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One of rock’s great unfinished stories

Ultimate Guitar publishes an article by Greg Prato on the “Tommy Bolin dilemma”: When Tommy Bolin stepped into the James Gang, he was replacing Domenic Troiano and, previously, Joe Walsh. When he later joined Deep Purple, he was replacing Ritchie Blackmore. Two wildly different guitarists, two established legacies, and Bolin was expected to fill both […]

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It smells like rock ‘n’ roll

Calgary Herald has a piece on the Rolling Stones Mobile truck, now residing at the Canadian National Music Centre. The Centre is launching a series of events called Liner Notes dedicated to the history of the legendary mobile studio and selected classic albums recorded with its help: It really is hallowed ground. It’s weird to […]

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Doesn’t get more legendary than that

Roppongi Rocks has a short review of the Deep Purple gig in Tokyo Budokan, on April 11, 2026: They opened the Budokan show in style with “Highway Star”. Deep Purple back on stage at Budokan! This is what it is all about. Classics such as “Lazy”, “Space Truckin’” and “Smoke on the Water” were obvious […]

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Legends no more

The Rock Legends package tour featuring Joe Lynn Turner, among other people, and scheduled for a string of dates in November 2026 in Germany and Austria, has been cancelled: Unfortunately, the complete tour of “Rock Legends” has to be cancelled without replacement despite the 2025 postponement. Tickets already purchased can be refunded at the respective […]

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Just up the road from Whisky

In May 2025 Bob Daisley appeared on The Jersey Guys Podcast. It is a very long conversation, so a lot of dirt had a chance to be overturned, including him delving into his stint with Rainbow in a bit more detail than usual. Warning: turn the volume down before hitting play — the podcast intro […]

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Freight train and a bird on a wire

About a year ago Joe Bonamassa has posted an almost two hours long video of Black Country Communion live. In the spirit of better late than never, here it is.

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Running in and out

The desk of useless facts in our trainspotting department reports that at some point in time the stretch of the central street in Montreux called Grand Rue was renamed Avenue Claude-Nobs. Such that the building known as Le Petit Palais, that was the venue of the first Machine Head session — y’know, the one that […]

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On the cheap

Live Nation Canada will be holding a ticket sale during the week of April 29 – May 5. Tickets to selected venues and shows will be offered for $30 (that includes fess, but taxes are extra), and according to Toronto Sun, Deep Purple are among the artists that will be offered during the promo week. […]

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It’s what not to play

Some time earlier this year, before Deep Purple departed for Japan, Simon McBride sat down for a chat with dopeYEAH talk. What does it take to step into one of the most legendary bands in rock history — and make it your own? 🎸🔥 In this episode, Rob Cass sits down with Simon McBride, the […]

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That allergy to major sevenths

Ritchie Blackmore continues his 2026 birthday celebration livestream at an “interesting hour in the morning”. And it may even be not the last instalment!

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An unrusted, seasoned performance

The Chosun Daily reviews in a most positive way the Deep Purple gig in South Korea from April 18, 2026. At 7 p.m. on the 18th, the Culture Park inside the Paradise City Resort in Incheon. The band Deep Purple opened their performance with their signature song *Highway Star*. The knuckles of the members were […]

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And they went their own merry ways

Back from the loo, Ritchie Blackmore continues his 2026 birthday livestream at (apparently) 4 o’clock in the morning.

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If a tree falls in a forest…

A philosophical question: is it still a tribute album when you have six former members of the band on it? The album in question is Ride ​The Rainbow, it is a tribute to you-know-what, and features Bob Daisley, Graham Bonnet, Don Airey, Joe Lynn Turner, Doogie White and Ronnie Romero, among other people. [Updated Apr 23 with sample track]

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A very gentle, satisfying evening

Part 2 of Ritchie Blackmore’s 2026 birthday livestream continues from his in-house bar.

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Tears to his eyes

Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night have appeared on April 14, 2026, on SiriusXM’s show Ozzy’s Boneyard. The interview is available to SiriusXM subscribers only (apparently there’s a free trial, if you’re inclined), but BraveWords has a quote from Ritchie about late Jon Lord: I said to Jon Lord of Deep Purple, when we got together, […]

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Theoretically possible, but hasn’t happened yet

Some time ago (posted March 5, 2026) Steve Morse spoke to a gentleman called Jordi Pinyol. Steve talks about his writing process, work ethics, reminisces about rubbing shoulders with the likes of Pat Metheny and Narada Michael Walden, surfing with Jaco Pastorius, and how being in Kansas was different from being in Deep Purple.

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Get a lawyer, immediately!

Ritchie Blackmore does a livestream on his 81st birthday.

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Mr. Airey, what went wrong with your gear?

While being in Japan, Don Airey sat down to chat with Roppongi Rocks. Caveat: the host seemed to be more interested in Don’s stints with Ozzy and everybody else rather than Deep Purple.

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Can’t happen here

More details have surfaced on the William Shatner’s upcoming “metal” album, and it sounds like Blackmore will not be appearing on it after all. AntiMusic reports: Cleopatra Records shared a new update on William Shatner’s forthcoming metal album and revealed that the Star Trek icon reached out to Deep Purple legend Ritchie Blackmore to record […]

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Once upon a time in Budokan

After a year-long hiatus of 2025, Deep Purple have started their massive world tour on April 11 at the place that helped them to get propelled into the superstardom — Tokyo Budokan. Potential spoilers ahead.

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