyo
Fools — Morse-Lord-era version
Nothing At All
Let The Good Times Roll
… And the Address — Mark 1 version
No Money to Burn
I’ll Catch You
Perfect Strangers
Lazy
Highway Star
Encores:
Hush
Smoke
I’ll be at the Chicago show too. I just hope that in the meantime this setlist doesn’t prove too unpopular to be sustained.
August 16th, 2024 at 04:08And my expectations are the return of the songs: Nobody’s Home and Hard Lovin’ Woman, and from the new album Now You’re Talkin… I guess I don’t have high expectations???
August 16th, 2024 at 05:39The set list is a difficult one. A concertgoer wants to have a night out and hear the songs from “ Made in Japan ‘ and wonders where ’ Child in Time ” is left, and leaves the hall sometimes rather disillusioned because he has not heard the 13 minutes of this fantatic song.
The real fans and The Highway Star reader obviously wants a totally different setlist from The Spanish Archer to The Surprising, a difficult fact that has haunted the band for years and cannot be solved.
The only solution seems to me is that the purple guard plays a totally different setlist and releases it on CD to please the real fans, the disadvantage is that it takes a lot of time and work and in financial terms it is not profitable and the record company and maybe the band don’t feel like it at all
August 16th, 2024 at 07:05Looking forward to seeing them in Scranton. I like the setlist, I wish Perfect Strangers was in there. 5 new tracks I agree with Uwe. The only time I remember Purple being so daring was on the Purpendicular tour where they played 6 new songs, and it was a longer show, closer to 2 hours rather than 90 minutes.
August 16th, 2024 at 07:12I hope they keep the same setlist for Chicago, but it’s time to drop Black Night…..final encore SOTW insert KAYBD
August 16th, 2024 at 10:44Could use a ballad and/or slow blues in the setlist. Blind Man, Wasted Sunsets, or preferably since it’s new, I’ll Catch You. That’s the most powerful track on =1, in my unsolicited opinion. Simon seems to be paying tribute to Ritchie and Steve while putting his own stamp on a moving solo. Gillan’s voice on stage sounds better these days. Perhaps he gave up or cut down on the booze and partying. Good for them for playing the new stuff. Might go see them in the USA after all.
August 16th, 2024 at 11:04Yes guys, you can believe in setlist.fm.
There it is: https://youtu.be/Gylxo-Dorco
August 16th, 2024 at 11:17This Tour will be good, They will and and change more from=1
August 16th, 2024 at 12:34Caught them last night in Tampa. They were great – really enjoyed the show!!) It was same setlist less Bleeding Obvious replaced with Strangers. All the old mofos in the crowd couldn’t stand up until ST…lazy sods!!)) And I liked the set list!!
August 16th, 2024 at 12:46Sorry
August 16th, 2024 at 12:51KAYBD what song is?
I don’t realize 😅
So much for keeping the setlist the same. According to set list.com, at the very next show in Tampa Florida, Bleeding Obvious was dropped for Perfect Strangers. To me that sucks. I knew something like this was going to happen. By the time they get to New Jersey there will probably be only 3 new songs. I wish they would listen to the real hardcore fans as apposed to the moderate ones. They have got to get over the fear of playing something that some people might not know.
August 16th, 2024 at 12:59Aaaahh!!
August 16th, 2024 at 14:06Knockin’ At Your..
From YouTube clips the new songs sounded really good. However the second night Perfect Strangers was back and new songs down to 3.
August 16th, 2024 at 16:24Hell. I go back to 1971. The current album is brilliant. If the set list contains 3 or 4 numbers from the new album at the 02 in London in October I will be more than happy.
August 16th, 2024 at 19:02Perfect Strangers should always be in the set, as long as it is played correctly & not messed with. It is an iconic DP track just like Smoke. Without those two occasions there wouldn’t be a DP would there? Otherwise it’s horses for courses. But I do agree if you record a new album, get out & play it more. So 5-6 new songs from any band should be the mantra. But what would I know? Cheers.
August 16th, 2024 at 22:49Apologies was 4 new songs second night. Dropped Bleedin Obvious for Perfect Strangers.
August 17th, 2024 at 07:50If I’m honest, as part of the live set Perfect Strangers had grown a bit long in the tooth with me, I don’t miss it (for now). From its inclusion in the set in 1984, I never saw the number progress or develop much in a live setting, it remained somewhat static, no real solo, no noteworthy changes in arrangement (except for the later key change which was inelegantly executed).
That doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy its reinstatement on the next tour (should there be another one). But I never preferred it to KAYBD, which for me contains one of the most majestic, yes even epic riffs ever written by Blackers. It’s for me in the league of SOTW, Woman From Tokyo, Burn, Sail Away and MOTSM. Plus the wordplay in the lyrics (no matter what your personal anal-ysis might be) and Big Ian’s catchy vocal melodies.
August 17th, 2024 at 14:14Having said that about the song PS, I do also think Bleeding Obvious should remain. A damn fine track performed live like that is what Deep Purple are all about it, isn’t it. We all have our favourites from different eras. Cheers.
August 18th, 2024 at 11:52For me Prefect Strangers the song is a perfect example of Less is More. No need for a guitar solo, no need to embellish it or change it in ANY way. It is a feel song if ever there was one, a statement also of course, lyrically. A nice steady organ solo to go out with. It is a gem for me & always will be. Nothing like anything ever before or since. ‘Cold spirits of Ice’ & Blackmore’s subtle eastern feel touches. MAGIC. Mysticism in the lyrics from Gillan, wonderful. Superbly written, recorded & performed song. Cheers.
August 19th, 2024 at 23:43Perfect Strangers is a strong composition, no two ways about it, let’s cast silence about the more than slight Led Zep tinge it “suffers” from. 😑 But I never found that DP’s live renditions of it added anything to it that the studio version hadn’t already revealed.
“No need for a guitar solo, no need to embellish it or change it in ANY way.”
Jawohl, Herr Henley, no deviation from the record, take it easy! 🤣
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaBw37-nWaY
[Like Jon Lord did, I love the Eagles and their “perfection ethos” has of course rewarded them richly and bestowed great music to this Earth, but DP’s live approach is to me something different entirely.
PS: I guess I didn’t pick a good example, by Eagles standards that 1994 rendition of Take It Easy took an inordinate amount of freedom 😄 with the excellently executed solos by Walsh; back in the day when the feathered ones were still opening for pyromaniacal Brit hard rock bands with a pronounced dislike for close proximity TV cameras, Bernie Leadon of course played the solo with his unmistakable Bluegrass feel …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlWBli5DhuI ]
August 20th, 2024 at 17:26Are they supposed to change everything Uwe? Why? Some things are best left untouched. Why should every song an artists records be changed in alive setting????????It is what it is. It is meant to be that way. Certain musicians who have attempted to change it or add to it have ruined it & they don’t understand it. Leave out is another expression. By the way, I have often wondered what you think of the lyrics to Perfect Strangers? Is it all too KASHMIR for you. Just a curiosity. Cheers.
August 20th, 2024 at 23:00Herr MacGregor, I’ve been to far too many Bob Dylan gigs to expect an artist replicating his studio recordings note-perfect if you know what I mean! 😂
With rare exceptions, I prefer a fresh take live to “making it sound just like on the record” – I accept though that this approach has largely fallen out of favor with the general public. People want perfection and familiarity – I find risk-taking and defying expectations more entertaining.
What do I think of the Perfect Stranger lyrics? Not as wryly amusing as KAYBD (my favorite line in that is btw “now she eases gently from an Austin to a Bentley” as a picture of social ascension), but I always liked the plaintive/insecure intro “Can you remember, remember by name?”, alluding to Big Ian’s return to the world stage (I at least thought and so did a lot of other people). And the fact that most of it doesn’t rhyme, yet sounds very musical. The imagery pained with the words is vivid, but I never gave a thought about the deeper meaning, too esoteric for me.
Kashmir left me cold as a song when I first heard Physical Graffiti in 1975, some people might like its attempted grandeur, I call it pretentious. Stairway To Heaven the same (and no one could so far explain to me what the lyrics intend to mean). My favorite song on Physical Graffiti was Boogie With Stu, and other than that my favorite LZ song is Rock’n’Roll – I guess that is the Status Quo kid in me trying to get out! And I prefer Chuck Berry’s witty social commentary lyrics to anything Robert Plant or Jon Anderson have ever committed to paper. Roll Over Beethoven – and while we’re at it: Roll over Kashmir and Siberian Kathru too. 🤣
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sagmwSY-ZEY
“I’ve got the rockin’ pneumonia, I need a shot of rhythm & blues” is great art and sheer bloody poetry to me. I am a man of simple tastes and desires.
August 21st, 2024 at 15:41Uwe @33….agreed, Kashmir has its charms but I always found it somewhat contrived. Somehow though it has been elevated to this exotic epic of mythical proportions…well I see that as gross hyperbole at work once again. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, I enjoy it, but it’s not the be all end all. I never understood why Purple’s Perfect Stranger is considered derivative of it – as if PS is somehow the illegitimate child of the former. It’s not even close – the only real similarities start and stop at the use of an ascending riff on a harmonic minor scale. It’s as if Zep patented that motif and anything remotely close to it is simply a pale imitation. The harmonic minor was well and truly within Deep Purple’s arsenal way back at the beginning of time, long before Kashmir arrived in 1975…..(ie): passages and soloing within Mandrake Root in 1968, The Mule in 1971, etc.
August 21st, 2024 at 21:17I have never compared the Zep & Purple tunes, the media have at times from my memory & also other people occasionally. For starters PS wouldn’t be in DADGAD tuning would it? Some folk say they hear more of the Stargazer song being ‘influenced’ by Kashmir. Each to their own. “I’ve been to far too many Bob Dylan gigs to expect an artist replicating his studio recordings note-perfect if you know what I mean! 😂 Indeed & that would be an experience in itself. I don’t want all studio live replications at a concert either. However some things are best left set in stone & both Kashmir & Perfect Strangers are two fine examples of that. Steve Morse tremolo & dive bombing PS, sacrilegious indeed. If only Bob Ezrin was watching he could have intervened ‘Steve, Steve, no! Leave that for your solo records’. Cheers.
August 22nd, 2024 at 00:18I never minded Steve’s approach to Perfect Strangers – I think he did it (like almost anything else) with taste and sufficient respect for the original. Steve always played the central riff more rigidly than Blackers, Blackmore “danced” the notes more, but that is just his fencing personal style. He played the PS motif much like he plays a lot of musical structures with Blackmore’s Night.
To me the PS central motif is reminiscent to the one of Kashmir, not just the “Arabic” key, but also the rhythmic structure plus both riff arrangements have odd meters by Western standards (though not by Mideastern music ones), but I never minded that. Also, that is where the comparison stops: Perfect Strangers is a proper catchy song with verse, bridge and a – for Purple – even catchy chorus (even a little Beatlish to my ears) while Kashmir is basically a (slightly ponderous) instrumental number with Plant ad-libbing some vocal parts of which none actually fit the description “chorus”. I’m prepared to give it credit though for breaking new ground in rock music for Eastern music in 1975 (Led Zep were always adept in incorporating Ethno music influences), but it’s a bit of a yawn-fest for me. As it was for Rolling Stone magazine btw in its initial Physical Graffiti review: They deemed it ponderous, overlong and boring, the worst song on the double album! 😁
But of course Kashmir is nowadays a classic, if not exactly a live number open to much fiddling about.
August 22nd, 2024 at 15:08The mistake Zeppelin made was the length of Kashmir is too long. Perfect Strangers is just right at app 5 minutes. with a 8 minute song there probably should be a few changes in there. Not to worry as Keith Richards often says (tongue in cheek), it’s all rock ‘n roll. Cheers.
August 22nd, 2024 at 22:28Uwe @36 & MacGregor @37, I agree with you both. My take….Zeppelin did create something novel with Kashmir and though overlong, it is still enjoyable at times – the caveat being that it has been absolutely blugeoned to death through overplaying on classic rock radio….Zep being the ultimate darlings they are, of that particular radio format.
I have read in various blogs wherein people attribute some sort of quote by Blackmore somewhere, at sometime, but never ever specified or sourced; that he admitted being influenced by Kashmir and same was the impetus for him to create Stargazer. I have scoured all my archived interviews of Blackmore through the years, as well as online; and can find no such quote anywhere. To my mind, Blackmore might have heard Kashmir and thought he could improve on it, which he certainly did. And, to quote Mojo magazine some 10 years ago or so, something to the effect: Stargazer made Kashmir sound like it was played by the Ramones. LOL.
August 23rd, 2024 at 16:46“Stargazer made Kashmir sound like it was played by the Ramones.”
Huh, I don’t get it? Shouldn’t it that be: Stargazer sounds like the Ramones playing Kashmir? Energy levels-wise that is actually true. 😂
I just listened to Rainbow Rising again yesterday, all three mixes (New York, LA and the Musicland Rough Mix). One thing you can certainly say about that album is that it is filled with savage energy to the brim. Too bad that Tony Carey’s keyboard intro to Stargazer didn’t make the final album, but I guess they didn’t wan’t both side A and side B to start off with a synth solo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULMKD0kgx1U
August 23rd, 2024 at 21:32@ 38 – yes indeed, Kashmir like many songs has been drawn over the coals far too much over the years. I do skip it most times, there are other Zep tunes I prefer most of the time. Regarding that Blackmore Stargazer story, that does sound very familiar for me too. A long time ago it was, Blackmore has always waffled on at times about Uwe’s favourite band. Right from the start of MKII actually or even before that. Still, if Uwe’s son got into Led Zeppelin & hopefully he played them to death on Uwe’s own hi fi system back in the day, that certainly does warm the cockles of my heart. Cheers.
August 24th, 2024 at 00:14Interesting take on Stargazer there. I don’t think that Carey’s synth sounds good at all in that opening. We can hear the attempt at the eastern feel, perhaps they should have used a violin instead. But then Cozy’s explosive drum intro would even make that solo intro redundant. Tarot Woman had the advantage of it being the first synth opening & Blackmore’s riff coming in slowly also gets everything ready for the bomb blast of the song. Different songs & different energy at the opening intro. Thanks for that I enjoyed hearing a ‘different’ version & also hearing the orchestra. Cozy’s drums are lower in the mix also, which is a good thing. Yes I did just say that Uwe, you are not hallucinating at all. Cheers.
August 25th, 2024 at 00:05“Cozy’s drums are lower in the mix also, which is a good thing. Yes I did just say that Uwe, you are not hallucinating at all.”
Now you DO have me worried, Mainlander …
https://preview.redd.it/vi4ldytkeajy.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=7f850973d105038ca9090a4398912d142c9424ea
… R U alright?
I wonder, if the Rainbow Rising master tapes do still exist, then why no one sits down with them for a “from scratch”-remix. That in a boxed set plus assorted live material from the era with an embossed/debossed print box of the iconic cover would sell like hot cakes I’m sure.
Am I mistaken that to this day there is no Rainbow compilation concentrating just on the classic Dio era? With all my well-documented issues re Cozy’s battering ram drums and Dio’s Game of Thrones lyrics plus the somewhat stiff groove of Rainbow (common to all line-ups), that is a truly criminal omission given how much the album means to so many people and its undeniable lasting influence on Euro Metal.
I guess even if the original masters are lost, something could be done in the near future given the development of AI sound separation software in leaps and bounds. Candice should grab her iPhone – Ritchie doesn’t have one I heard – and give DC a call, he’s an expert on such things.
That is another thing: Measured against how much time, money and effort has been put into curating, buffing and re-releasing Whitesnake’s back catalog, the treatment of same for both Rainbow & Ian Gillan Band/GILLAN is pitiful and loveless. Not everyone of those albums was brilliant, but neither were all Whitesnake offerings. Much as I crack jokes about DC here, as a collector I really appreciate what he does with his release cottage industry. I wouldn’t be surprised if BN’s fledgling reissue policy took some inspiration there.
August 25th, 2024 at 17:34I agree regarding a Dio era box set of Rainbow touched up & all. I made up my collection eons ago, first on cassette then cd. No remixing or anything of course. Coverdale doesn’t have anything else to do these days with his health issues. Whitesnake being his ‘only’ band & all, he doesn’t really have anything else musically to deal with other than that & possibly has less record companies issues. Blackmore being Blackmore probably couldn’t be bothered & Gillan possibly the same, who knows what they really think of all that. They have their fingers in different pies & look at things differently. Not sure about AI touching Rainbow (or anything else) although it most probably will happen one day. Hopefully when I have departed this realm & not within earshot, he he he. Cheers.
August 25th, 2024 at 23:46