Deep Purple

SSE Hydro, Glasgow

22 November 2017

And that was the end.

I have seen Deep Purple 42 times since 1985, and I know that's nowhere near as much as some fanatics have, but it still means that one in every ten concerts I have been to has been a Deep Purple concert (and the related bands must be another 10% of the total). I've seen them every time they've come to England, and occasionally when they haven't. I've been to places I would never otherwise have been to, and I've made real friends of people I would never otherwise have met. I've said this before, and it's true, not an exaggeration: Deep Purple changed my life. All because 32 years ago I stood in a muddy field after spending the most incredible two hours of my life to date, and promised I would be back.

And now it's ended. I have seen the last show I will see on the "Long Goodbye" tour.

After Birmingham was so good, I seriously looked at adding London tomorrow night on to the end of my tour, but it's logistically insane, and I really dislike the O2, so I stuck with my first plan of seeing four dates and ending it in Glasgow.

It was the best way to end it. With a strong new album, playing better than they have for years, and including no less than five Mk VIII songs, this was a near-perfect tour, and the Glasgow Hydro was the best venue so far, pretty much as good as an arena venue could possibly be.

But all the way through, I was thinking ... that's the last time I will hear that. That's the last time I will hear a keyboard solo that clever. That's the last time I will hear a guitar make beautiful sounds like that. That's the last time I will watch the best drummer in rock. That's the last time I will hear Perfect Strangers. That's the last time I will sing Smoke on the Water.

I'm not going to write a review. You'll have to take this as the review. Being at a Deep Purple concert is, and always has been, the best feeling I have ever felt.

I'm fed up of losing things.