The band are back on the road for a batch of European shows, which kicked off at the National Stadium in Bucharest, Romania on October 31st. There are galleries of photos from the show at www.metalhead.ro:80 and www.carteadenisip.ro:80 (in the 'galerie foto').


thanks to Danut Ivanescu / HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE, and Emil Ionescu from METALHEAD.ro

"On this tour Deep Purple seem to be playing every Balkan country except for Greece. So, I decided to take a little trip to Bulgaria to see them for my seventh time. The first thing that I noticed is that Bulgarians are crazy! The crowd was something between 8,000-10,000 in a really overcrowded venue! I was informed that the band had not played there since 1997, then it all made sense.

A Bulgarian band called something like Councouret (please somebody correct me here!) opened the show. Judging from people's reactions they are well known, and have had a couple of hits in Bulgaria. Their music was interesting but the language made it a little weird. Deep Purple, were exceptional as usual. And I dare to say that this concert was the best one I have ever seen. The set list was quite like the American one:

1. Pictures of Home 2. Things I Never Said 3. Into the Fire 4. Strange Kind of Woman 5. Rapture of the Deep 6. Woman From Tokyo 7. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye 8. Contact Lost 9. Steve Morse solo 10. Well Dressed Guitar 11. Knocking At Your Back Door 12. Lazy 13. Don Airey solo 14. Perfect Strangers 15. Space Truckin' 16. Highway Star 17. Smoke on the Water. Encores: 18. Hush 19. Black Night.

Gillan's voice was ashtonishingly good, and in Perfect Strangers and Highway Star he delivered especially great performances! Morse is the (not so...) new star of the band. His ablities have no limits and he proves it every night. I really enjoyed the solo in Highway Star, where he added some notes from Beethoven's Ninth (at least I think it was the ninth!) Airey is now very comfortable and he can fill Lord's shoes very very well. His solos reminded me of Jon's but less so than in the past. Having seen him in his first tour with the band and other times after that as well, I can say that he fits in better than ever! The best part of the show for me was Knocking At Your Back Door. It was the first time I'd seen it live and I hope that it will never be omitted again. And the show's duration? Around two hours, whereas they struggled to play an hour and a half the previous times I saw them!

Complaints? Well, I was hoping to hear The Battle Rages On but sadly didn't. I would like them to play more less obvious choices (Into The Fire was great but not enough!) such as Fools, Mary Long, Ted The Mechanic or Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming, or something from Bananas (which I love), but let's stop complaining... The Rapture songs sound perfect live, especially Kiss Tomorrow Good-bye which is my personal favourite of the album!

A big thank you to Deep Purple... until next time!" review: Panos Papapanagou. [Click the photo to see a full gallery from Sofia].

"The show was awesome, as we have come to expect. The setlist was nothing new, mirroring the Sofia show. It was very interesting, though. The normally engaging Gillan said nothing to the crowd for the entire show--and I mean nothing. His voice was great. He performed consistently and with emotion. The band played wonderfully well behind him. However, it was unusual to not even hear a "hello" or "thank you" from the frontman. Additionally, fans were 'pat down' searched from head to toe before entering the arena, which I also found odd.

Anyway, it was a great show, with an incredibly enthusiastic crowd. We traveled from the US and it was amazing to experience the enthusiasm of the Bosnian crowd. Participating in the Black Night chant with a group of locals walking back to downtown Sarajevo after the show was priceless. Thank you to Deep Purple for performing in such a unique environment, that provided us with such a unique experience."

review: Craig Neely, Emmaus, PA, USA

"Here's the set list from Budapest show. The Hammond sound was out of this world, as was the bass and drums. Steve was a little low in the mix but played a blinder, Mr Gillan was in fine form with a few great screams. Best show I've seen in a long time." Ian Clements

Pictures of Home / Things I Never Said / Into the Fire / Strange Kind of Woman / Rapture of the Deep / Mary Long / Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye / Contact Lost / Guitar Parade ~ Well Dressed Guitar / The Battle Rages On / Keyboard solo ~ Lazy / Perfect Strangers / Space Truckin' / Highway Star / Guitar intro of Yellow Rose of Texas ~ Smoke on the Water / Hush / Bass solo ~ Black Night ~ Drum solo.

"The support act played for around 45 minutes to a crowd of 5 to 6,000. They were a local band called Vollgas, with a singer whose vocal abilities came close to David Coverdale`s in his prime.

And then the big five started with a heavy rendition of "Pictures Of Home" followed by "Things I Never Said", before the first highlight thundered through the hall : "Into the Fire". I have seldom heard the boys play that heavy, Ian`s voice full of energy, and the higher screams were all there. For "Rapture Of The Deep" we were introduced to a female violin player, who was invited to play along on the song and then later for an absolutely fantastic encore; that girl was a cute blonde in tight black jeans (cough.... err, not that I mind personally, but we're getting away from the subject here Erik..). After the song ended Ian Gillan said "She is good, but I am better". There were many highlights to follow; A very dark "The Battle Rages On", a loose "Mary Long" , a fantastic Morse solo spot , a long missed "Perfect Strangers" and a almost classical "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye".

The encore presented us with a shortish solo for Mr Paice and an intro-spot to "Black Night" by Mr Roger Glover before the song fired on high levels. As a surprise the blonde violin girl showed up again for a duet with Steve Morse in the middle of the song which was driven by heavy and jazzy licks traded between the two of them before they came together for an almost erotic finale....... (yowzah..). They clocked in exactly t wo hours playing time and left behind an exhausted and happy crowd. Just to say : Big Purple Five, we love you."

Setlist :
Pictures of Home / Things I Never Said / Into the Fire / Strange Kind of Woman / Rapture of the Deep (with violin girl) / Mary Long / Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye / Steve Morse solo / Well Dressed Guitar / The Battle Rages On / Lazy / Don Airey solo / Perfect Strangers / Space Truckin`/ Highway Star / Smoke on the Water - Encore : Hush - Drums - Hush / Bass - Black Night - Guitar Violin Duet - Black Night

review: Dr Erik Höller, photos: Peter Pilz

Set list:
Pictures of home / Things I've never said / Into the fire / Strange Kind of woman / Rapture of the Deep / Mary Long / Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye / Contact Lost / Guitar Solo - Guitar Parade / Well Dressed Guitar / The Battle Rages On / Lazy / LOOSEN MY STRINGS / Keyboard Solo / Perfect Strangers / Space Truckin' / Highway Star / Smoke on the water . Encore: Speed King + Drum solo / Hush / Black Night + Bass Solo.

Luca Bariffi

Set list :
1. Pictures of Home (with a part of Child In Time solo) 2. Things I Never Said 3. Into the Fire 4. Strange Kind of Woman 5. Rapture of the Deep 6. Mary Long 7. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye 8. Contact Lost / Steve Morse Solo 9. The Well-Dressed Guitar 10. The Battle Rages On 11. Lazy 12. Loosen My Strings 13. Don Airey Keyboard Solo 14. Perfect Strangers 15. Space Trucking 16. Highway Star 17. Smoke On The Water - Encores : Alouette, Gentille Alouette! 18. Hush (with Ian Paice Drum Solo) 19. (Roger Glover Solo) Black Night

"A wonderful evening, two hours of happiness! Paice began the show with the superb intro of Pictures of Home. It was a wonderful surprise to hear a part of Child in Time, The Battle Rages On and especially Loosen My Strings which I love! (but I had the impression they were not totally on form for this song...) The audience seemed to enjoy the show. Thank you Purple! See you soon!" set list and review: Adrien Rouyer

"Very nice show, but nothing really special. Ian wasn’t at his best and Steve had some technical troubles with his guitars… I particularly loved Mary Long (very nice solo from Steve), a very impressive The Battle Rages On and Loosen My Strings was a nice addition to the set-list for fans like us… but I don’t think the song will survive on stage after the last date in Besançon. Sadly no Speed king thought the audience was very hot yesterday !!!  Very cool after-show too where the band received an “award” for the 100 000 (and maybe more ?!? ) tickets sold here in France in 2007 (they did more than 40 dates in 2007 !!)…"

review and photo: Lylian Pothron
(click here see a full gallery from the show)

"Under the circumstances that Roger had a lot of pain in his chest, and Ian had pain in his hip, they played very well. The setlist is a good balance between old and new / high and low tempo. I know that there are always complaints about the setlist, and even I would like to be more surpised occasionally, especially when you see a couple of shows in a row. Talking about it with the band they say that they know about the reactions but that they are not a requests band.

Gillan really stretched out in Into the Fire in a way that only he can. Paicey hit the drums so hard sometimes, especially on Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, that Gillan looked over at him with surprise on his face. Paicey just smiled back and you could see that he was having fun. Afterwards everybody had a good time in the hotel bar, especially the owner, who was charging 12 Euro for a beer!"

review and photos: Peter Rossen

Setlist:
Pictures of Home - Things I Never Said - Into the Fire - Strange Kind of Woman - Rapture of the Deep - Mary Long - Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye – Well Dressed Guitar (incl. Contact Lost) – The Battle Rages On – Lazy - Loosen My Strings – Keyboard Solo – Perfect Strangers – Highway Star – Smoke On The Water – Hush – Black Night

"Opening band were Cafe Bertrand, as at the shows in France. Tonight they put on a good show, great solo´s with songs somewhere between AC/DC and Judas Priest, just the right way to warm up the 7,500 people. I was afraid that the sound wouldn´t be that great because the hall is rather new with a lot of concrete, but during the show I was surprised about the quality.

Deep Purple were absolutely fantastic. The audience were great, there was a really contact between them and the band. For example, everybone had their hands in the air playing air keyborads, and during The Well Dressd Guitar, they clapped along solidly for some minutes. Steve Morse played a great solo spot, including a lot of intro´s. Lazy was fantastic. A security person who seemed to be sleeping the whole show, stood up and looked at the stage to see what was going on. What he saw was a fantastic band, with fantastic musicians, playing fantastic songs in a fantastic way for a fantastic audience!!!"

review and photos: Peter Rossen

"The song list was the same as Paris, except that "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming" replaced "Loosen My Strings". I wasn't disappointed. Purple played loud, for two hours, and to a crowd of 3,000). The band continues to be in very good form, and obviously having fun. Gillan was in great voice, and the audience were very enthusiastic. Highlights were: Into the Fire, Rapture of the Deep (Turkish delights), Highway Star, Space Truckin', and Hush, which included a fantastic solo spot by Ian Paice.

Reviews were very favourable from the two local newspapers; "Ouest France" and "Courrier de l'Ouest". You guys always have a special place in my heart. Long live DP."

review: Victorine Campus-Mounier

"Very good, rather funny performance in Besançon. It was the final show of the French Tour. The show began half an hour early, and unfortunately the set list was a little shorter than for the other French dates. Nevertheless the band were in great form, and showed us a few moments of humour, such as announcing the arrival of Darth Vader when Don Airey played his Star Wars theme .....

We all hope they come back to France as early as possible. Many many many thanks to Ian PAICE (the greatest drummer in the world), Roger GLOVER, Ian GILLAN (THE voice), Steve MORSE and Don AIREY... Thanks for the magic, thanks for the great show!"

review and photos: Fanny, Carméla & Jean-Richard Ringele