Deep Purple
Come Hell Or High Water

THE REVIEW

This live album "Come Hell Or Highwater" is a beautiful live album by one of the most important bands in hard rock music, alongside Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, the Deep Purple!

This concert is certainly not on the level of the historic "Made In Japan," the greatest live album in the history of music, but it stands out mainly because, recorded in 1993, during the tour of "The Battle Rages on...," it is the last performance of the band with Ritchie Blackmore, one of the masters of the hard rock guitar, in the lineup. He left due to conflicts with the singer Ian Gillan, but that night he must have been more unleashed than ever because Blackmore's performance and the rest of the Purple are impeccable.

The icing on the cake is the setlist: absolutely spot on! Perhaps only the legendary "Burn" is missed among classics like "Black Night," "Child In Time" and "Highway To Star" and of course the legendary "Smoke On The Water," which I feel capable of defining as the best hard rock song of all time alongside "Stairway To Heaven" by Zeppelin and "Paranoid" by Sabbath. The audience joins the band with real stadium chants, Ian Gillan is a great frontman, leading oceanic crowds, all his colleagues obviously make a great impression but naturally the other great character of the evening is Blackmore who transforms the concert into a final farewell to the fans by showcasing his pronounced skills with his Fender Stratocaster. Not to mention drummer Ian Paice, a true steamroller, never out of time and not a single mistake.

In essence, an exceptional live performance overshadowed only by the presence of that giant "Made In Japan," but which nevertheless demonstrates (as if it were necessary) the experience and incredible skills of a band like Deep Purple that has made rock history.