<big>Toronto 2004</big>

Toronto 2004

Date
26th February 2004

Venue
Massey Hall, Toronto,

Show Details
After a brief intro the band kicks off with Silver Tongue, from Bananas, very powerful. Straight into an awesome Woman From Tokyo. Ian Gillan sings very well, hitting the high notes with ease. Great Hammond sound from Don Airey and superb playing from Steve Morse from the outset.

" Unbelieveable thanks for a great welcome, great to be back in Toronto". "Nice place you got here" as Gillan explains what the format for the evening will be. The second of the Bananas numbers follows with I Got Your Number. Good solid version.

"She used to leave body parts around.." precedes Strange Kind Of Woman. This number swings along with great playing form Steve and Don. Gillan complains about his mic which keeps giving him problems, then introduces "the title track of our current album, it's called Bananas". Tremendous musicianship throughout, the band are flying.

Knocking At Your Back Door is introduced by a rap about caves, interupted by mic problems. "This is illegal in some countries..it's painful in most", again very powerful stuff.

Gillan introduces the next two numbers with a brief story, centering on "the world's best dressed rock band". Then he tells the story of STS-107, which leads on to a slower than normal version of Contact Lost, which makes it all the more poignant, followed by a solo from Steve backed by Don and then onto the guitar frenzy that is the Well Dressed Guitar. Great stuff.

Don Airey's keyboard solo prior to Perfect Strangers includes O' Canada. Perfect Strangers itself is a monster of a number with the band really pulling out the stops, (its as if they are saying "look what we are, never mind who we were", to the audience.

Then the part of the show that most of the audience has been waiting for, the playing of Machine Head live.

"Here we go" brings forth thunder and lightning and what sounds like heavy rain. The drum beat for Highway Star cuts through with Steve playing the licks a la Blackmore, and Gillan screaming like a banshee. Don Airey sticks to the original Jon Lord solo and even Steve restrains himself, playing as per the original. It has been called contrived and cynical in some quarters that Deep Purple chose to play the album live but on the evidence here it was the right move and more importantly, to me anyway, it sounds absolutely brilliant.

Maybe I'm A Leo follows with great work from Steve and Don and a great vibe to the song throughout. My favorite Machine Head track follows which tells the story of "when we all came down to Montreux...but we did not have much time" Pictures Of Home. The band power through this with Gillan reaching notes I haven't heard him attempt in years. Steve Morse shines on this with a short sharp solo that must have got the air guitars going in the audience. Again Don keeps to the solos performed on the original record even Roger's solo is note for note, truly awesome. A short break leads to a cadenza that is simply breathtaking, what a song, what a band.

Never Before is introduced by, "Its fun to do after all these years" It oozes funk at the begining, and grooves along nicely. Good solo work from Steve again. Nice piano solo from Don, then a very tight finish.

"You never get the chance to play these songs unless you do it in a context like this so it's an interesting idea", introduces When A Blind Man Cries. Very restrained playing from Steve adds to the ambience of this number. Tremendous performance from Ian Gillan for which, according to reviews (see below), he got a standing ovation.

"Here we go" launches Space Truckin', by the book, straight down, no nonsense Rock n Roll, Gillan hitting the heights here again. A short solo from Steve and a brief drum solo from Ian Paice brings the song to a climax, Gillan again screaming his lungs out.

Gillan introduces Lazy as about the long thing that holds the duvet up in the morning". Don sticks to Jon Lord's original intro for the most part but something seems to go slightly wrong with Steve missing his cue. The band recover past the intro and get down to business with Steve launching into a great shredding solo; the boy can play. Fantastic Hammond solo from Don really sets the song up well. This is Steve's song with solos flying everywhere.

A cacophany of noise introduces Smoke On The Water. Steve's soloing is mind blowing. The audience provides a very loud accompaniment during the chorus. Don's solo rocks along towards the end with Steve riffing in support. Then Machine Head live is over. "There's no words to describe it", is Gillan's response and I agree.

Encores follow with Speed King. Gillan's tambourine solo is drowned out at the begining. Call and reply solos from Steve and Don really show how these two guys gel musically. Then the song is brought down for a bass solo from Roger. Ian sings a verse of No Laughing In Heaven from the Gillan days. I wonder how many Americans knew that one! Then the song powers towards a close.

Hush begins the end. Steve's guitar breaks are even more impressive and Don's soloing is truely superb, a fantastic finish to an altogether fantastic show. "Thank you, we love you, bye bye"

An awesome perfromance and one that will surely rank amongst Purple's best for many years to come.

Actual Set List
Silver Tongue
I Got Your Number
Strange Kind Of Woman
Bananas
Knockin' At Your Back Door
Contact Lost
The Well Dressed Guitar
Perfect Strangers
Highway Star
Maybe I'm A Leo
Pictures Of Home
Never Before
When A Blind Man Cries
Space Truckin'
Lazy
Smoke On The Water
Speed King
Hush

Bootleg
Complete show over two discs no faults. Good sound quality.

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