February 21st

 It was on February 21st, 2012 that I saw Deep Purple play Rexall Place in Edmonton. This show was awesome but played to only about 4000 people.

22 Years Ago Today...Feb.21st

It was twenty-two years ago today that I saw Blue Oyster Cult play at the Beverly Crest here in Edmonton. Unfortunately the way the staff ripped my ticket stub you can only see the opening band on the stub,dumb asses!!!





It was also eighteen years ago today that I saw the Tragically Hip with the Odds and Change Of Heart play at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.







Looks like February 21st has been a good day for shows here in Edmonton, as it was a year ago this day that I saw Deep Purple play here at Rexall Place.

Deep Purple Live In Edmonton Feb.21st

And to think I almost blew this show off because of a damn cold I have been fighting. If it hadn't been my first time seeing British legends Deep Purple live and the awesome seats I had (row 2 on the floor) I think I would have stayed home and nursed this miserable cold. I had tickets to see them back in 1984-85 on the Perfect Strangers tour, but they cancelled that show. Nonetheless, I sucked it up and went to the show with my buddy Hurl.

This was Deep Purple's first time through Edmonton in about 4 years, last time having played the Convention Centre. Last nights show dubbed the "Smoke On The Nation Tour", being the 40th Anniversary of "Smoke On The Water" was played at Rexall Place here in Edmonton to a small crowd of about 3500 appreciative fans in a concert bowl setting, an older audience it surely was.

We missed the opening act "Jonas and the Massive Attraction" from Montreal. We did manage to hear a few songs them from the concourse of the Coliseum by the time we got there, but they didn't sound like they worth checking out at all. generic rock is what it sounded like to me, so no loss there.

After grabbing a few drinks, we settled in to our most excellent seats in time for the opening of the Deep Purple set that started with the scorcher "Highway Star". The line up for this edition of Deep Purple included original members, lead singer Ian Gillan, bassist Roger Glover and Ian Paice on drums, the rest of the band was filled out by Steve Morse on guitar(member since 1994) and Don Airey(member since 2002) on the organ. The band came out full steam ahead, sounding tight and Ian Gillan singing his heart out (all the while in a walking cast on his foot). He may not quite have the pipes that he used to, but the man can still sing. I liked that the band really looked like they were enjoying themselves, something I like to see in a band. The band played lots of classics from there catalog, songs like "Hard Lovin' Man","Space Truckin'", "Strange Kind Of Woman", "Woman From Tokyo" and of course "Smoke On The Water" in which they brought out the guitar player from openers Jonas and the blah blah blah. I have to say, the guy looked pretty stoked to be on stage with the mighty Deep Purple. Each member had there solo, which is a little boring to me, but each did well, Don Airey on the organ made some cool sounds from the old Hammond. While Steve Morse on guitar is no Ritchie Blackmore, he still held his own, bass player Roger Glover looked and sounded good and was having a blast. Ian Paice's drum solo was well, boring, as I find most drum solos to bore the hell out of me. All and all great show. I even managed to catch two guitar picks from Steve Morse. For two hours I forgot all about this damn cold that I am still fighting. Good times!!!

Setlist for the show.

Highway Star
Hard Lovin' Man
Maybe I'm a Leo
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture of the Deep
Woman from Tokyo
Contact Lost
When a Blind Man Cries
The Well-Dressed Guitar
The Mule
Lazy
No One Came
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin'
Smoke on the Water

Encore:
Hush
Black Night

Some pictures I took at the show.



























Buddy from Jonas the opening act performing "Smoke On The Water" with Deep Purple.







Steve Morse guitar pick I caught at the show. I actually caught two of them and ended up giving Hurl one.

Front.


Back.


T-shirt front.



T-Shirt back.

Lyrics Of The Day June 2nd (Deep Purple)

"Take a hold now if you can
Take a lesson from a hard lovin' man
I'm a long way from where I wanna go
Guess I'll stay awhile I really love you so
How's about another sip of all the wine you got
Take a tip from me and give it here I'll drink the lot
I'm not a winey, I'm a puttin' on a show"

Lyrics from the song Bloodsucker by Deep Purple off the album In Rock (1970)