O2 Arena London, 6th November 2024
Rockers of a certain vintage have usually retired or pop up for a few dates here and there to honour their legacy. Deep Purple, however, are showing no signs of slowing down. Their previous album Whoosh!, has been cited as one of their best albums in years and their current release =1, has also been widely acclaimed.
After heralding their appearance with Gustav Holst's ‘Mars The Bringer of War', opening salvo 'Highway Star' gives the crowd a favourite from the back catalogue before moving seamlessly into a new track, ‘Bit on the Side’. It has the sort of groove that could have come straight out of the '70s. Speaking of which, ‘Into the Fire’ returns us to Purple’s classic period. While Gillian’s trademark screams are sadly no more and his ‘ Child in Time’ days are behind him (c'mon he is nearly 80 and his register is lower these days) he can still yell a bit. We're only a few songs in and these guys were not just impressively good, they were outstanding.
The instrumentals (one guitar and two keyboard) are dazzling too. Newbie, Simon McBride is first up to show off his heavy and fast fretwork. He even drops a bit of Metallic’s ‘Enter Sandman’ into his riffs for good measure and proof of Purple’s enduring legacy in rock and metal. Don Airey’s solo sections switch from prog to jazz, blues and classical. His masterful keyboard wizardry is always joyous to behold.
‘Uncommon Man’ is dedicated to the late Jon Lord, who is always with them in spirit on the road. Roger Glover and Ian Paice are no slackers either. Glover bobs around the stage while Paice hammers the drum kit with superhuman zeal.
‘When A Blind Man Cries’ from ‘Machine Head’ is an unexpected pause in the full-scale rockouts. Gillian sings the track with poise and emotion than he's done before, but then a lot of water is under the bridge since the song was released in 1972.
Back to the up-tempo fusion grooves, ‘Portable Door’ injects more typical humour into the set. After another epic keyboard solo the set round off with a wild version of ‘Space Trucking’ and the iconic ‘Smoke on the Water’- complete with an audience sing a long, rounds off an incendiary show.
Despite calling this tour =1 More Time, the band have made it quite clear that this won't be the last time we see them on the stage, which is terrific news: Deep Purple are still writing great music, and still putting on outstanding live shows. It might be a different story off-stage, but for two hours, age is just a number. A three-song encore including 'Hush' and 'Black Kight' leaves the night on a high and with the current line-up these legendary rockers blow the bloody roof off!
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