Perfect Strangers

Deep Purple
Cincinatti
May 9, 1987

01. Highway Star
02. Strange Kind Of Woman
03. The Unwritten Law
04. Dead Or Alive
05. Perfect Strangers
06. Hard Loving Woman
07. Bad Attitude
08. Child In Time
09. Difficult To Cure
10. Knocking At Your Backdoor
11. Lazy
12. Space Truckin'
13. Smoke On the Water

Deep Purple reigns again at Coliseum

Just when it looked like Prince pretty well had cornered the purple market, along comes Deep Purple - again.
Thundering out of the past like one of those Motor City muscle cars of the late-60's, the reunited British quintet - among the most successful and enduring hard rock bands of that era - demonstrated Wednesday night at the Coliseum that another purple reign may be under way (especially considering the band has just signed a four-album deal with Mercury Records).
Combining the dynamic - at times, almost hysterical - vocals of Ian Gillan and the absolutely electrifying guitar work of Ritchie Blackmore with equally impressive performances by bassist Roger Glover, drummer Ian Paice and keyboardist Jon Lord, the line-up put together a nearly two-hour set that was all the sell-out crowd of about 10,000 in theater setting could have hoped for.
And that was a lot. (Deep Purple advocates aren't exactly laid back, as evidenced by the fact that the band's fan club remained in existence while the band was not.)
Now recording and touring together for the first time since 1973, the band in concert hasn't changed much from its Machine Head LP days.
Its almost casual presence - only Gillan shows much emotion - contrasts sharply with the ear-searing decibels that were once the loudest (and still may be) in all of rock 'n' roll.
The music itself remains somewhat of a contrast, too - hot and loud, yet somehow hypnotic.
Only the special effects, especially some exotic laser cartoons, created on a screen behind the performers and which included Ludwig van Beethoven conducting the band, really separated Wednesday's show from Deep Purple's top concert efforts of the past.
Acknowledging applause with an exaggerated "THANK YOOO! THANK YOOOO VERY MUCH!" and some wicked snickering, Gillan, dressed in black leather vest and pants, led the group through the anticipated repertoire that included particularly fine versions of such oldies as Space Truckin', Woman From Tokyo and Smoke on the Water, as well as the title track from its new Perfect Strangers LP and the Knocking at Your Back Door single.
Even the obligatory instrumental solos - often the doldrums of such shows - were terrific.
If there was a problem with the performance, it was Gillan's between-tune comments, which may have been interesting. But, besides his British accent, they were spoken too softly to be understood, particularly a lengthy one preceding Perfect Strangers that apparently had some significance.
But who cares? The music was easy to understand.




Thanx to blackmore7777fan for the ticket stub! Lucky sod..

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Music

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• 1987