<big>Berlin 2003</big>

Berlin 2003

Date
20th August 2003

Venue
Columbiahalle, Berlin, Germany

Show Details
Its is rare to travel to a foreign country to watch a performance of your favourite band and rarer still to have the opportunity to be at the official launch party for the band's latest album. A business trip allowed me the chance to be in Berlin on the day of the Columbiahalle Bananas launch gig. How could I pass up the opportunity.

The afternoon of the gig was spent with a brief tour of the centre of Berlin. I was astounded by the amount of construction work still going on post unification. Amongst all the rebuilding I discovered that there is a holocaust memorial being built which consists of row upon row of black obelisks representative of the millions of people killed during this horrendous part of German history. Once completed it will be a dreadful reminder of the sheer scale of devastation the extermination programme wreaked across the Jewish population of the world. Lessons to be learned and relearned.

After this sombre experience I travelled to the Columbiahalle and, whilst waiting for the doors of this small theatre to open, I engaged in conversation 3 reporters who had travelled to review the gig and who were also great Deep Purple fans.

Once in the venue I was struck by how small it was. There were only 1200 tickets available for the show. The press were allowed into the balcony to set up cameras & video equipment while the audience were left downstairs in the hall.

There was no support band but we did have the opportunity to listen to the entire Bananas album through the PA. This was fantastic as it had not been released yet and many people had not had the opportunity to hear any of it, other than Haunted and I Got Your Number live.

My last opportunity to see Purple was the patchy UK & Ireland tour in the summer where they were supported by Lynyrd Skynyrd. With the exception of the Dublin gig the shows were deemed routine and lacking in energy, so it was not without a certain amount of trepidation that I waited for the band to come on. Would they be re-energised by Bananas? It wouldn't take long for the answer to come.

Just before "curtain up" my reporter friends invited me to watch the show from the balcony. Being only 5' if I don't get to the front of a show, I cannot see much. So this offer was gratefully accepted. I discovered that another advantage of being with the press was unresticted access to the press bar, which meant no queues or missing of any numbers during the gig.

My vantage point was stage left with an unrestricted view of the entire performance. And what a performance it was!

The show was introduced in German by someone from Capitol Music. The band walked on and started into Highway Star. You could feel the excitement in the theatre and it was obvious from the outset that this would be a very special performance. The power of the band was awesome. Smiles all round as nervous energy was expended. "We're all here for a special reason tonight", heralded a very powerful Knocking At Your Back Door. The atmosphere was electric. The audience squeezed into the small floor area added to the ambience with everyone clapping and jumping along from the start. Steve Morse played like a man possessed shredding solos right, left and centre and this was only the second number!

"The scary bit comes in now", as Gillan announced the first of the Bananas numbers, Silver Tongue. The song just exploded onstage and it was obvious this was a rejuvenated and exciting band once more. Gillan had a bit of trouble with the lyrics but what the hey, it wouldn't be Gillan if he didn't, would it? "Here's something we almost know", introduced Lazy with a fantastic solo from Don to begin. The solos from Don and Steve during this number were electric, the band were firing on all (8) cylinders. The tempo was brought down as Gillan introduced Contact Lost with the tragic story of STS-107. He had to stop to tell one member of the audience who was whistling "Happy Birthday" that we could sing Happy Birthday later. The band were visibly moved during this performance and I could swear Gillan was a little tearful at the start of Haunted which was segued into Contact Lost. I must admit to not being a great fan of Haunted until this performance but it had a certain resonance following on after such a potent song. Gillan has said in interviews that the song took on a whole new meaning after this performance and I have to say we felt it in Berlin. "They seem to go together very well", was Gillans outro.

Bananas was introduced as being "in 7/4 & 5/4". The band just took off to the stratosphere on this one. You have to marvel at the sheer musicianship that Purple are able to draw on. I have heard it said that the interplay between keyboard and guitar has been lost since the departure of Jon Lord. Evidence to the contrary is in abundance when you listen to the performance of Bananas here. "Sartorial elegance and bespoke tailoring", introduced the "Well Dressed Guitar" Again the band showed just how comfortable they are together playing this one, not a note out of place. "This is all about our manager", introduces House Of Pain. Again Gillan struggles with the words at the start of this one. Confident performance first time out. Gillan comments "Oh we're getting there", at the end. "This is not the House Of Pain, but may I introduce to you Don Airey". Don's solo includes all the bits we've come to know and love including Star Wars with Deutschland Uber Alles. Perfect Strangers followed and was simply fantastic. The power and emotion during this song was just stunning.

"We will move on with the simple thought that every one of these songs was once a new song", brought us to Steve's Riff Raff with excerpts from Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix, Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns & Roses, I Can't Explain - The Who, Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin, Day Tripper - The Beatles, Johnny B Goode - Chuck Berry. The roof lifted when THE RIFF began. The whole place was bouncing and I could literally feel the balcony moving. Simply stunning. The ending of Smoke had to be felt to be believed it just powered on, with Don soloing to the end. "Superb singing, you've been taking lessons". Straight into Hush with Gillan saying, "hello bunnies" during the intro. Don's playing throughout this is tremendous. "The album is called Bananas it's out any minute as soon as it drops out from the trees", introduces I've Got Your Number. Black Night followed with Gunga Din performed at the begining. The band play their socks off throughout with Morse in particular soloing like a demon. A nice mellow break in the middle allows Steve to introduce the call and reply guitar solo for the audience. Then it was over. Gillan thanks the audience for sharing all the new songs on Bananas and thanks all the people for setting up this special show.

I am out of superlatives to describe the vibe and feel of the performance of the band on this night. Even writing this review some 6 months later the memories are crystal clear and as vibrant as if it were just yesterday. To paraphrase Mr Gillan, Deep Purple are quite simply "Superbe!".

Actual Set List
Highway Star
Knocking At Your Back Door
Silver Tongue
Lazy
Contact Lost
Haunted
Bananas
Well Dressed Guitar
House Of Pain
Perfect Strangers
Smoke On The Water
Hush
I've Got Your Number
Black Night

Bootleg
Soundboard recording. Superb sound. Complete show over two discs.

Links
Photos
Berlin Special at The Highway Star

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