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Raptured by the battle
Quebec: Having seen DP over 50 times from MK II onwards I like most of us reading this, never ever regret seeing one of the greatest bands of all time in concert whenever the opportunity presents itself. A 3 hour drive is not a bother when a DP concert is at hand!
It has been quite a treat to see either Deep Purple or Ian (Gillan’s Inn tour) 3 times in 3 years in the largely french Quebec City! Having lived most of my life in the Canadian suburb of Detroit, Michigan I have had ample opportunity to see DP play (from the old Cobo Hall to DTE in Detroit to cities close by like Kalamazoo, Chicago,and Toronto)and thought once I moved east I would lose the ability to see the band without a lot of travel….thankfully I was wrong!
After all these years and over 50 shows I have to echo the sentiments of an earlier reviewer of the current US/Canada tour that what gets me excited is and I quote Mark Bojanowski who put it best,”to show up at Purple shows to hear the one or two songs that I’ve never heard them play live as well as to hear their differing instrumental treatments of old favourites” as I have heard the big numbers many times.
I know they have to play a large selection of greatest hits to gain an audience here for of course there is no airplay of the new and excellent material or the older more obscure classics. We have been treated to “Fools, Mary Long, Bloodsucker, Not Responsible on the G.I. tour etc.” in small doses and in this current tour the addition of “The Battle Rages On” is the golden nugget that provides all the incentive a hard core fan needs to go see them! Of course I would have preferred more Purpendicular, Bananas and Rapture tracks but if you need to hear that you have to catch a European based show I have learned!
The performance was tight and the band looked like they were having fun in the small venue (a small hockey rink at the Expo site). It was not as good as the last venue, The Agora outdoor amphitheatre they played for the Banana’s tour or the intimate salon Ian played for his birthday last August close by. I recognized many in the first few rows, most who were as old or older than I was, however it was great to see a lot of young people at the show!
Like other tour dates earlier the sound was not clean, it sounded like the amplification was clipping or the speakers where overdriven. Loud yes (but that is OK and the way we like it!) but the distortion was too noticeable to enjoy Don’s or Steve’s solos.
Ian was a little low in the mix as well….all in all though a great show and as always, could have had more! Steve was on fire and Paicey treated us to a one handed drum roll ( he is still the best rock drummer..period). Into the Fire was awesome, the whole band really getting into it, this song was perfectly placed in the set list to really stoke the crowd, young and old!
Rapture was well received by the audience – makes you wonder why don’t add a few more songs from the album. The first encore TBRO (this performance was better than the one we can see on the Bombay Calling DVD) confused the youngsters… what was this they were hearing? By the end I think it got the best ovation of the night and was nicely balanced with Hush to close the show.
The T-shirts are better than some have commented on earlier although no match for the Banana’s tour paraphernalia, as Banana’s gear was the best in years and hard to beat!
Pictures of Home
Things I Never Said
Into The Fire
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture Of The Deep
Woman From Tokyo
Knocking At Your Back Door
Lazy
Contact Lost
guitar solo
Well Dressed Guitar
Space Truckin’
keyboard solo
Perfect Strangers
Highway Star
Smoke On The Water
The Battle Rages On
Hush
Larry van’t Zelfde
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing