![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan7.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/mcbride1.jpg)
Rocking to the East
Today Ian Gillan and Don Airey band start their orchestral tour of Eastern Europe. They are playing with local orchestras, so, naturally, there is a fair bit of rehearsing going on before each show.
Before the tour started, Big Ian spoke to Moscow newspaper Kommersant. Besides plugging in his daughter’s band Papa Le Gal (they’re supporting), he mentioned that several Purple rarities have been rehearsed for this tour, giving Razzle Dazzle, Unwritten Law and Anya as examples. Regarding the new Purple album, he said that it’s coming out in February, after which the band will embark on another couple of years long world tour. He also said that he has 38 rough song ideas on his computer for a solo album, but no immediate plans to proceed with it.
Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, he appeared November 1 on local TV on the Slavi Show. Video clips have been posted online at slavishow.com.
Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov and Space Truckin (via deep-purple.ru).
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
We in the U.K. should be angry that local promoters do not think we are worthy of seeing this gig. Ridiculous.
November 4th, 2016 at 20:13Best of luck to the guys.
Sweden loves Ian too! A tour would be much appreciated…
November 4th, 2016 at 20:18Razzle Dazzle, Unwritten Law and Anya?!!! LOVE it.
Thanks for the update.
November 4th, 2016 at 20:26Brief clips of Hang Me Out To Dry, Razzle Dazzle and Rapture posted on instagram so far.
November 4th, 2016 at 20:38Razzle Dazzle!! Luv it
November 4th, 2016 at 20:39Ersatz Purple?. Feels good to me!.
November 5th, 2016 at 01:25Gillan is the Greatest in the Universe ??
November 5th, 2016 at 01:52A live release of these shows would be great
November 5th, 2016 at 02:15On youtube: Hang Me Out To Dry, Pictures Of Home, No Lotion For That, Strange Kind Of Woman, Razzle Dazzle, A Day Late And A Dollar Short, Lazy, Rapture, When A Blind Man Cries, Grace Gillan’s feature, No More Cane On The Brazos, Difficult To Cure, Anya, Perfect Strangers, Hell To Pay, Demon’s Eye, Smoke + Hush and BN.
November 5th, 2016 at 11:00Hang Me Out To Dry, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FztUEJ4WzY
November 5th, 2016 at 11:45Pictures Of Home, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cifzDgFrXgU
No Lotion For That, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7Ld1E-42A0
Strange Kind Of Woman, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbef2hDNEk4
Razzle Dazzle, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdKLN8mp61o
A Day Late And A Dollar Short, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrN5IJsLhLg
Lazy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COVJqaHiEh4
Rapture, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYkn22tW6W4
When A Blind Man Cries, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_d0pzpa3L4
Grace Gillan’s feature, You’re Gonna Ruin Me Baby (Lazy Lester) and Candy Floss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYI3TrTsOaw
No More Cane On The Brazos, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjMHb82hOmM
Difficult To Cure, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE0ByZ3LqNk
Anya, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knUEJZJS7xw
Perfect Strangers, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey7UHwDWtWk
Hell To Pay, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiehWky-C60
Demon’s Eye, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9yrtnLEq2I
Smoke, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qMubMV9zr4
Hush, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OMqKAEvnpI
BN, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-M_A8WxvFg
The unwritten Law?
I thought they hated the HOBL album because of, sob sob, bad memories.
It was a song hard to handle during the HOBL tour but overall it was a live favourite of mine.
Was it too complicated to play for Morse that The Purps did not play this song?
Did he stumble upon a guitarplayer that CAN play heavy rock?
November 5th, 2016 at 13:36The unwritten law is off from the setlist.
November 5th, 2016 at 23:20Nigel @ 10- thanks for the links. Nice version of Anya & Beethoven’s Ninth (Difficult To Cure) what a track & and also a great album. Pictures Of Home, what a strong song that has always been, nice to see these classics performed this way. Wonderful. Will have to watch a few more! Cheers.
November 6th, 2016 at 03:24I wish The Unwritten Law was performed, a good song indeed, as are so many others of THOBL album! Cheers.
November 6th, 2016 at 03:27IAN GILLAN!! Nothing else to say.
November 6th, 2016 at 09:23@ # 10.
November 6th, 2016 at 15:42Many thanks for posting all those links,Nigel. Ian seems in great voice.
I must say I am very impressed with Ian! He sounds great to me, and I just love Hang me out to dry!!
November 6th, 2016 at 19:24Take No More Cane for instance. This should all be raved about by the up to the minute followers and of course hated by the Rainbow’s Night camp, which btw couldn’t stand up to even this lot in a million years. Quite a lot of voice left there I should say, and an indication of what could come next year, if they scale it back to a show or two a week, or something reasonable enough to save that voice. 71 year olds do not try this at home, particularly No More Cane…
November 6th, 2016 at 20:49What makes me smile is that they are doing ‘Difficult To Cure’…. in an IG fronted show… WITHOUT RB. Lol. Cheeky!. & yes I know Don has his own version of the tune, I have the album!. Smiles to ya.
November 7th, 2016 at 01:00I wish them all the best and it sounds like we’ll really be able to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the greatest band in the world in 2018 *fingers crossed*! In 2019 it will be 50 years since Ian and Roger joined the band the first time – astonishing. Next year we will experience the 20th studio album.
November 7th, 2016 at 18:14@ 14
I am still waiting for that remaster/remix of THOBL Mc Gregor,which likely will never happen!! lol All my memories of High school are connected to that album.I know,it is not their strongest effort,the sound is a little bit too”80’s” but I still love it!
November 8th, 2016 at 14:22Very good scream on “A day late…” at 3:41 for his nowdays standards…great tour and show, I particulary loved “No more cane…” and more in general Ian’s voice…I hope for an italian gig.
November 8th, 2016 at 20:16I think LRT is right. Perhaps more resting days in upcoming tours would improve Ian’s performance with Deep Purple. He sang much better here than in any other recent Deep Purple concerts (at least from what i heard in some videos). NMCOTB is a highlight, i’m not sure if it’s in a lower key, but even so the performance amazed me. The only explanation for the bad shape in Deep Purple is the excess of concerts possibly. I think a more suitable set list, less concerts and holding a bit back on some scream atempts would highly improve Ian Gillan and Deep Purple.
November 9th, 2016 at 14:58@19
Yes you’re right, but I think it’s more than that:
Indeed, Don Airey does not simply have his own version, he played on “difficult to cure” from Rainbow. He is even credited for the arrangement.
In my opinion, that enables him to play it onstage.
Lynn Turner playing smoke on the water is worse, because he isn’t on Machine Head.
November 9th, 2016 at 15:00… I never thought I would write such a strange sentence.
sorry for my OT.
November 9th, 2016 at 15:59Thank You Graham and to your great Band for the new last realize: it is wonderful.
I love it.
Gillan sounds just amazing in those clips and he looks energetic and 10 years younger. Difficult to Cure was odd since that is Blackers signum.
November 9th, 2016 at 19:57al @21- I remember Mr Glover saying he would love to remix THOBL, if he could get the time to do it, Maybe when things come to a conclusion with DP, he may have a go at it, hopefully. Cheers.
November 9th, 2016 at 20:17Ideally, IG needs vocal cord stents to improve his singing. But given his age & that he’s so near to the end of his career, as well as the possibility of developing surgical complications (vocal cord paralysis)… it just ain’t gonna happen!. Just love him as he is & don’t worry about it. We all wear out sooner or later. Be happy!.
November 10th, 2016 at 14:15@28 – You heard No More Cane, right? Spot me a bum note. That was flawless and anyone considered flawless is not flawless at everything they do. Man it sure beats ANYTHING RAINBOW’S NIGHT thinks they’re doing. Laughable statement there, I’d check it out again. Impressive.
November 13th, 2016 at 10:55@29 LRT, I thought that what I had written would taken positively, there was no criticism of IG intended. IG has spoken about this subject before, (use it or lose it), so all I’ve done is repeat the facts. But since you mention it…. can you remember the last time IG sang Child In Time?, no?. What about Speed King?, no?. Etc, etc. I like both DP & “Rainbow’s Night”. Now get ya hand off it or you’ll go blind!. Be happy.
November 15th, 2016 at 15:21Ian’s voice is remarkable here for a near 72 year old. It’s the best shape I’ve heard it in for a long time. This man Is a legend, he had it all as a young man. The perfect rock star. Amazingly he was never seeking stardom or commercial success. Just artistic expression and the love of performance. That’s why he left Purple at the peak of their WW success. He simply wasn’t happy anymore ?
November 16th, 2016 at 08:35