Deep Purple

O2 Arena, London

6 November 2024

I find I don't hate the O2 as much as I thought I did. It's still ridiculously too big, but I'm in a floor seat not too far from the stage and I have a clear view of everything, much better than Birmingham last night. The sound is crystal clear. A good indicator of a good sound is that my ears feel fine afterwards despite the punishing volume. The light show is stunning, and although I have a clear enough view to see the band on stage, the big screens also give me real-time close-ups of their hands, which is very cool.

Second day of the tour, so the set list is starting to sink into my brain. Let's see if I can do this song-by-song. I think they play around five minutes longer than last night, but it's the same basic set so they must be stretching out a few jamming sections.

The intro tape is so loud and powerful that when it finishes the opening to Highway Star seems almost like an anticlimax: just a solo drum pattern. But the other instruments enter, first a bouncing bass line, the the swell of Hammond organ, then the wail of the guitar, a textbook example of how to construct a rock song, and it's all played pretty "straight", even the guitar solo not deviating too much from the template. Star of the song, though, is Ian Paice, who fills the basic rhythm with added drum beats to produce something that swings and gallops along. Ian Gillan sounds very good, already much stronger than last night.

It goes into Bit on the Side, a new song which I'm not that fussed about on the album but obviously sounds better live. I think there will be six new songs again, and this makes me happy because it shows they have confidence in the new material, and they clearly enjoy playing it. From a band that were stuck in the "greatest hits" rut and were going to call it a day a few years ago, this fills me with optimism that we're in store for still more new music from them. It also occurs to me that so many new songs must be good for Gillan's voice. He sounds very comfortable on this.

But he sounds equally comfortable on Into the Fiiiiiiiiiahhhhhhh ha ha ha next, and screams his way through it without any of the expressions of physical pain that normally accompany these efforts.

Ian introduces Simon McBride (I think he might be the only person name-checked all night, apart from Jon Lord), and the rest of the band leave the stage while we get an extremely long solo. It's the same basic structure as yesterday's: beginning with piping harmonics and volume swells, and moving into faster and faster passages of random insanity.

After a few minutes, Ian Paice is back at the drum kit and watching Simon intently, waiting for a musical cue—what it is I have no idea—that tells him the solo has become the intro to Uncomman Man, and he finds the perfect spot to hit the drum pattern and everybody locks into the song. This band is like wizards. The song has a beautiful instrumental middle section, with a synth solo underpinned by Roger's melodic bass lines. After the song, Ian dedicates it to the memory of Jon Lord, who we are told is here with us tonight (and why wouldn't he be?).

There are a couple more new songs next. I think it's Lazy Sod and then, umm, something else, my mind is blank on the title. Middle-of-the road songs on the album, but they come alive marvellously tonight. Lazy Sod in particular just swings along, and has Simon providing backing vocals on the chorus.

Four of the band exit, and leave the stage to Don Airey, who plays a delightfully long Hammond solo, alternating screaming drama with beautiful counterpunctual melodies. I'm convinced he briefly quotes ELP of all people, but it was so fleeting I may have imagined it. The bootlegs will undoubtedly reveal the truth.

This organ sound is really what defined Deep Purple and set them apart from every other rock band, and Don shows off exactly why, and why he's been the perfect Jon Lord replacement for all these years.

Ian Paice is again the first to come back on stage during the solo, and he's ready when Don teases us by burying the Lazy riff in his solo, pouncing on the moment and joining in with a shimmering cymbal pattern, and the intro gets dragged out further and further as they duet together, and when Simon and Roger come in, and Ian on mouth organ (in two different keys, I think), you start to wonder if they-re just going to play the whole thing as an instrumental jam, and that would be fine, but finally there are a couple of vocal verses, but it's almost an afterthought as the long jam continues to dominate. It's probably the biggest highlight of the night, beautiful and exhausting to watch.

Next comes the biggest highlight of the night, When a Blind Man Cries. Gillan's performance is breathtaking, and how he holds that last note I'll never understand. The song is kept pretty short; there are brief but beautiful guitar and keyboard solos, but the whole song is kept tightly focussed as a showcase for Gillan's beautiful vocal.

Another new song, and it's probably my favourite on the album, Portable Door. I don't have much to say about it, I think they play it pretty closely to the album version, but I just love how the verses swing along, and the vocal melody is instantly catchy, there's room for guitar and organ solos in the middle, and I feel they are just having fun playing it. It's melodic, its fun, and it's one I can can see them keeping in the set long after the other new songs have rotated out.

It only just occurs to me that the whole set is built almost exclusively from the new album and Machine Head songs, so getting one from a different era is almost a shock: Anya, and of course it's a beautiful song, but it feels kind of ... well, it doesn't really add anything special to the set. It's played without any of the beautiful guitar soloing which made the song come alive in the 90s live shows.

Don's second long solo spot of the night is of a completely different nature to his earlier Hammond solo. It begins with a run through of weird synth sounds before going into a long classical medley on electric piano. In Birmingham he quoted Black Sabbath, but as there are obviously no iconic London rock bands, he instead leads an audience singalong of Land of Hope and Glory, which maybe goes on a touch too long but I'll indulge him.

In the classic "greatest hits" set, the solo would have led into Perfect Strangers, but they've (daringly) dropped it from the set entirely, so instead we get Bleeding Obvious, which is good on the album, and impresses me even more in the live format. It's got a long and varied structure, crossing enough moods and dynamics that for a while I'm honestly thinking they've inserted some extra songs that I can't identify!

Ian Gillan introduces Spaaaaaaaaaaaace Truckin', but he didn't need to because we've already identified it from the drums. It's a great version, giving everybody a chance to solo. As well as the obvious guitar and keys interplay, there's a short bass solo, and in at least two points we're teased with drum solos that never actually happen. Gillan again looks and sounds really comfortable singing (and screaming) it.

Smoke on the Water seems a bit by-the-numbers, but by this point it doesn't matter, we'll sing every word anyway.

The encore surprises with another new song, a short run through the basic rock-and-roll of Old Fangled Thing, which has a manic riff that immediately sticks in your head, before going into the absolute highlight of the set: Hush, which is yet another moment for Don and Simon to show they're the new best instrumental partnership in rock music. The extended interplay between them is just chaotically joyful, as each takes turns to play ever-longer and more complex lines for the other to copy. Just a marvel of musical invention, dexterity, and memory. I'm not sure how long they go on for, but the entire encore lasts about 20 minutes and most of that seems to be Don and Simon.

The final song of the night is a fairly short Black Night, and yes it's ok but I've been bored with the audience singalong for years and I kind of wish they didn't feel that they "must" include it, as Hush was the perfect high point to end the set on. But still, Black Night is in no way a bad way to end the set, the audience obviously loves it and it ends the evening of a massive high note.

I'm exhausted, but happy that after all these years Deep Purple can still play the best concert I've ever seen.