Deep Purple

Wembley Arena, London

21 June 2003

The surprise highlight was the new song, Haunted. I really like this song! It's got a nice melody, a good guitar solo, and tonight it featured an excellent performance from Gillan. The other new song, Got Your Number, also works well. I don't know how much it's changed from last year's prototype version (Up the Wall) — I recognised the basic song, but this version seems to work better. I thought Up The Wall was structured a bit oddly; this version flows much better.

Apart from two new songs and one surprise from the vaults (I'm Alone, which works so well live that you wonder why they've never done it before), it was pretty much as you would expect. Everybody played well, with Gillan especially in great form throughout. Don was a bit lost in the mix a lot of the time, but when he was showcased (notably on Lazy and Hush), he played superbly. Definitely worthy of a place in the world's greatest rock band.

So... not sure what else to say...

It was...

Good.