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Loosen up your ties!
Ian Gillan’s article about his experiences in Moscow Kremlin appeared today in online edition of The Sunday Times:
The Kremlin gig wasn’t as straight as all that. The younger guys and more junior staff were all up on their feet, although they were looking nervously over at their bosses to see whether they could loosen their ties. It was as if they were asking, “How much fun are we allowed to have?”
When we met Medvedev he had this stupid grin on his face because he was meeting his favourite band. We had a nice chat but we didn’t talk about politics. All of us in the band have such wildly different opinions on religion and politics that we never get into it.
Read the whole thing here.
Thanks to Blabbermouth.net for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
To make up for this political blunder Ian….I hope you and the boys will play the Red Square,for ordinary people,for free next time you visit Russia!I´m pretty sure you can afford it Ian…..???
February 19th, 2008 at 21:42Political blunder vs Financial reward
Mmmm……….thats a toughy
February 21st, 2008 at 14:28I am a die hard fan of Deep Purple ever since the early senventies. When I read this article it made me feel embarrassed. I still love Deep Purple´s music but it´s hard to believe in rock and roll if you realise that your favourite band plays for Russian criminals (that´s what the definitely are). And it´s no excuse to mention “We didn´t talk about politics”. To me that`s some cowardness which Jon Lord mentions ever it came to the point to change members in the band and not having the guts to tell them in the first place. It even makes me more sad that they let involve themselves into some company party. How I believed and admired Deep Purple for being rock´n´rollers. What has happened to them? Do they still need money ? I am a musician myself. If I had to tie my hair back to do a gig…. For nothing in the world I´d play a show under conditions like that. Did they have to change the lyrics as well? I know a west German band called “BAP”. They were considered to play a show in the former East German Republic. They would have been forced by the goverment to change the setlist and the lyrics. They refused to do so and that´s why the show (if not even the tour)was cancelled. That´s what I call an attitude. Are Deep Purple men or mice ? Despite of the fans´ disappointment they´d still have the chance to look into the mirror without seeing a poor face without backbone. Sad, sad, sad.
February 28th, 2008 at 13:52Still a Deep Purple fancatic and still going to shows but hardly approving to what´s going on with my favourite band besides the music
Hansjörg Sitner
To HansJörg Sitner:
how old are you? Remember Rolling Stones? They have played in China. Which, in my standards is NOT a democratic country. I doubt that the poorest field workers were in the audience! But the Elite of the Party sure were there…and their relatives, friends and so on.
Still, the Western World think’s that China is OK…?
DP hasn’t toured China yet?
March 2nd, 2008 at 13:33To Tom
I agree completely with what you say. And I also disliked The Rolling Stones touring China. By the way: I turn 47 next June.
Still rocking and rolling
Best wishes
Hansjörg
By the way: Deep Purple has already toured in China
March 3rd, 2008 at 05:51DOH! 🙂
Thanks for your reply.
I should have checked that DP-Chinatour 😉
By the way, I’ll be 47 years May this year 😀
To put it shortly, as this is not a forum for political debate. I live 100 km’s from the Russian border, so I’m aware of the everyday life in Russia.
I’m not fooled by a gig in Kreml to think Russia turned perfectly OK if their new president likes Deep Purple. But I sincerely hope it’s a sign for the better future, for all of us. And, I hope Obama wins in U.S.A.
Still rockin too 🙂
Cheers,
Tom
March 3rd, 2008 at 17:48Dear Tom
March 3rd, 2008 at 18:10Good to hear from you. Which country do you live in that is so close to Russia ? I am from Graz, Austria so I lived quite close to a quite dangerous area (former Yougoslavia) in the late 80’s and early nineties. If you want to stay in touch with me let me know. I’d like to hear more because I think by these postings which we both made it is quite obvious that in some ways we could get on quite well.
I was lucky enough to witness my first Deep Purple show shortly before I turned 14 (check out Made in Europe partly recorded in Graz and I was there). So you certainly can imagine how often I already have seen Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Rainbow, Gillan, Don Airey Band, Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner. Next April one of Deep Purple´s first members Nick Simper is going to play my hometown. Something I really look forward to.
So I hope things are going okay in the east
Meanwhile all the best
Hansjörg
Hello HansJörg,
I’m from Finland.
I’ve seen Rainbow once, Deep Purple also once, but it was the gig where Ritchie played the last time with Purple.
If you like to discuss more,
feel free to email me:
dpmarkii(at)gmail.com
Tom
March 3rd, 2008 at 21:30Hi Tom
March 4th, 2008 at 06:07Thanks for answering so quickly. You’ll hear from me
Just off for work
Hansjörg
ITS GOOD TO SEE THAT DEEP PURPLE CAN BE A COMMON THREAD AMONGST HUMANS EVEN IF THEY HAVE DIFFERENT POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, MORAL VIEWS. NOW IF WE CAN GET THE BAND TO TOUR IN THE USA THAT WOULD BE GOOD. THE COMMON THREAD SHOULD PASS THRU NEW YORK I RECKON BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 29th, 2009 at 14:29