Deep Purple

City Hall, Newcastle

29 February 1996

(Written Thirty Years Later)

Deep Purple were coming to Newcastle! After years of trips all over the country to see them in vast arenas, it seemed unbelieveable that they would play not only on my doorstep but in City Hall, which was surely my favourite rock venue in the country at that time. But would it be Deep Purple without Ritchie Blackmore? Would it sound right?

From the first riff of the Purpendicular album, I had known Steve Morse was the right guitar player for Deep Purple. The sound was different, but that's a good thing. And it still sounded unmistakably like Deep Purple, and it sounded great. At least on the album. Live was still unknown. Live was where Deep Purple changed from sounding "great" to sounding better than anything else on Earth. Would this new line-up be able to do that?

I'm sure they started with Fireball, and I'm sure that's all it took to convince me. This was still Deep Purple, and it was still better than anything else on planet Earth. Next was Maybe I'm a Leo—never played with Ritchie—and new song Ted the Mechanic, and it was all so good it had people dancing in the aisles. I think they played about half a dozen new songs, and every one felt like it belonged in a Deep Purple live set. And they dipped into more obscure parts of the back catalogue for some real surprises. The whole show was magnificent. Steve Morse wasn't Ritche Blackmore, but why would you want him to be? He was Deep Purple's guitar player, and that's all that matters.

How good was it? So good that I got home and booked tickets for both nights in London the following week. That good. Simply the best concert I have ever seen.