DEEP PURPLE

=== LIVE IN HAMBURG ===

1993, October 8th
THE BATTLE RAGES ON TOUR

LINE UP - MK II C

RITCHIE BLACKMORE - GTR.,
JON LORD - KBD.,
IAN GILLAN - VOC., HCA.,
ROGER GLOVER - B.,
IAN PAICE - DR.,

Predicted lineage:

audience tape (gen unknown) > trade CDR > EAC rip to wav (no errors) > TLH checked and verified for loseless > TLH conversion flac level 8 > Dime = YOU

SQ: 6,5 - 7 out of 10. A little distant at start but the ear adjusts very quickly - as the show goes it's becomes very enjoyable. Consistent in sound and all can be heard properly. I assume it would gain quite a lot from a remaster by those who know HOW to do it right.

No artwork.

SETLIST:
CD 1: [54:46]
#101] Intro Tape [1:36]
#102] Highway Star [5:41]
#103] Black Night [6:13]
#104] Talk About Love [4:26]
#105] Twist In The Tale [4:56]
#106] Perfect Strangers [6:59]
#107] Ritchie's Improv [1:02]
#108] Difficult To Cure [2:45]
#109] Jon Lord Solo [6:49]
#110] Knocking At Your Backdoor [9:11]
#111] Anyone's Daughter [5:03]
CD 2: [66:13]
Child In Time [11:01]
Anya [10:15]
The Battle Rages On [6:58]
Lazy - Ian Paice Solo [8:00]
Space Truckin' [2:43]
Woman From Tokyo [2:10]
Paint It Black - Mandrake Root Improv [7:37]
Speed King [6:19]
Smoke On The Water [11:07]

======

NOTES ABOUT THE SHOW:

I dug my flat upside down to find this one, because I knew that the CD are hidden in somewhere. This is one of the rarest shows from TBRO Tour - at least I remember that it was really tough to track it down, must be not very much circulated. The show ticks at 121 minutes and at times scratches the back of the best gigs of the tour, tight as hell and very energetic.

Blackmore and Lord are both in extremely playful mood - they start chasing off each other in the duel in the middle of "Black Night". Ritchie throws in a little funky intro in the vein of "Grapsplatter" before firing off Beethoven's IX-th. Jon Lord (God bless His big, warm heart) must have had a great evening in Berlin night before, because I never heard him having so many slips of a finger in one show, he stumbles two times in his own solo spot - trying to launch Gershwin's "America" and later on "Jesus Christ Superstar". Thankfully he's not erratic nor in "Fur Elise", neither in Scott Joplin's ragtime. Plays a lot of bits and pieces all through the night, he is so much =ON= - and it's audible, so lovely. And so sorely missedd since then...

The atmosphere of the concert is insane - the Hamburg crowd gets really nuts handful of times, applauding wildly any odd and fancy moments, clapping wildly along to the parts of tracks. Most apes**t they go in the 1st part of "Child In Time" (probably at the sight of the "In Rock" cover huge reproduction uncovering in the back of the hall), handling the vocals with big Ian. In return - the band responds with rousing version of the classic. Gillan is quite rough - but doesn't refrain from spitting his lungs out, then Ritchie runs into absolutely mad headlong in the improvised part. Hardly ever has he been so devastating in his solo on this tour as he's here. "Anya" follows, ticking at 10 mintues - and it is a bone ripper, Ritchie kills again with his mastery - gentle and mindblowingly melodic at the start and tearing it up in the improvised section. He hasn't developed the idea of stopping the band in the middle as he did a week later in Stuttgart, but it doesn't take away any power off this version. They are a unstppable sound freight train on it.

Cut on the tape - sound goes down a bit - Ritchie throws in a bit of drinking song before "Lazy" but goes into the tune without the usual fooling around. Tight as hell, Lord is blazing in his solo as is Ian Paice - in his jazzying solo spot. Lyrics of "Paint It Black" are too much for Gillan to handle, but Lord makes up for it, citing "The Mule" in his "Mandrake Root" improvisation. Not to mention "Sabre Dance" played simultaneously on the Hammond and quasi-clavi synth. He owns it as only he's capable to. The crowd go nuts again insisting for the band's return to encore. Germany's anthem introduces a jaw kicking "Speed King", with Ritchie stealing the solo, before the band pauses, only with Paice's tinkling backbeat. Then Blacko starts to fool around a bit with Jon. He almost closes the improv out, but at last hang gets to remember how much he likes to throw the "Burn" riff in - and they do go at it, before "calling card" motive. A bit disjointed performance, but smacking with voltage nonethelss. "Smoke..." is already preceeded with the semi-accoustic improvisation on the Fender. And then... you know, we all know it. The Hamburg audience deliver well in the sing-along outing.

Some Deep Purple books claim that on this night Ritchie has thrown in the Rainbow's "All Night Long" riff somewhere in the encores. No attest to that on the tape anywhere. Must have slipped to somebody's mind because the riff is quite similar to "Smoke..."

Vibrant document of the part of my 2nd favourite Deep Purple tour, if you don't know it - you will enjoy it. Deep Purple in their "balls to the wall" mode, not much more left to ask for!

Thanks to the taper, whoever he was. Enjoy!

Sunredsun