Yelling in Jelling
The band entered just before midnight and it seemed they felt a little cold – barefeet and all – but the audience soon compensated for that. It just took the opening song to get the feedback coming from the 20,000 – pretty much all age groups as always.
The setlist was the usual festival greatest hits mix – When a Blind Man cries was left out because of the low temperature – according to the discussion onstage – but the attitude of the guys was not just ‘festival’. They sounded as fresh as at the beginning of the tour and put a lot into the performance. No weaknesses, just high energy.
Gillan decided to act as the devil when introducing The Battle Rages On and the memories came back. Also he fell over – deliberately – when touching Steve at one point, joining together, and they seemed to have a great time. So did everybody.
And the yelling? Warming up to Highway Star you get what you deserve from the front man, and then the crowd took over the vocals.
Among some new bits and pieces you would see IG just entering for one line of Rolling Stones’ Honky Tonk Woman during Steve’s riff-raff.
Hope they get through the climate tonight – it’s Iceland…
Per Sorensen