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Friday, the previous day, had been the longest day but by the time Deep Purple finally hit the stage, almost an hour later than anticipated, at 22:20 Saturday felt far longer. Audience expectation, despite the weather and delay, had risen to fever pitch and they wanted the main event before the quicksand-like mud swallowed them. I would imagine at least 50%
of the audience were in the same boat as myself, fans that had discovered
the band after they played their final concert in March 1976, who
never imagined they'd have the chance to see A Deep Purple never mind
THE Deep Purple line-up that wrote their most famous songs. The band
had a lot to live up to and the weather wasn't going to make that
easy for them.
After twenty years I can't
remember if the first inkling that the band were due to set sail,
sorry, foot, onstage was a small green dot that rotated and grew into
a green outline version of the 'Perfect Strangers' logo, or if that
only appeared later. Whatever heralded the impending attendance on
a UK stage after a nine and a quarter year absence the crowd made
a lot of noise to welcome them back. Listening to the album of the
event, the seemingly oddly titled ‘Knebworth 85: In the Absence of
Pink’ (don’t worry, all will become clear), for the first time in
a couple of years I’d forgotten the long, Hammond based classical
intro tape that both extended our damp wait and started the countdown
to the moment we’d all been waiting for… Even on the album the crowd
can be heard shouting behind the tape and the cheers rise as the band
appeared a matter of seconds before Ian Paice picked up the drum intro
to Highway Star. Emotions were running high and the delay had
only helped increase their level and, sad though it may be, I have
to admit having a tear in my eye as the perfect opening salvo that
was Highway Star sped out of the PA.
Time for a breather at last
as the boys let Ian tell us how amazing we were for lasting the day
in the inclement weather, welcoming us to the show, and then explaining
that they'd all been doing different things in the intervening years.
However, mention of the Gillan band wasn't what followed, Instead
we discovered Ian had been learning languages and had become a "cunning
linguist", a play on words which preceded one of his many variations,
"this time in French", of the story of a Strange Kind of Woman they'd
met many years before… Hmm, two tracks from the 'Made In Japan' album
so far, not that this wasn't welcome at the time, but the same songs
did remain live staples for several years in what would become fairly
stagnant sets. Gillan missed a few words here and there but it wasn't
too noticeable on the night, just when listening back to the CD in
retrospect. Of course three weeks later there was a much more famous outdoor live event and it had much more luck in the weather department, Live Aid. While it would have been nice to have been there for a few of the bands I think a wet Knebworth was experience enough for one year. Below are recollections of
some friends who shared the experience. Here you will find a couple of audience pictures of the crowd and stage, rain and shine care of Charlie. If you would like to remind me af anything I've missed email me or sign the guestbook..
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The
show marked roughly the fifteenth anniversary of the switch from pop
(or orchestral experimentalists) to rock; Deep Purple In Rock was
released sometime in June 1970. In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head
were all re-released a little in advance of the show in 12" picture
disc LP form complete with free A2 sized poster. Picture discs were
the big thing at the time and Perfect Strangers was also re-released
in that form as a Knebworth special edition. Don't these record companies
really like to milk the fanbase?
The
rain that had only really stopped for Blackfoot was back on and kept
at least one roadie busy sweeping water from back to front of stage,
and into the photo pit, throughout the post-Scorpions wait. Water was
also tipped off the thick polythene sheets that covered the keyboard
rig (stage left as we looked through the descending water droplets).
Behind this the stage set was clearly quite basic, some grey boxes
about a dozen feet high jutted different distances from the rear of
the stage with what became clear was a screen rising behind them.
Unfortunately for those at the rear of the crowd the screen wasn't
for video projection but instead provided a canvas for some green
laser animation. 
As
befits a song in the BBC Top Gear (the current car TV programme, not
the John Peel hosted radio show the band played sessions for at their
birth) final Top Five Driving Song vote in the coming few weeks it
certainly powers along. Roger Glover’s frantic bass soon joins in
followed by guitar from Ritchie Blackmore and live, soaring 
Hammond
care of Jon Lord. Despite the gallons of water poured off the Hammond
earlier the valve technology survived and sounded as beefy and full
as I expected. Ritchie, despite sporting a pair of fairly non rock’n’roll
Wellington boots, showed fluidity as his hands covered the fretboard
with ease. The boys were back and the lack of sleep, the cold, and the
wet no longer mattered. It was a good feeling to be sharing an experience
so many there never imagined would happen - Blackmore and Gillan sharing
a stage under the moniker of Deep Purple. 
A
local BBC TV crew recorded the only official film of the show was
during this song by. A single camera was used and some of the footage
was broadcast on a news programme soon afterwards, possibly the following
day. 
What
was more obvious on the evening was when Gillan and Blackmore reached
the call and return section that worked so well on MiJ. There Gillan
matched notes played on the guitar with his voice. On a wet summer
evening thirteen years on, and towards the end of a six month tour,
his voice wasn't up to the task and multi tracked echo was added to
cover the failings. At one point, after a particularly badly missed
attempt at a note, the following one was replaced by Gillan laughing
at his own blunder. You've got to admire the man for his honesty.
In fact the lack of vocal range wasn't as obvious anyway as instead
of really overplaying the vocal/guitar duel Blackmore slipped in something
that probably confused the 'Deepest Purple' compilation-buying fan,
a segment of Jesus Christ Superstar. While they may have recognised
the song its significance would possibly be lost as Gillan had nothing
to do with that particular song as the character he played/sang on
the album was dead. Yes, he was Jesus on the original soundtrack album,
a job he was offered after Andrew Lloyd Webber heard Child in Time.
We were not to be so lucky tonight as, for about the only time on
the tour CiT was omitted from the set. You could blame the late start
but I think the lack of vocal range was maybe the real reason.
After
the guitar dominated rollercoaster ride it was time for a brief pause
to regain breath as Gillan told one of his endearing stories that
inspired the other confusion on the album cover; Perfect Street
Rangers. If you've read closely you'll have worked out what the
track should be called (think the abbreviated version: Perfect St.
Rangers) but Gillan introduced it as a tale of a football team, the
Rangers, who played out of Perfect Street. Daftness aside nothing
could hide the solid majesty of the title and one of two standout
tracks on the reunion album. In fact, Perfect Strangers is
really the tale of the good old days and getting back together again
but with a certain distance being maintained. Adding to the excellence
here Lord shone, thick Hammond chords filled the damp night as a green
laser-formed cage tried its best to protect us from the rain. The
beams reflected around the stage between perfectly placed mirrors
then out over the crowds heads flickering in time to the solid rhythm
of the music. To this day Perfect Strangers remains in the set and,
though the Hammond tone differs and the lasers no longer accompany
the music, audiences still adore the song. 
Stepping
back in time again, back in fact to that MiJ setlist, and Ritchie
played around with Paice, trying to catch him out with several waves
of stop-start riffs the drummer was expected to match. Tonight Paice
managed admirably and so Blackmore moved on to Lazy. As usual
this was a bit of a rest for Gillan's vocal chords, something in a
more bluesy vein. Other than a couple of short verses he played harmonica
and added to the 
Glover/Paice
rhythm section care of his trusty congas, tonight adding an extra
layer of entertainment as the rainwater bounced up and down in time
to his pounding. Add to that the swinging head swishing the mane of
long dark hair around and he looked like a man possessed. Rhythm abounded
as Lazy moved into a showcase drum solo for Paice though quite what
the point of the synthesised sounds I still don't know. They certainly
didn't add much to the solo.
Some
guitar-sourced cello effects (rotating the volume and/or tone knobs
on the white Fender Strat) paused as green light appeared as a point
in the centre of the screen. This then grew as Beethoven's Ninth (or Difficult
to Cure if you're a Rainbow fan or go by the CD tracklisting)
worked itself up from nothing to a Blackmore led crescendo. Over this
watched, looked unimpressed, then began to see the merit in a new
arrangement, and finally began tapping his foot in time, a glowing
cartoon version of Ludwig - a nice humourous touch. The music moved
from there into more straight ahead rock jamming before Lord took over
with swirling Hammond, a modicum of synth, then down a level after
switching to honky tonk piano. Not happy to let things end there it
was back with a blast of Hammond and synth together to work towards a
2001: A Space Odyssey climax whereupon the others returned (having
left the stage for Lord to do his thing) to journey somewhere the
crowd approved of judging by the shouts of approval; Space Truckin'.
Back came the band
for a slightly swinging Black Night while the classic riff to Smoke
on the Water unsurprisingly brought things to a conclusion. As the lights
and fireworks dimmed, and thousands of people skidded through the
mud, there was plenty of smoke in the air - mainly from campfires burning
any wood they could find, and almost certainly many of the plastic
bottles that had been hurled around the audience earlier in the day. 
Well
its all a question of where to start. A very boozy long journey down
from Stockport the night before we finally arrived at approximately
1am. We were there! The entrance to the promised land upon which the
great event would take place. 
Knee
deep in mud rain and golden showers the real fun began when the lights
were turned off and everyone began to climb the muddy slope in the
dark to were the cars were parked. Now at this point after buying
every T-shirt under the sun (now theirs a change) I had 30 pound left
which was the price of a tour jacket which I was hoping to buy before
I left. After two hours of trying to find my mates and the car in
the dark with no joy it was plan B. Should I go to the coach park
or get my thumb out. Seconds later this coach appeared out of thin
air and nearly hit me and much to my shock a voice rang out with the
word's "Hounslow you c**t, get on this coach now!" so without much
thought I got on the coach and sat down for the first time in twenty
hours. An old friend of mine's friend was driving the coach and they
charged me ten pound for the journey home. Needless to say I still
haven't got a tour jacket.