Deep Purple - 08/31/14
Hard Rock Live!, Hollywood, FL
Media Type:

DVD

Media Count:

1

Notes:

AUD

Trades Allowed: Yes Traded From:

Reference #:

Generation:

0

Lists:
Owned by infected_by_sound · Last Updated May 23, 2023


Deep Purple 08/31/14
Hard Rock Live!, Hollywood, FL
Set I
Highway Star
Into the Fire
Hard Lovin' Man
Strange Kind of Woman
Vincent Price
Contact Lost
Uncommon Man
The Well-Dressed Guitar
The Mule
Lazy
Hell to Pay
Keyboard Solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin'

Encore:
Smoke on the Water
Green Onions
Hush
Bass Solo
Black Night
Set II
 
Set III
 
Comment
A Concert Review:
"Sound: Deep Purple is one of the founders of the heavy metal genre. Along with primarily Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they were musical trailblazers, creating a much harder rock sound than had previously been known. While their masterpieces are innumerable, they are best known for "Highway Star" and the song that contains many guitarists' first riff, "Smoke on the Water." Despite the fact that the band has remained active (they released an album in 2013), they have not remained popular. Chief among the reasons for their popularity decline are the departures of iconic guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and legendary keyboardist Jon Lord, which both occurred over a decade ago.

While Deep Purple does still field three original members, including lead singer Ian Gillan, I never thought I could like them without Lord and Blackmore. However, I must admit that my experience with Deep Purple is little; I only own two Deep Purple albums, "Machine Head" and "Made in Japan." For whatever reason, Deep Purple is one of those bands that I never heavily listened to that I feel I should have. So when I saw that they were touring in my area, I thought it would be a great experience to see why they are so highly esteemed.

By the time I sat in my seat, I was a little worried. Everyone in the crowd seemed to be at least twice my age. The only sign of youth was children who were obviously too young to have musical tastes apart from their parents'. Also, the concert was scheduled to start at 7:00, and it looked increasingly likely, as each minute went by, that there would be no opening act. My thought process was that if the concert were to start at 7:00, there would be little chance of it getting out past 9:00, which felt like a sort of early bird special. Despite the new album, had this band turned into a self-serving tribute?

When they took the stage after a blushful introduction by local resident (and Iron Maiden drummer) Nicko McBrain, Deep Purple didn't do much to assuage my fears.

To be honest, I had never seen modern pictures of the band. Maybe I should have seen it coming, but I was taken aback. Three of the five band members (Don Airey the keyboardist, Gillan, and Paice) seemed to have, from my vantage point, taken on a fair bit of weight. Meanwhile, the bassist, Glover, looked like a skeleton with his relatively tight clothing and bandana. And when Gillan joined the party onstage after a few moments, his plain white t-shirt and graying, close cut hair made me question if he was a rogue fan who had stormed the stage. Maybe my expectations were unrealistically high, but from a visual perspective, these were not the rock stars I had pictured.

Their first song, "Highway Star," did not leave me with a good musical impression either. As far as I could tell, the band made no mistakes or anything like that, but the song still felt cold. There was no energy compared to the studio version. They felt like a merely good local Deep Purple cover band.

After a sour first impression, something seemed to change. See, "Highway Star" is a straightforward hard rock song, allowing little room to veer from the established song structure lest it lose its effect. Once they started playing their more progressive, variable, subject to change material, my impression of the band shifted. Deep Purple began to extend songs into protracted jams. Steve Morse shredded like a power metal guitarist. Airey used a plethora of keyboard effects to keep his solo section fresh and exciting. Meanwhile, every so often, he would break into Lord-esque shredding rampages, albeit a bit more controlled. // 9

Perfomance: An unsung hero from the night was Deep Purple's light system, which they used much more effectively than most bands do. One of the fun light tricks Deep Purple employed was lighted drumsticks for Paice that he played during his drum solo with the arena pitch black. Because of his speed, it looked like the drumsticks were running in streaks across his drum set.

Maybe it was just the nature of the songs, but Don Airey opened up as the night wore on. He would solo for longer and longer and get more and more mesmerizing. His crowning moment was the solo (when no one else played). Instead of being all showy with his solo by moving his fingers at a million miles an hour, as many musicians do, he constructed a fantastic piece, using all the effects, skill, and taste available to him.

The further the concert went on, the more I wanted to hear. Usually, when I see a jam band, they overstay their welcome. By the time they realize that they should end a song, I am bored beyond belief because they just do not know when enough is enough. I felt exactly the opposite with Deep Purple. It seemed no matter how long they carried on, they never failed to amaze. This truly unique and awesome band was no mere tribute act. These guys were definitely worth seeing on their own, even if they didn't have the Deep Purple name and catalog.

By the time they played "Smoke on the Water" to close their set, I was enthralled. Never had my impression of a band swung so much in the span of two hours. At that point, all I could think about was how the crowd sang the chorus (when told by Gillan) louder and clearer than any crowd had at any concert I had ever been to. // 7

Overall Impression: In conclusion, Deep Purple is still absolutely a band worth watching if they come to your area. What they lack in youthful grit and drive, they more than make up for in finesse, control, and taste. Heck, even Ian Gillan's voice is pretty good after all these years. My favorite song from the night was, to my surprise, "Vincent Price," which is a keyboard based song from Deep Purple's latest album "Now What?!"

This concert took place at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, FL, USA on August 31, 2014. "
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