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Antwerp raptured by the Deep
A day without Deep Purple is a like a day without sunshine
A sunny day in the Antwerp harbour… nice temperature… fantastic day to show off my new Rapture of the Deep T-shirt which I bought at the last gig I saw at Rock Zottegem last year.
I convinced a French friend to come along…
Also the first time to check out the new Lotto Arena in Antwerp. And yes, we were lucky we had one of the best seats in the house at the left of the stage seen from the band.
From the Geneva setlist I could see that “Pictures from home” was the opener and I must say that my suspicion turned into reality. I like more Fireball, Hush, Ted the Mechanic as an opener because those song have more power.
“Things I never said” went a bit lost in the sound which was not completely tuned yet. Then we all went “Into the fire” with DP, briliant!
What I don’t understand is why there was no pause between all these songs. Hello, we all speak English, Ian! We like to hear you talk about the witch’s leg, etc…
After a small greeting (sic) “Strange kind of Woman”, as dynamic as it ever can be. Followed by “Rapture” which I find is one of the best songs written in the last decade by DP.
Then the magnficent “Fireball”. Followed by “Wrong Man”, about a guy who is accused of a murder he did not commit. Did Ian make allusion to PrisonBreak? And did they return the favour to play Hush on the radio before it would explode in episode 2 of the second season?
Anyway no time to waste because the man who drinks his milk and rides his horse… gave a brilliant solo. So good a “Blind man would start to cry”.
The very magnificent “Lazy” rocked to my opinion the first time the venue! The video made a reference to the Machine Head album which had 3 fantastic songs. Maybe an idea to use more the video screens in the future without turning into a movie theater.
“The Battle Raged On” as only DP can rage. The dangerous Don Airey gave a solo which made me think of DP in concert with the London Symphonica. Thanks to the video cameras we could see that playing the keyboards is hard work.
“Perfect Strangers” was again perfect and strange. Again I like the dancing of Ian. Is it because he is in Flanders that he does some kind of Flamengo?
“Space Truckin'” and “Highway star” exploded the venue as it is expected of these songs.
“Smoke” rocked but unfortunately it is a song I heard too much in my life…
As encore we received “Hush” with a very dynamic Ian juming up and down enjoying himself.
Then Roger gave a solo. Believe me, the bass is hard work too since I was one time in front of Roger on the front row in Forest National and Roger kicks ass.
The ever so fantastic “Black Night” drove us home in the darkness.
Wondering why it all had to end so quick and why we have to wait again another year before they come back.
Greeting to to the band and special greeting to Jon Lord.
Dirk Van Rompaey
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing