There’s plenty to be said about the way Deep Purple meshes with the billowing emotions of an orchestra, and the setting in this ancient place. Live in Verona is, at least on the surface, a gorgeously captured moment, testament to an ageless format — for Deep Purple, anyway — and one held in a remarkably picturesque Arena di Verona.
But there’s more to it, much more. Live in Verona spotlights a band on its way back to relevancy, even if the setlist is dominated by songs from before Steve Morse’s now 20-year residency on guitar. Working with Stephen Bentley-Klein’s Frankfurt-based Neue Philharmonie throughout the European leg of Deep Purple’s 2011 tour, rather than the assorted orchestras they’d been forced to pair with in America for budget reasons, had helped focus this long-running group like nothing in recent memory.
Ian Gillan sings with new vigor. Don Airey plays with a fizzy gumption. Roger Glover and Ian Paice lock into the rhythm with a white-knuckle grip. Morse is moved to take new chances of his own. In short, Deep Purple had, for some time until this tour commenced, rarely sounded tighter or more aggressive. Inspired by the youthful energy of this rising orchestra, they found new life after more than half a decade of performing the same songs without benefit of a new album.
Fast forward to a subsequent stop in Canada, where in the audience sat producer Bob Ezrin. He returned for another show down the line, and another. Struck by their bounce-back energy and attention to detail, Ezrin eventually asked to produce Deep Purple’s next studio effort. That became 2013’s Now What?!, a complete return to form, after six long years away.
In this way, stand-out performances like “Space Truckin'” can be seen, after all this time, in a whole new light. This isn’t just another evening of boisterous, string-laden songcraft from Deep Purple, continuing a stretch that runs all the way back to 1969’s ground-breaking Concerto for Group and Orchestra. This is a big-bang moment for the next era of Deep Purple.
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