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Hungry for rock’n’roll

Here is Ian Gillan performing in front of an unspoiledly enthusiastic crowd of Soviet Armenia in 1990. That was his first visit to the country, and as we all know, not the last one.

Thanks to Mediamax for the video and to Ara Tadevosyan for bringing it to your attention.



15 Comments to “Hungry for rock’n’roll”:

  1. 1
    Blackwood Richmore says:

    Wonderful concert!. 😍👍💜🎸🎤🎹🎵🎶

  2. 2
    HardRockPete says:

    Amazing! Bloody amazing!

  3. 3
    Adel Faragalla says:

    Pure madness

  4. 4
    Rock Voorne says:

    Bloody Deep Purple management, eggheads of the media, where is the 50th ANNIVERSARY of this epic?

    Bloody Deep Purple management, eggheads of the media, where is the 50th ANNIVERSARY of this epic?

    https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/deep-purple-in-rock-50th-anniversary-wishful-thinking-what-youd-love-to-have.928647/

  5. 5
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Who’s the second guitarist? I don’t remember one when I saw that particular tour. Good musicians all, but Gillan (the band) it wasn’t. Bit of a novelty affair.

    Ian is in fine voice though.

  6. 6
    terryd says:

    Ian G using backing singers to help with harmonies and choruses like he does in the rock meets classic concerts. I know it’s pointless turning back the clock but he should have used backing singers from 84 onwards to help him out on ‘cold’ nights and later in the tours when his voice was a bit shredded , the song unwritten law is an example when on form he could just about do it justice but mostly not. Everybody else does it , especially old Cov.

  7. 7
    Guntis says:

    Sorry, guys, with all my admiration – this one looks like Saturday’s night concert in kolkhoz or soviet collective countryside collective farming “culture house” where everyone got drunk and made girls.

  8. 8
    Buttockss says:

    Gillans band is amazing, should have been bigger then Whitesnake and Rainbow in the states.

  9. 9
    Catrin says:

    @ uwe:
    My guess: Dean Howard and Steve Morris (whoever is the the second;-)
    Back then I was surprised that a guy from T’Pau ended up with Gillan…

  10. 10
    jersey john mckenna says:

    Great bootleg….Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine Ian Gillan doing a Little feat song…In `88 Little feat played at the Beacon in NYC when that Let it roll album came out and on WNEW(new york`s last true album rock station)the next day,they mentioned Roger Glover and Gillan were at the show(you guys can fact check that one,it`s true)they both loved how tight the band played.So maybe that`s why Gillan did the song….Cheers everybody…Hope were back in 2021.

  11. 11
    Juri Renko says:

    Mick O’Donohue (sp?) is the name of the second guitarist as far as I can remember.

    Seems a bit superfluous but in keeping with what was a tentative return to a solo career. Always thought Toolbox should have been his response to DP.

    Fading memories of travelling to the UK to see this tour, which I seem to appreciate now more than then.

  12. 12
    Uwe Hornung says:

    @9 Catrin: Yeah, Dean Howard it must be, I now remember that he played alongside Steve Morris for a while before taking over from him because he was deemed as more presentable on stage. That didn’t last long as the return of Gillan to Purple beckoned. Danke!

    What that particular line-up lacked was the edginess of the classic McCoy/Towns/Underwood (whether with Tormé or Gers on leid guitar) GILLAN incarnation – anthing could happen with these guys in their heydays. There is an argument for saying that Whitesnake and Rainbow all pandered to conservative rock tastes (nothing
    to unsettle the fan base) while GILLAN really took chances with their experimental keyboard flourishes courtesy of Towns, the brilliantly obstinate bass playing of McCoy and Tormé’s (and to a lesser extent Ger’s) free form flashy guitar playing plus their off-the-wall songwriting ideas and general frantic-punkish energy. I miss them! The abrasive sound (compared to either Rainbow’s sonic elegance or Whitesnake’s halo of warmth) of their studio work was part of their charm, but did them commercially no favors I think.

  13. 13
    Uwe Hornung says:

    @6 terryd: My thoughts exactly. Stemming it live all alone is not a good idea with the notoriously backing vocals-lazy Mk II and Morse era line-ups. Hardly any singer from Gillan’s generation gets up to that task anymore live. He must be adamant about it, I can’t see the other guys in the band holding him back.

    Gillan and Gustafson singing together in the Ian Gillan Band always sounded great, they had a real signature sound. Gustafson is also on backing vocals on Naked Thunder.

  14. 14
    James Gemmell says:

    Utter garbage. Gillan’s voice was shot on the high end already at that point. Posters above saying “bloody amazing” need to get their hearing checked. Even so, Gillan sounds 100 times better there than he has for the past 10 years. It’s so sad that he continues to embarrass himself and leave a sad memory to a legacy that should’ve been grand.

  15. 15
    NWO says:

    @14 – LMAO!!

    Gillan never had the voice you think he had. Not sure if you saw him in the early 70’s with DP and you want to compare a bootleg to a live or studio recording. But hey you’re probably a producer and former recording engineer, so who am I to argue…………..
    Yes so sad to see all the old farts still performing to their thousands and thousands of fans who continue to spend $$$ to see them and buy their merch. How could they!!

    Say it aint so Joe!!

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