From the get-go, the band was on fire, as Morse, Glover, and Airey traded solos on opener “Pictures of Home,” while Gillan sang with a grin, roamed the stage, or sang with his hand on Morse’s shoulder, perhaps as a show of solidarity and togetherness. And the band was tight all show long, even through complex, off-timed beats and speedy sections of music. The blues boogie hit “Strange Kind of Woman” is just one example.
Steve Morse puts his own stamp – where he can – on several Blackmore-era staples, but also invokes a little bit of his predecessor (Joe Satriani) here and there as well; his improvised intro to “Highway Star” is an example of both. And Deep Purple is prone to spontaneously jam throughout a show. Airey, when not playing his Kurzweil keyboard, shreds on a distorted organ, with his right hand flying up and down the instrument while his left hand bounces off it, playing lower parts in unison.
And just in case people temporarily forgot they were at a jazz festival, between “Highway Star” and “Smoke On The Water” was a brilliant couple of minutes of jazz jamming by the band (primarily Morse and Airey). Speaking of “Smoke,” the nearly 200,000 people at Montreux were very loud and attentive when called to sing the mega hit’s chorus.
After a thrilling sequence of more fan favorites, including “Lazy,” “Space Truckin’,” and “Highway Star,” Deep Purple’s producer Michael Bradford – a big man with dark sunglasses – played some wah-wah-fueled guitar on the final three tracks of the night. On two of them, including an extended version of “Hush,” he engaged in back-and-forth guitar solos with Morse.
The second-to-last number was a fun, audience-inclusive blues rocker written specifically for the Montreux fest called “Too Much Fun,” which featured the event’s founder himself, “Funky” Claude Nobs. And speaking of the audience, the look on Glover’s face was priceless when his jaw dropped after he watched the crowd sing the riffs to show closer “Black Night” before he even played the riff a second time around.
Sixteen songs later, it was an impressive set from a legendary rock band that is supposed to be past their prime.
On DVD 2, the considerably shorter Hard Rock Café show in London was taped for an invite-only audience, and they, for whatever reason were quiet for much of the night (unlike the Montreux crowd). That didn’t stop DP from giving their all, however.
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