Eine recht interessante Idee, auch wenn ich den Sinn nicht so recht erfasse, hatten Desert Diamond für ihre erste Demo. Am Anfang des Tapes bekommt man zuerst ‘mal eine 6-Minuten-Zusammenfassung von 4 Songs aus dem Repertoire der Band zu hören, so zum Eingewöhnen also. Alles gut und recht, aber warum dann anschließend nur 3 der Songs in voller Länge und die dann auch noch in einer anderen Reihenfolge zu hören sind, ist mir zumindest nicht ganz klar.

Doch nun ‘mal zur Musik. Und die ist alles andere als unklar. Rock’n’Roll, mit gutem Sänger und dominierenden Gitarren - genau das Richtige also für nächtliche Autofahrten auf stinköden Autobahnen. Schickt ??DM an: Adresse.

"Wo man gern ist, weil man gut ißt, bei Mc" - äh, STOP - Zwar schon Mc, aber nicht Donalds sondern Animal. Bei diesem Titel, der Aufmachung des Tapes und nicht zuletzt auch dem recht locker geschriebenen Info erwartete ich ‘mal wieder ’ne 08/15-Pop-Rock-Für-Kleine-Kinder-Band. Weit gefehlt! Was mich erwartete, war Doom-Funk-Metal-Thrash-Sex-Murder-Art-Freak-Hard-Core. (An dieser Stelle ein herzliches Dankeschön an die Band für ihr Info, denn von alleine hätte ich diesen Stil sicherlich niemals identifizieren können).

Legt doch vielleicht Eure nächsten 10 DM anstatt sie in Pappburger umzusetzten in ein Kuvert und schickt dieses (inkl. Eurer Adresse) an: Adresse.

Als anspruchsvollen Speed-Metal bezeichnen Solution Suicide ihren Stil. Nun ja, vielleicht war er für mich zu anspruchsvoll. Zwar erkannte man an so ziemlich jeder Ecke die Bemühungen um Abwechslung, jedoch tat man des Öfteren des Guten etwas zu viel, was die Songs doch etwas zu unübersichtlich und unstrukturiert wirken ließ, zumal auch der Gesang an manchen Stellen nicht so recht zu Rest der Musik zu passen schien. Da die Band allerdings (laut Info) für die Zukunft aber auch mal plant, etwas langsamere Songs zu schreiben, bleibt eigentlich nur zu hoffen, daß sie an ihren guten Ansätzen noch werkeln und mehr Struktur in ihre Songs bringen. Fünf Songs mit ca. 25 Minuten Spielzeit für 10DM (plus 2 DM für Porto und Verpackung) bei: Adresse.

This was the third time for me to see Deep Purple in 1998. After the weak performance in Karlsruhe and a brilliant show in Hanau (anyone else waiting for “Another Purple Rose Of Hanau”??) I was again hoping to see a great gig - although the venue, a big hall originally build for trade fairs, didn’t promise the best rock’n’roll feeling.

As opener, the German metal band Sinner were chosen. I’ve known them by name for many years now, but this was the first time, I heard some of their music. And although some people don’t seem to be too happy seeing metal bands opening for Purple (Hi, Svante :) me and a big part of the audience seemed to enjoy their show very much.

Talking about the audidence: anybody else recognized the average age of the audience seems to get younger and younger from year to year? I remember when seeing Purple back in 1993 I felt like one of the few younger people standing there - but in Trier I saw a lot of people who for sure were younger than myself.

At about 21:00 the lights were turned off and Deep Purple entered the stage starting with “Ted The Mechanic”. Although the sound wasn’t as good in Hanau, the show and the feeling in the audience seemed to be a bit more enthusiastic (if this is possible…). The band was showing such a fun being on stage - it was just unbelievable, and also Roger Glover, who once said he’s always happy when his solo-parts are over had several great solo-spots during the gig. Total winner of the evening was Steve Morse who played a just unbelievable solo which left me standing there with closed eyes, flying in a Purple dream.

I know there are always people interested in a setlist - here it is. I don’t guarantee it’s 100% correct - as I was there to enjoy the music and summed it up after the gig. Playing time about 2 hours.

• Ted The Mechanic
• Strange Kind Of Woman
• Bloodsucker
• Pictures Of Home
• Almost Human
• Watching The Sky
• Woman From Tokyo
• Fingers To The Bone
• Any Fule Kno That
• Smoke On The Water
• Lazy
• Perfect Strangers
• Speed King

Encores

• Black Night
• Highway Star

See you - hopefully soon on tour again.

Seeing the shows in Luxemburg, Halle and München, here are some few notes I took afterwards… I hope you enjoy!

Audience I

While in Luxemburg the audience seemed to be typical orchestral music listeners (most with subscriptions to go to such shows), the audiences were quite different in Halle and München. In Halle most people seemed to be rock music fans (at least what you could tell from their clothing) while in München the audience was mixed.

Audience II

In Luxemburg the people just sat there enjoying the show and giving standing ovations at the end, while there was always some annoying background noise in Halle and especially in München. Also there weren’t too much autograph hunters in Luxemburg. In Halle some people stood at the front of the stage from the beginning of the encores until the end of the show waving with pencils, tickets etc just to get an autograph.

One person I will for sure never forget was this ruthless idiot, who was trying to get about 20 to 30 LPs signed by Jon in München. Sometimes I feel like screaming! Very funny was a guy in München wondering why the complete first part of the “Pictured Within”-show sounded that much like the album. Well, ok - he didn’t know the album at all - according to what he told me, he wasn’t able to find the album during the last 9 months :)

Venues

The venue in Luxemburg was the “Conservatoire De Musique”, a music school with a main concert hall built for orchestral concerts.

Halle was a variety theatre with two large balconys and a heaven consisting of lots of small lights. The Muffathalle in München seemed to be an old discarded factory building with all inner walls painted black.

Organization

Best organization is when you never see people organizing. Very very relaxed in Luxemburg. When we arrived, we found the conservatoire with doors wide open and had the chance to step in and listen to the rehearsals. Also not much security after the show - just a female sitting on a chair before the backstage entrance. - that was all… Also a very relaxed organizing in Halle, as there was also just one single security guy in front of the backstage door.

Very annoying in München. A lot of people behaving much more important than they really were. Security at all possible and impossible places - and one of them trying to throw out cello player Hagen Kuhr before the soundcheck :) That’s the way it shouldn’t be done…

Music & Sound

Music and sound was great all three evenings, although in Luxemburg “Unsquared Dance” was missing and they didn’t improvise as much as during the later shows. Some songs were played the first time in one part at showtime in Luxemburg, but as Sam Brown had forseen during the rehersals: “It will all work perfectly in the evening!”

Musicians

I had the chance to talk at least some few words to each of them. Most of them didn’t know more than “Smoke On The Water” from Jons “normal” job. They all enjoyed this tour and played brilliant. Too bad the tour was that short, it was extremly enjoyable to watch (and of cource hear) them grow from their first steps in Luxemburg to the final show in München.

Sam Brown

Brilliant. Excellent. Incredible. Weird.

Jon Lord

It was very interesting to see Jon acting in a different role, not as keyboarder of a rock band (his “other job”) but as host and musician in one person. It’s a shame he doesn’t take the microphone more often. I rarely heard that interesting and funny narrations during a show. And it was great to see how much he enjoyed doing his solo stuff and how much he enjoyed to play with the others.

Setlist

A great choice of songs, although a setlist can never be perfect for everyone. And so there was also something I hoped for - one or two songs from Sam Browns “43 minutes…” which would have fit perfectly into the set. A funny experience was that while in Luxemburg and München “Stop” was received with much applause, noone seemed to be familiar with this song in Halle - well, it was a hit in western world before the iron curtain came down.

Thanks

First of all thanks to Jon Lord for that album and tour. Also thanks to all other musicians, especially Sam Brown for being the way she is and Hagen Kuhr, who turned out to be a great guy. Also thanks to all people who sent in reviews and pictures from this tour.

Last but not least a big “HELLO” to all the people I met before and after the shows - hope to see you again soon.