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Bleeding Obvious
Deep Purple have started their 2024 tour in earnest, and at the first show in Madrid on June 13 two new tracks were presented to the audience. The first one is marked in the setlist as Bleeding Obvious, while the title of the other one is still unknown most likely is A Bit On The Side.
Thanks to Alejandro R. Hervás for the videos.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Bleeding Obvious
June 14th, 2024 at 05:30A Bit On The Side
Considering the lyrics I’d guess the second one is A Bit on the Side.
June 14th, 2024 at 05:40¿Qué pasa? Changes in the setlist? Wunderbar! And then not even the so far released singles, but other songs …
The new stuff is rhythmically really cooking, “Bleeding Obvious” even has a 7/4 intro and middle parts (plus a surprising AORish harmony-drenched vocal middle part). Très prog!
I think the second new song is actually “A Bit On The Side”, at least that is what I hear Ian singing in the chorus towards the end. Lovely synth solo by Don too (I’m a sucker for those, I know, very 70ies 😑). Nice chugging riffing.
Plus: The band hasn’t sounded this energized for a long time. The Irish kid is Viagra to them. Even old Clydesdale stallions …
June 14th, 2024 at 06:15The second track is ‘A Bit On The Side.’
June 14th, 2024 at 07:24Yesyes, please keep the new songs in the set! Love the rhythm, the groove and the solos! The band does sound fresh, somehow rejuvenated – really looking forward to seeing them next month.
June 14th, 2024 at 08:07Fantastic music!
June 14th, 2024 at 08:22Even if Gillan on the 1st video appears labored.
I hope to find this energy sound on the new release..
If this is the setlist they will be using for the =1 tour, we can observe the following:
The people who predicted that Morse era tunes would disappear from the set have so far been proven wrong.
Are they giving Perfect Strangers a rest for this tour? Interesting. Pictures of Home too has been shelved.
Awesome that they’ve brought back Hard Lovin’ Man.
June 14th, 2024 at 09:33I am really surprised how close to Steve Morse Simon sounds on these new songs. When I listened to his solo albums he reminded me a lot of Joe Bonamassa; his voice even sounds similar. If I had to describe his tone and articulation it would be something like a restraint Steve Morse with a dash of Eric Johnson.
June 14th, 2024 at 10:56“The people who predicted that Morse era tunes would disappear from the set have so far been proven wrong.“
You just wait, AG, where the ONLY remaining track (No Need To Shout) from the Morse era will soon go when the album is released and they add a few more tracks from it! 🤣
That said, I still hear Morse’ish influences in those two newcomer songs on the live stage. Or maybe it is Don Airey’s songwriting influence which we have all in the past mistakenly attributed to Steve? Judging from Simon’s solo albums, I expected the new songs to be more straightforward, but it turns out that they are just shorter, yet a long way from simplistic. AC/DC this is certainly not.
June 14th, 2024 at 14:23SHAME ON ME! I forgot to register Uncommon Man as a Morse era song! Given its special meaning re Jon Lord, I could even see that retained in the set for much longer.
June 14th, 2024 at 14:30As much as I like Pictures of Home and Perfect Strangers, I’m glad there out for a couple of new songs. Now, as much as I like Into the Fire and Anya, I’d love to remove them and replace them with Flight of the Rat and Smooth Dancer. But I know that will never happen. Can’t wait to see them in August!
June 14th, 2024 at 15:49I think a setlist like this would have provided a much needed shakeup – a way to mark the besinning of a new era (of Mk 2 :). HS in rotation with Fireball, SKOW, BN, 1 new song, KAYBD, 2 new songs, Wasted Sunsets, PS, TBRO, Speed King. Encore: Hush, Smoke (with extended intro à la 93).
June 14th, 2024 at 17:21I never got quite used to the key change Don started doing after his organ intro to accomodate Ian’s now lower register. That always sounded awkward to me and I wondered why they hadn’t transposed the Hammond intro as well, even if that meant sacrificing some of the low notes of the original not available in other keys.
Perfect Strangers, great composition that it is, was also always somewhat static when performed live, not much improvisation or jamming going on.
I don’t want to see it retired for good, but I’m fine with a pause. You can’t play everything all the time. In a live setting, especially when Blackers was still around, I always preferred KOYBD because – depending on his mood – he would really stretch out on that.
The set still retains four MH songs, but with the Dweezil Remix having made quite a splash, who can blame them.
June 14th, 2024 at 17:24I hope the new set list has plenty of new songs and others from the Morse era. From the classical phase I would love to hear things that have never been tested live. I think long-time fans, like me, also think the same.
June 14th, 2024 at 19:40When I read Mr. Hornung’s original prediction, I thought to myself: Really?! Does he believe that they will ever stop playing Uncommon Man? After all, they seem to profoundly enjoy the steady ritual of singing the Lord’s praises each night. Also, the song provides a platform for the guitarist to go nuts, which makes it a particularly functional component of the set, one that Simon has embraced and made his own.
Anyway, glad to learn it was merely an oversight on the part of our esteemed commentator.
The prediction regarding No Need to Shout does strike me as plausible indeed.
June 14th, 2024 at 19:57George #11,
NO! Us fans in So Cal have not yet had a chance to hear them do Anya! (I’m pretty sure we haven’t heard Into the Fire either.) You Europeans get all the good stuff…
June 14th, 2024 at 20:21Frater @ # 16
I am not from Europe, I am a very lucky American. You see whenever Purple plays any shows in America they always play in the New York / New Jersey area. I think they only did 5 shows here in 2023 and I saw the one in New Jersey. Once again I will be seeing them in August and for some reason they don’t tour out on the west coast very often. I don’t know why that is.
June 14th, 2024 at 20:48I’m the one who recorded the videos and I have to say that the audio in the videos doesn’t do justice to how good they sounded yesterday.
Simon’s sound gives the band a boost. It’s the second time I’ve seen them with this line-up and this time it’s been much better. Gillan is more smiling and has a better attitude, I guess the previous time his wife’s death was too recent. I have to say that I really liked the new songs, much more than Pictures of you, which left me very cold. The new album is promising or at least I hope so. I’ve seen the band at least ten times and this is the first time I thought it would be the last, I see Ian’s physique quite short, although he continues to sing the same, I see him too thin.
For me it was a very emotional concert, but at the same time one of the times I’ve enjoyed it the most.
I share with you the tribute that my band made to the band Gillan.
June 14th, 2024 at 21:40https://youtu.be/asw4xh99fG0?si=3Xm4WW5xjn60Sn_x
At the top of my head I could name a dozen or more Morse era songs I would like them to (re)do, AG, it’s not like I don’t value that period. There is not a single album with Morse that sounds as desolate and “we’re-not-having-fun-doing-this” as TBRO which – miraculously – is championed by so many here.
We have to live with the fact that DP is (as any band of that maturity) a legacy act which means that the lion’s share of the set will always be old hits and crowd pleasers with two or three not so obvious choice cuts added plus three to – if we’re lucky – five songs from whatever is the current newest album. There are quite a few bands of similar stature that are way more conservative in their set lists. When KISS called it quits last year, the two “most recent” songs in their set were 14 and 25 years old, everything else was 39 years OR OLDER! 14 songs of their 23 song set were from their mid to late 70ies heydays. Just to put things into perspective.
June 14th, 2024 at 21:44‘Bleeding’ sounds like it may be one of the better Purple hard-rock songs in a while – it’s always hard to judge fairly while listening to SmartPhone video. But as far as I can tell, they’re really jamming great on that tune.
June 14th, 2024 at 22:05I don’t know how they do it but , roll on July 19th !
June 14th, 2024 at 22:11It sounds absolutely fantastic.
Must admit , I was really sad to see Steve go and I miss him and hope that he makes the odd guest appearance on stage ( even if only to show there’s no bad blood )
But , I guess it wasn’t Simons fault that he left and this new incarnation of the band sounds really fresh and exciting.
Apart from Portable Door ..the other 3 songs we’ve heard , sound really exciting and different ( I do wish Don would ditch that synth though on his solos and stop trying to make us sound like ‘ Yes’ )
I’ve a feeling this new album could even be the best of the Ezrin era…so far !?
The song Perfect Strangers is a Anthem, you don’t jam out on that epic. It is all about the feel & atmosphere it creates. Absolute sacrilegious to attempt to ruin that epic. The Machine Head songs are always featured, no surprises there as it is their most ‘commercially’ known collection of songs. Yes KAYBD is good for that explorative playing as the Maestro used to do with it. Not sure how that would work out though with the new kid on the block. Certain songs remain set in stone, from any band & so they should. Cheers.
June 14th, 2024 at 22:14‘A Bit on the Side” is buried a bit in the mud of that cellphone video so it seems like I’ve cotton in my ears. But my impression of the overall album so far is that it generally sounds like a harder-rock album than DP has done in a while. The quality was good-to-excellent on the last several LPs, but overall they lacked a little gravitas. From what I’ve heard so far, this album’s seems a little rawer but a little heavier. To my ear, Paice sounds like he’s gained some added energy – really good. Gillan’s lyrics are solid; it’s hard to hear his voice clearly on these types of recordings, but I’m not complaining. ‘Bleeding’ may be their heaviest song in a while.
June 14th, 2024 at 22:18Incidentally, whilst I’m in the mood for writing, I must tell y’all about a story I heard the other day .
I live in Exeter which is not too far from Mr Gillan in Lyme Regis …and the other day I was sharing a sauna with a producer from one of our local radio stations.
Anyway, I don’t know if any of you remember but, they had a ” Guitars on the beach ” thing a few years ago where they were all playing ‘ Smoke ‘ and IG was a sort of compere .
Anyway, the radio station rang IG and asked if he wanted to come on to the show and say a few words ( fully expecting IG to decline …being the big , international rock star that he is ) …however, not only did Mr Gillan come down for the radio show , he also politely declined the radio stations offer to pay for his taxi ( saying he would pay for it himself) …and when he came onto the show , the producer told me , he was extremely polite , humble and very generous with his time …although none of the radio station staff were particularly hard core fans , they said they would never forget him and have kept an eye on his career ever since !
Indeed my producer friend was going to check out ( the then ) new single Portable Door when he got home !
Everyone down here has told a similar story of their meeting with IG ( including my own meeting with him when he blew me away with how humble and gracious he was )
‘ What a guy ‘
June 14th, 2024 at 22:30@ 19 -“There is not a single album with Morse that sounds as desolate and “we’re-not-having-fun-doing-this” as TBRO which – miraculously – is championed by so many here”. ‘Having fun’, says it all in many aspects Uwe. TBRO had attitude, the same as Purpendicular & Now What. There is plenty of fire & passion on those compositions & recordings, unlike the other Morse era albums. That fire & attitude creates better songs etc. It sounds like a fire of sorts has been ignited on the new DP album. A new banjo player & a few other things going on at present brings that to the fore. All the other albums from 1998 feel like a siesta of sorts. A siesta that repeatedly kept occurring. Cheers.
June 14th, 2024 at 22:54But yes, FOTR and SD are two of my favorites, I’d love to see them play those. They should leave out SOTW to make room for them… (HA HA)
June 14th, 2024 at 23:49Bravo, Alejandro, that is one hell of a moving cover your band did of Fighting Man. Unusual choice, but great execution!
Herr McGregor, I don’t doubt for a second that TBRO is full of attitude. Albeit mostly of the negative and gritted teeth type. 😑 That album was sung by someone the main songwriter really didn’t want to be there, never forget that. And except for filthy lucre, Blackmore mostly went along with it on his self-fulfilling Schadenfreude-expectation that Ian would certainly mess up again. The vibes just weren’t good even if the Frankfurt gig I saw was a very good one (with Mannheim two weeks later already the pits). The negative energy had become self-destructive and was pulling the band apart.
June 15th, 2024 at 01:17Someone should tell Gillan he can’t sing Space Truckin’ anymore. Not pretty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nFxFUSFL00
June 15th, 2024 at 10:11I don’t follow music or musicians because of the soap opera or drama movie style shenanigans etc. It is the music etc that I listen to & have an interest in first & foremost, it always has been. DP musically are quite a dramatic band, well the good music I like is. If the music benefits from tension, personality differences or whatever so be it. Many artists are more interesting when there is plenty of passion etc involved. It is what it is. The songs Anya & TBRO still get played for a reason, they are good songs. As long as the music benefits I am in. If that analogy you mentioned of Blackmore NOT wanting Gillan returning to the fold is your reasoning, then you are barking up the wrong tree. Look at the album before, Blackmore wanted JLT there, a lame & one dimensional product is the result & for the record the other guys didn’t want JLT or anyone else singing in DP, so there you have it. Reverse the roles & we have a good hard rock album typical of MKII with some cracking songs on it. I am NOT suggesting musicians shouldn’t get along & that that is the best music created all the time. But with certain ensembles you look at their music & hear about issues that were there at that time & it often appears to add up to quite good constructive compositions & performances. It may not last as long as the ‘good times’, but what does in the end? Cheers.
June 15th, 2024 at 11:10@24
June 15th, 2024 at 12:24In my life I met Gillan twice, It has been very easy to understand he is a real good cool man..
What’s so terrible about it, Daniel? He hasn’t been able to do the former falsetto parts properly since ages and, really, it has never been the most cerebral or musically educated Purple number, it’s a fun romp and audience pleaser, but nothing to take entirely serious. Along with Black Night, it‘s about as dumb as DP ever got/gets (though Space Trucking is somewhat saved by the clever and groovy intro, especially the way it is used as a backing in the third verse, as well as the middle part with Paicey‘s excellent drumming). There is nothing wrong with just a little dumb, this is after all a Status Quo fan writing this!
https://youtu.be/2mFt9cjcXsA
Which makes me think … Am I correct in my assumption from memory that Highway Star, Lazy, Space Trucking and SOTW are the most played songs by Purple since 1972, gracing every or nearly every live set? In addition to being MK II staples, SOTW and HS were also played by Mk III, IV, V, VI plus all Morse line-ups & the new McBride one. As were pretty much Lazy – only Mk III didn’t play it IIRC – and Space Trucking – only Mk IV didn’t play it. That means that this four song nucleus from MH/MIJ has been more or less in the set of the varying line-ups for 52 years (save for the 1976-84 hiatus)!
June 15th, 2024 at 13:43I find Slaves & Masters a less painful listen than TBRO, Herr McGregor. Why? Because Ritchie sounds at ease and tasteful on S&M, while he sounds strained and listless to me on much of TBRO. And within the constraints of his AOR singer format, JoeLT gives his best on S&M while Big Ian – a singer I prefer a thousandfold – sounds uncomfortable and homeless on a lot of TBRO. For an album with fruitful inner tension – I know what you mean – I prefer THOBL.
That doesn‘t mean that the song material on TBRO is all junk: The title track, Anya and Solitaire are good songs (but that is about it, the other tracks are forgettable), but I do wonder if their performance/execution could not have been enhanced by happier circumstances.
Anyway, to me TBRO is at least historically interesting for the inner band turmoil I hear in it.
June 15th, 2024 at 18:37Space Truckin’ is apt for it’s time & has that chorus that many popular music followers admire & can join in on. I like the lyrics, a little different in certain aspects & yes musically it isn’t the most ‘challenging’ song, but it works very well in a live setting. I haven’t listened to the recent song that is being discussed at present & I will not bother to. The same with Into The Fire, those songs are vocals powerhouses like many others & belong in another era. I have been watching a few of my favourite musicians these past few days out & about singing their most popular songs from the golden era. Roger Daltrey, Jon Anderson & Ian Gillan. Daltrey is now 80 & the other two are about to hit the 80’s years of age mark. Some songs work better than others, time waits for no one as we know. Am I being nostalgic, yes indeed, they need us to be that way though other wise not many others would be there listening. Cheers.
June 15th, 2024 at 22:30I think that TBRO is probably their most underrated album.
One of the things that stands out to me when I have seen DP live is that they perform with high energy and sheer joy. Perhaps part of this is having a setlist they they want to play.
June 16th, 2024 at 02:03LOL,
Here we are in a 2024 DP thread, & the re-union Mk-II material comes-up again for some bewildering reason…
The re-union material was never as good as what preceded it in the 1970’s. It was a band finding-its-feet for the first time in its career, as the boys were older & wiser, & had preceding reputations to rediscover, & it was unstable. The 1970’s band had youth, excitement, & nothing to lose, as it was building itself into the monolith that it’s become.
The new band with Simon just about equals what was happening with Steve as regards to the music made & its delivery, which is an awesome thing, & well deserved for all concerned.
In years to come, it will be the Morse era of DP that will be revered & appreciated, simply because it was & remains way-ahead-of-its-time, in so many aspects, & has multiple albums, both studio & live behind it.
But as of now, the band with Simon is just as excellent, & that’s worth celebrating & talking about !!! Keep-on-Truckin’ !
Peace !
June 16th, 2024 at 03:17I was at a concert in Madrid. I was hoping for one song from the new album and was immensely happy when the group performed three new ones. I think A Bit on the Side will be very beautiful on the album. It was a lot of fun. I’m one of those who wants more Morse and the last thing I wanted to listen to was Hard Lovin’ Man performed by the current Gillan – it’s a little uncomfortable. I always considered this song to be an album song and thought that the main thing about it was the extreme vocals along with the galloping rhythm. I’m probably a rare exception in the sense that I never loved Anya, but people like it and who am I to argue.
June 18th, 2024 at 22:17Madrid, 13/06/2024:
Highway star, bleeding obvious, into the fire, strange kind of woman, no need to shout, uncommon man, lazy, Anya, a bit on the side, space trucking, smoke on the water, hard loving man, Hush, black night; plus solos from Simon and Don.
June 19th, 2024 at 22:01Ten from preMorse and five from Morse era (and beyond). Considering that half of the preMorse time are the must-be-there from the MH album, I think they made clear their great respect for big Steve. They even let out Perfect Strangers, which I’d read as a lesson: “thank you Ritchie -of course- but big big thank you to huge Steve, for making DP shine thrugh 27 long years.”
(And I -very humbling- add a big thank you to Simon, too.)
Always fun to give it a spin over setlist predictions.
Based around what already is there – one has to be aware that 13-14 tracks and up to 80-90 minutes is as much as they can pull out. With the below, no one could moan about the Morse Era not being represented. Let go of the 4 “Machine Head” tracks – enough is enough! 56 years of music to pick from. Changing the tracks from night to night would give the shows extra edge.
Intro
1. No One Came
2. A Bit On The Side
3. Loosen My Strings / Fingers To The Bone (interchangeably)
4. Hard Loving Man / Bloodsucker / Living Wreck (interchangeably)
5. Into The Fire
6. Above And Beyond / Clearly Quite Absurd (interchangeably, dedicated to Jon Lord)
7. Don fancy intro – Lazy
8. Pictures Of You (kick out Portable Door)
9. Simon Solo – Anya (give Simon a stretch in the middle, let him show his chops!)
10. Don Solo – Bleeding Obvious (a must!)
11. 1 more new song
12. Smoke On The Water
Encores:
June 22nd, 2024 at 11:3314. Bad Attitude / Knocking At Your Backdoor (both have super intros to ignite the encores)
13. Hush / Speed King (interchangeably, with Simon-Don Duel)