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Mk.3 reunion still not happening
Here is a new installment of the “hot air and wild speculation” saga of the Mk.3 reunion.
A couple of days ago Blabbermouth posted a story in which they referred to two interviews given to VH1 Radio Networks by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes respectively.
WHITESNAKE/ex-DEEP PURPLE frontman David Coverdale recently told VH1 Radio Networks’ Dave Basner that he would reunite with his former DEEP PURPLE bandmates Jon Lord (keyboards), Ian Paice (drums), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar) and Glenn Hughes (bass, vocals) for the right opportunity, like a benefit concert.
In other words, nothing new here. Coverdale has already went on record saying exactly that: he would do a one off show but not a full blown reunion.
Glenn Hughes:
Yeah, absolutely, for the simple task of this purpose: When I was in the band in the ’70s, let’s just say I joined the band a very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Northern chap like David and I left the band, very sort of, let’s just say I was overserved at the bar. And I’ve made my amends with everybody but I’d like to have a jam with the guys again as a sober man and somebody who knows how to deal with his life on a daily basis. That’s the way I’d like to do it.
And the fans, I think Purple Mk. III is the last reunion of the iconic bands from the ’70s. You know, The Who have come back and even Zeppelin did one show. So Mk. III would be a huge… for the fans it would be monumental. And you know, I like to please the fans, they’ve been great.
It all depends on if we can get Ritchie to the table and I’m not sure if that’s possible. But David and I, we chew the fat over it from time to time. We had a big thing about four years ago where we tried to put it together but we couldn’t get everybody to the table and we didn’t want to have that weight on our shoulders, it’s just too big of a weight. And there’s lots of people involved and lots of employment and stuff so we just decided we’d move on because we were spending a lot of time trying to get it together and it didn’t sort of pan out.
Before the rumours start spreading around, note that he never said that a Mk.3 reunion is in the works any more.
Mind you, the last time the beaten dead horse has floated to the surface, all the parties involved in the speculation went on record with the statements that “it’s not happening”. And as recently as last fall Jon Lord reiterated this in a Classic Rock interview:
I think it’s a dream too far, I know a lot of people would like it to happen, but it would have to have Ian Paice involved, and right now he’s committed to the current Purple lineup. And I know they are planning a new studio album, as well as more touring.
I got an email from David recently, and it seems Glenn and Ritchie might be into it, although I don’t know how Glenn feels now, with Black Country Communion happening.
Yes, I would love to play with Ritchie again, but don’t read anything into that as far as Mk. III is concerned.
I must admit I’d also have a concern or two about David’s voice.
And if you still had any doubts, on May 2nd Glenn responded to the story on his Twitter:
I get asked the same Q in every int. about MK3 reunion. (2day on Blabbermouth). I’m all about the present… I don’t wanna live in the past… GH
BCC is NOW! + David is the only member of MK3 who has remained a real true brother all thru the years, and stood by me… GH
So there you have it.
Thanks to Blabbermouth and Daniel Bengtsson for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
It will NEVER happen but I would like to see a MK1 reunion.
May 3rd, 2011 at 20:31Hey guys …
MK 3 … please let us be honest.
W H O wanted to have a MK 3 reunion ???
(Okay – the main reason: To make a lot of money … )
The only real reunion will be ” MK 2 ” but
– please be pardon about this statement –
this will never happend because Ritchie doesn´t like Mr.Gillan.
And he hates the currend DP-mangement !!!
That is the reality !!!
And – he has money enough to save the troubles to this happening.
I think, the only reason is only music and their love to the music and if there is no busyness involved – maybe it will happend.
But in no other way !!!
LLRnR
-kraatzy-
May 3rd, 2011 at 20:53They should do show or two, why not?
May 3rd, 2011 at 21:42Saw them in 1974, would love to see that line-up again.
May 3rd, 2011 at 22:46These one-off reunion concerts mean nothing. I have live recordings of Mark III Deep Purple, and more than likely the venue would be so far away as to be meaningless as far as concert attendance on my part is concerned.
Of greater import would be a collaboration–a recording–which contains, as Hughes stated, an opportunity to put his two cents into it with a clear head while he is at the height of his career.
Rest assured: If Blackmore were to ever say “Jump,” no one would ask how high–they would just jump.
May 4th, 2011 at 00:58It would be very nice such a reunion, if I can’t br there, I expect the DVD.
May 4th, 2011 at 02:07I will cut my arm off to see that reunion happening ……
May 4th, 2011 at 02:44What I really expect (outside of the current lineup) is a final all-marks-all-star gig.
lineup:
vocals: Gillan/Coverdale/Simper/Hughes/Turner
Guitar: Blackmore/Morse/Satriani
Bass: Glover/Simper/Hughes
Keyboards: Lord/Airey
Drums: Paice
Where? somewhere in London. Maybe at the O2 ?
When? anytime the band decides to END
With some special guests (Iommi, Gilmour, Dickinson – from Gillan’s friends and whoever else)
This will be a killer anthem/gig of the golden age of Rock’N’Roll. The final bang of one of the biggest band is the rock – Deep Purple & co.
Am I dreaming too much? ok, I’m out 😀
May 4th, 2011 at 03:44We are waiting so long for those things to be happened. Mark III or Mark II. You are still in time to do that. Please do it for last….. I am an old fan of yours and I am following you in details since 1986 when I was 14-teen and I never stopped. Please try hard…..
Best Regards from Gentian Stratoberdha From Tirana, Albania
May 4th, 2011 at 07:55It is understandable if people want the Mk 3 thing to happen. But will it? Probably not. Why? They have done that and been there before. It was history, plus would the same magic be there also. Even though it would be nice, things must move on. I myself would love to have it recorded and so on but again would it do justice to what had happen some 30 plus years ago. All of that magic and rawness.
May 4th, 2011 at 09:13Mk1, 2, 54, whatever. What exactly do people think will come out if these reunions happen? It’s not the 70’s anymore. It won’t sound as it did then. Listen to the old stuff if you miss them. It won’t happen again. Also, enjoy the new fine material put out by these gentlemen. I would not want to miss BCC or more JL solo material just because of some nostalgia reunion that won’t be able to recreate something that is gone.
Are all you people missing your old partners as well? Forget abou them and enjoy your new company instead. It will never be as good as the first time again.
May 4th, 2011 at 09:15This is just what you think, Mr svante axbacke. And you are alone……
May 4th, 2011 at 09:37Gillan’s voice doesn’t sound like it did in the 70s, so why not a MK3 reunion???
May 4th, 2011 at 10:46Let Hughes help out Coverdale on parts where he I can’t sing good enough. If Blackmore would say yes, then the rest of the MK3 members would probably join him without thinking twice about it.
I want it to happen, I really want to see MK3! I’ve re-listened the MK3 albums (including live albums) many times, it doesn’t suffice. I want the reunion, If I can’t attend a possible reunion concert, I’ll buy the live concert dvd or blu ray they’ll probably produce. Burn is a great album, with classic hard rock tracks. Stormbringer is not bad at all. The title track itself is fantastic to my ears, Soldier of Fortunte is probably the best ballad Deep Purple ever wrote and recorded. I want to see Blackmore and Lord together again, Blackmore won’t perform with Gillan, which leaves a MK3 the only possible hope to witness Blackmore performing with Deep Purple again (well, I guess Blackmore would do an JLT Deep Purple reunion concert)
The only reason I would like to see a MK1 reunion is because like alot of people it’s the only combination I’ve never seen. Don’t read into it as if I dislike the current line up. The line up now is great!
May 4th, 2011 at 11:12I ll probaly get a lot of raising eyebrows and malicious pleasure for this but…….
I DO miss my old partner.
I agree that a few one off shows, resulting in good recordings will ease a lot of pain.
Ofcourse I d frustrated if they chose they gig too far away but hey……
A great DVD will give me great pleasure for the rest of my days.
If the result is diaappointing we can lay the whole debate to rest.
They are professionals and English, they can handle a mini tour.
I m not a professional, I d die great pains after a tender reunion with my ex, having to abort my wish forever after. : (
May 4th, 2011 at 11:58Yes I miss it big time
May 4th, 2011 at 13:05BBC is great, DP of today is OK (not more than OK)and Whitesnake is only about 10% of the REAL Whitesnake, BUT what I need is Blackmore back with these great people. His sound is DP to me.
Al@7,
You will not have to give any of your appendages.
Whatsoever.
Peace,
Ted
May 4th, 2011 at 13:59Nowdays I would never see the Lord Mr.Jon on stage with David Coverdale with his hair style and lifted face… Jon Lord is a real man.
May 4th, 2011 at 14:34Would be nice to see MK3, again!
May 4th, 2011 at 18:33It would be wonderful …
@16: But Blackmore doesn’t sound like 1974 either.
May 4th, 2011 at 18:38Svante
If you did attend a concert by Blackmore s Night you d know he still plays the electric guitar as before.
The context in which he does that is very debatable but to say he would not be able to play the old style anymore is crazy.
hell, he plays that stuff in his sleep!
May 4th, 2011 at 20:11I would have to agree with Svante. Any kind of reunion will not be a time machine.
I remember being somewhat disappointed when the Mark II reunion happened and the line-up sounded modern instead of the group picking up where they left off.
In retrospect, Perfect Strangers would end up being one of the best albums Deep Purple ever recorded–but at the time, I was a little confused at the approach and disappointed with the style.
I would much rather that Blackmore, Lord and Paice get together and create something new. They were the beginning. They should be the end.
May 5th, 2011 at 02:36A MKIII ‘pension pot’ tour……………Lets not spoil the memories.
May 5th, 2011 at 10:48Sorry…but this wouldn’t interest me at all. Glenn Hughes has wanted this for decades to make himself relevant. One great album (Burn) riding the success of MK II.
Deep Purple will always be Blackmore, Gillian, Glover, Lord and Paice…all others are a second hand, cheap version. No disrespect to Morse, and yes, I have tickets to the June show in Boston (and Blackmore’s Night in May), but its like substituting a Buick for a Corvette.
Blackmore should get together with Jon Lord and do something orginal along those lines. It’s really too bad that MKII died the death it did, that to me was one of the greatest bands ever. But then again, when I put Rainbow Rising or Long Live Rock and Roll against any Deep Purple album, I have to admit they are stronger in their entirety.
Coverdale was OK, but I never liked Hughes and never saw anything special about him. He should have kept his “Ice Cream” costume and stayed with Trapeze, funking them up instead of trying to funk up Deep Purple which for the most part in my opinion killed what was left of a great band.
As for the legacy of Deep Purple, Coverdale and Hughes are minute figures in the big picture.
May 5th, 2011 at 21:29@21
Its been a few years since Blackmore has regularly played in a ‘rock band’, 18 years since he played in the MKII, and over 35 years since he’s played with the MKIII.
Who knows what he is capable of, or what his sleeping habits are.
Wishfull thinking is one thing
May 6th, 2011 at 08:05If Lord and Blackmore could play together,for benefit or special occasion or whatever…. and that sounds to be possible, what else then can possible matter anymore…
May 6th, 2011 at 10:16No asking who,when…. how high … ;° #5 JUMP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, Mk III recorded what, some 18 songs together? One charted (Might Just Take Your Life). Three were radio hits (Burn, Mistreated and Strombringer). You Fool No One and Lady Double Dealer got played live regularly. The rest had little or no radio play and were rarely or never played live. There isn’t much for a reunion show.
May 6th, 2011 at 15:01oh please , MkIII should get back together just like I should go back to high school ! some things need to stay in the past & David Coverdale & Glenn Hughes time in Deep Purple was a major disapointment for this Mk II fan. that 1974 US Tour ( which I saw 2 shows) prevented Purple from becoming a band on the same popularity level with Led Zeppelin. Just think about if Deep Purple MK II was headlining California Jam ! That show would still be talked about but for the music & not Blackmore’s antics. just my opinion
May 6th, 2011 at 18:37OH Come ON ! Be serious you guys….
It would be awful !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Coverdale’s & Hughes’s voice changed so much, that you would never recognize a new version of You Fool No One…. Blackmore doesn’t (or can’t) play as fast anymore. It would be sad to see them like that.
I personally would like to see Ritchie back in action (i mean in Rock). To lay this horrible which became from Blackmore’s Night with their latest (and i hope last) studio album.
They are out of ideas, and even they know that. Don’t forget that Ritchie always got bored after a while with all those Purple & Rainbow Marks…
So there is a hope that he will get tired with this one too.
As we all know he will be a guest on Space Odity. If he makes that baby a little bit of hard rocking, we have a slight chance that he will come back to Rock….
May 7th, 2011 at 00:41@ 28
I am aware of the idea of anachronisms.
Sounds always very good.
But DC has been returning to the 1987 format for almost 25 years now.
Isnt 1987 a year in the past as well?
The only real problem is Davids voice LIVE.
May 8th, 2011 at 09:38But the battle rages on :
http://darkerthanblue.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/mk-3-reunion-rumours/
May 9th, 2011 at 23:33Imagine this ALL past and present members of DP on stage in a one off concert in Hyde Park with Tommy Bolin on a background screen whilst the group played Smoke On The Water, Speed King and Black Night as well as best of from each of the marks. I would travel from Australia to see that, but I’m only dreaming unfortunately
May 12th, 2011 at 01:53@George: how about Evans as a singer (instead of Simper)? 😉
May 19th, 2011 at 21:46Hi, Metal Heads
June 23rd, 2011 at 11:41I seen Purple’s MK2 reunion, the spedid hieghts of Perfect Strangers the depths of flogging the Purple horse without Blackmore and Lord. Today we talk about MK3, why. Blackmore, Lord are Deep Purple where ever they will be let do what they want and live forever. It is time to gather all Metal Heads who can see no further than thier studied wrist bands and lead them to the gates of hell, as if.Grow up!
I guess I’m like a lot of folks out there, very aware of TIME. There is a finite amount of time for ANY of these various groups to re-unite even for a single gig. LZ, Sabbath, DP, whoever. The clock is ticking. What I am continually forced to confront is the fact that this means LESS to the people actually involved than it does to the people that want it to happen. That’s really all there is to it. They were involved, they lived through it all. All we did was listen and buy the records. While we did put money in their pockets, it does not obligate them to us in any way, shape or form. Especially 35 years down the line. Too bad. I’d love to call in all the markers I earned buying all those records. Hey Ritchie, come play in my basement. You owe me. I bought ‘In Rock’ seventeen times (one original and sixteen different re-packagings).
September 16th, 2011 at 03:49Blackmore reuniting with Gillan is just as much out of sight as AC/DC reuniting with Bon Scott (RIP). Could someone arrange that please ??? I’d swap Glen Hughes for him. He’ll “BURN” well… 😀
May 2nd, 2012 at 15:24@GillanFan, I have to agree with you, this would be positivley dire. Blackmore doesn’t play rock anymore, because he can’t do it at the level he’d require. He knows he’s past it, why can’t his fans get the idea? A couple of solos in Blackmores Night, where he repeats the same licks and phrases a few times on his strat, keeps his fans happy, but these days ALL Blackmore’s electric solos feature the same licks/phrases, you can hear this clearly on ALL his recordings, studio and bootlegs. Same old same old. The fans still think it’s as good as before, but that’s because they are FANS, so even if he came round their house and shat in the diner they’d still think it was good! As they say “Love is Blind” however Anyone listening and comparing Blackmore of today against Blackmore of even the 1995 SIUA Rainbow, can’t fail to hear the difference. The energy and vitality has left his playing now, it’s just plain gone. It was present at the very start of Blackmore’s Night but now, it’s just not there anymore. Another saying is that “you need to know when it’s time to go” and “leave at the top of your game” etc etc Just look at poor old Michael Schumacker to see why it would be best to leave the past in the past!
A MKIII reunion will be like a cripples outing. Coverdale allegedly mimes these days, Ritchie and Jon Lord and Paicey are all drawing pensions now and are all well past their best and Glen is “still going” but older now. The ONLY possible reason for doing this would be to collect some more cash from the fan base before the twilight home beckons, a last hurrah for the bank account.
Disappointment is the only thing that’s guaranteed in a MKIII reunion. In their day they were unbeatable and gave us all the most fantastic music, BUT that was then and this is now and now they are all done.
If you need further evidence of the toll of the years, check out the recent UK Diamond Jubilee concert, in the the UK, which features “Top” artists from way back, Tom Jones, Cliff Richard, Elton John, Paul MCartney, Stevie Wonder, etc etc…………………… Stevie Wonder STILL has it, and he still does it, the others………….Tom barely sings now, Cliff can’t breath, Elton’s voice is fecked, Paul is a dreadful parady ………. basically appauling stuff.
MKIII would fit in well in the house of great, but now sadly, past it performers.
June 13th, 2012 at 07:21With the passing of Jon Lord it just would not be the same and in my view Ritchie Blackmore would not do it without Jon Lord.
December 16th, 2018 at 01:26