Deep Purple – NIA, Birmingham – 15th October 2013

Tonight started with the support act – Rockbox.  My first reaction was certainly one of surprise as the first member of the band came out with a large Sousaphone, and was closely followed by a singer with a megaphone, a guitarist and two drummers carrying their drums.  Apart from the singer, the rest of the band were in red school uniforms (like ACDC guitarist Angus Young). At this stage I wasn’t expecting great things, but I was in for a pleasant surprise.  They are a covers band, and despite the unusual lineup of instruments were actually very good, and they were great fun to watch.  Their choice of covers was quite varied, but were well chosen to appeal to the age group that made up a large part of the audience.  A very enjoyable set from this unusual band.

Setlist:

Born to be wild
You really got me
You shook me all night long
Pinball wizard
Paranoid
Ziggy Stardust
Back in the USSR
School’s out
TNT
Ace of Spades

Next up were tonight’s headliners, Deep Purple.  Tonight’s set kicked off with “Après Vous”, from the latest album (Now what), the first of four tracks from the album to be played tonight.  Rather than blasting through song after song, Deep Purple make each song into an extended version with long instrumental sections and solos while Ian Gillan takes a break.  While the musicianship on show is top quality it does soon start to feel that the instrumental sections are there purely to give Ian Gillan a break from singing.  When he does sing he still sounds great, but it’s very noticeable that he spends more time not singing than actually singing.
As a result the set does lack pace till near the end when they wheel out some hard rock classics – “Perfect strangers” followed by “Space Truckin” and ending with “Smoke on the water”.

The inevitable encore kicks off with a short version of “Going down” before moving into “Hush” and then ending the night with a Bass solo that led straight into “Black night”.

If you come to a Deep Purple gig expecting them to be the hard rocking band they were at the time of the Machine Head album then you’re going to be disappointed, but if you like the slower paced material on their recent albums then you’re likely to love their live shows.  The solos are all superb – whether it’s Ian Paice with his drum solo that includes a section in the dark with only LED tipped drumsticks tracing patterns of light to show his movements, or Don Aireys keyboard solo that jumps from one style to another seamlessly with a superb mix of musical styles, or Steve Morse’s excellent guitar solo, or Roger Glover with his very good bass solo – these guys are world class musicians.  For me this was a great night, with the only disappointment being the long breaks Ian Gillan seems to need these days.

Deep Purple setlist:

Après Vous
Into the Fire
Hard Lovin’ Man
Vincent Price
Strange Kind of Woman
Contact Lost
Guitar Solo
Uncommon Man
The Well-Dressed Guitar
The Mule (including Drum Solo)
Above and Beyond
Lazy
Hell to Pay
Keyboard Solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Smoke on the Water

Encore:
Going Down (Moloch cover)
Hush (Billy Joe Royal cover)
Bass Solo
Black Night