The 1996 live album shows Deep Purple in their classic line up, including Richard ‘Ritchie’ Blackmoe, while the 2006 recording has Steve Morse on guitars. Actually the 11996 CD also contains two tracks that were recorded in 2000,
As a non die hard Purple fan I was pleasantly surprised that the two CD’s contained different songs, one or two songs featuring on both recordings, amont them the ubiquitous ‘Smoke On The Water’ of course. What still, even after all these years, make me shiver, are the keyboards by the late Jon Lord, Who is replaced by Don Airey on the second album.
While Ian Gillan still has a fine voice, the difference between the two records is quite striking. He still hits the high notes, but less frequently, which actually is quite normal for a guy who now is nearing his seventies, and has been in the business since the early sixties. A nice way for a non-Purple fan to learn the music of this symbolic band that stood at the cradle of what is now called hard rock. And even I liked it, being not the greatest fan of live albums.