Deep Purple - Rapture Of Kazan - 2006-10-18 (2 DVD5) [2006, Classic Rock, CAMRip]

Shot from left center stage balcony. This is a high quality video. The audio is pretty good but has a slight bit of distortion at times. The picture is crisp and clear. Sometimes the taper moves the camera around too much. But he usually settles down for a very nice shot.
Ian Paice and Don Airey are on a platform that is 5 steps above the front of the stage where Steve, Roger and Ian are. All three of them climb the steps at different times during the first song. I think Steve wanted to be closer to the speakers to get some feedback. Gillan's voice is in fine shape. It is up front in the mix.
One of the odd things is that Gillan does *no* talking between the first four songs! Then he talks a lot during the next couple of songs - maybe to give Steve some time to re-tune his guitar. Nice to hear No One Came in the set list! Gillan sings it a bit strangely - he adds quite a few words to the lyrics and comes in at odd times. Steve changes guitars for Wrong Man - this is a very heavy number - I really like this one.
Steve plays his Riff Raff as part of his solo. A little GnR, Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Then straight into TWDG. I always liked it when he played Riff Raff as the lead in to Smoke On The Water. I think Steve once tried to explain that he was honoring SOTW as the song with "The Riff" by doing it that way. But I believe that Gillan told him that he didn't like it there at all and asked him to move it.
Gillan sits down on the front of the stage to sing the first verse of WABMC. At the end of the song someone puts a beautiful bouquet of roses on the stage in front of Steve. Ian picks them up and takes them back stage. The first DVD ends with a nice version of Lazy. Gillan plays a little "Air Hammond". At the end of the song Gillan walks down off the stage to meet a woman and - do what - sign an autograph?
DVD2 opens with Don Airey performing his solo in the dark - the camera finally gets oriented and you can see him playing his keyboards. His solo leads straight into Perfect Strangers. Roger takes center stage with the intro to Space Truckin'. Later he switches sides with Steve.
The stage fills with smoke during Highway Star - but I do not think that Deep Purple provided it - I think the crowd did! The arena is hazy and smoke filled. Gillan gives a few screams and then clucks like a chicken and Morse cracks up laughing just before his big solo.
Steve plays a soft intro to SOTW. The crowd erupts when they hear the main riff. There are no real crowd shots during this video so you can't gauge their level of enthusiasm.
Ian Paice and Don Airey come down the steps to take a bow. Ian tosses his drumsticks into the crowd and then does something rare - he runs back up the steps to get another one and comes back and tosses it into the crowd on Steve's side. But not to a particular person.
The band leaves for a minute or so and comes back for the encore to play Hush. They go right into a Roger Glover bass solo and then Black Night. You can take guitar lessons from Steve on this song! Amazing playing.