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Lazy Sod from the latest album =1 will be released as a physical single on October 11, 2024 (it was previously available only virtually). The new physical formats include digisleeve CD and 12″ maxi single vinyl. The track will be backed by live versions of Highway Star and Lazy, both recorded at an unspecified date […]

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Holmdel and Scranton

Deep Purple live at PNC Bank Arts Center (Holmdel, USA 2024-08-31) Since I was going to 2 shows, I figured I’d kill 2 birds with one stone. I’ll keep it brief. There was one set list difference, at Holmdel they played Show Me and at Scranton they changed it to When a Blind Man Cries. […]

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But we won’t go into that…

Ritchie Blackmore recalls the story of how Child in Time (née Bombay Calling) came into being.

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That big and meaty sound

Ultimate Guitar has a short interview with Simon McBride, where he explains modifications he made to his sound for it to blend better with Don Airey’s Hammond organ. Is it tough for a guitar player to “compete” with the sound of a Hammond organ in the band? Yes, because Don is so frickin’ loud. He […]

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Johnnie Bolin R.I.P.

Johnnie Bolin, Tommy’s brother, has passed away on September 5, 2024. He was known as a musician in his own right (played drums for Black Oak Arkansas since the mid-1980s), and an enthusiastic supporter of keeping his brother’s memory alive. A funeral service will be held at 2:00pm Saturday, September 14, 2024, at the Sioux […]

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Big Ian is Back

Deep Purple live at Jiffy Lube Live (Bristow, USA 2024-09-07) I almost didn’t buy tickets as the last time I saw Deep Purple in 2017 it was just OK and going all the way to Bristow for a show is a pain. (Live about 3 hours away) Plus Steve Morse was out and I wa […]

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Still no place to go

Here’s a complete Glenn Hughes’ show in Dallas, TX, from September 6.

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Still got it

Metal-Rules.com has a review of the Purple gig in Montreal from August 27. It’s well written and may put a smile on your face, even if the author doesn’t quite get all the facts straight. But to the Purple at hand! And don’t come at me with the “Deep Purple was better when they extended […]

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Clenching and unclenching

Louder Sound presents a lengthy and very well put together feature on the current Deep Purple lineup, arrival of Simon McBride, the new album, and tour. With input from Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, and Simon McBride. The article also sheds some new light on the circumstances of Steve Morse’s departure from the band. Except Morse […]

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Stellar musicianship

Deep Purple at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, September 4, 2024; photo: Claude Sawyer. The Aquarian reviews the September 1 show at the Jones Beach Theater in New York City: The set included five songs from Deep Purple’s 23rd and most recent studio album, =1. The collection, released just six weeks earlier on July 19, […]

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The best of the cunning linguist

Our reader David Black has collected some of the best on-stage Gillanisms from over the years, and here we present them to you with a little judicious editing from everyone involved. Oh, we’d love to be the flies on the wall of the train of Gillan’s thought. Knockin’ at Your Back Door — Knebworth 1985 […]

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Wherever You May Go

David Coverdale posted a video for the 2024 remix of Wherever You May Go off his revamped solo album Into the Light, slated for re-release on October 25, along with WhiteSnake and Northwinds.

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Epitome of timeless

Goldmine magazine reviews =1, and does it in most glowing terms: The music encompassed in this 23rd full-length studio album, by one of the most revered and accoladed rock bands in the history of ever, will make you think “WOW!” and at the same time spur-on the thought of, “I wouldn’t have expected anything less.” […]

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AMAZING SHOW IN BRIDGEPORT, CT

Deep Purple live at Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater (Bridgeport, USA 2024-09-03) AMAZING SHOW IN BRIDGEPORT, CT Deep Purple Live at Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater, September 3, 2024 Having seen the guys two days prior at Jones Beach, NY, where they delivered an excellent, high-energy show, I went to the Bridgeport, CT, show on September 3 hoping they […]

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The dissonant beauty of Highway Star

One of our most prolific commenters Uwe Hornung writes: I know, I know, we’re not a guitar player forum, but this here is real interesting. It shows how Blackmore created THAT otherworldly studio sound of the Highway Star solo by harmonizing it (and breaking traditional harmony rules in places as he did not properly discern […]

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Review: Far better than inFinite

=1 reviewed by The Highway Star reader Mike Whiteley. After listening through my laptop speakers for a week, the CD/DVD arrived three days ago, now two full listens thru my stereo. Show Me – Pretty poor opener. The descending, repeated riff is almost as irksome as the one in Throw My Bones. Moog synth solo […]

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A Third Youth and almost a masterpiece

After a few listens to the new album, I would call =1 an “almost” masterpiece. Review by The Highway Star reader Flavio Romoli. How much MKII and Blackmore do I hear in here? Not much, very little, McBride’s guitar riffs are different, the rhythms too, and the solos and other solutions are closer to Morse, […]

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Excellent show at Wantagh, NY

Deep Purple Live at Jones Beach Theater, September 1, 2024 – reviewed by The Highway Star reader Albania. Photo: DP WebCrew. The guys were on fire and delivered an excellent show at the iconic Jones Beach Theater on New York’s Long Island on September 1, 2024. Having been on the road for the prior two […]

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That dreaded dress code

Louder Sound reprints Ian Gillan’s 1973-84 out-of-Purple career retrospective that originally appeared in the Classic Rock magazine issue #92. There has never been a dull moment in Ian Gillan’s career. From his 60s bands The Moonshiners, The Javelins and Episode Six to his three separate stints in Deep Purple, via an unlikely one-album service in […]

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Just arrived in the city…

Here’s a nicely filmed audience video of the complete show in Holmdel, NJ, from August 31, 2024.

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