Archive for the ‘Thunder’ Category

14 Sep

Deep Purple Newcastle Arena 2004 Bananas Tour

Posted by vintagerock in Deep Purple, Peter Frampton, Thunder. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Deep Purple Newcastle Arena 2004 Bananas Tour
Support from Peter Frampton and Thunder
It was almost 20 years until I saw Deep Purple again. I went along with my mate Will to this gig, which was at Newcastle Arena. The show used part of the Arena, with the rest sectioned off. This allows the band to perform to a larger audience than can be accommodated in a concert hall, such as Newcastle City Hall, but loses much in terms of atmosphere. Support came from rock band Thunder and Peter Frampton. I hadn’t seen Frampton since the Frampton Comes Alive tour, and I’d forgotten just how good he is. He has some great songs and is a pretty neat guitarist to boot. He played, of course, Show Me The Way, and a few other classics from his 70s heyday. By 2004 Blackmore had left Purple again, and Jon Lord had just retired. Steve Morse was well established on guitar, and local hero Don Airey had recently joined on keyboards. Long-timers Gillan, Glover and Paice were there from the old days. The band had recently released the Bananas album. The set was a mix of old favourites, and quite a few recent tracks which were unfamiliar to me. I’d almost forgotten just how great Purple are, and was well impressed. It was great to see them play old favourites like Speed King, and particularly Hush. Steve Morse is an impressive guitarist and fits in well, and his solo on Contact Lost was a stan-out. Setlist: Silver Tongue; Woman from Tokyo; I Got Your Number; Strange Kind of Woman; Bananas; Demon’s Eye; Knocking at Your Back Door; Contact Lost; The Well-Dressed Guitar; Perfect Strangers; Space Truckin’; Highway Star; Smoke on the Water. Encore: Speed King; Hush.