Deep Purple

Brixton Academy, London

8 March 1996

(Written Thirty Years Later)

Booking concert tickets was more challenging in the 90s than it is today. But somehow I managed to secure tickets at very short notice, and travelled down to London to see Deep Purple for the second time that year. Because Deep Purple in 1996 were just that good.

The Newcastle show was astonishingly good, exceeding all my expectations. And my memory is that the London show was easily its equal. I certainly didn't regret the expense of the journey. The set list will have been exactly the same, but no two Deep Purple concerts have ever felt the same to me, and I think that even this early in the Mk VII line up the band was comfortable enough to go off-script and insert fresh solos and jams every night (though this would probably peak on the 1998 tour).

I don't have anything else to say. It was Deep Purple, so obviously it was the best concert I had ever seen.