This is an event that all of Indonesia has been waiting for. Deep Purple took 19 years to return to Indonesia after the last tour in 2004. Before then, it was 2002 and, of course, the historic gig in 1975. Among the big crowd who attended tonight, plenty were alumni of the 1975 concert, and many were young enough to be grandchildren of Paice, Gillan, Glover and Airey.
Deep Purple, Indonesia
Edutorium UMS Solo – 10 March 2023
Words and Photography: Umar R / MetalTalk Indonesia
Following on from Rhoma Irama, Soneta and God Bless, it didn’t take long for Deep Purple’s crew to prepare the set, and the band were straight into Highway Star. The audience on the festival floor jumped for joy and joined in the singing, and from the first moment, this was to be a night of magic. Pictures Of Home, a song from the 1972 album Machine Head, followed.
We were then into two numbers from the album Whoosh!, No Need To Shout and Nothing At All. Simon McBride, Deep Purple’s new guitarist, is getting hotter and also hypnotizes the crowd with his solo act. MetalTalk Indonesia met with three Indonesian musicians, guitarist Lilo Kla, vocalist of Montecristo Eric Martoyo, and rock singer Bangkit Sanjaya, and all of them agreed Simon McBride managed to steal the hearts of the audience, playing calmly with his own style not suppressed by the shadows of the previous Deep Purple guitarists.
After Simon McBride’s solo action, Deep Purple continued with Uncommon Man, a song from the album Now What?! This song is dedicated to the master of Hammond, the late Jon Lord. After that, the audience was hit again with classic numbers, starting with Lazy. As usual, Ian Gillan showed off his harmonica skills. At his age, Ian Gillan is still very good at playing the harmonica and still masters strong breathing skills.
After Lazy, the audience was presented with one of the most popular rock ballads, namely When A Blind Man Cries, joining in with abundant energy. ‘
Following Anya, the other four members took a short break as Don Airey performed his magic on the keyboard as well as Hammond. In this solo act, Don inserted pieces of the Indonesian anthem, Indonesia Raya.
After Don Airey had enchanted all the humans in the UMS Edutorium, Deep Purple beat the audience again with three sadistic classic numbers, Perfect Stranger, Space Truckin’ and Smoke On The Water. The crowd was frenetic during these three songs, and after Smoke On The Water, Deep Purple withdrew, and the whole crowd shouted simultaneously, “We want more! “
A return to the stage had the venue screaming and singing again as they blasted out Hush. As the night drew on, the audience was even more enthusiastic about singing along. Following Hush, Roger Glover showed off with a solo bass act. Then Purple continued with the set-ending song Black Night.
After completing the action on stage, Deep Purple met Indonesian President Joko Widodo in the VIP seating area, where they had a chance to talk warmly for a few moments.
With a total of 13 songs and three solo acts, in two hours, Deep Purple managed to satisfactorily repay the very long wait for the fans who gathered in Solo.
Everyone MetalTalk Indonesia spoke with after the show said this was a 10 out of 10 performance. Perfect, but no strangers here, because everyone knows and loves Deep Purple, and now we all have a new love in Simon McBride.
This event was organized by Rajawali Indonesia, presented by Bank Jateng and the support from Pemkot. Solo.
