You may not be a rock fan, but “THAT RIFF” is etched into the fabric of music history and only a few bars of it are enough to make you forget all your blues. More on that later.
Royal Arena, Copenhagen. It’s a Sunday night and one of my favorite composers Gustav Holst, The Planets booms out over the speakers to a packed eager crowd. A crowd that leans on the older generations but surprisingly has a good mix of younger fans. In an age of AI music slop, it’s good to see great guitar music still holding its own.
Then it’s on, and what a bloody way to start the Splat tour. Highway Star, maybe my favorite Deep Purple song (despite the awesomeness of “THAT RIFF”).
As is often the case with these “legacy” bands, time and abuse lessens their impact live on stage. (looking at you Axel Rose) but Deep Purple are surprisingly good, more so even. Ian Gillan at 81 can’t quite hit the high notes but still has it. Ian Pace on Drums, I mean at 78 it’s amazing he can do what he still does. Rodger Glover on bass at 80 rounds out the list of original members with Don Airey, aged 78 on keyboards and Simon McBride, the 47-year-old spring chicken of the band rounding out the current lineup.
The classics are all there, Space Truckin from Machine Head, Lazy and Into the Fire from In Rock. The new songs also hold up pretty well. A Bit on the Side is a mid-tempo heavy riff that comes after Highway Star and feels an organic inclusion into the setlist. Even the encore has a new song with the instrumental Guinnesis. We also get keyboard solos (love the Ozzy Ozbourne Mr. Crowley bit) and a guitar solo, standard rock stuff.
The highlight of the night for many though was THAT RIFF. Smoke on the Water is such a recognizable tune that as I said up top, even casual listeners would probably recognize. It’s up there in the pantheon of classic rock with the likes of Ace of Spades, Back in Black & more. The riff, the bass, drums and keys. How it all comes together to tell a rock and roll story that is part of this bands life.
As the band wrapped up the night with the classic high tempo Black Night the crowd exited into a chilly October night, warmed by the fact that they had just witnessed legends.
Legends that lived up to that title.
