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Pandemonium down under
Deep Purple are confirmed for 4 dates in Australia in April 2024. They will perform at the travelling festival/package tour called Pandemonium, along with Alice Cooper, Blondie, Placebo, Wolfmother, Dead Kennedys, and several other acts.
The dates are:
[Update Feb 6]: Venue change for the Sydney event from The Domain to Cathy Freeman Park due to a clash with Anzac Day commemorations.
Thanks to Cameron Hons, Michael Burrows, and Lutz Reinert for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
A great bill I would love to see Blondie, one of the few bans I really like that I never saw even once. Clem Burke’s an awesome drummer. Wouldn’t that be something to see a Deep Purple/Blondie tour? I can remember back in the 2001 when quite a few Purple fans were upset that DP was touring with Lynyrd Skynyrd.
January 20th, 2024 at 04:28Oh my, our resident Aussies will be wetting their panties!
Goes to show what an entirely fearless band DP are.
January 20th, 2024 at 05:11So, when is the new album coming out with a proper tour to follow it? Package dates with lower billing than Blondie and Placebo is not the way to go in the long run.
January 20th, 2024 at 07:09I noticed this in a headline a few days ago on a mainstream news site & thought I was hallucinating at first. Except for Placebo whoever they are, it almost looked like an old school headline with Alice & Blondie there also. I wonder if they will do a couple of gigs in a city or two while they are here. Not that anyone ventures down to the depths of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). Cheers.
January 20th, 2024 at 07:53Yo,
Alice Cooper, Blondie, Placebo & Deep Purple at the same festival together, what a beauty !!! No news on ticket prices however until Monday for pre-order, & the 30th for official sale…And I couldn’t find where the event will be held, but I get the feeling the Melbourne Showground’s are on-the-cards, since 2 x stages will be in use…( And most festivals happen here ). At least it’s a Saturday night, & the weather should still be warmish.
I lived in Melbourne inner-city for 10-years 15-years ago, & could have walked to the gigs, why couldn’t they come then lol ???!!!
Rock Melbournetown to rubble fellas !
Peace !
January 20th, 2024 at 10:24Exciting, and I’m likely to go to the Sydney event. I’d much prefer a solo show, since a festival setlist will be short. I was hoping they might tack a few solo shows on while they are here, but I doubt it (given the short notice).
January 20th, 2024 at 23:49This looks very cool, like a festival from the golden old days. Lots of bands of all different styles of music.
January 21st, 2024 at 00:10I wish I could be there, but here in sunny Wisconsin, USA, I am too far away.
Yo,
So I’ve worded friends & family-up, & if they want to go, I’m-in, & I’ll fly into Melbourne-town & drive to the event…
Further research discloses that the event will be at Carribean park, which is on the corner of Ferntree Gully & Stud Rds, around 30-odd-km’s south-east from the city-centre, not the show-grounds in Flemington where I first thought…Whoops !!!
Placebo are a great band from the 1990’s that had a few hits on the underground scene here in Oz, & I’ve always for some reason thought of them & Muse being akin to each other for reasons unknown, but both are awesome bands.
Peace !
January 21st, 2024 at 10:27@7 doesn’t look good for a US tour for a while….spring in Australia, summer in Europe, maybe the states in the fall?? lets hope for that and a different setlist 🙂 sunny here too but COLD!!!!!!
January 21st, 2024 at 12:07Hopefully they might cross the ditch to New Zealand for a few gigs while down under or else might have to venture over to Aus. Would be great to see Alice Cooper again too
January 21st, 2024 at 20:49cheers
Phil
It is 40 years to the month since I have been to a festival, a good experience back then but it isn’t for me at all these days. Are DP fearless? It appears so heading into the countryside because that is where some of these gigs appear to be. Not rural as such but a little out of ‘town’. Bribie Island is a little north of Brisbane & a nice quaint sea side area, only one way in & one way out over a long narrow bridge across the estuary. There will be a few ‘ferals’ up there no doubt so yes indeed brave lads he he he. Anyway it is Alice that is attracting the troublemakers, surely not Purple. Down here in Tasmania we are much more civilised. That is why I left that Gold Coast & Brisbane area (I resided up in the mountains, much easier to be feral up there & just venture down occasionally into ‘civilisation’ for a concert now & then). To get away from all the ‘wild’ people everywhere & noisy rock concerts. Bloody riff raff they all are! Most international artists very rarely travel down to Tasmania, Elton John is an exception & a few years before I moved here Percy was in town with the Sensational Space Shifters I think. Other than that Tasmania, where is that? Suits me just fine. Good luck with the tour guys. Cheers.
January 21st, 2024 at 20:53I welcome DP playing on festivals with other artists that are not hard/heavy rock or heavy metal – there is a place for a genre event like Wacken, but not every open air has to copy that concept. I also have no issues with DP being slightly lower in the bill hierarchy than Alice Cooper, it all depends on the respective market, in Germany Alice Cooper opened for DP on the Rapture Of The Deep Tour. I remember enjoying (and so did seemingly everyone else there) the Lynyrd Skynyrd/DP de facto double bill on the Bananas Tour too and I was amused about the in part very emotional discussions held about the DP/Judas Priest doubleheader pairing as it simply showed how little rock historical awareness some people have, failing to see the many parallels in DP’s and JP’s music (I should know as a fan of both bands for almost half a century!) – when JP made a first impression in Germany in the latish 70ies, they were derided as “Deep Purple ‘in Leder’ (‘in leather’ – rather than ‘in Rock’), but without the great Jon Lord” by the bemused music press. (Musikexpress in 1979 on JP opening for AC/DC: “Robert Halford’s shrieks pierce the air like Ian Gillan’s did on Made in Japan, the rumbling metronomic bass has you immediately searching for Roger Glover on stage and both guitarists try to outdo each other in Blackmore-inspired solos and riffs.”)
So it’s all good, and if it helps DP getting heard (and liked) by a bunch of people who only know SOTW as a song, but not even the name of the band (of which they assume it doesn’t exist anymore) who wrote and played it, so much the better.
And since we’re at it, in 1980 Ritchie said in a (rather lengthy) interview with German Musikexpress: “The only New Wave band I really like is Blondie. You don’t come up with as many good melodies as they have by coincidence.” So there! (He also disclosed his love for ABBA and Neil Diamond in that same interview.)
January 21st, 2024 at 23:54Yo,
Tasmania, even Launceston has had a decent run of international artists heading-down this way…There’s an Olympic spec. velodrome built in Launceston that’s had a surprisingly great number of international acts perform there over the years…
I’ve worked there at odd times, & there’s many pro-mo-flyers now posing as poster-boards within the complex entrance & hallway, that include people like Alice Cooper, Meatloaf & even EvH among countless others…I would guess that you could easily fit 5,000+ people in there comfortably. Great indoor venue imo, though the sound would have to be quite loud to lose the echoes, echoes, echoes, echoes, echoes lol !
It’s all about the exchange-rates, itineraries, & logistics as to whether bands can make-it down this way or not & make a few dollars. It would appear that for this upcoming tour, that a festival with many performers is the way-to-go, since the Aussie dollar is so poor…Having so many performers ensures a wide array of audience attendees, with different fan-bases to share the load & costs.
Kudos to the promoters on taking-on such a gamble, let’s hope it pays-off, & more bands cruise down this way !
Peace !
January 22nd, 2024 at 02:11@ 13 – I wasn’t aware of past times here in Tassie & that venue either. That is good to hear about older times getting more international acts down this way, because of late that isn’t on the cards anymore it seems. Although all the bullshit hype about that new football stadium in Hobart & also about getting international entertainers here again. As you say it is about logistics & bums on seats etc. Is there enough interest down here most of the time? Cheers.
January 22nd, 2024 at 08:38AUD $810 for VIP pass (priority access, lanyard, access to VIP food trucks, VIP beer tents and VIP toilets). Tix on-sale without venue map, without stage times. Believe it or don’t, I’ve decided to pass on the pre-sale.
January 22nd, 2024 at 13:19@15 said …
qt.”AUD $810 for VIP pass (priority access, lanyard, access to VIP food trucks, VIP beer tents and VIP toilets). Tix on-sale without venue map, (&) without stage times”.
All of a sudden the Youtube link from home seems much more appealing…
The only prices I could find ( my computer says insecure sight, & won’t let me in since the site has crashed ), was for the Sandstone Point Hotel show, with General admission a claimed $260:00 AUD…Expensive, but far more reasonable…
The eggs haven’t hatched it seems as yet, so I’ll wait before I count the chickens lol !
Peace !
January 22nd, 2024 at 23:53Aha so it is not on Bribie Island itself, I didn’t notice that. That Sandstone Point Hotel grounds venue seems to be a popular one & that goes to show how out of touch I am with festivals & the like. Blondie isn’t performing at that one I recall seeing, from my memory. $260 dollars seems a good price for all those bands let alone DP & Alice in wonderland. Cheers.
January 23rd, 2024 at 09:28Maybe Herr Gillan and Auntie Alice could perform together selected excerpts from a well-known rock opera?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnxwP8vLRg
Too bad the Spice Girls aren’t playing as well, I’d see endless possibilities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw5HdK8_p6w
January 23rd, 2024 at 21:56Alice is a Born Again is he not? So yes he at least could be possibly welcome at the Pearly Gates, or perhaps not! As for that chap Gillan, no way! Cheers.
January 23rd, 2024 at 22:51Well, they will have to separate Big Ian and Ritchie somehow, can’t see them sharing the same ‘hood in the afterlife!
Ian has already made his booking though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3zU0uFxK-Y
“NOT swimming, wimmin’, wihimmin’!!!”
Great English poetry, nuff said.
January 24th, 2024 at 14:57“Alice is a Born Again is he not?”
Last I heard, yes, he’s a practicing Christian (he and his wife go to church), teetotaler and Republican, albeit of the sane kind. Just like your good countryman!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N7-4WnZAoE
January 24th, 2024 at 15:14This has been posted before I think, the definitive live version of No Laughing in Heaven.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IimJVGDAEM0
In regards to Alice, yes he returned (just like the prodigal son) to Christianity after a few debauched decades. His rather strict parenting & religious upbringing I suppose. Maybe there is hope yet for us devotee’s Uwe, he he he. Cheers.
January 25th, 2024 at 09:31If you’ve never seen Alice live, he’s worth watching once certainly though his greatest hits set list has been static for decades too. His backing band is très enthusiastic and good at getting the old chestnuts across credibly, the voice of the man who was never the greatest rock singer on earth to begin with has held up surprisingly well.
January 27th, 2024 at 11:56I am not surprised Alice Cooper’s voice is still ok as he didn’t get into all that screaming & shouting . He has looked after himself in that sense, even if he didn’t realise it at the time, ha ha ha. I watched that documentary a while ago, he was wild & after his strict humble beginnings. Yes he did go off the rails for a while, rebellion can do that in that sense. He is a rock ‘n roll survivor & has travelled a full circle it seems. Cheers.
January 27th, 2024 at 12:18It is great to see Australia getting more great rock music festivals. I have always wanted Deep Purple to come back as last time I saw them here was 11 years ago. I look forward to seeing the new lineup with Simon McBride and hope they may play some new songs.
January 29th, 2024 at 09:50The other acts on the bill are very good too, never seen Alice Cooper, Blondie or pretty much anyone else there on the list except for Wolfmother other than Deep Purple.
It seems like the Sydney concert has caused a few rethinks in regards to ANZAC day 25 April. The event has been pulled from in the heart of the city & now they are scrambling to find another location. I have to admit to thinking about the date & location of that Sydney concert. It is the location & timing that is frustrating war veterans & understandably so. Another time & another place perhaps. Having said that Black Sabbath in 2013 in Brisbane was on the 25 April from my memory. Although that was at night & well away from the city. Rock musicians eh, you just cannot take them anywhere it seems. Cheers.
January 31st, 2024 at 05:17The Sydney festival has been moved from the city westwards to Sydney Olympic Park. To the vest of my knowledge no concert or festival has been held at this specific location. Transport options are limited although possibly no curfew. The promoter should’ve been more mindful and had a later start time. A lot of Sydney’s CBD streets are blocked off to facilitate the annual Anzac Day march. Gates open at 1pm, concert starting at 2pm.
February 4th, 2024 at 08:21No more silly excuses from our Australian contingent here! Your forefathers stormed Gallipoli, get a grip on yourself!! All we ever hear from you is moaning and groaning how no one tours in your neck of the woods (or no woods, whatever …). Now that DP grace your island with a visit, I expect you all to be there, get a move on!
https://media1.giphy.com/media/ll6qIwfrblGFXZueUO/200w.gif?cid=82a1493bfmltpc6erz9is8z43aetmoaju6ocd7icu4j09mnv&ep=v1_gifs_related&rid=200w.gif&ct=g
We await your comprehensive gig reviews.
February 4th, 2024 at 14:14Those kangaroos are hopping away frantically for a reason no doubt, too much riff raff & noise from the concert. I suppose you could have an image of a koala sleeping in a tree somewhere, that would probably sum it up, he he he. Anyway, I don’t have to have excuses etc as I don’t reside in Australia. Well that is what most people perceive Tasmania to be, not part of the mainland so it is not ‘Australia’. So I do feel quite relaxed about it all Uwe and obviously there will not be a gig review from me, unless I make one up. Cheers.
February 5th, 2024 at 03:43A few Tasmanian references from Australian comedian Norman Gunston with Frank Zappa in a mid 70’s interview & musical ‘jam’. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mUQ00i9rH4&t=12s
February 5th, 2024 at 04:09That is shattering news for me, Herr MacGregor, I really thought you would put in an extra effort!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih8hjnIko5A
February 5th, 2024 at 11:32@ 31 – If only I could have a minder like the young Tasmanian devil has to save me just in case I cannot complete the swim across Bass Strait, I would be at the Melbourne gig for sure. Cheers.
February 6th, 2024 at 06:27Tasmanian Devil, huh….
I swear , when I was a kid I saw something big swimming in my neighbourhood in a ditch, originally part of farmland, and I always felt it did look reptilian or something.
I had caught Salamanders but those were kinda small.
It was weird I think because I fetched them in what was a cultivated dich near a Kindergarten.
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander#:~:text=Salamanders%20live%20in%20water%20and,change%20of%20shape%20(metamorphosis).
I wasnt on dope, tired or whatever.And yes, I still had good eyes.
It always stayed with me : WTF was that?!
February 9th, 2024 at 22:22RV, it must have been a a very well-known Scotsman you saw.
https://www.planet-wissen.de/kultur/fabelwesen/britische_schauergestalten/tempxnessiegjpg104~_v-gseagaleriexl.jpg
On vacation. Mostly likely looking for a cool Heineken or Grolsch, you know what these Scots are naturally drawn to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzn5vs_Ki2Q
February 11th, 2024 at 23:51Uwe leave those innocent Scots alone. I was wondering if it wasn’t a monitor lizard or something from out here in Gondwana land. Well initially from out here but then ended up in Germany kept in a cage or tank or something, the poor little things had to escape & get out of there & ended up crossing the border. However as it was when Rock was a youngster it couldn’t have been Uwe responsible then could it, he he he. Maybe that is where Uwe got the idea from? Cheers.
February 12th, 2024 at 08:08“I was wondering if it wasn’t a monitor lizard or something from out here in Gondwana land. Well initially from out here but then ended up in Germany kept in a cage or tank or something, the poor little things had to escape & get out of there & ended up crossing the border.”
You Terrible Tasmanian Troll, those are fighting words!!!
My four – properly registered with the authorities, this is Germany after all – specimen of varanus tristis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-headed_monitor
are doing fine, vielen Dank, and all aspects of the Geneva Convention including free access to recreational facilities and a varied diet (mice, fish, locusts, crickets, cockroaches, assorted worms and larvae, raw turkey and chicken meat, hard-boiled eggs) are painstakingly observed. The little critters and their UV light studded terrarium (five 70 watt metal halide lamps – and that is just for the UV, there is three more 100 watt halogen lamps for the heat – all switched on for 12 hours each day!)
https://content.reptilienkosmos.de/item/images/821/full/lucky-reptile-63651-bright-sun-jungle-flood-70w-produkt-box.jpg
https://lucky-reptile.de/en/products/lighting/metal-halide-lighting/
eat into my electricity bills to an extent that I have had unsolicited calls from our local utility helpfully asking whether our house was a “manufacturing site” or if there was “something wrong with your electricity meter”.
That said, historically of course, whenever German residents venture to our dear Western neighbors in The Netherlands we tend to do so via surprise visits – parachuting in …
https://www.aboutww2militaria.com/image/data/PHOTOS-ANJA/16/german-paratroopers-over-holland-kriegsbucherei-der-deutschen-jugend-6922-2.JPG
… so landing in a ditch cannot be ruled out!!!
February 12th, 2024 at 15:40I have never doubted you doing everything correct Uwe & the diet for those lizards is a good one. Just out of curiosity why hard boiled eggs? In the wild they love raw eggs as we know, is it less messy etc? Regarding the electricity, yes indeed larger than normal bills could raise an eyebrow or two, especially at first but all is good. Keep up the good work. At least if you never get to Australia you have four friends there to keep you updated with everything & to keep you on your toes, he he he. Cheers.
February 13th, 2024 at 07:45Hard-boiled eggs for the mere practical reason that in liquid form there is too much loss once the monitors crack the shell and the egg white and yolk dribbles all over and into the terrarium soil. But I sometimes feed raw quail eggs too because they can swallow those more or less in one piece without too much loss.
Rips, Raps, Rops & Rups (as all four of them are called, they’re siblings) don’t seem to care either way!
February 13th, 2024 at 16:46Thanx for that Judas Priest I never heard.
OMFG , there is so much I ll never get around too and people like Uwe keep spitting out links to songs….I cant keep up.
I already figured my “creature” was an escaped animal, once held by someone.
It did not look like a shadow, just resembling a big lizard seen at the back, quickly dissapearing into the depth.
Wish it was the only thing ever in my life where I never found an answer…….for wtf happened there?!
Feeding hardboiled eggs to a ” manlike looking reptile”occurred in a weird movie .
The “creature” is mishandled by some nazi and cared for by a deaf and dumb (experimented on by nazi s?)lady.
In the end they dive under water where he revives her body to life with his “powers”.
Fascinating but saddening movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFYWazblaUA&ab_channel=SearchlightPictures
They are to be happy forever but she leaves behind a lonely man that tries to cover his insecurity with a wig.
February 14th, 2024 at 00:47@ 39 – I watched that movie a few years ago & enjoyed it. Guillermo del Toro, he is ‘out there’ for a writer & director. I hope Uwe doesn’t watch it, it could give him ideas & then God help us all. He probably already has though. We should make that link a dead one just in case, he he he. I can just see him turning into some crazed scientist experimenting with his lizards, what have you un leased Rock? Cheers.
February 14th, 2024 at 08:28“What have you un leased Rock? ”
Moi??????
February 14th, 2024 at 20:36Sorry Rock that should have been ‘unleashed’ as in giving Uwe ideas from that movie as to how to manipulate his 4 lizards & then they get out of control & they escape & cause total mayhem everywhere. Just being silly. Actually that wouldn’t be too bad an idea for a z grade movie, unless they returned to their homeland in Australia. Then I would be really worried especially if they happened to land in Tasmania, a place where they don’t naturally reside in. Uwe please be careful with those ‘experiments’. Cheers.
February 15th, 2024 at 09:02(adopting mad villain tone …) MacGREGOR, YOU WRETCHED HAPLESS MORTAL, DO YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME ? !!!
https://www.watchmojo.com/uploads/thumbs720/FI-M-The-Lizard-480i60.jpg
Where were we? Ah yes, I love del Toro’s cineastic work too, Pan’s Labyrinth, the first two Hellboy films, The Shape of Water, his Pinocchio remake … The man is a great talent, anybody who can combine monsters and Barry Manilow …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6KJdsgPz24
BTW RV, the actor playing the aquatic creature in Hellboy and the one in The Shape of Water are one and the same guy, Doug Jones:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Jones_(actor)
I’m actually a horror film buff. Not torture porn like the SAW franchise or adolescent mass stabbings like SCREAM, also not Zombie film ego shooter scenarios, rather the old fashioned “creaky doors & things that go bump in the night, what’s underneath your bed and in the cupboard?” and “the tragic monster against its best intentions” or “alluring vampires” stuff. ‘The Others’ is to me one of the best films ever.
And RV, should you ever be near Langen, Hessen, I will introduce you to my comprehensive Judas Priest collection and convert you some more!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKfupO4ZzPs&t=21s
PS: I believe the bad guys in The Shape Of Water were for once not Nazis looking for the occult, but US State Department guys looking for a secret bio weapon against the Commies!
February 15th, 2024 at 16:42From Vivaldi to Barry Manilow, ha ha ha. “Here have a beer’ – “No I can’t my body is a temple’ _ ‘No it isn’t it is an amusement park’ ha ha ha. Crazy shit indeed. The difference between what some label as horror to what we know as suspense is a fine line unfortunately. All those ‘cheap’ films of torture, blood & gore etc are not for me or other people I know. But a dramatic dark suspense or even comedic dark suspense movie, bring it on. Vincent Price indeed. Cheers.
February 15th, 2024 at 22:36It appears that Deep Purple & Alice from Hell are performing an extra ‘sideshow’ while in Oz. April 23 in Newcastle at the Entertainment Centre according to what I have just read. Cheers.
February 22nd, 2024 at 05:34Will there be a live recording made of this event ??? Please, Please, Please do so !!!
April 4th, 2024 at 02:55