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Purple Week-End
Date: 2012-02-11: John Labatt Center/Massey Hall, London, Toronto, Canada
Well, where do I start? What a week-end indeed. First of all my brother (Scott) flew in from Scotland on the Thursday to be part of the Purple experience with my son (Craig) and I.
We set off on a snowy Saturday morning from Oshawa bound for London, we arrived in one piece, booked into the hotel then headed for Steve’s clinic. My son and I are both drummers, but enjoyed Steve’s playing and story telling.
As reported, the gig itself was what you’d expect from Purple, full of high energy, with musicianship second to none. In all my years they have yet to disappoint.
As luck would have it we were staying at the same hotel as the band and after the show we met Ian Paice and Steve in the lobby. As always, Ian was gracious enough to spend a few moments with us.
Next day we were off to Toronto for the Massey Hall gig. Again, same high performance, but Massey Hall just seemed to be electric, there was a great buzz and Purple made it shake to it’s rafters. Only down side was the ushers kept telling people to stop filming, this went on through the entire show.
Next day we set off for “Just Drums” (a drummers paradise) to see see Ian Paice once again. We arrived a little early only to find Ian already there, so again he was good enough to chat to us for about 10 minutes before the “meet & greet” actually started. It was a great turn out and Dave Hamilton and the Just Drums staff were gracious hosts. To me this was the high-light of the week-end as being a drummer Ian has been a great influence on me for over 41 years. I was able to get my Ian Paice Signature snare actually signed by the man himself.
Now my brother heads back to Scotland tonight, still not quite believing what he’s experienced. A trip none of us will ever forget.
Roll on the new album and tour. Long live Deep Purple.
Jim
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Cool! 😀 What an experience!
February 15th, 2012 at 22:21Right on! Great story, thanks for sharing. I have the same IP snare and I’m curious, where did he sign it?
Cheers,
February 16th, 2012 at 01:09Carl
Great story Jim.
February 16th, 2012 at 06:16right on!
Purple here Sunday night, Feb 19. Paicey meet – greet on Saturday at Axe Music.
I’ll be at both, and getting him to sign a few DP posters I’ve acquired since I last met
him. I got some cool DP posters (some totally vintage) that I’ve been collecting.
my cover band does 3 DP tunes in an evening: Smoke, HStar, and SpaceTrukin.
February 16th, 2012 at 19:16I am Jims “wee”brother, all I can say is that Jim has summed the weekend perfectly in his blog! Some things you have master card and some things are priceless ! 6000 mile round trip to see the gods off rock with my brother and nephew , priceless !!
February 17th, 2012 at 01:00Thanks guys, appreciate the feed-back.
Carl, I got him to sign it right below plate that has his signature on it. I now have it proudly displayed in my library at home.
I may post a few pictures soon.
Jim
February 17th, 2012 at 13:53I think you can tell from my posting and my brothers comment that Deep Purple mean more to the Irons boys than just a great band. They have been able to weave their magic into our very soul.
Ever since I first heard the double bass drum intro to Fireball way back in 1971, Purple, regardless of the lineup, have continued to be an integral part of our lives and I hope that they will continue to do so for many years to come.
Thanks also to the Highway Star team for providing this great platform.
February 18th, 2012 at 00:18