My First Rock Concert

Back when I was in my early early teens, the kind of music I listened to was mainly pop (Shock!! Horrors!!!) like Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, the Spice Girls (well mainly cos i thought they were hot then), and many more other bubblegum kinda pop-y artists. I still digged retro stuff, but that mainly consisted of stuff like Elvis, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan and Bee Gees of course. Bit by bit, I started realising and appreciating the music of my parents and starting frowning on the music of my generation. The great day arrived in 1999 when my Dad bought Deep Purple's Ultimate Gold Collection which was exclusively released in Malaysia that year in conjuction with their concert in Malaysia. I had already been blown away with Smoke on the Water (as simple as the intro riff is, it gives the illusion of complexed grandeur). The other track that caught me was Soldier of Fortune. It was melancholic and just made you want to get depressed. Deep Purple were always my favourites when it came to Rock Ballads. They were the perfect intiation into classic rock.

Life came full circle, when dad and one of my uncles agreed to get tickets to watch them. I still have my ticket stub back home in Malaysia under lock and key, and when I do return to it, I will upload it on the site. So it was me (age 14), my sis, mum, dad, uncle, and aunt all set to watch a bunch of old rockers jam at Shah Alam Stadium. Best part was, it was a school night, it was one of those rare moments when mum and dad were lenient about our sleeping time (Quote Jason Lee in Almost Famous, 'Rock and roll can save the world') Pretty sure me and my sis were the youngest, but am damn sure my parents weren't the oldest. I was preparing myself for dissapointment, as I was worried that with age, the vigour of their jamming would seem somewhat diminished. I have never been happier to be proven wrong.





Damn I still can't remember what they started with, but I think that it was Women from Tokyo which was followed by Black Knight. Ian Gilligan could still scream like hell, wailing for that sweet Child in Time (but of course cant be compared to their rendition in the Made in Japan album). In between they played some medleys, one of them included Soldier of Fortune, but it was just a passing rift for the man credited with that song was not in the stadium; Ritchie Blackmore, Deep Purple's black sheep guitarist and the man who came up with some of the greatest riffs of all time (inc Smoke on the Water). They ended with Burn (or Perfect Strangers) and they actually left the stadium in their band van. But crowd was not that easily fooled and they kept calling back for encores. Needless to say, they drove back in, popped back on stage and kicked all our asses with a freaking damn good rendition of Highway Star. The solo on that was a gut buster, a face melter, what ever you wanna call it, but they really did save the best for last. I think through out the whole night, my hair was standing up.

That was my first and the best concert I ever attended. It was sheer art in progress, poetry in motion. On that night, everything fell in place, I was reborn again. Memories from that night are all just shades of colours and faces, a poor substitute for what really took place. But the thing that never left me was how I felt that night. Tis is a beautiful thing isn't it? Keep on Rocking Guys



Track Listing on Ultimate Gold (Malaysia 1999)

Black night (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) Single A side recorded during 1970.
Space truckin' (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) Originally released on Machine Head 1972.
Smoke on the water (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) Originally released on Machine Head 1972.
Soldier of fortune (Blackmore/Coverdale) Originally released on Stormbringer 1974.
Woman from Tokyo (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) Originally released on Who Do We Think We Are 1973.
Child in time (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) Originally released on In Rock 1971.
Speed king (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) Originally released on In Rock 1970.
Strange kind of woman (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) Originally released on Fireball 1971.
Hush (Joe South) Originally released on Shades of Deep Purple 1968.
When a blind man cries (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) Single A side originally released in 1972.
Fireball (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) Originally released on Fireball 1971.
Burn (Blackmore/Lord/Paice/Coverdale) Originally released on Burn 1974.
Stormbringer (Blackmore/Coverdale) Originally released on Stormbringer 1974.
Perfect strangers (Blackmore/Glover/Gillan) Live track.
Highway star (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) Live track.
Smoke on the water (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) Live track.