DEEP PURPLE
01.10.00, Hamburg, Germany
Congres Centrum Hamburg

Karl-Heinz Baier, Baier-Flensburg@t-online.de
alt.music.deep-purple, 02.10.00.



      Believe me: This was really an historical gig to me. Deep Purple, Dio and Orchestra played together on stage. It's truly unbelievable. I like the Concerto For Group And Orchestra since I am a Deep Purple fan and I know every note of it.

      The Concerto starts late (20'40 h) because some of our heroes were involved in or hindered by a car accident.

      The concert lasted until 23'15 h.

Beside Deep Purple there were: Ronnie Dio (Lead Voc.), Miller Anderson (Lead and Back. Voc, Guitar), the Romanian "George Enescu" Philharmonic Orchestra (~ 85 musicians), conducted by Paul Mann, three female backing singers (they were mostly joined by Miller) and a three piece brass section (trumpet, trombone, saxophone) (jazz musicians, not from the orchestra).
      There were 3.500 people in the audience (sold out). The stage was pretty small for this event. From my sight: Miller (guitar) far, far left. Steve very left. Jon left to middle, Big Ian and Dio/Miller middle. Paicey reight to middle, Roger right.
      Behind them: the female singers left, Ochrestra left to right, Paul Mann middle, extra brass section right.
      Jon plays hammond and grand (!) piano. From Paicey to the stage-edge were only ~1 Meter. The orchestra place was very limted. Ian, Ronnie, Steve and Roger were nearly unable to move.

The setlist in detail:

Greeting announcement by Jon Lord.

1) Pictured Within

Jon Lord (grand piano), Miller (lead vocals), three female singers, orchestra. Very fine version. Great Vocals from Miller. The following people entered stage. Big applause, mainly for Dio.

2) Sitting In A Dream

Steve (rhythm-guitar), Jon, Paicey, Roger, Ronnie, Miller (lead-guitar), full orchestra, female singers. A very different version to RAH '99. Very Different vocal-melody by Ronnie. No extra violin. Miller played some lead-guitar, but no solo. Great Vocals.

3) Love Is All

Steve (lead-guitar), Jon, Paicey, Roger, Ronnie, Miller (rhythm-guitar), full orchestra, female singer (joined by Miller). No extra violin. The usual violin-solo was repalced by a funny Steve-Morse-solo. Fantastic spirit in audience and on stage for this song!

4) Fever Dreams (from Dio: Magica)

Ronnie, Steve (also solo), Paicey, Roger, Jon. No orchestra! Yes, DP playing Dio-songs! Great idea. Very nice played. But Jon was hardly to hear.

5) Rainbow In The Dark (from Dio: Holy Diver)

Ronnie, Steve (also solo), Paicey, Roger, Jon. No orchestra! Great version. But Jon was again hardly to hear. Pity! Roger and Paicey were incredible.

6) Wring That Neck (jazz-version)

Again funny announcement by Jon Lord. Paicey, Jon, Roger and brass section. No guitar, no orchestra, no violin (different to RAH '99). Very jazzy. Great Lord and Paice soli. But rather short (OK, it's because I love the 1970 improvisations). Brass solos different to RAH '99 but very good. Paice: unbelieveable. Gillan entered stage. Again big applause.

7) Fools

Just Deep Purple no orchestra. The Volume solo played by Jon Lord (Hammond), after that nice solo from Steve. During the Volume and solo parts Roger played rumba-rattle (right english word for this percussion instrument?) and Gillan played tambourine. A "supeeeeerb" version. Great Vocals by Ian.

8) When A Blind Man Cries

Deep Purple with Orchestra (incl. short orchestra-intro). The Orchestra could have been a little bit louder. Interessting and melancholic version.

9) Vavoom: Ted the mechanic

Deep Purple + Horns + singers (incl. Miller Anderson). Very near to RAH '99. Fine.

10) Guitar String (written and arranged by Steve Morse)

New One! Steve, Paicey, Roger plus complete orchestra. Gillan played tambourine. No Jon Lord, no vocals. Sounded a little bit like the early Yngwie Malmsteen (why?). Song is OK but nothing out of the ordinary.

11) Orchestra Intro / Pictures Of Home

Deep Purple plus full orchestra, plus singers (incl. Miller). Gillan played congas. Nice solo from Roger. Great orchestration. Funny unique solo from steve (he played a american folk song - like Old MacDonald...)

12) Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming

Deep Purple plus singers (incl. Miller) plus Orchestra plus Horns in the heavy part. Ian plays again tambourine. Fantastic version. Very fine introducing from Gillan to "The Concerto For Group And Orchestra by Jon Lord".

13) First Movement (Moderato/Allegro)

Good as ever. The sound improves here. Orchestra played very fine, but the piccolo flute made one or two mistakes (in my ears). The Morse solo was longer and more improvised I think than RAH'99. The oboe-solo near the end was like the original score (On the second day of RAH '99 the oboe-solo was very different to Concerto '69). Compliment to Paul Mann and the orchestra. Standig ovations! Great audience!

14) Second Movement (Andante)

Gillan entered the stage just before his part. He again sang also the new verse. He partly didn't sing the text, but screams two times like in Bloodsucker. Big Ian also played congas. I think the Lord solo here was much longer and very great. Sitting ovations here.

15) Third Movement (Vivace-Presto)

Very furious, loud and heavy. Compliment again to the orchestra and... Paicey - an exceptional-solo (longer as on RAH). The audinece went wild and aplaused very, very much in the solo and after he has done it. I can't believe it! Very long standing ovations to all, but exspecially to Jon Lord, Paul Mann and Ian Paice. The crowd went wild!

16) Perfect Strangers

DP with orchestra!!!!! A very great Lord-solo, like I have never heard it before. The audience again was very furious and stands all through this and the next and last song. Standing ovation again. Purple left stage and entered it again with all guests! Audience went furious again.

17) Encore: Smoke On The Water

DP and Dio (for second verse), Orchestra, Horns, all backing singers - and Gillan played again his congas. Steve did his "do you know these riffs"-intro (with a long Iron Man riff - and Dio was laughing very much).

      Two and a half hour of pure extraordinaire pleasure, fun and great music! Only minus point: The sound was not very good. DP (exp. Morse) were much too loud (e. g. the Dio and the Purple songs before the orchestra). The audience and Jon Lord were hardly to hear. The Sound improves for the concerto.
The musicians:
Jon Lord (in very good mood today, great solos, king of the day).
Steve Morse (very loud, but he played not to much in the foreground. Fine!)
Ian Paice (unbelievable and very exact, one of the best today)
Roger Glover (he can't much move, but played very great and groovy)
Ian Gillan (sung good, but not as good, as on the last tour, some difficulties)
Ronnie James Dio (sung better than ever - what a great voice!!!)
Miller Anderson (Very good. It's a pity, that he sung only one song, and didn't play much guitar. He's a great guitarrist! I've seen him many times live.)
Paul Mann and Orchestra (Did a very great job - fine work)
Horn section (very jazzy - played fine)
3 female singers (good to hear and very fitting into the songs).

      One last but important point: The audience in Hamburg was the best audience I've ever heard. Furious in the end, much applause after each song - but very quite in the calm parts of the concerto. And the musicians were obviously very grateful! Thank you Hamburg!
      Merchandising was good but expensive. The Tourprogram is very good, but only one photo of Dio and one of Paul Mann. No foto from Miller. Not much about the orchestra. By the way: you can by the - japanese - Abandon-Tourbook here very cheap (DM 10,--). ... I know... "what we get out of this - I know we'll never forget..."    ^{WWW . DEEP-PURPLE . RU}