Home » Arts & Life » Smoke on the water, Deep Purple in the sky

Smoke on the water, Deep Purple in the sky

February 15, 2012
By Robert Johnson

 

Performance 4/5
Openers 4/5
Setlist 5/5
Crowd 5/5
Worth the Cash 3/5

At the John Labatt Centre on Saturday night, the object of love was the music provided by Deep Purple.

Hamilton’s Monster Truck got the evening started and featured a lead guitarist with so much energy the rest of the group let him take half the stage for himself.

What followed was exactly 110 minutes—including encore—of solid performance by Deep Purple, starting their set with the fast-paced “Highway Star.” A wide demographic, including a gentleman with a cane and some kids barely into their teens, was treated to songs from the early band configurations up to the present one.

The concert continued with lead singer Ian Gillan, who managed with a camouflaged walking cast on his right foot. He mentioned their new album has yet to be released as a way of explaining why none of those tracks were included in the set. Steve Morse, lead guitarist, set the tone very early and established his credentials doing some flashy stuff on “Too Much Is Not Enough.”

Throughout the evening, each member wound up performing a solo, plus a duet between bass player Roger Glover and drummer Ian Paice—the only founding member to have played non-stop with the group. Over the years, Deep Purple has included a total of 14 musicians, and the 17 songs played showed the successful evolution of the band.

Keyboardist Don Airey’s solo even included a snippet from Mozart’s “Piano Concerto in C.” Many of the tunes finished with a big swath of the audience on their feet, clapping and whistling, peaking at “Smoke on the Water” with backing vocals by the attendees.

With the JLC being primarily a hockey rink, sound quality was as good as could be expected. That condition was made up for by a very attentive staff who kept things running smoothly when, for example, one concert-goer passed out and had to be helped from their seat.

Deep Purple’s staying power can be attributed to a core sound in the custody of the keyboardist and lead guitarist—the very recognizable ‘clipped’ Ritchie Blackmore style, as well as the sharing-of-the-spotlight strategy. This thread of consistency and continuity was easily identifiable at their show on Saturday night.

 

Follow the Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.