Deep Purple @ Hamilton Place, Hamilton, Ontario 2-13-12

Legendary rock band Deep Purple is in the midst of a Canadian tour that brought them to Hamilton Place, Ontario on Monday night. The current lineup of Deep Purple consists of long standing members Ian Gillan on vocals, Roger Glover on bass, Ian Paice on drums and guitarist Steve Morse and Dona Airey on keyboards rounding out the lineup.

Accompanied by a black walking boot, Gillan, still nursing a right foot injury, still was able to move around with little limitations. The band started off with a rousing rendition of “Highway Star” that got the crowd right into it from the start. Ian remarked about it being time to make a new Deep Purple album, which got people applauding before the band went into “Rapture of the Deep.”

All the classics were covered here: “Woman from Tokyo,” “Perfect Strangers, “Space Truckin,” and of course, “Smoke on the Water.” It would have been nice to hear “Knocking at Your Back Door,” as that’s a personal favorite of mine, but nevertheless the set list was diverse and spanned their entire career.

Even though this was my first time seeing the band live, I have to acknowledge how amazing they sounded. Glover and Paice were locked in and Morse’s proficiency on the six-string continued to dazzle the audience all night long. Airey delivered as well, especially on “I’m Lazy,” which is a keyboardists dream. I think the song and his actual solo should have been spread out a little more as to not confuse the occasional Deep Purple fan, as it almost seemed like one elongated solo.

A strong 2 hour set was delivered, whetting the palate of the almost sold out crowd in attendance. Other than that, anytime the opportunity to see rock and roll royalty perform live is always a positive. Wondering why the hell this band isn’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has to be one of rocks greatest unsolved mysteries.

Set List:

Highway Star
Hard Lovin’ Man
Maybe I’m a Leo
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture of the Deep
Woman from Tokyo
Contact Lost
Guitar solo
When a Blind Man Cries
The well dressed guitar
The Mule (drum solo)
Lazy
No One Came
Keyboard solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Smoke on the Water