Deep Purple at Wembley Arena 28th April 07

 

 

Well I am indeed very lucky to live less than 2 miles from Britain's main sporting venue, namely Wembley Stadium, and especially lucky because the complex still contains one of our largest (but not the most popular) music venues,  namely Wembley Arena!  No excuse then to miss one of my top favourite bands-of-all-time namely DP!

 

I managed to find the aforementioned venue (had a lick of paint since I was last here)  nestling amongst ongoing building/demolition work and lying in the shadow of the huge Wembley Stadium Arch, I was greeted by some orange-clad security staff and made my way in to the sound of Thin Lizzy and the pungent aroma of hot-dogs......

 

Both support bands, Thin Lizzy and Styx, were very warmly received by the crowd, the reformed Lizzy, including John Sykes and Scott Gorham, ran through many of the band's early hits and a warmly received tribute to Phil, and as i was always mostly partial to the John Sykes era of the group  I especially enjoyed Cold Sweat.    Styx is a band i hardly know, though they made a big impression on the audience, especially after a rousing version of I Am The Walrus!

 

At last the main event - DP  kick off with Pictures of Home, then after Ian Gillan managed to remove the "orange side-show" (stewards) that was cluttering up the front of the stage we were underway!  Many of the songs in the set were from their early albums especially Machine Head and title track from Fireball, Into The Fire from In Rock, a couple of songs from the new album Rapture of the Deep and a fine rendition of The Battle Rages On.  The sound was very clean for a live show, and the precision lighting effects were exceptionally bright and sparkly - glad i brought my shades ....

 

There were some fine solos from Steve Morse, Ian Paice and new boy Don Airy was very much at home in his new role, including teasing us with the intro to Perfect Strangers. Two screens allowed those far from the stage to see some details of the band members, though introducing in writing some of the most well known songs such as Lazy, Space Truckin, Highway Star and Smoke on the screens must have been part of a "Deep Purple for Beginners" program - surely even the most remote citizens of earth know these songs? But who was the mystery guitarist accompanying Steve on Smoke?  The band were now firing on all cylinders after a cool start, and the  packed house of young and old fans were rockin!  They had a lot of fun putting together the screen presentation for Smoke - photos of Frank Zappa, water, fire , and - you guessed it - smoke!  Part of the Beginners Guide..?

 

What DP show would be a show without Strange Kind of Woman - not the lengthy interchange of old, but still tight and powerful, and a bass solo by Roger Glover turned into Black Night to thunderous applause. Overall a great night and a great party - the band looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves and I did love hearing many of the old songs played with such enthusiasm by the band!

 

A fantastic rock show, DP still in my favourite top 3 bands, but are they still the loudest band in the world? I don't think so,  my ears had already stopped ringing by the time I got to the bus stop....