Deep Purple
Openair Ebikon, Luzern, Switzerland, Saturday August 12 2006
DP go back to school und macht viel spass!
This was a journey fraught with risk given the security alert that turned the major UK airports into chaos on the Thursday. Friday morning for the first flight to Amsterdam from Leeds was a safer bet. After only a couple of hours delay we left and managed the connection to Zurich too.
The band all made it to Ebikon too thank goodness and put on their usual great performance. There were still three new songs in the set, TINS, ROTD and Wrong Man back in again. There was only one encore, Black Night. They played about 1.5 hours with the audience getting a good soaking as the rain poured down throughout sadly. The average age of this audience might even be less than 18. The festival was on Ebikon school's playing field, very small and there were kids of 13/14 and younger there. It was great to see how they got into the music and how much of it they knew. The organisers had provided stalls selling food and beer so it looked like a real festival though on a very small scale.
Purple were the biggest name ever to play this festival which has been run for about 10 years, though the biggest names they have managed to attract in previous years have been Natasha Bedingfield, Gotthard, Nena and the Lovebugs! Reports after the festival said 3,500 made it to the event but I doubt that – maybe we could not see all of them if they were little kids! Maybe many left because of the rain.
This was a big risk for the festival organisers surely.
A couple of articles about the event.
Open Air Ebikon: Vorverkauf harzt
EBIKON - Das Open Air Ebikon muss 8000 Tickets verkaufen, um keinen Verlust zu haben. Doch sind zur Überraschung des Organisators bisher erst 2500 Tickets verkauft - obwohl das Open Air bereits am 11. und 12. August stattfindet.
Bald spielen Deep Purple am Open Air Ebikon. Die legendäre Rockgruppe soll für einen ausverkauften Samstag sorgen. Doch sind erst 2500 Tickets verkauft. Für Samstag, wenn Deep Purple spielen, konnten gar erst 1500 Tickets verkauft werden. "Dabei hofften wir, alle 5000 Tickets dieses Tages gingen im Vorverkauf weg", sagt OK-Präsident Erich Ochsner. 8000 Tickets müssen die Veranstalter insgesamt verkaufen, um keinen Verlust einzufahren. Das Budget beträgt 700'000 Franken, und "Deep Purple belasten unser Budget wie keine andere Band zuvor", sagt Ochsner
Das 12. Open Air Ebikon findet am 11. und am 12. August statt. Neben Deep Purple spielen Bündnerflaisch, Baschi, Dada ante Portas, Patent Ochsner, Holepunch, Gustav, Ivo und Adrian Stern
Smoke on the Water» in strömendem Regen
«Es war super, das Beste, was am Open Air Ebikon je gezeigt wurde».
Das meinte Erwin Stadelmann aus Ebikon nach dem Konzert von Deep Purple. Er war einer von 3500 Besuchern, die den Hardrock-Legenden am Samstag trotz strömendem Regen zuhörten.
Die Briten belohnten die tapfer ausharrenden Besucher vorzüglich. Die seit 38 Jahren existierende Band, in der mit Ian Gillan, Roger Glover und Ian Paice noch drei Mann aus den Gründerjahren dabei sind, zeigte eine energiegeladene Show. Hauptsächlich spielten die fünf Musiker die alten Hits wie «Hush» und «Black Night», würzten sie aber mit einigem neuem Material. Musikalisch brauchten sie sich nicht zu verstecken. Geboten wurden viele instrumentale Parts, Gitarrist Steve Morse und Keyboarder Don Airey kamen zu langen Soloehren. Insbesondere Airey zeigte einen abwechslungsreichen Mix verschiedenster Stile. Mit einem Ausflug in die klassische Musik bewies er, dass er auch am Lucerne Festival mithalten könnte. Fast zum Schluss stimmte Deep Purple den allergrössten Hit an: «Smoke on the Water».
Steve did not have his number 1 guitar as airport security would not allow him to take it on board and he was not going to risk it being damaged in the hold. Why he does not have a hard case for it I do not know. Ian Gillan was not happy at several points and made it clear he could not hear himself, but it
seemed to sound OK to the crowd. The band as a whole were in excellent spirits and looked as if they were really enjoying the event. This was a legitimate opportunity for Don to play William Tell as he came from near Luzern, if he ever lived that is.
The backstage area was the school gym and part of it had been curtained off for the band's use. Fortunately there was a bar. Luzern turned out to be impossible to get a drink in after 12 unless you went to a club.
A few days before the event the Openair website had been the successful target of hackers - I wonder if they were pupils at the school?
It was certainly one of the more unusual Deep Purple events and you really had to be there to appreciate how strange it was.
Pictures of Home
Things I Never Said
Hush
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture of the Deep
Wrong Man
The Well-Dressed Guitar
When a Blind Man Cries
Lazy
Don Airey's solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Highway Star
Smoke on the WaterEncore:
Black Night
