This has been one event which I have been waiting for quite some time now. I feel good for the fact that Deep Purple is performing right in the city within a month of my coming here. Yes, they are old, but neither am I young too. It had been my desire to watch them live and "Smoke on the Water" was probably one of the only few songs I used to know when I started listening to rock.The Bombardier arena, where the show was to happen, was around 2 kms from my apartment, so I just decided to walk down. The gates to the hall were supposed to open at 6:00PM. I started walking for the venue at 5:30PM and was at the arena around 6:00PM. Already, there was a long queue for entry. I initially felt that there won't be too many people since the tickets did not carry the seat numbers. But, I could see enough crowd at the entry point. The gates opened at 6:45 PM and people rushed inside to capture the best of positions. I choose a seat right on the 2nd row of the gallery, probably around 200 metres from the stage. The place is basically an indoor stadium and there was space for standing near the stage just ahead of the point where the gallery starts. I wanted to go and stand right next to the stage, but then I had my backpack on with camera and spares and so decided to remain seated and watch. Slowly the indoor stadium was full. It was 7:30PM when one of the headlining bands started to perform. The band name is called Eclipse (http://www.eclipsemania.com/) and they were not bad. They belted out 5 of their most popular numbers till 8:00PM. I liked one of their numbers, probably a very popular one - "How to mend a broken heart" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiIFFQfkVZg&feature=PlayList&p=137170F8AE7B43E8&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3).
At 8:15 PM, the next band, Everygrey (http://evergrey.net/) took over the stage. I have not heard of this band, but they seemed to be pretty popular in Sweden and I could see many of their fans shouting and cheering them. They performed on stage for around 45 minutes or so and there was no doubt they were good. I could see from their webpage that they are an old band and they have quite a few albums released over the years. They started with Fear (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1sjdA0vDU0&feature=PlayList&p=0BEBFE23739A56F7&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=12) and continued with another few numbers, two of which are Obedience (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilmOWjgtH-k) and A Touch of Blessing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNBJw6Dl5g0&feature=PlayList&p=41B4C6E25687AACD&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=20). The crowd liked them and their antics on stage... Now it was time for Purple to take over... The stage was cleared and the instruments were quickly arranged at the right places and Deep Purple stormed the stage at 9:15PM...
There was a huge applause and the atmosphere was electrifying as soon as Ian Gillan (vocals), Ian Paice (drummer), Don Airey (keyboardist), Steve Morse (lead guitar) and Roger Glover (bass guitar) took their positions on the stage and immediately got the rhythm of "Highway Star" underway. Thats it.. Thereafter, it was non-stop action with all their chart-busters being belted out one after the other. The next number was "Things I never said" and Ian Gillan was exceptional in the way he rendered the song. It was followed by "Strange kind of woman", "Rapture of the Deep", "Perfect Strangers", "Space Truckin" and many many more. In between there were several solo pieces on the keyboard, lead guitar and bass guitar. The crowd was on their toes all throughout. It was tough to imagine the energy of all the artists on stage who were probably 60+. Ian Paice on the drums was extraordinary with his speed and me being a small time slow paced 4-4 drummer myself, I realise that I would have to take a rebirth to play at his level. I was lucky to be right at the front to have a feel of the vocals, the music, the stage antics and everything. The sound was probably too loud and my ears are still heavy and whenever I speak on the phone, i can hear two sounds :) Par chalega, thats all part of the game...
The crowd was constantly cheering with their hands up in the air with every number and Steve Morse was trying his best to involve the crowd in singing by playing short lead pieces... The crowd erupted when Gillan started "Smoke on the Water" and there was a total frenzy... Everybody in the crowd tried to accompany Ian in singing and that was a scene to watch... I wanted to take lot of pictures, but in the beginning itself, I was told by one of the bouncers that SLRs are not allowed inside it seems, but then somehow I managed to click few photographs whenever the surrounding was total dark and the crowd was at their feet... I missed the long lens which could have made me take some close-up snaps...I think the best camera to have for these shows is the small digital pocket ones which has a good zoom, becos they are allowed inside... I thought "Smoke on the Water" was the last rendition as immediately afterwards, they all came towards the front of the stage, bowed to the crowd and started to go backstage... But they were back on stage in another 5 minutes and then it was time for "Hush"... It was already 11:00PM and they had performed for 1 hr and 45 minutes already... And they had the perfect ending for the night... "Black Night" which followed after "Hush"... That song was just awesome with some very good lead guitar interludes thrown in... Then, it was time for the final bow and the throwing of sticks and t-shirts and all...
Well, the local newspapers the next day did not carry a very positive article about the performance.. They felt that probably their stage presence, antics and energy and crowd interaction was not up to the mark, but then I feel that one should give them the benefit of their age... How many bands at that age can entertain a crowd like this... Overall, for me, the show was fabulous and it was a dream come true... Hail Deep Purple...
Hej da...
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