It All Adds Up To One: A Magical Night in Toronto with Deep Purple
The legendary band celebrated their outstanding new album with a fiery set
“Wait… stop. Let’s just take a moment to acknowledge how awesome it is that, after all this time, we still get to get together and go see our favorite band. And they’re at the peak of their powers!”
My friend Michael Lee Jackson had paused abruptly on our strident march toward the backstage area of Toronto’s Budweiser Stage (formerly known as Molson Amphitheater, a name I preferred, frankly, but alas, nothing can stop the forward march of both time and Live Nation), eager to meet and catch up with an old friend. High fives and hugs ensued, for we three (myself, Michael, and our friend Geno McManus) were unabashedly excited to see Deep Purple, the legendary band around which we’d built our friendship decades back.
And Michael was right - in July, the mighty Purple had released a new album, the Bob Ezrin-produced = 1, and we agreed that this was one of the band’s very finest efforts in a career spanning more than 50 years. (We were far from alone in our assessment of = 1’s charms - the record was all but unanimously critically lauded as a remarkable effort upon its release, and it debuted in the top 20 in more than 20 countries, including the US, UK, Ireland, Canada and Germany.)
When we resumed our trek, and ultimately ended up backstage to meet Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan - a true friend, and a true gentleman - we learned that the making of = 1 had reinvigorated not just Purple’s massive international fanbase, but had in fact given the band members themselves a jolt of youthful enthusiasm, a feeling deepened by what by this time has already been a solid two months of touring, with dates stretching ahead across North America and Europe throughout the rest of the year.
Gillan noted that the Toronto show represented Purple’s 6th gig in a row without a night off, and though the pace had been relentless and tiring, he was enjoying every minute of it, and looking beyond the tour toward the creation of more new music. We three received this news with barely concealed glee, our inner 14 year-olds recognizing the magnitude of the moment, and rejoicing in the present tense, to realize that ‘meeting your idols’ is sometimes everything you’d dreamed it might be.
When Deep Purple took to the stage later that evening, the sheer power and eloquence of the band’s adventurous blend of swinging rhythms, sturm und drang and grandiloquence was immediately transportive, as it has been the dozens and dozens of times I’ve watched them perform over the years.
Muscularity, gracefulness, mastery of dynamics - all were evident in time-honored opener “Highway Star,” as drummer Ian Paice’s relentlessly driving and propulsive rhythm pushed bandmates Roger Glover (bass), Don Airey (keys) and Simon McBride (guitar) into a high-speed chase, while Gillan attacked the song’s rapid-fire cadences like a man (still) possessed by Little Richard’s ghost.
The song remains as awe-inspiring today as it was the first time I heard it, some 45 years ago.
In Toronto, ‘Highway Star’ also served to put the assembled on notice - it featured the first of what would be many incredible guitar solos from ‘new guy’ McBride, who replaced the long-serving Steve Morse in 2022, and is surely part of the reason that Deep Purple sounds as invigorated and passionate as it does in 2024. McBride is the perfect fit for the band, his ability to blend bluesy soulfulness with deeply melodic passages, classical-based themes, inventively dirty riffs, and immaculate phrasing offering a compendium of the band’s history, while hinting at a still-rich future.
The first of 5 songs from = 1 followed, in the form of the deliciously raunchy “A Bit On the Side,” and one sensed immediately that the 50 years that have passed between the show opener and this new piece have done nothing to diminish the vibrancy of Deep Purple’s collective imagination. The interplay between McBride and Airey was particularly noteworthy and fiery here, as was Gillan’s ability to navigate the song’s serpentine melody with vigor and panache.
A pair of tunes from Purple’s 1970 game-changer In Rock followed, in the form of “Hard Lovin’ Man” and “Into the Fire,” both of which celebrated Gillan’s maturity as a vocalist, and his ability to approach songs he sang first as a young man with the gravitas he’s earned in the time since.
Again, the band attacked this material like a pack of rabid dogs, the rhythm section ably rooting the mighty interplay between Airey’s Hammond organ and McBride’s blisteringly virtuosic guitar playing.
An inspired take on the stately “Uncommon Man” offered the evening’s sole nod to the Morse era and its deep catalog, which is likely more of a comment on the band’s love for the new material than a dismissive gesture toward the past. Toward that end, the band offered us visceral takes on = 1’s “Lazy Sod,” “Show Me,” “Portable Door” and “Bleeding Obvious” in fairly rapid succession, with a stop to visit the twisted blues genius of “Lazy” and the oft-overlooked neo-classical stomper “Anya” along the way.
This new material is some of the strongest music Deep Purple has ever made, and part off its strength lies in the fact that the musicians manage to celebrate all that has long been magnificent about their band, while still sounding wholly modern and forward-looking.
If a feat like this was easy to pull off, everyone would be doing it. Alas, as you may have noticed, everyone is not.
But Deep Purple is. And man, am I ever here for it.
Earlier, Yes opened the evening’s proceedings with a fan’s dream setlist, including opener “Machine Messiah,” an epic piece of multi-hued music from 1980’s Drama album.
Led these days by the supremely gifted guitarist Steve Howe, and also featuring Drama-era keyboardist Geoff Downes, the band is rounded out by bassist/vocalist Billy Sherwood, vocalist Jon Davison, and drummer Jay Schellen.
Yes suffered immense loss over recent years with the passing of founder and bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White. Co-founder and vocalist Jon Anderson is sadly no longer working with Yes, somewhat contentiously (though Anderson & the Band Geeks released a wildly ambitious, and frankly, very Yes-like album, True, last week). The lack of Anderson’s presence in the lineup has led some among the Yes fandom to refer to this current band as ‘a Yes cover band,’ which is certainly unkind and arguably inaccurate. After all, Howe has been a member of Yes for 50-odd years, and has every right to continue to present the band’s timeless and deeply imaginative music to whomever might want to hear it. (There are a lot of us.)
The band’s set was flawless, and often inspired, particularly when they tackled such profound pieces of music as “Yours Is No Disgrace,” “Going for the One,” “Siberian Khatru” and “Starship Trooper.”
Yes music is eternal, and this ensemble played it beautifully.
Deep Purple
Budweiser Stage, Toronto, ON
8/25/2024
Highway Star
A Bit On the Side
Hard Lovin’ Man
Into the Fire
Simon McBride guitar interlude
Uncommon Man
Lazy Sod
Lazy
Show Me
Portable Door
Anya
Don Airey keyboard interlude
Bleeding Obvious
Space Truckin’
Smoke On the Water
Encore:
Hush
Black Night
Yes
Budweiser Stage, Toronto, ON
8/25/2024
Machine Messiah
I’ve Seen All Good People
Yours Is No Disgrace
Clap
Going for the One
Siberian Khatru
Encore:
Roundabout
Starship Trooper
Envious. Wish I could have made that one. Yes. The new DP is their best in years. Did u miss opener Hannah Wicklund? She’s another reason I wanted to attend. One of the great newer talents out there. And man can she play. Having her on that tour is icing on the cake.
Sadly, the current version of Yes is a cover band and cannot match the talent and magic that was Yes in the 1970s-2000s. Founding member and soul of the band Jon Anderson was permanently ousted due to a temporary illness, and replaced with a cover band singer found on YouTube. That singer was replaced with another cover band singer. Rick Wakeman would never join this lineup, and Chris Squier and Alan White have passed. Yes has been reduced to an opening act with a sleep-inducing stage presence. The most recent song from the set, "Machine Messiah", was released 44 years ago, which should tell you something. Steve Howe should rename the band and introduce more original music, along with some Yes covers, and I'd have much more respect for the band. I was a diehard fan and am a veteran of 20 or so live shows but would never pay to see this lineup. Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman perform fabulous solo shows. See what Yes is missing when Rick comes to Buffalo in October, perhaps for the last time. I'll see ya there.