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Will never, ever be forgotten
Another review of the Birmingham gig from November 4th, 2024. This one is for the Metal Planet Music.
With the energy of the crowd now at an excitable fever pitch, the lights dimmed, and ‘Gustav Holst’s Mars’ the Bringer of War’ echoed dramatically through the arena. Images appeared on screens above the stage, each for the audience to ponder, with a final fiery DEEP PURPLE logo emblazoned in the background, this set the tone for the legendary band about to take the stage. As the music swirled, a sense of anticipation filled the air, the time had come for DEEP PURPLE to unleash their rock prowess.
Read more in Metal Planet Music.
Photo credit: Manny Manson for MPM.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I’ll frame that quote and put it up against my wall:
“There’s a liberation in the air, a sense of apogee that only “Smoke on the Water” can provide.
This isn’t just another song, it’s a cultural milestone. The audience knows it, and so does the band. Every member is invested in this song, not just as a classic but as a piece of rock history. When the song reaches its peak, with McBride’s blistering solo and the rhythm section working in perfect tandem, the energy is at an all-time high. The arena shakes, and for a brief, shining moment, it feels like rock itself is alive, pulsing with power.”
November 8th, 2024 at 03:10Yo,
Yes indeed, the statements above by Herr Uwe reflect what Rock is all about, & what our band DP pretty-much always delivers.
Let the doubters drown in their own negativity, like the sands in the hour-glass…
Adonai !
November 8th, 2024 at 09:44If it weren’t for Blackmore there would never be Smoke on the Water.
November 8th, 2024 at 09:58@3 Let’s not forget Frank Zappa and Claude Nobs, nor that idiot with a flare gun for that matter…
November 8th, 2024 at 11:18Haven‘t we been through this, Montague? Ritchie is free to play it every night with his missus, perhaps between Renaissance Faire and Home Again where it particularly fits, and really rock da house with his rousing rendition as Candice roars through the lyrics. A primal experience, no less, I love that pinned-against-the-wall feeling at Blackmore‘s Night‘s metalfests. Second only to Judas Priest.
November 8th, 2024 at 12:48Yo,
@3…
There’s no doubt that RB & the Mk-II band put his / their stamp on the tune SotW, but it isn’t his / their tune originally, at least musically. The tune was borrowed (just like Child in Time was) from a South American band that composed the music. The original music was posted in here not so long ago, & there’s more than just some similarity in it…
And it was Ian Paice who actually initiated the whole tune of SotW after being asked by RB “What drumbeat haven’t we played yet”?…Ian played the beat, & RB added the riff, & the band went on to produce the magic.
That said, let’s not spoil the moment, as regardless, if DP Mk-II didn’t beat it into shape, it wouldn’t be celebrated, or likely even know of today. And we wouldn’t know about a tragic event that happened in Montreux in late 1971…Where the late Frank Zappa (RIP) & his band lost all their gear because of an over excited audience member who decided to shoot some flares into the ceiling during “King Kong”, burning the whole hotel complex to the ground…
Adonai !
November 8th, 2024 at 13:52@3. If it wasn’t for Blackmore there’d be no dang dang dang song. Without Roger there’d be no smoke on the water.
November 8th, 2024 at 14:56No other song has celebrated arson ever as nicely.
Well, I guess Burn comes close.
November 8th, 2024 at 19:43OK, I’m going to be extremely contentious now and no doubt receive a torrent of abuse !
November 8th, 2024 at 19:59I will say first of all that Purple are my favourite band by miles and have been since I saw Gillan doing ” Trouble ” on TOTP in 1979 …then discovered who he was and the rest is history!
I really do think it’s time for the band to stop now . Why ? Because I think they’re turning into a cabaret act . Don’t get me wrong, the quality of the musicianship is amazing and I’m blown away by how well Gillan is singing …but every single concert is exactly the flipping same …same arrangements, same solos , same gags and tricks ( yes, I appreciate, if you saw them for the first time, you’d be impressed) but for us die hard fans it’s really getting boring !
Throw in a few old unplayed gems and surprises …change the arrangements.
Honestly, listen to any show from the recent tour …and they’re all exactly the same …it makes me cringe .
And Gillan should go to spec savers …I’m not seeing many 18 year olds in the crowd .
I’d be interested to hear what Uwe has to say on this as his obviously more an expert on the band then the rest of us ( said with respect) …but , what happened to the good old days when 2 shows were never the same .
Come on DP ..stop milking it
Flew over from Portugal for this gig as it was a convenient location to meet my cousin (who is a die hard Stranglers fan) and to show him what masters DP are when witnessing them live. Having seen “our guys” all over the world, the B’ham gig was as good as all the comments make out.
November 8th, 2024 at 20:32As my die hard Stranglers fan cousin walked out with a =1 t-shirt, one has to conclude that we can add one more to our DP family of followers!
Jan, tell your cousin, the die hard Strangler and gnawing rodent fan, that Dave Greenfield, the Stranglers keyboarder, worshipped Jon Lord! 😎
QUOTE
Q: Many early reviewers drew comparisons with Ray Manzarek yet you’ve always maintained that you hadn’t listened to the Doors before joining the Stranglers. So, who were your main influences?
A: The only tracks by the Doors I knew were Light My Fire & Riders On The Storm. Before I joined my main influences were probably Jon Lord (Deep Purple) & then Rick Wakeman (Yes).
UNQUOTE
… and shared many a sentiment with him:
QUOTE
Q:Do you prefer the reliability and power of modern, digital instruments or the physical ‘clunkiness’ of the old analogue ones like the Hammond?
A: To me a Hammond is the best. I’m a different person when I play one, probably because of the feel of the keyboard. It’s not the sounds, you can get anything you want from modern equipment, so its far more suitable (and lighter) for touring & especially flying.
Q: Do you still have the Hammond and would you consider using it live again?
A: I still have an M100 & Leslie but I can’t imagine ever using it on stage again.
Q: Which keyboard that you have used in the past do you miss?
A: 100% a Hammond!
UNQUOTE
He can read it all here:
https://thestranglers.co.uk/feature-dave-greenfield-the-interview/
November 8th, 2024 at 21:04Deep Purple is the quintessential definition of lightning in a bottle. There will never be another.
November 8th, 2024 at 22:48There’s no chance that review was written by a human. Too many of the sentences don’t quite make sense, and there are extreme oddities, like “Portable Door” being described as “Often overlooked in the DEEP PURPLE catalogue.”
I wonder what the prompt to whatever GenAI they used was.
November 9th, 2024 at 01:33@ 8 Exactly.. ha ha ha
November 9th, 2024 at 08:38@9 somewhat staggered by this comment – did you go to the O2 gig? They literally played 6 songs off =1. How can that be called “cabaret”. Also, Anya and Uncommon Man are hardly MKII staples. I was there and would consider myself a “die hard” fan and certainly did not find it boring. Also, yes Ian Gillan exaggerates the number of 18 year olds at DP concerts but there were plenty of under 30s and my 20 year old son was disappointed he was (no longer) in the top 100 youngest attendees. His first concert was Whitesnake at age 8 – when he probably was the youngest there!
November 9th, 2024 at 11:12@9
😂 Steve you’re completely right to have your own opinion, but please don’t see DP only from your own perspective!
A lot of us are in awe of what they’re doing, not just what they are doing right now, but the whole background they have with them.
Yeah I know a lot of people have been criticising Ian G for his voice, but when I hear him I hear his complete history, all that he has been doing, his personality, his wits and the fact that he sings SO MUCH BETTER than f.e Elvis Presley ever did (😉), and actually, to be completely honest – how many 79-year-olds do you know that can perform on the level they are showing all the time? (Guess SMcB is a tiny bit younger..)
I know you let this one go to Uwe and he is very interesting, but I tell you Steve, we’re many out here who really are totally impressed with everything Deep Purple was, is and hopefully will be!
Have a lovely weekend everybody 👋🏼👋🏼
November 9th, 2024 at 11:34What I admire the most about DP is how they survived different line ups and I go back what IG said in his acceptance speech in the R&RHOF when he mentioned every member who joined the band throughout it’s 55 plus years of history.
November 9th, 2024 at 11:43Also IG driving force to lead the band since 93 when Ritchie departed should be an amazing case study for any band going through dark times.
Also how IG refused to call it a day in 2000 when our beloved Jon Lord was thinking about retiring the band.
For me the music was not the best on certain albums between 1998 and 2007 but Bob Ezrin deserves lots of credit for making the band sound more fresh and grand.
Peace ✌️
Lol. I said I’d be contentious! And I knew I’d get abuse !
November 9th, 2024 at 19:59But, if you read my comments carefully, I did say , I am …and always will be , a massive Purple fan !
And my comments weren’t just for Uwe ….they were for everyone. We’re all entitled to an opinion , right ?
And by cabaret, I mean, the sings are played in exactly the same way …theres no wide improvisation any more .
@ 16 “Steve you’re completely right to have your own opinion, but please don’t see DP only from your own perspective”! Karin it has everything to do with an individuals perspective, not what other peoples perspective may be. I think you will find most people have their own point of view & do not care what others think. Why should someone like something just because other people do? I applaud Steve for his comments & that is the way it should be. Cheers.
November 9th, 2024 at 21:10Yo,
@17 stated…
qt.”Also, IG’s driving force to lead the band since 93 when Ritchie departed, should be an amazing case study for any band going through dark times”.
Great point, & today in reflection, RB leaving was the absolutely best thing that could have ever happened to the band. Steve joining was something that really couldn’t have been bettered, except for Simon now joining, as it would seem by the increased success & popularity. The music remains par-excellent.
Satch could have made DP his home too quite easily, but interview footage reveals that he was never going to be comfortable playing in RB’s stead, so he let himself down by fearing a ghost that wasn’t there. Great job completed in finishing the tour however.
Adonai !
November 9th, 2024 at 22:20Steve @9, my opinion isn’t better than anybody’s else’s, but here we go:
Yes, since Blackmore’s departure, DP gigs are no longer dangerous, risky, erratic, suspenseful … all that. You also have more of a guarantee of your money’s worth if you can buy just one ticket per tour which more and more people are faced with at today’s ticket prices. Just ask those fans who saw Blackmore in Mannheim or Birmingham in 1993 and no other gig. I’ve seen Blackmore not give a damn with DP, Rainbow and even BN so many times, I could have choked him on stage. He’s a fucking diva and takes his moods out on the world. Brilliant if he wants to be.
Let’s go back to the “wild” Mk II days: Much of that is bathed in a warm nostalgic glow. While Ritchie was at the helm there were hardly any set list changes during a running tour, the set lists were regularly only revamped between tours or after a line up change (but then radically). Blackmore also refused to play about half of DP’s repertoire, the ole dictator. The dramaturgy of a DP gig in the days of yore was pretty much predetermined too: Ritchie and Jon both do long intros to songs, both get long solos too, both show off their classical skills, but also play something lighthearted (hey, it’s showbiz!), Little Ian gets a drum solo, depending on Ritchie’s mood a Strat (original or copy) is smashed to smithereens towards the end, if Ritchie can be arsed into it, a rock’n’roll or blues encore is played. Really, the most unpredictable factor was always only Ritchie, that Klaus Kinski of guitar.
Now did I just say something divisive? Take the three consecutive gigs from Live in Japan 1972, yes there are differences every night, but it’s not like the sets vary radically. We’re all such trainspotters here (I’m not counting myself out), that if Ritchie breaks wind during one of his solos we deem it a musical embellishment that makes that night special.
All that said: Yes, an Mk II gig in 1971 would have won the Forrest Gump award
https://youtu.be/egkrxkiUnoo
but even DP today is a lot less static than, say, a Judas Priest or Rammstein gig musically is (let’s not even talk about someone like Taylor Swift or Ariana Grande), if not perhaps as improvisationally daring as a Tedeschi Trucks Band concert.
Frankly, I don‘t see DP returning to improvisational frenzy anytime soon. Simon isn‘t the type for it, not because he can‘t, but because he doesn’t want to – he‘s from a generation that wants quality reproduced on a stable platform. It was the great late Bernie Marsden who once said (I paraphrase): “At least 60% of any given solo I play night for night is not improvised. If I’m in good form the rest is more free, but I don’t force it. If it’s not one of those special nights, then I rely even more on what I have played before.” I think Simon’s approach is not all that different.
November 9th, 2024 at 23:34@19
You’re right of course! 😃
I just meant: don’t which to close them down when so many of us still enjoy them, even though it’s not a new show every night!
“I really do think it’s time for the band to stop now . Why ? Because I think they’re turning into a cabaret act .” – it was this sentence I mostly answered to 😊
November 10th, 2024 at 05:29@ 20 – “Satch could have made DP his home too quite easily, but interview footage reveals that he was never going to be comfortable playing in RB’s stead, so he let himself down by fearing a ghost that wasn’t there. Great job completed in finishing the tour however”. You left out the major ingredients Gregster. Satriani isn’t silly, he knew that if he joined an established pre existing band, that would stifle or kill off his own creativity in regards to his musical endeavours. Playing a large portion of covers for an eternity wouldn’t have been on his agenda as his own journey was were it was at. Was Steve Morse a little more desperate perhaps? Indeed he may have been as he was much more low profile than Satriani & Morse deserved a ‘break’ as such. Plus his favourite rock keyboard player was Jon Lord & he was pinching himself with that opportunity. The sad thing for Steve Morse was Lord resigning as after that it wasn’t the same for him, in many ways. We are all aware how little of his material with DP was featured in ongoing set lists, cue the Joe Satriani predicament. Cheers.
November 10th, 2024 at 08:06Deep Purple & everyone else were much younger back in the day & the musical environment was much more fertile. Not nostalgic as over time it then becomes a totally different energy. Plus the inevitable ageing process kills off any thing too outrageous & the ‘play it safe mode’ kicks in. Rock ‘n roll is a young persons game. No matter how you look at it. Rebellious, loud & devil may care thrives with all the energy. Nostalgia doesn’t work that way, it is the way it is. The longer we hang around the safer we play it, in most things in life. Cheers
November 10th, 2024 at 08:22Yo,
@23…
Joe’s error of judgement imo is that he followed his former students advice of “Never, ever, join a famous band with a famous guitarist that’s left” recommended Steve Vai…Who played with Zappa for a great number of years, allowing Frank to write more music & have more time to manage the business-end of the band. Steve was then playing more & more Zappa solos like Zappa played them, note-for-note in his style too…
On the basis that Joe did stay on with DP, we could speculate almost any possible positive outcome, since DP is nowundoubtebly among the most successful bands ever, that remains working, that the world has ever had before. Wealth, a solo career, & an ongoing future with one of the greatest bands ever would be his position as we speak.
That said, there’s still enough sauce in the bottle for Simon to be recognised as one of the truly great players,working in one of the worlds greatest bands. Steve gave that up, & Joe did too. Steve however in years to come will hold the crown of DP’s finest guitarist, it’s inevitable.
Adonai !
November 10th, 2024 at 12:46Steve didn’t really make any money with music until he joined DP. He was a musician’s musician and both the Dixie Dregs and SMB catered to that by nature small audience. When he joined Kansas, their star was already on the wane and the two albums with him did not sell well. Moreover, at no point in his life did he do a lot of good-money-earning session work for other, more commercial acts, he was not in a position like Waddy Wachtel or Steve Lukather, it would have meant a Californian residency for him which he did not care for. His outside sessions were mostly for other musician’s musican acts. His guitar clinic work was aimed at the same audience.
Becoming a commercial airline pilot was for him the possibility of making ends meet without having to compromise his music. So yes, the job with DP put him in financial good stead (at a point in his career when he was not really expecting it anymore), but that was not the sole reason he did it and of course his playing, songwriting as well as steady and amiable nature gave back to the Purple organization exactly what it wanted and needed at the time.
November 10th, 2024 at 12:51Steve raises some valid points. A guarantee of getting your money’s worth is something you get when going to IKEA etc. In DP’s case, they are artists. A living, breathing show will always be more interesting than a presentation, where things stay the same from night to night. McBride is the first guitarist in DP whose approach is reproducing his solos from the record. This is in stark contract to his predecessors, who all improvised. This would have been less of a problem if Airey was letting loose, but he doesn’t seem to want to improvise either. It’s a shame. Small adjustments would make things more interesting.
November 10th, 2024 at 14:32#21 Uwe, Thank you so much for your reply and comprehensive answer. I’m pretty much inclined to agree with all that you say .
@19 MacGregor , Thankyou for understanding what I was trying to say , it wasn’t meant to be derogatory at all, just an opinion , Gillan is my hero and I’m amazed and proud of how his voice sounds now …just think back to 1987 and 1993 ?
To sum up my point perfectly…listen back to any 5 versions of Black Night from the tours of the last 3 years ….exactly the same ! You might as well put a tape on …same can be said for lazy, Space Truckin etc
I’m glad the boys are still having fun …private jets, 5 star hotels every night …turn up …go through the motions etc …get paid !!
I love the new album …reminds me a lot of Double Trouble from 1981
Right I’m off to get my ticket for next year’s vegas residency …where they’re sharing the bill with Tom Jones !
November 10th, 2024 at 20:25#25 Gregster
in my opinion no error of judgement: Joe Satriani was a luxury session musician, but musically he would never have been compatible with Purple, he knew it and the guys knew it
November 10th, 2024 at 23:23Steve, it seems like you haven’t seen Tom Jones in a while! His act today is zero glitzy Las Vegas residency. David Coverdale could learn a lot from him on how to mature as an artist.
https://youtu.be/nYjBpgz2lus
https://youtu.be/jxX8sWMsxEs
I‘d go see a Deep Purple/Tom Jones package in a heartbeat.
November 10th, 2024 at 23:38@ 28 – ha ha ha, does this mean the lads may break out into a version of ‘It’s Not Unusual’ or ‘The Green Green Grass of Home’. What about ‘What’s New Pussycat’ I could imagine Gillan nailing that one, could be interesting. Cheers.
November 11th, 2024 at 00:49Right on, Uwe! I mean calling EP an overweight full of himself crooner and now making fun of Tom Jones… this is getting out of hand here!
A little bit more respect for some of the greatest voices mankind has to offer!
November 11th, 2024 at 08:16I have actually seen Tom Jones live in Cardiff in 2001 ( not my cup of tea , it was my ex who loved him ) …but they were great gigs !
Ahem, anyway , away from Sir Tom ( who definitely, definitely is milking it )
November 11th, 2024 at 11:07Going back to my highly contentious point about the band turning into a cabaret act …does anyone remember the days when you would buy 2 tickets for a tour , because you knew they would be completely different …or going to record fares etc and picking up tapes from different concerts of the same tour, because the solos etc and song arrangements would be different? I’ve got loads of bootlegs here of all that kind of stuff …independent record store holders would contact me as soon as they has anything available….because they knew what a sucker I was for it !
Great days…sadly, wouldn’t happen now
My first DP concert was February 1971 when all bands were risky and exciting and DP especially so, but we’ve all grown older and have seen exciting bands before ( DP 9 times). So it us who have changed too!
November 11th, 2024 at 12:07I thought Birmngham was really good, Gillan’s voice completely amazing for 79 year old and took care with some breaks to keep it that way through the whole show. McBride has added energy and taken them back to being a rock band, anything but cabaret in my opinion. Well done guys!
Yo,
@29….
It’s a difficult circumstance to determine, since all we actually have are a few bootlegged shows to gauge how Joe slipped-in with the band…Though by all accounts, he delivered the goods, as he was asked to stay-on.
Back in 1993, Joe was still building his solo career off-the-back of the success of “Surfin’ with the alien”…We even knew about him here in Oz, as he was getting air-play on the radio, lots-of-it too. And Simon at 11-years of age was on TV playing “Satch Boogie” around the same time. He had world-wide success, & likely made the right decision. “Why join a band when you’re doing fine on your own” ?…- he may have been thinking at that time.
Anyway, we’ll never know how he & the rest of MK-II would have gone creating & producing new music together, we can only speculate. But imo, he’s one of the finest players in the world. I don’t think we’d have gotten as such a different band, groove & sound that Steve helped provide however, perhaps somewhere in-between ?…But I think given the opportunity, Joe & Jon would have got-it-on pretty well. Joe & Don would have been extraordinary to hear making music together…
We may never know !
Adonai !
November 11th, 2024 at 13:00I still buy two tickets per tour, Steve, but you’re right, back in the day you actually HAD TO because you never knew whether Ritchie would be brilliant or blasé, if he would smile at Big Ian or ignore him throughout on stage. Those days are gone indeed. You can’t replace someone like Blackmore, for better or worse, he’s the Miles Davis of hard rock guitar, both as regards musicality and, uhum, social skills.
Max, when I was an adolescent, the then old guard of singers and songwriters, people like Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Johnny Cash, Tom Jones, Carpenters, Burt Bacharach and Neil Diamond were of course all anathema to what l liked and heard, but as you grow older you learn to re-appreciate and you also begin to connect all the music history dots plus simply recognize quality craft. I only recently bought a 5 CD box by Udo Jürgens and a live album from Peter Maffay’s final tour. Within their respective genres, they are both well done though Peter Maffay will obviously never lose his siebenbürgischen accent! (I’m drawing the line at Andrea Berg though!!!)
But in general, I have a high cheese-tolerance!
https://youtu.be/qBC911tWsAU
And if you open your ears and mind then you hear stuff like that The New Seekers bassist/singer Paul Layton (pretty boy on the far left) is fucking amazing, really in Paul McCartney territory as he – unsupported by drums – plays all these counter-punctual melody lines climbing through the chords while at the same time singing live, no auto-tune or pitch correction on that RAH live performance. That is just so extremely well-done and I really respect that.
Easy listening is an art form too. Never mind those scattered Danish resistance pockets, they’ve always been unruly up there … We need to contain them.
November 11th, 2024 at 13:59@ 33 Steve, I attended two shows on this tour and have to say they were pretty different. Even the setlist did change. And back in the day, talking of reunion shows in the 80s, the shows were not a lot more different I’d think. It maybe just the fact that some of us – me included – sought up every note Ritchie or Jon played in their solos and – with Gillan’s banter of course – that made it all worthwhile. (I forked out big money for lousy bootlegs too …) Somehow Simon and Don don’t seem to reach that level of worship. Bit a very good live-band DP still are and the performances vary – though they never disappoint these days I take that for professionalism.
November 11th, 2024 at 16:08Gregster @25 + Fla76 @29:
Much as Joe S might have been chuffed playing with English rock royalty like Jon Lord, I have doubts whether playing in a band with a permanent “lead organist” like Jon Lord (or today Don Airey) was how he really saw his future. Truth of the matter is, if you don’t relegate a keyboarder to backing duties, you have to make room for him and not all guitarists are fine with that:
– Michel Schenker wasn’t with a real keyboarder in UFO or MSG (Dan Peyronel got the over-knee-boot kick in UFO for being too dominant for ze Tshörmenn Äxemens liking);
– Rory Gallagher wasn’t for a while either (until he saw the errors of his ways), ousting Lou Martin;
– Gary Moore once said about the great Don Airey after the latter had left the Gary Moore Band: “Don is a very skilled keyboarder, but he wants to be busy or he gets bored; Neil (Carter) plays a lot simpler, but he doesn’t clutter everything up”;
– Joe Satriani never had a lead keyboarder in one of his bands either, Chickenfoot did without any keyboards at all.
On the other hand:
– Steve Morse was used to a strong keyboarder from the Dixie Dregs (T Lavitz), but reverted to a trio format for the Steve Morse Band so – let’s face it – he could use all his many little sound modulation toys without some keyboarder catcalling: “Hey Steve, I can do all that better with my Yamaha DX something!!!” He had, however, also played with keyboard-heavy Kansas, so he knew what it was like;
– With the exception of the half-arsed Babyface project with Phil Lynott and Paicey, Ritchie has never attempted to play without a keyboarder, he knows that he is not really cut out for playing in a trio;
– Tommy Bolin – with the exception of his time with the James Gang – played mostly in keyboard-heavy bands: Zephyr, Jan Hammer in the Billy Cobham group, Energy … Actually, the experience with Jon must have left a lasting impression on Tommy, because the final Tommy Bolin Band line-ups included former Vanilla Fudge lead keyboarder Mark Stein and the heavier tracks on Private Eyes are all awash with mighty Hammond, a sound component that had not been as prominent in Tommy’s music pre-DP;
– Simon McBride reverted to trio format for his solo band too, but played for a long time with Andrew Strong where the piano was prominent and of course also in the Don Airey Band, which must have helped him immensely getting the Purple ‘gorgon’-sound right.
November 11th, 2024 at 16:59Max
Yeah, boy was I a suckered for the bootlegs ….and boy were they terrible quality ! Lol
Mind you, I got some great shows though, I gotta bootleg here of Albuquerke in 1985 ..amazing Child in Time and KAYBD
November 11th, 2024 at 17:16It was great going to these little shops to pick them out, got one, that cost me a fortune …and all that was on it was Speed King and Smoke …but, the Speed King version was one of the best I heard ….what Jon was doing with his organ was utterly Mind blowing.
I’m glad the boys are still going, really I am . And I take my hat off to Gillan …his voice is amazing .
I guess, what I personally would like to see, is around 20 to 30 dates a year ( and play some surprises…whatever that might be ) ..plus an album a year, something different…with an orchestra..or acoustic…I dunno…just different.
Apparently, Gillan has genuinely got some ideas in this department!
Max
Forgot to say . I do take your point on professionalism though, very valid and very well made .
If you look on a recent thread on here ( I think it’s about Burrrn) magazine …one of the old stalwarts here has posted a recent video of Blackmores Night ….now THAT is the kind of stuff I’d like to see the new DP tribute act do ! 🤣🤣🤣
November 11th, 2024 at 17:25What’s also true about the Purple past:
– Ritchie could be hugely sloppy, out of time and sometimes just an outright noise merchant.
– With the reunion, Jon never regained the sonic position he had with Purple in the 70s – there was more Jon in reunion Purple than in Whitesnake, yes, but less than in the band’s prime. And it declined further – in the final years of Mk VII I remember a few gigs were Jon was (especially on the older material) beginning to go through the motions, his heart was clearly no longer in it.
– On Rainbow’s final tour with the Doogie line-up, Blackmore was plain bored. He hadn’t been happy with Purple, but he was just as unhappy with the last Rainbow line-up: I remember a gig in Göteborg in the summer of 1996 when Rainbow was in its death throes. Ritchie wasn’t so much in a bad mood as he was plain listless, uninspired, bemused by the hard rock spectacle (and throwing dark glances at Doogie) plus obviously wary of the less than great audience turnout at the Rondo venue. I knew then and there that Rainbow (or at least that particular line-up) was once again done for and I wasn’t alone in my opinion, a bunch of very nice Swedish Blackmore fans I go to know there (who were all musicians) agreed wholeheartedly with me.
November 11th, 2024 at 18:02@41
Uwe regarding your comment about Jon Lord, apparently Ian G wanted Jon L more in writing process 😊
https://youtu.be/FEqjWzYDONQ?si=wd9GedJHavyPKv3U
November 11th, 2024 at 19:20@ 32 – not laughing at Tom Jones, just having a giggle at the prospect of that sort of scenario with DP & a take on some of the songs he is known for. I like him, he had a superb voice & I regard him very highly as a vocalists. Elvis was good at times & I guess we just have to try & forget the tv impressions & all that stage ‘fakery’ that he left, that early tv ‘showbiz’ thing, he was probably embarrassed at it himself we w
November 11th, 2024 at 20:48ould think, however vocally he did ok. He just isn’t one of my favourite vocalists from that golden era, but respect for him for what he did in certain aspects. There were so many great vocalist at that time, the 1950’s & 60’s, so many from both sides, male & female, genuine high quality singers, never to be repeated again. I do remember a young rock music fan I knew going to a Tom Jones show in Sydney back in the 90s. He only knew a few songs from his parents records & went out of curiosity. The gig blew his mind, I will never forget him telling me about it, high energy, the band was as tight as tight can be, loud & everything else. He was very impressed. Not my sort of gig but I have never doubted the potential delivery of a Tom Jones concert. Being 84 years young I would think Tom may be retired these days, I am not sure. Tony Bennett went on up into his 90’s still singing. Maybe Gillan can too but NOT in a loud rock band. Perish the thought. Cheers.
Tom Jones was brilliant live …what a voice …and what a show ! I saw him 2 nights running at Cardiff castle in 2001 …but , now , he’s got to keep his beak in the limelight . He’s doing some rubbish called ” The Voice ” on bbc1 …its pathetic
Elvis was peerless ! Fantastic
And I have here on tape , an interview with IG from radio 1 in 1980 , where he says ” ill be singing until the day I die !” …..and I’m sure he’s giving it a damn good shot !
November 11th, 2024 at 22:35Karin, no one ever kept Jon from writing, not in The Artwoods, not in Deep Purple, not in PAL and not in Whitesnake, but he was never a prolific writer by choice/nature. He would devote time to his classical compositions and solo works, but he wasn’t Elton John as regards shaking songs from his sleeve. Which is perfectly ok, Jon knew about his worth as a musician even if he did not have a lot of initial ideas and always said that it was hard for him to come up with rock tunes on the organ or the piano.
Some of the most “Jon Lordy”-organ riffs were not written by him, ‘Might Just Take Your Life’ was written by Ritchie and given to Jon and ‘Don’t Break My Heart Again’, where most of the band just plays the root note while Jon plays that cracker of an organ riff over it,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTQ7yIzmGyE
was penned in a nightly session (keeping Neil Murray from sleep) by David Coverdale hammering away at Jon’s organ until he finally had the idea complete and played it to the band next morning.
But of course there are some real gems in Purple’s oeuvre from Jon: Mk I’s ‘Anthem’, ‘A 200’ from Burn, the ‘Hold On’ keyboard riff plus the magnificent ‘This Time Around’ from the Mk IV era.
PS: Herr MacGregor, stop thinking, the Good Lord put drum sticks in your hands!
“Being 84 years young I would think Tom may be retired these days, I am not sure.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsL5VDTbFQ8
November 11th, 2024 at 22:36Yo,
@ 36… Herr Uwe stated…
qt.” You can’t replace someone like Blackmore, for better or worse, he’s the Miles Davis of hard rock guitar, both as regards musicality and, uhum, social skills”.
***ROTFMAO !!!
Can I have some of what you’re drinking my friend !…Some super toxic sweet burgundy would be fine lol !…
RB was no more than in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time, & a most suitable flash-in-the-pan player, that certainly provided a sure 1/5 of the early DP sound, that made them famous. Beyond that, it’s all-down-hill from there imo, & by his own doing, regardless of how much love & support was offered from everyone. RB limited himself by choice musically, as can be heard within the limitations of BN & the era it represents. In a way, he went backwards in time musically, rather than moving & pushing the boundary’s further along forward with time. He was of-the-moment in the late 1960’s, through to the mid-1980’s. But that’s fine, life moves on…He still had some fine electric-guitar moments here & there, but lost interest. The R & R that he helped build was dead in his own mind & words spoken by the 1990’s…
Miles Davis by contrast was a musical innovator, who led the way for decades with all changes in musical styles from the 1950’s onwards, right up to his death in the 1990’s, from be-bop, the cool, the modal revolution, to funk & fusion, he was there, making it happen, leading the way. And John McLaughlin was his first choice guitarist for a long while…To compare Miles with RB actually surprises me, my friend, as looking through their careers suggests that they’re complete opposites. More appropriate to compare Steve Morse ( or Tommy Bolin ( Miles wanted to record with Tommy) & Hendrix)))) with Miles, as you’d be onto something there…This statement re-RB is I’m sorry wish-full thinking… Some say Miles was an ass-hole at times, they do have that in common for sure.
@39…
It may sometimes take buying 10-poor bootlegs to finally find that rare, uncut-jewel that makes it all worthwhile…Keep searching, the jewels are out there !
Adonai !
November 12th, 2024 at 00:11#41: The final Rainbow tour featured some excellent playing from RB. The Dusseldorf 95 live recording is a good example of this.
November 12th, 2024 at 04:09#41: The Gothenburg Rondo show you mention, Uwe, was my last chance of catching a glimpse of the classic DP era, although in the shape of Rainbow. Circumstances prevented me from going. Funny that you were there out of all places 🙂
November 12th, 2024 at 04:16Uwe
November 12th, 2024 at 07:52I’m not sure how to post a thread on here but, would you kindly inform everyone that tonight , November 12th at 11pm on sky, British tv channel 358 is Ian Gillan hosting his 25 best bands etc .
I always look out for this sort of stuff and never seen this before…its also bound to be repeated
Thanks
I do remember my buddy and me leaving the hall after Rainbow show with Doogie and Co and being really disappointed. Both of us had come with high hopes though. British band Thunder was due to open for Blackmore but couldn’t make it for some reason. Lucky Ritchie – they would have blown him away that night. Yes, he seemed bored and uninspired and highlight of the night was when Doogie started singing Hey Joe with the opening line “O.J. … I heard you shot your woman down” … O.J. Simpson being all over the place in the news around that time. Good laugh. If a bit expensive – even if ticket prices were nothing close to today’s. Something similar happened at some Whitesnake shows mid- to late nineties. A lack of dedication, to much relying on greatest hits, no real band feel. As far as I can see DP never delivered on such a low level. Especially the shows in 1993 that Ian Gillan later called the worst ones ever were in fact brilliant! And sold out, by the way – sorry Ian.
November 12th, 2024 at 09:53@45
November 12th, 2024 at 11:58Thanks Uwe, I just know what Ian G is mentioning in the interview ( did you see it – very charming, both Ian G and Hans Otto Bisgaard) that he would like Jon L more in the writing process 😊
Steve @49:
> I’m not sure how to post a thread on here
the best way would be to email news@thehighwaystar.com
November 12th, 2024 at 15:40Daniel, Düsseldorf 1995 wasn’t on the final tour of Stranger In Us All-era Rainbow, it was at the very beginning, the sixth gig with Doogie ever, the band fresh and out to prove themselves! I saw them two weeks later in Offenbach and they were still fine. Göteborg, however, was almost a year later and there had been a less than successful US tour in between (plus Japanese and South American gigs), it was one of the last gigs of Rainbow on European soil.
Seeing where things were going – with Ritchie more and more restless and irritable, coaxing his young fiancee Candice to overcome her stage fright and stop doing backing vocals for Rainbow off stage but rather appear on stage with the band + also introducing her mother as the new Rainbow management – drummer Chuck Burgi left the band for the commercially greener pastures of Enrique Iglesias’ imminent world tour (Burgi plays with Billy Joel today). Rainbow didn’t play live again until they limped through another US Tour (with John Miceli, with whose playing Ritchie reportedly had issues, now on drums) before dwindling audiences in Feb and March 1997 before – after yet another break – wrapping things up forever in Ejsberg, Denmark, in May 1997 with one solitary final gig. Diminishing returns indeed.
I was only at the Göteborg gig by coincidence, Daniel, we were summer vacationing at the time in Sweden quite a bit farther up north and I heard on Radio that they were playing the Rondo so I took an impromptu trip down south that evening.
Were you at the Rondo gig too, Max?
Karin, yup, I saw that interview by Herr Bisgaard, not as cute as Vivi Bak and no mini skirt, but nice!
November 12th, 2024 at 16:36@52
Thanks Nick ….now I can contribute when I get news from jolly old Blighty !
I wonder what bands Gillan will like …because we all know it’s not entirely rock music he goes for …but , obviously the producers are looking for Rock acts
Wonder if he picks out Rainbow and Whitesnake !? Lol
November 12th, 2024 at 20:47Yo,
@50…Max stated…
qt.”The shows in 1993 that Ian Gillan later called the worst ones ever were in fact brilliant ! And sold out”…
***+1 here !
The recordings are sublime imo. It’s possible that a 4-CD boxed-set of 2 x shows, Stuttgart & Birmingham titled “Live in Europe 1993” is still available new… A release like this was always planned, in celebration of the 21st anniversary of MiJ, but I think at the time, the “Come Hell or High Water” DVD was released instead, that revealed the bands thoughts of the future, & circles the RB fiasco…
The band sounds great & mostly plays pretty well too. And if you carefully edit through both shows, you can have a compilation live show that nears MiJ in overall energy & performance…In fact, the energy is well present, the only thing to critique as to why it doesn’t surpass MiJ, ( and this took a lot of listening to figure out btw ) is Jon Lord’s keyboard sounds…They’re all clean, & not running through a Marshall as it was in the early daze…
Adonai !
November 13th, 2024 at 00:02@53
November 13th, 2024 at 00:25In my opinion the guy who answered the questions were way cuter! 😉
I know there were different legs of the tour but it was all in support of SIUA, hence their final tour. Almost every hard rock band played clubs in the mid 90s, especially in the US, so that is nothing new. The musical content is what’s important in my opinion and RB’s playing was mostly inspired during those years.
November 13th, 2024 at 06:06No, no Rondo à la Göteborg for ole Max, Sir.
November 13th, 2024 at 07:06DP in 1993 sold out? Not in my neck of the woods, Mannheim was about 2/3 full, Frankfurt better filled, but far from sold out.
Frankly, not one of the numerous DP gigs I’ve gone to since 1985 was ever truly sold out to a point that there were no more official tickets. DP tour Germany way too often for that. Whereby I understand that, in Germany at least, a concert is qualified as “technically sold out” once 90% of the available tickets are sold.
Re SIUA-Rainbow: Doogie wasn’t a bad singer, but I wouldn’t dream putting him into the league of IG, DC, GH, RJD or Graham Bonnet? He had a bit of a glorified tribute band charm and could be cringy on stage. But unlike Ronnie Romero he at least had a reasonable command of the English language or whatever they speak up there in the Highlands!
November 13th, 2024 at 14:08#50 Max
Let me almost totally disagree with you:
apart from Rainbow, Whitesnake in the mid 90s made the beautiful Restless Heart, and I saw them 3 times in those years, and it was the post-Steve Vai period with Adrian stable in the band, with the return of the slide guitar and with David who had lowered the distortions of the guitars a bit and played more bluesy.
his voice was already compromised but he still had some shots to fire.
after that he returned to a more heavy metal sound (riding the wave of nostalgia for the various reunions of 80s groups of that period) and for me it was the end of Whitesnake.
but musically the Whitesnake of Restless had much more feeling than the troublemakers who went to Donington with Steve Vai in 1990.
about Deep Purple in 1993, between the live shows I saw and the legendary bootlegs I bought, overall the performances were better than those of the ’84 Reunion.
November 14th, 2024 at 10:25then when Satriani arrived I remember that the two absolute stars of that tour were Little Ian and Roger (if I remember correctly he had just returned to Rickenbacker), while when Steve Morse arrived in reality the lion’s share on stage of the Purpendicular tour was taken by Lord who was totally revitalised by Steve’s entrance into the band.
“troublemakers” T9’s fault sorry, I don’t remember what I wanted to write but I hope the concept is clear anyway!
November 14th, 2024 at 12:46I saw Whitesnake once with Duck Dowle pre-Lovehunter and twice with Paicey post-Ready an’ Willing and post-Come And Get it. The deep and memorable musicality of those three gigs was never again matched by the say dozen later WS gigs I saw over the decades. Cozy hammered the music to death (while Colin Hodgkinson was at a loss what to play within WS), John Sykes was insensitive playing anything he hadn’t written himself, Steve Vai celebrated a corporate rock-wankfest and the gigs from the 90s onwards were all diminishing returns.
DC would have very notable musicians in the various later line-ups but he never again had an organic band like the Marsden-Moody-Murray-Lord-Paice (or Dowle, who to my mind was a fine and tasteful drummer) configuration. Even Adrian Vandenberg on the Restless Heart tour, much as he sincerely tried, was not as natural a foil to DC as Marsden and Moody had been.
November 15th, 2024 at 02:34@ 60 Fla76, you’re right about the Restless Heart tour, some shows were quite enjoyable and more back to basics. I’s talking of the best-of-shows in 94 mostly…they seemed very uninspired with only the Greatest Hits cd to promote, playing mainly the 87stuff with hired hands.
Uwe, I went to the 93 Stuttgart show and seem to remember it was packed (I brought quite a lot of folks there myself… :-)). And I still rate it as one of the best shows I attended in my life if not the best. The cd proves it IMHO. Way better than the gigs in 85 and 87.
November 15th, 2024 at 21:37Stuttgart was indeed supposed to have been very good, Max, I don’t doubt it. And maybe Stuttgart drew some of the audience that would have otherwise gone to Mannheim. DP played Frankfurt, Mannheim and Stuttgart on that tour, that was all a bit close to each other.
I regularly travel to Stuttgart from Frankfurt/Langen for gigs without even thinking.
“I think you will find most people have their own point of view & do not care what others think.”
So not true, Herr MacGregor, I’m always deeply worried what you might be up to next here!!!
November 17th, 2024 at 00:17