|
DPAS
LIVE REVIEWS 18 years to the day after Knebworth I was surprised by how much of the set was still same. This was a classic song feast with a couple of new tracks (sounding very commercial), and a welcome surprise in I'm Alone. I was dissapointed that there was nothing off Purpendicular or Abandon. And I think it's about time to drop 'Smoke..' from the set. As for Black Night, the guys are just going through the motions with these songs. Surprise us by sticking in something like Strangeways, No No No or Smooth Dancer. Bring back Fools and The Mule.
The NEC is a barn, with £6 to park your car after £3 booking fee on every single ticket. Please play somewhere more 'customer friendly' next time you are in the middle of the country. review: Kevin, photo: Michael Richards
review: Rob Walton, scan: Tonny Steenhagen
Ive never been so bored at a gig in my life. Skynyrd blew them off stage. No passion or enthusiasm from Purple. A struggling vocal performance and a vocalist that spends more time behind the stage than in front of the crowd. Following Smoke on the Water the exodus of people proved a point. A very poor effort from a group that should know better, you can't fool a live audience, they didn't want to be there and we knew it!! review: Dave Whittle, Birmingham
Deep Purple vs Whitesnake In the last month I have seen my 2 all time favourite bands, Deep Purple and Whitesnake. Overall I can say that Purple were far the better of the two in terms of sound quality, song selection, and value for money. Deep Purple had a packed house at the NEC last night, and by the looks of the audience that seemed to be a cross section of old timers and young scallywags. They kicked off with Highway Star, followed by the excellent Mary Long. With I'm Alone and Pictures of Home they certainly varied the set again, which is one of the reasons why I have been impressed with them over recent years.
In comparison to Whitesnake_ there isnt one Im sorry to say. They were opposite to my comments on Deep Purple. To be kind their sound, song selection and value for money were second rate. Now, I am not biased one way or the other but as a mad Deep Purple and Whitesnake fan I know who won this match. Overall, I'm looking foward to the new album "Bananas" and also to next year's tour. Thanks guys. review: David Rana, Leicester, photo: Tonny Steenhagen
Oh dear, the tin shed again! Still, at least Deep Purple are here again, and, as always, I'm there to greet them. First though, I had to endure The Darkness..... I'd love to find some true up & coming talent to devote my time and money on, but the helium fuelled histrionics of the vocalist means that it won't be them. Then came Skynyrd. If I had a pound for every "Birm-ing-harm, England" comment I'd have left the NEC a rich man. I'm sorry, but they do nothing for me. Even the encore of Freebird just made me wish I was back in the Coach & Eight Pub in Durham, listening to local band Mynd doing it bigger, better & musically more adept. (That's Durham circa 1976!) Anyway, on came Purple with the opener Highway Star - fluent & fun filled as ever. Then I'm Alone - what a delight to here this overlooked gem. The rest of the set was the usual best of - all done so tight, & Steve Morse is just sheer genius. No drum solo (?), but then the set was so free flowing, perhaps this was the right decision. The two new tracks? Weeellll, Haunted is a definite YES, I Got Your Number I think will be a grower, but didn't hit the spot immediately. All in all, yet another great Purple night, with hints that the next tour to promote Bananas will actually begin to see more new music filtering into the set. But, please, why can we not have more Ted.., Aviator, Sometimes I feel....Etc. Any fule kno that we love the classics, but Purpendicular & Abandon are classics in their own right too. Roll on the next tour - minor set list criticisms aside, there is simply no other band out there that can match Purple's energy, fun & musical ability. See you next time! review: Tom Dixon
Deep
Purple had trouble following that, and never got the crowd behind them...
mine was a desolate arm raised in the surrounding wilderness (middle
block on the flat). The side seats had even gone back to sitting down.
Why stick to the same old classics, in exactly the same way as last
year? Steve was too loud in the mix, drowning out Ian at times, and
Don was too low (the band didn't sound nearly as good as usual). Whoever
was in charge of bringing in Ian's mike after solos needs shooting,
as the first words each time were missed! The guys worked hard as usual,
but it was lacking spontaneity, and was embarassing when all around
were leaving before the end of Black Night.
Shoot The Soundmen Where to begin.... Lynyrd Skynyrd I must say were fantastic and the sound was excellent; slight distortion but not bad. I knew at that moment that Deep Purple were going to have to produce something special to beat them. As I have followed them since 1976 when at the age of 14 I was introduced to heavy rock, I thought 'no problem'. But I was mistaken, the sound to be honest was 'bloody awful' to the extent that I am ashamed to say I left after Smoke On The Water. After eleven times seeing Purple, something I have never done at any concert in my life. The bass, guitar and keyboards were wound up so much that the noise was embarrassing. Not the guys' fault at all, they were playing superbly, it was the sound engineers who should have been shot. I was annoyed because I have never seen a couple of songs, such as "Mary Long", performed live before. I was even more embarrassed as I had taken a friend who had never seen Purple before and wanted to go after all the good things I kept telling him about their concerts. A message to the band. Get the guys back who did the sound in September last year and shoot this lot at dawn! review: Ashley Cobb - Gloucester (still a devoted fan)
18th Anniversary of Knebworth - In The Absence Of Purple Well that was average wasn't it ? I hate to admit it but Skynyrd blew Purple off the stage at Birmingham, mainly due to the fact that they looked and sounded like they actually meant it. You could imagine them coming offstage, cracking open a dozen bottles of Wild Turkey and partying 'til security threw them out. I imagined Purple saying a polite good night to each other, stamping their cards at the clocking off machine and going home for a bit of telly and a lie down. After such a great response for (and from) Skynyrd it was disheartening to see a half-hearted effort on stage receive a quarter-hearted response from the audience. They sounded tired and uninspiring to me, even Speed King failed to catch fire properly, best effort of the night was a short and snappy Space Truckin'.
I'm Alone was an interesting choice but there are much better obscure songs that could be attempted (Flight Of The Rat anyone ?). Presentation-wise, I think that they need to sack their lighting crew ! Now, I'm not an arty type, but this is just something that I noticed. Skynyrd (sorry to keep using that word) had a simple, effective backdrop with lots of strong coloured lighting effects including loads of red, yellow and orange giving quite an intimate effect in a huge shed. Purple had no backdrop (just the logo that they've been using on the tour ads would have done), cheesy disco effects, side spots that lit up huge chunks of the ugly venue on either side, Big Ian in shadow most of the time (when he was there) and far too much white and pastel coloured lights which all added up to a cold and detached kind of effect. Also, please bring the lasers back for Perfect Strangers - I know they were a bit naff but didn't we all love 'em....go on admit it ! I think they were using 40 watt bulbs with sweet papers stuck on tonight. It's upsetting to go and see my favourite band and find so much to criticise as well as having to admit that a bunch of God bothering ("Lynyrd Skynyrd love you, God loves you" eh?!?), rednecks were the better band on the night. Were there any good points? Of course there were - Steve seems to have dropped quite a lot of the widdly widdly stuff, Don's fitting in well (maybe a bit of a rethink on the solo though), Big Ian was on form vocally, a good sound for a poxy venue, the t-shirts haven't broke the 20 quid barrier yet (22 quid at Neil Young a few weeks ago), Haunted sounded promising, and of course the one thing that has remained consistently brilliant and never done a damn thing wrong since 1968......Ian Paice ......oh, go on, give him his solo back......come to think of it he could do it in The Mule on the next tour......which would segue into Rat Bat Blue ......and then Living Wreck......and then Nobody's Home......and then...oh forget it. Come on lads, you're the best band on the planet - prove it ! review: Colin Kendall, photo: Michael Richards
Just like meeting old friends really........ Following on from Wembley Arena (which has really got to be no more than a crappy cattle shed), the Purple machine hit the NEC shed.....and what a stormer it was! Both support acts were great, and you just watch The Darkness go from strength to strength, even though Justin's vocals could be observed as an acquired taste.
All too soon, the show ended, and it was time to pootle on home, but not before sharing smiles and recollections with familiar faces from last year's mammoth trek around the UK........ Just like meeting old friends really. review: Craig Storey, photo: Michael Richards
Just been to see Purple at the NEC and thought I'd give a review, well, it will probably, no it will be the last time I see them in concert. Not because they were bad because they weren't. In fact I thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening. From the Darkness, who musically weren't too bad_ but the falsetto vocals did have me laughing. Lynyrd Skynyrd, who I'd never seen live before impressed me greatly and I felt that Deep Purple had a long way to go to beat that performance. In my opinion, beat it they did, from the stunning opener Highway Star to the very close with Space Truckin'. But
my gripe: the show has become very safe, ok, musically perfect (in the
case of Steve Morse almost mechanical), and the band certainly seem
to be enjoying themselves, but I don't feel it's enough. I have been
a Purple fan for more years than I care to remember and think its about
time they played more from Purpendicular and Abandon. It's now like
going to see a comedian and hearing the same jokes. I'm Alone
should not be on the set list. I didn't like it the first time I heard
it and still don't. The two new songs were not that impressive but will
grow on me. From where we sat in Block 3 the sound appeared to be good.
I could even hear the vocals, which is unusual for me at other Purple
gigs Maybe they are scared to let go of the past but for me the sooner the better. One last word on the merchandise, I always buy a programme, but £10 for a programme that contains some of the same articles as the last one is beyond a joke and three programmes all at £10 come on! One Skynyrd and two Purple_ and to suggest that the last tour programme was a collectors item because it had Jon Lord in it well! review: Paul Johnson, Grantham, photo: Michael Richards
So, when Deep Purple came on we were hoping for someone to take the reins and steer us through the set. We're still waiting. The sound was highly distorted which didn't help and took the edge off the more popular numbers. I'm sure they let the music do the talking and I thought their choice of set was varied and appropriate. Yet it did not build to any obvious crescendo, evidenced by the number of people who left before the encores began. The Darkness made me think, Lynyrd Skynyrd belted it out, and Deep Purple played. I just walked away feeling underwhelmed. You have way more in you yet. Lets see it! review: Peter Hanson, photo: Michael Richards |
So,
everybody happy then? Well…apparently not. Least the band themselves.
In both London & Birmingham only “Smoke’ managed to get the whole audience
on their feet. When I spoke to Don after the show in London he mentioned
that the lack of audience response had been a concern for the band.
When I asked Roger the next night about the lukewarm response at both
shows and asked how to describe the audience, his word was “old!’ Did
Skynyrd use up all the energy of the ‘ageing’ audience? Was the show
too long? (Purple’s 1 ½ hour set definitely wasn’t). Unlike Skynyrd’s
frontman, Ian Gillan didn’t seem very talkative both nights and didn’t
stir the audience lots neither. Which left the music to do the communication;
not a bad thing in itself. However, the fact that the communication
wasn’t quite there maybe means everybody is just getting tired of the
same old songs??? 
