Russian National TV news showed the band landing at Rostov in a jet bearing an enormous "Deep Purple" inscription on the side, reminding fans of the Starship from the 1974 US tour (the jet is chartered for the whole Russian tour by the way!).The band were welcomed with true South Russian hospitality, including a banquet complete with loads of caviar and a couple of enormous sturgeons. Yum. Russian TV also reported that a Georgian fan made the trip to Rostov especially to present Ian Gillan with a photo of Ian's 1990 wedding ceremony (wearing Georgian national dress) in Tbilisi. Having caused comment throughout the tour by performing barefoot, Ian Gillan removed his socks during the press conference, declaring that this is a time for "socks, drugs & rock & roll". (hope it doesn't give the merchandise team ideas..)

A few Russian celebrities, including Gennady Troshev (Commander of the North-Caucasian Military District), were noticed in the hall during the actual show. Despite extra security the gig was reported to be fabulous.The set list was unchanged from previous shows on the tour.

 AG / www.deep-purple.ru

The same set list and the same timing, at around 2 hours & 5/10 minutes. The crowd were estimated at 17,000, and the venue was completely packed out. There were no spare tickets at the entrance before the show.

People came from hundreds of miles around, mostly from the surrounding regions. A lot of merchandise was sold, and about a third of the audience ended up wearing shirts and bandannas bearing the DP logo. The venue was an all-seater, but from the very start of the gig people were standing and dancing in every part of the hall. Lighters were lit for every slow tune. A girl from the first row was let on stage and danced with Big Ian. After Deep Purple had finished the main set with Speed King the crowd entertained themselves by loudly singing Smoke On The Water, before going mad when the band came back on stage. According to www.deep-purple.ru's Samara correspondents the night after the gig all the bars in the city were full of people in DP garb and DJs were only being requested to play DP numbers!

Samara's media annonced the day after that Deep Purple's management had already discussed a return trip in 2004, covering all of the country - from Vladivostok to St.Petersburg. As the band would be performing across 11 time zones that would be another Guinness record. The most surprising thing is that Roger Glover comfirmed this intention when I asked him about it at their departure from Moscow to Kharkov!     AG

Same set list as per the previous dates. Some people noticed overloading on the bass on the first two numbers before the sound balanced out perfectly....not too loud, just comfortable, with every note clearly heard.

Our correspondents report that Gillan's comments were similar to other dates, but this time Hush was announced as having been written "300 years ago". Opinions differ regarding Don's performance, but everybody was pleased with his soloing and good attitude. Child In Time was once again a real highlight, causing a lot of lighter fuel to be used up by the audience!

Highlights: Glover & Paicey's solos, Steve's guitar parade (featuring Sabbath, Led Zep, Van Halen and more..). Best performances of the gig - Fools, Perfect Strangers, and When A Blind Man Cries. The last one was particularly emotive. The small size of the venue meant that the band were performing up close and personal to the crowd, which created an intimate atmosphere despite some security abuses.   AG

Thanks to the correspondents at www.deep-purple.ru..