Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
This year the traditional Tbilisi rock festival Open Air was attended by the legendary British group Deep Purple, thought to be a pioneer and the best representative of the whole rock music direction – hard rock.
Deep Purple performed at the central stadium of the country. It was forbidden to record the concert, so only those who came to the Dynamo Arena could assess the quality of performance. Many people waited for the British group for a whole day, because they performed at the end of the festival and put other participants in the shade.
Deep Purple’s concert is an unexpected and joyful event for Georgia, especially for the generation of the 70s. It seems Deep Purple’s record was one for ten thousand fans. In the middle of the decade it was like a museum item: students and senior pupils went to watch it like going on an excursion. I don’t know why but Deep Purple’s records were much rarer in Georgia than records by Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones. At the same time, Deep Purple was much more popular and yielded only to The Beatles. But The Beatles is a unique phenomenon, like a first love.
Enormous excitement in social networks preceded Deep Purple’s visit. Of course, loud-spoken generalizations took place among bloggers. For instance, one of them wrote that when we all “lived without air in the Communist prison, Deep Purple destroyed Josef Kobzon’s world.” It is not correct toward the great singer Josef Kobzon. The author could also write that Deep Purple “destroyed Frank Sinatra’s world.” I have never met a person who is simultaneously a fan of Deep Purple and Sinatra, but I know people who like listening to Deep Purple and… Bach.
Deep Purple survived the test of time. Their music was not hushed by any “new trend” from sweet Italian songs of the early 80s to punk rock. The music of the group has something really classic, everlasting, absolutely pure and healthy, brutal, powerful, severe, but kind and good-natured at the same time, unlike some following epigones.
Of course not all “classics” of Deep Purple came to Tbilisi. Only Gillan and Paice took part in the festival. A huge crowd of fans waited for them in the airport. There were many young people, students. They were raised on very different music. However, it appeared that many representatives of the current generation understand beauty and essence of true rock music and respect classics of the genre.
