Deep Purple brought their =1 More Time Tour to Glasgow OVO Hydro with supporting act Reef and the evening proved to be a fine blend of new and old from both bands that left the crowd with memories of an excellent night of rock music and timeless classics., mixing timeless rock classics.
Support slot on this part of the tour are Reef who brought their brand of 1990s rock to the Hydro with a polished performance from a band clearly in awe of Deep Purple whilst also in awe that they are playing such high venues on the tour.
The size of he venue was not off putting for Reef, quite the opposite, with vocalist Gary Stringer on good form during chats with the crowd between songs and with his unique form of ‘dance moves’ on stage.
Their forty minute plus set predominately featured tracks from what many consider to be their breakthrough album ‘Glow’ with a smattering of tracks from various other releases. The natural crowd pleaser from their own material was always going to be ‘Place Your Hands” though it was set closer of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ that made several people from the crowd move to the front of the venue to take photos of the band on stage.
With Jack Bessant on bass, Amy Newton on guitars and Luke Bullen on drums completing an exceptionally strong line up, Reef are still relevant today and no doubt gathered a few new fans along the way, the author included.
With little by the way of fanfare, the lights in Glasgow’s OVO Hydro go dark, the giant video screen kick into life and sound of Holst’s Mars, Bringer Of War emanates from the sound system as dark shapes can be seen entering from the rear of the stage.
A spotlight soon highlights drummer Ian Paice as he begins to play. Bassist Roger Glover is not far behind and is soon joined by Don Airey on keyboards with the relatively new boy Simon McBride on guitar as the band launch into the instantly recognizable intro to Highway Star.
Vocalist Ian Gillan strides from the back of the stage, grabs his microphone and the song begins proper. Gillan’s vocals are clear and strong despite the intervening years and the memories of Deep Purple from many years past come flooding back to many in the audience whilst also acknowledging that this is a different beast from those days of there 70’s and mid 80’s.
Ironically it was this very track that the author first saw them play as an opening track the very first time he saw Deep Purple live way back at a wet and muddy Knebworth in 1985.
The song ‘Bit On The Side’ from their new release ‘=‘ soon follows and it allows simon McBride and Don Airey ttrade licks on guitar and keys as has always been the case between Guitarist and keyboardist in Deep Purple.
It is immediately clear that this not going to be a simple trip down memory lane with new track ‘Into The Fire’ takes the crowd into the music of potentially the best Deep Purple era for many years.
Whilst there is a smattering of the older familiar tracks it is the new songs such as “Lazy Sod’ and’Portable Door’ that are the early standouts from the set.
That is not to dismiss the brilliance of ‘Lazy’ and ‘When A Blind Man Cries’ which take us back to the days of Deep Purple at their absolute height.
With Simon McBride, by way of introduction, having had his solo early in the set, it falls to Don Airey to have some time in the spotlight with an amazing keyboard solo combining classical, jazz and all out flamboyance.
As the set draws closer to the end, the familiar chords of ‘Space Trucking’ transports the crowd back to, for some, the halcyon days of 1970’s Deep Purple and, main set closer ‘Smoke On The Water’ surely finally reminds everyone of why Deep Purple were, and still are, regarded as one of the finest rock bands Britain has ever produced.
The band return for there encore which opens with the new track ‘Old Fangled Thing’ before we are taken back to the very beginning of Deep Purple with ‘Hush’.
The set finally completes itself with and amazing ‘Black Night’ and the band take their well deserved bows and leave the stage.
As the crowd filter out it cant help but be wondered, with their advancing years, as to whether we will ever see Deep Purple again.
Lets hope we do have one more time around the block left in the tank.
Review & Photographs by Gavin Ross
