Deep Purple

Brixton Academy, London

9 March 1996

(Written Thirty Years Later)

If I'm going to London for one Deep Purple concert, I might as well stay for the one that's the very next day in the same venue. It's just good sense.

What maybe wasn't such good sense was deciding that I didn't need to spend money on a hotel, because I could just walk the streets all night. So when the time for this concert came, I was pretty much finished. I honestly can't remember a huge amount about it.

What I can remember is sitting on the floor of the Brixton Academy and literally falling asleep during the support band's set. Now considering that the support was a hellishly loud heavy metal band... Pan Ram, I think a German band, and I thought they were really terrible, so I wasn't upset that I slept through them this time. But I think I was surprised that it was even possible in that environment.

I didn't sleep through Deep Purple's set, and although my memory of it is pretty hazy, I am certain that it wasn't terrible. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was the best concert I had ever seen.