There will be an "Oscar" for promoters, agents etc in Hamburg, Germany February 16 and Ian Gillan will hold a speech.
Thanks to web.de for the information.

Oslo review in Norwegian – with photos.

Hvilken koncert! Det er MEGET længe siden at Deep Purple har spillet så god en koncert. Sidst de var her, var det godt; men denne gang var det helt sublimt.

Eneste misser var Pictures of Home, hvor lyden ikke var indstillet korrekt – og så Junkyard Blues, som var kedelig.

Men hvilken spilleglæde! For første gang var Morse og Airey IKKE med som erstatning for Blackmore og Lord. De var HELT dem selv.

Glover og Paice bliver mere og mere vigtige. De lægger en bund som er FANTASTISK.
Airey trakterer sine keyboards som en sand mester. Morse er den glade dreng som synes det er sjovt at være med.

Og Gillan er bare Gillan…

Mikkel Bierberg-Petterson

I live in the UK, but have traveled to the Oslo Spektrum twice now to see Purple. I’m not great at remembering setlists, but as far as I remember, it was identical to the one already listed for the Copenhagen concert, with the exception of Hush being replaced by Speed king.

Apart from a few problems with Ian Gillan’s microphone on the first song, everything seemed to run perfectly. The lighting is much better than on tours of recent times. Two large screens were also provided, one at each side of the stage. These were used to great effect to show close ups during solo spots. I found them particularly useful during Don Aireys solo spots.

One thing that did surprise me very much was how well the new material from ROTD was when performed live. I think the band has strived long and hard over recent years to create new material that can match the old classics when performed live. Personally, I feel that they have finally achieved that with the ROTD material. With the ROTD album having longer tracks, more instrumental breaks and those great hooks, it all transfers onto stage in a classic Deep Purple way, which I think will push all the right buttons for most hardened Deep Purple fans and newcomers alike.

The performance was to the usual high standard with all band members playing with great energy, enjoyment and skill. However, despite being fairly far back in the hall, the amplification seemed to be much louder than previous Purple concerts. The result of that was that Gillan’s voice and Morse’s guitar seemed a bit distorted at times as the amplification (or my eardrums) were pushed to the limit of their capabilities.

I’m a huge fan of Jon Lord, and had left concerts over the past few years feeling, like many others, that Don Airey is very good but it’s just not the same as it was with Jon. However, I felt more of an acceptance for Don after Sunday night. He played in a manner that showed he has firmly bedded in and is contributing a significant amount to the overall sound, performance and character of the band. He is clearly a man of great talent and is gaining the respect of many as time passes. My only small gripe is that he sometimes gets a much lighter sound out of the Hammond, when in fact, I’m expecting something with a bit more ‘gravitas’ as Jon Lord would say. It’s usually evident in the last keyboard instrumental break in Perfect Strangers. Anyway, a small point, he is doing a great job.

The man I usually have my eyes on during a Purple gig is Ian Paice. There are few drummers around that can match the skill and speed of Paicey, he alone is worth buying a ticket for. The seating is very steeply banked in the Spektrum, so I got a great view looking down on top of his arms without any obstruction from the drum kit. He is obviously enjoying playing the new rhythms he has laid down on the ROTD tracks such as Before Time Began and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. Whether old or new material, his work rate was very high and he put on a great show. The icing on the cake for me was the re-introduction on this tour of a short drum solo including his one handed drum roll. If I had to pick a man of the night from the bands performance, then Paicey would get my vote for sure.

At around 2 hours, the set was longer than that of the past few tours. The band energy levels were very high to the point where you were left wondering if they will be able to maintain that for the duration of the two year tour that lies ahead of them. They have in the past, so I’m sure they will this time, which is why I won’t have any hesitation in buying a ticket when the UK leg of the tour is announced. My advice to anyone is to buy a ticket for this tour, I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed after seeing how good the show was on Sunday night.

Chris Bell

Setlist (by memory):

Pictures Of Home
Things I Never Said
Wrong Man
Ted The Mechanic
Living Wreck
Rapture Of The Deep
Mary Long
Before Time Began
Contact Lost
Well Dressed Guitar into Morse solo
Lazy
Airey solo
Perfect Strangers
Junkyard Blues
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
Space Truckin’
Highway Star
Smoke On The Water
– – –
Speed King
Black Night

Great concert and great show!

The sound was loud and for the most good, but Oslo Spektrum is well known to be difficult sound wise during concerts.

Many highlights really, and the new songs came on well with the audience. But it was the last part of the concert that really brought people on, with Lazy and the 3-piece of Space Truckin’, Highway Star (nice and exciting long new intro!) and Smoke On the Water, before the encores.

Living wreck was an absolute killer. Sad to say, but the new album has not gone down very well here in Norway so far – no entries in the charts and some poor reviews in the largest newspapers, so I think many in the audience were quite unfamiliar with the new tunes.

The band was in good form all the way, and Ian Gillan (still!) handled a couple of failed microphones early in the show very well. Both Steve and Don got huge applauses after their solo parts, with Don in particular playing some good old Norwegian tunes like ‘Hall of the Mountain King’, and Roger and Ian were completely flawless. Ian Gillan easily introduced ‘air Hammond’ to the audience – ‘we have had years of air guitars’ – with immediate response.

The stage lights and the use of two large video-screens were excellent entertainment and much better than on the Bananas Tour in 2003.

I brought my wife and our two sons on 18 and 14 yrs, and we all had a great time! Don’t hesitate go to a DP concert this year if you can!

Today the two largest Norwegian daily newspapers gave the concert 4 and 5 respectively out of 6. Now I am wondering how to catch up with them again later this year… [Bergen in June? 🙂 Rasmus]

Hans Peter Jenssen

At last! A DP concert! Can you believe it?!

I’ve been a fan of DP since 1974 , and I still didn’t manage to attend any of their concerts (don’t be surprised, I live in Iraq, and so I think you can imagine the efforts I needed to attend DP concerts). But at last my dream came true, and as I expected, it would have been a loss to miss it again.

DP didn’t lose any of its magic which made us dream when we were youngsters. They are always going through continuous rebirth processes.

I will not go into the details of the songs, as they were all great and met all expectations (both the old and new ones). I just want you all to pray with me to be able to have a next chance to see the maguc again!

Saleem Al-Ani

It was a difficult time counting the days before we could see our beloved Deep Purple guys again, the twelfth concert for my wife and myself since the Concerto concert in Rotterdam 2000.

We were very excited to hear at least some of the new songs live for the first time. My brother was with us who went to see DP for the first time of his life loving DP music for over 30 years. (And he enjoyed the whole evening!)

The Heineken Music Hall was full (sold out in a couple of weeks with 6.000 fans) but the accoustic quality is very good. After the start with Pictures of Home and the first new song Things I never Said came the powerful Wrong Man, the great 1970 track Living Wreck and the title song Rapture of the Deep.

There were two changes compared with the opening night in London. DP left out Back to Back and Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming. Instead we got Mary Long and as first encore Hush.

According to my wife Jannie and myself Contact Lost was the very best performance of the evening. A big thank you for Steve: the song was fantastic smooth and emotional at the same time. Apart from Junkyard Blues we loved the life version of all the new songs. I sadly missed the great ballad Clearly Quite Absurd.

After nearly two hours we felt very happy to have gained a new wonderful memory of a warm DP music blanket in a cold winternight in Amsterdam.

Finally, speaking about Amsterdam: Don played a wonderful part of Tulips from Amsterdam. Don became also a major player within Deep Purple with
the new album and the new tour, but we don’t have any objection to that. Thanks Don for the great performance.

Dirk de Hen

Having read Rasmus Heide’s review there is not so much more to say. Yes, it was great.

It seemed to me that Gillan’s voice wasn’t at the top from the start, especially in Wrong Man and Ted, but after being screeming Living Wreck the whole way through, ending up with to long IIIIAAAUUU, it worket much better for the rest of the concert.

I do agree that Junkyard Blues was the weakest, I think it’s the same on the album. Things I Never Said was great, haven’t heard it before, a shame it’s not on our album.

Rapture Of The Deep worket fine and Before Time Began, which in my opinion might be the best song they have ever wrote, was really fantastic. Steve’s solo and The Well Dressed Guitar was furious, and yes, much more emotional than before. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye was rocking, and so was the old ones.

In Smoke On The Water Roger went nostalgic, and played it on his old Rickenbacker, it sounds great, I think it has a more smooth sound than the Vigier. Paice’s solo in Hush wasn’t wery long, but included a short one hand roll, and after all, the whole show was nearly one long drumsolo. I have always loved the long solo parts from the old days, and now they seems to be returning, several times when playing solos they turned into jamming as if they nearly forgot the audience, just playing for fun.

Now I am looking forward to June 10th and the festival “Rock under broen” in Denmark, I have bought the ticket.

Ole Andersen

KB Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark – January 28, 2006

Pictures Of Home
Things I Never Said
Wrong Man
Eduardo The Mechanic
Living Wreck
Rapture Of The Deep
Before Time Began
Mary Long
Contact Lost
Morse solo
Well Dressed Guitar
Lazy
Airey solo
Perfect Strangers
Junkyard Blues
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
Space Truckin’
Highway Star
Smoke On The Water
– – –
Hush
Black Night

A victorious return to Copenhagen for Deep Purple. Everybody left with huge grins on their faces, including me!

Endless list of excellent stuff to talk about. Things I Never Said is a corker, as is Wrong Man, so heavy. The set list is very well structured as it moves from an inspired first half of mainly new songs, which all sufficiently capture the crowd and satify the hardcore followers. Then a second half of powerful renditions of oldies spiced up with masses of energy and enthusiasm rolling back and forth between the crowd and the band.

Steve did a ‘new’ solo in Mary Long, which got a huge cheer – even if Gillan missed out a lot of the first verse. His flowing white Ghandi dress is gone. Black pants are back – as is the colourful waist coat, and the man is looking good.

Paicey did a solo in Hush and generally there was a lot of solo spots dotted around the show. Perhaps even a bit too much for my liking.

Don Airey has a mostly new and very inspired solo spot, bits of which sounded like Jean Michel Jarre variations. His new keyboard caved in on him in the middle of the Star Wars theme – perhaps a sign from above… Interestingly Ian Gillan has introduced ‘air keyboards’, which meant the entire KB Hallen was wriggling their hands high in front of themselves, as if playing keyboards. An impressive sight.

Steve’s solo also featured a whole new approach and became very emotional as it gradually built from the beautiful Contact Lost to a massive Well Dressed Guitar, which the entire venue seemed to latch onto with great joy.

Then only slight low point was Junkyard Blues, which felt pedestrian coming after a thunderous Perfect Strangers. Good thing it was followed by the fabulously powerful Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye.

Sadly KB Hallen was apparently too small to properly mount the new video screens, so the video crew got a night off and the smaller screens (only mounted in half size or something) showed only creative colour patterns, which seemed both pointless and out of place.

The new tour programme is both well designed and includes some excellent bits of writing. Most of the tour shirts are again too blatant to want to wear anywhere after the show – although the licence plate longsleeve is nice.

Deep Purple 2006 – very nice – and my wife thought so too! 🙂

Rasmus Heide

January 26, 2006, cold outside, especially when you’re waiting!

6.30pm opening of the doors and the audience, a lot of “Too Old Too Rock & Roll, Too Young Too Die” but also younger ones, even children (begged by their parents to come with them*) all searching for a nice place.

The support-act in Amsterdam is the SQY Rocking Team, a band from the south of Netherlands with the mission to warm up the audience. A nice try, good music and a singer, who’s a party-animal too. Always difficult for a support-act and sometimes, there are fantastic musicians as I can remember Woody Woodmansey U-Boat, a support-act for Uriah Heep, long, long ago.

Light’s out at 21.00 and on two video-screens we can see the members backstage coming out of a box and going to the stage. The opening is an excellent Pictures Of Home, what an amazing sound! Their new flashing lightshow is really fantastic.

The sound in the Heineken Music Hall is perfect, the show’s fantastic, very loud, very clear!

The setlist is an historical tour of the classic Deep Purple combined with their today’s music, a lot of Rapture Of The Deep songs which come out in an excellent way!

Unfortunately no Bananas or Abandon and the only Purpendicular-track is Ted The Mechanic. It’s great to hear songs as Wrong Man, Before Time Began, the beautiful Junkyard Blues and especially Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a superb live-track!

You can feel the happiness of the always friendly old men and they are still such great musicians. Steve’s smashing his guitarwork into the hall, Paice and Glover, the powerful engine of the band, Gillan’s fantastic singing and explaining about the songs, he’s great and Don’s work on the keys, which we cannot only hear but also watch his fingers on the video-screens is amazing, thanks Don, for the ‘Tulpen uit Amsterdam’, all amazing!

The well-known Highway Star, Mary Long, Lazy and this time Space Truckin’ and Living Wreck and of course, their signature, Smoke On The Water without an intro tonight.

An encore with the rocking Hush and Black Night and two hours later the show’s over.

As Ian always screams to the audience, we now can say to them: We Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank Yoooooooooooooooooooh ! ! !

Hans Stellingwerf

*(In the Saturday-newspaper one of the kids has written a letter: he reluctantly joined his father and it was his first-time-concert. He thought, why do I have to go to a concert of old men and their old-fashioned music but when he heard the first track, he changed his opinion: Dad, you’re totally right!)