Deep Purple Amsterdam concert review

Fortunately, only the film projections of the hard rock inventors’ performance in Amsterdam are dated.

Of all the touring classic rock acts, Deep Purple is the most classic. The rockers carved from stone kicked off the hard rock era with the album Deep Purple in Rock (1970). And Machine Head (1972) is seen as one of the driving forces behind heavy metal, alongside the work of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

But Deep Purple is still playing. And the band doesn’t just rely on old hits. Deep Purple released three new albums in the past four years. And this year’s vital hard rock album =1 even forms the main part of a fresh setlist in the Ziggo Dome.

The band composition is also special. In addition to the beautiful screamer Ian Gillan (79), bassist Roger Glover (78) and primeval drummer Ian Paice (76) appear in Amsterdam, as well as keyboardist Don Airey (76), who replaced the late John Lord more than twenty years ago. The only newcomer is guitarist Simon McBride, who moves across the stage like a young god (of 45), against a backdrop of unfortunately terribly dated and hideous film projections.

But from the poisonous opening moves of Highway Star, Deep Purple fortunately rocks like crazy. The hammering, ecclesiastical organ parts steam up next to those basic but grooving riffs that wrote music history. The sound is wonderfully hard, as it should be, with Deep Purple. But the real goosebumps arise with Gillan’s singing.

No, he no longer reaches his screeching high notes. But his voice is so moving in the wailing blues rock ballad When a Blind Man Cries. And on Into the Fire he miraculously finds a spot on his vocal cords where it doesn’t hurt yet, for a scream that should cut through the soul of every metalhead.