DEEP PURPLE – Oslo 2011 w/Orchestra (2CD)

Soundboard 9.5 – So I haven’t kept up with this band since Steve Morse joined. I’ve always loved them, but they just fell off my radar. It was with great pleasure that I reacquainted myself with them as I reviewed this show. It’s multi-layered, multi-dimensional music with some resemblance to the old band if Ritchie traded places with his Southern fried twin brother!  I mean, it works, don’t get me wrong – but it can fool you because it’s not Ritchie’s band by any stretch. I like this one maybe a little better to be honest. This is a “deeper” Deep Purple actually, and the orchestra behind them makes it that much more interesting, if sometimes a little bit “cabaret” but it still rocks when it has to and the guitar work by Morse is impeccable.

Spektrum Arena, Oslo, Norway December 13th, 2011 Featuring Neue Philharmonie Orchestra

Disc 1

1. Orchestra Intro
2. Highway Star
3. Hard Lovin’ Man
4. Maybe I’m A Leo
5. Strange Kind Of Woman
6. Rapture Of The Deep
7. Woman From Tokyo
8. Contact Lost – Steve Morse Solo
9. When A Blind Man Cries
10. The Well Dressed Guitar
11. The Mule (w/Ian Paice Solo)

Disc 2

1. Lazy
2. No One Came
3. Don Airey Solo
4. Perfect Strangers
5. Space Truckin’
6. Smoke On The Water
7. Going Down
8. Hush
9. Bass Solo
10. Black Night