[% META title = 'Tour Reviews' %]

"Made in Durban"

Village Green - Durban - South Africa - 25 March 1995

I never thought Id ever get the chance to see DP, having missed the opportunity in 78 in England. Well that opportunity finally came and I could not believe my good luck to hear in DEC 94 that Deep Purple and Uriah Heep would be coming to South Africa in March 1995 and appearing on the same bill !!! We didnt waste a second and bought our tickets straight away, which has been the biggest wait Ive ever had, but boy was it worth it!

By Dereck Ramsay

Anyway the big day finally arrived and having camped out (with plenty of liquid refreshment) at the venue gates from mid afternoon, the gates finally opened at 8pm instead of 6pm due to a truck carrying sound equipment which broke down between Pretoria and Durban. As a result the supporting act was cancelled and the Uriah Heep set was shortened to about 40 minutes.

Having also secured a centre spot in about the third/forth row, we waited impatiently for the roadies to finish setting up the stage which they finally finished at about 10pm !! The venue, the Village Green is essentially an outdoor stage with a large circus type tent covering the audience - capacity about 5000. Unfortunately the acoustics are shocking but when you are that close, what the hell !

Uriah Heep hit the stage just after 10pm and as mentioned before they only played a shortened set consisting of :

At about 11pm Deep Purple hit the stage and played a set which ran to 1am. Could this be the latest they have ever played ? [Probably not. :-) - Trond] The set as I remember it was roughly as follows :

  1. Highway Star
  2. Black Night
  3. The Battle Rages On
  4. Woman from Tokyo
  5. Some new song (I think - didnt recognise it) [Perpendicular Waltz, most likely.]
  6. Perfect Strangers
  7. When a Blind Man Cries (Brilliant - definitely the highlight of the show)
  8. Pictures of Home Jon Lord Keyboard Solo
  9. Child in Time (Excellent)
  10. Anya Steve Morse Guitar Solo
  11. Lazy (With the opening played by Steve instead of Jon) Ian Paice Drum Solo
  12. Speed King

  13. Fireball (encore)
  14. Smoke on the Water (encore)

IAN GILLAN

What can I say, the man was awesome! He wore a black sleeveless T-shirt and black baggy tracksuit pants. Also his hair was very long, just like it used to be in his prime. He was sweating profusely within minutes and never stopped the whole show except during the solos and when he had an occasional sip of Heineken Lager back stage. Although he fluffed a few lyrics especially during Fireball, his vocals were stupendous and his screams during Child in Time were a definite highlight, even though some were assisted with a high note by Steve Morse!

JON LORD

I cant believe how old he looked, especially with the grey hair drawn back into a pony tail. He wore small round black glasses and at times during his solo he was battling to see his keyboards!

ROGER GLOVER

Wore jeans and non-descript shirt with a bandanna covering his head. Didnt participate very much although seemed to be enjoying himself tremendously. Very solid like Jon Lord.

IAN PAICE

Cant say much here except that his solo was excellent and obviously had problems with his drum kit as his drum tech kept changing bits of his kit all through the show, even in the middle of his solo!

STEVE MORSE

I thought he was brilliant and think hes the best thing to happen to DP in years !! He also seemed to be enjoying himself tremendously. He and Jon Lord had several good interplays and his soloing was amazing, especially during Child in Time and When a Blind Man Cries.

Overall Impressions - Definitely like Mark Davies said , one of the best weekends of my life. All I need now is to see Gary Moore, Jimi Page and Robert Plant and my life would be complete!!!

Off to Johannesburg this weekend to catch them again, I hope.

By the way, I managed to tape the Unplugged live show they had on radio if anyones interested.

Cheers,
Dereck

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