HEINEKEN MUSIC HALL, Amsterdam

Het optreden van Deep Purple, de eerste in ruim twee jaar op Nederlandse bodem, werd voorafgegaan door een half uurtje aanstekelijke groovy rock van de zuiderburen van Triggerfinger. Dit trio bestaat uit Ruben Block (gitaar, zang), Mario Goossens (drums) en Monsieur Paul (bas). Zij wisten het publiek in de uitverkochte Heineken Music Hall aardig te bespelen met invloeden van zowel Deep Purple als Black Sabbath en ZZ Top. Klokslag 21.00 uur was het zover: de zestigers Ian Paice, Roger Glover, Ian Gillan en Don Airey plus vijftiger Steve Morse betraden het podium en openden met Highway Star.

Ian Gillan, zoals altijd blootsvoets, deed het zonder teksten van papier en bleef gedurende de gehele show op het podium. Zijn stem was helder in het laag maar zijn uithoudingsvermogen en bereik bleken wel duidelijk minder geworden. Zijn stembanden erden zoveel mogelijk gespaard met instrumentale stukken als Wring That Neck, uitgebreide solo’s van Morse en Airey - die aardig wat kilogrammen was aangekomen - hier en daar wat langer dan gebruikelijk de vinnige duetten tussen Airey en Morse en niet te vergeten de langere intro’s. Opvallende nummers waren onder meer Things We Never Said, Wasted Sunsets, No One Came en The Battle Rages On. Uiteraard ontbraken de klassiekers Space Truckin’, Smoke On The Water, Hush en Black Night niet. Het laatste nummer werd gespeeld met gastgitarist Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule). Krap en uur en drie kwartier later was het weer gebeurd met ‘Deep Purple over Amsterdam’. Een degelijk concert, een mooie maar niet overdonderende lichtshow compleet met grote schermen, een schitterend geluid en een diepe buiging voor Steve Morse, de grote smaakmaker van de band. Zonder zijn imponerende fratsen op gitaar zou Deep Purple toch niet de status hebben kunnen behouden die het nog steeds heeft. Hopelijk volgende jaar een nieuw album en opnieuw een tour!

ENGLISH:

Although Deep Purple cannot be classified as a genuine prog  band, in my humble opinion they were and still are a source of inspiration to many musicians all over the world playing music that could be called 'progressive'. The band combined classical music with rock music, (re)defined hard rock and were undoubtedly the co-founders of what we call 'prog metal' today. Enough reasons for me to pay tribute to these Giants of Rock, performing on Dutch soil for the first time in two years.

Deep Purple was supported by Triggerfinger, a Belgian trio consisting of Ruben Block (guitar, vocal), Mario Goossens (drums) and 'Monsieur Paul' (bass). Triggerfinger already has several albums to their credit, but were obviously very satisfied to play in a big hall as the Heineken Music Hall. Block's hair of medium length was blocking his face on the right side - a bit like Phil Oakey of Human League. He used several guitars and sang his heart out. The trio played a nice set of about half an hour, filled with groovy rock songs in the vein of Black Sabbath, ZZ Top and Deep Purple. Triggerfinger gained the sympathy of the audience, shown by good rounds of applause after each song. For my taste they would have been welcome to play another fifteen minutes!

Exactly at 9 pm the dinosaurs of hard rock entered the stage, opening with Highway Star, immediately bringing all in the hall to ecstasy. I was surprised by the power of Gillan's voice but unfortunately it didn't last for very long. With the exception of Steve Morse (55 now), Ian Paice, Roger Glover, Ian Gillan and Don Airey are in their sixties and considering their demanding way of life, especially during the first 15-20 years of their career, it's no wonder time is taking its toll. Gillan, barefooted as usual tried to communicate with the audience frequently 'handing over' the microphone as an invitation to let the crowd sing, so that he wouldn't have to. The set that the band played wasn't very long (less than 1 3/4 hours including encores) and the set contained several songs with longer instrumental pieces and/or longer intros like in Rapture Of The Deep as well as extensive solos by Airey and Morse. An extra rest for Gillan's vocal chords was provided through Wring That Neck. Again Steve Morse proved to be one of the leading guitarists in the world of rock and Don Airey, who had gained quite a few pounds in weight, proved yet again to be an excellent replacement for founder member Jon Lord.

Next to the all time favorites like Space Truckin', Fireball, Smoke On The Water, Hush, Strange Kind Of Woman and Black Night, the unexpected songs were Things I Never Said from Rapture Of The Deep, Wasted Sunsets, No One Came and The Battle Rages On. Strangely enough 'just' four songs from the Steve Morse era, including Morse's solo. Still it was obvious that the band wouldn't have been able to maintain their popularity if they wouldn't have Steve Morse in their midst. Nice lighting but not an overwhelming spectacle, as always a superb sound, so in conclusion 'Purple over Amsterdam' was a success. They are still a great band and I hope they will be able to come up with a new album and tour again, but maybe Deep Purple would be smart enough to consider to tour less extensively, because I'm afraid Ian Gillan, skinny as he is, would not be able to keep up. I never understood why the band never chose to hire a singer or singers as background vocalists. Maybe it's about time they did...

Setlist:

Highway Star, Things I Never Said, Not Responsible, Strange Kind Of Woman, Wasted Sunsets, Rapture Of The Deep, Fireball, The Well Dressed Guitar, Wring That Neck, Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming, No One Came, The Battle Rages On, Space Truckin', Smoke On The Water.

Encores:

Hush, Black Night