Set list didn’t had much surprises but as always a strong one.

The intro – Is an unreleased track from Don Airey, at least that’s what I heard. Nice bombastic and imo better then the jazzy jump intro.

Highway star – Ah, what can you say about that one except that it’s an excellent song. Maybe not as an opener as it immediately demands the most of IG voice. So definitely not a good warm-up for him. Never the less he always does an excellent job and today as well. The crowd liked it very much as did I.

Things I never said – One of the nice Morse era songs and a strong one to follow Highway star. Always cheers me up because of the happy tune. Always thinking of a dance hall full of dancing people. How strange the mind can roam. Maybe not a bad idea to change the order of those 2.

Wrong man – Not one of my fav’s but a good song to play live.

Strange kind of woman – Ah, there we have another oldie. The audience was a bit “quite” for the last 2 songs but now the remembered what they had to do and they did it. They were jumping up and down like I was a Quo song. Nice.

Rapture of the deep – Morse era and of course a good one to play live.

Fireball – The guys on the left of me immediately went crazy when it started. I must say they were completely right. A heavy, up tempo song like this always does the trick. One of my al time fav’s liked it very much when they got it back in the set list.

Contact lost & Well dressed guitar – I put them here as one but in the concert there was Sometimes I feel like screaming in between. I must say that at one point I started to dislike his guitar sound a bit. But in the last year were I was following DP more extensively I threw the “dis” away and started to like his playing more and more. Could be because of the live sound being different then the album sound. Good songs and nice solo work.

Sometimes I feel like screaming – Is it a ballad, power ballad or just a good rock song that has everything in it to make it just a good song. Anyway a good one to play live and to get things slowed down for a couple of minutes. Must say I like it very much that they use this song to make a nice triptych with CL and WDG.

Wring that neck – Or the turkey song as IG likes to call it. Here is one of the last changes clearly an excellent one. The guitar & keyboard battle between Don and Steve. Heard it for the first time in Eastern Europe this year and was very surprised and pleased with it. Because of this change the song got a new live.

The battle rages on – At the moment one of the most powerful reunion songs I can think of. For me this is a highlight of the show. This song always gives me Goosebumps. Bombastic and rough in an excellent way. Excellent workmanship on this one. Hope they keep it in.

Keyboard solo and Perfect strangers – And now the most talented…… Don Airey. Including the keyboard solo again one of the most powerful reunion songs. In the soli were always the same and became boring after hearing them. Now I must say it’s one of the highlights of the show. Don has proved to be capable of doing nice things and changes every time he pays it and it’s wonderful. Of course it’s often the same but there are those small changes that make it very interesting to listen to. Especially the bombs he throws just before he starts PF. Man they blow you away, literally. Then of course PF starts definitely one of the best reunion songs. Needs no further explanation. Or………….?

Space truckin’ – One of my al time fav’s from the old days. I must say I miss the long version they did in the old days. Man how I wish to have seen the MIJ version. Nevertheless it is still a great one to hear live. Always glad when they play it. It hurts me, as a Gillanist, to admit that in this song IG voice was not good. You can hear that in some of his screams. But for the rest the song was as usual excellent.

Smoke on the water – What can you say about this song. Not much as I think it’s everybody’s fav. . At least live. His intro to this song is always amusing as he like to fiddle around with bits and pieces of other bands fav’s. Today he used “Man in the mirror” from Michael Jackson or at least that what was told me. So don’t kill me if it is wrong.

Hush – Good song with a nice drive. The intro is always a nice surprise. Not much else to say then that it’s a good song.

Black night – Never really my fav but that changed due to the fact that RG started to do a solo at the beginning. Imo he does a great job and I like it to the extreme. Hope he keeps it in and does more of those things in other songs. For the rest nothing to say about this song.

All in all it was a great concert with great weather on a nostalgic square. Can’t say a bad thing about it. Good weather, good music and excellent company so what more can you wish.

So up we go to prepare our self’s for the next concert in Arbon, but that has to wait for 6 bloody weeks.

Intro
Highway star
Thing I never said
Wrong man
Strange kind of woman
Rapture of the deep
Fireball
Contact lost
Sometimes I feel like screaming
Well dressed guitar
Wring that neck
Battle rages on
Don Airey solo
Perfect Strangers
Space truckin
Smoke on the water
Hush
Black night

Band
Ian Gillan
Ian Paice
Roger Glover
Steve Morse
Don Airey

Special guest Foreigner
Doors open 19:15
Foreigner on stage 20:20 – 21:20
21:20 – 21:50 Change over
Deep Purple on stage 21:50 – 23:20

As for the rest of the day:

I left for Locarno to pick up my dear travel companion on Wednesday the 8th. Woke up and left home around 09:00 to walk to the train station, about 12 minutes to walk. How lucky I was that about 2 minutes from home the rain came poring down. Luckely it was only 2 minutes but still……. well you get the picture. How different it was in Locarno

On a hot summer afternoon……… Ah yes it really was. While getting closer it became hotter and hotter. Ending up in Locarno with 26 degrees and lots of sun. We had our hotel in Lugano as Locarno was already fully booked a couple of month ago. As we arrived early we first walked a bit through Lugano. Sun sun and delicious ice-cream on the boulevard. A small climb to a panoramic garden that gave a beautiful sight over the lake and a tree with some ripe vigs. Shhh we took a couple and they were delicious.

We went on time to Locarno, about 40 Km from Locarno. The trip was hot but nice. Parking in Locarno is certainly cheap so no problems there.

After a small walk we found the city square where the concert was being held. A nice square in the middle of the town. The square was still open for the public so we could have a nice view of the crew who were still preparing the stage.

I was a bit worried because of the fact that the sun was burning the stones and of course everybody on it. But lucky us a nice and friendly cloud kept the sun away and almost right after that it disappeared behind the buildings.

Foreigner

At 20:20 Foreigner jumped on stage and rocked the town. For me it was the first time I saw them and I was surprised to see that they were so good. Never new that. In my book they were always a top of the pop band with those poppy hits. So to my surprise they turned out an excellent warm up for DP. As could be expected all the hits passed. I wanna know what love is, Jukebox hero, Cold as ice, etc etc. A real treat

They played between 60-65 minutes and then had to make way for DP. After a change over DP entered the stage at 21:50

Cheers and enjoy

Purplefan