Good news, everybody! Another track from Splat! is getting a live outing. Here’s The Only Horse in Town as performed in Pisa on July 16, 2026. And it comes with a bonus side of Scriblin’ Gib’rish.
Thanks to Lorenzo A for the clip and to Lucas for bringing it to your attention.
Posted by Nick on Friday, July 24th, 2026,
filed under News.
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Wow! No need to look a gift horse in the mouth! Thanks Purple gentlemen. My favorite song on the album. If radio was still as it was many years ago, this would be in regular rotation. Horsepower like eight cylinders.
Time for lunch here in New Jersey. And I intend to eat like a horse.
This album is made with lots of live songs in the making but I wonder how much will be incorporated in their live set when they hit American soil. The American audience is hungry for the classic MK2 material.
Peace ✌️
As I learn this fantastic new album ,this song has become a favorite. I can picture that horse standing outside the saloon swishing its tail! Ian Gillan -wordsmith!
Rock On Deep Purple!
Yup, there would be no shame in that. Mick Jagger works with three dedicated background singers and that is not counting the instrumental band members who also sing.
But the Rolling Stones had backing singers as far back as the 60s and 70s, and certainly not to compensate for the lead singer; it was purely a matter of musical style. Gillan is just like that—take it or leave it; having backing singers would be embarrassing (perhaps for everyone involved).
It would be a matter of allowing him to pace himself even more. If there is one not so great thing to say about DP, then it is that the band’s backing vocals support to their lead singers in a live setting hasn’t been exactly exemplary through the decades.
But among the majority of DP fans there seems to be this concept that having backing vocalists on stage is somehow a sissy thing and does not befit DP’s macho and “honest rock toilers under the sun” image. Which is ironic given the fact that since the dawn of his career Ian Gillan has multitracked his voice in the studio to an extent that would make Ozzy Osbourne blush and that Ian’s studio voice is a composite just as Annafrid’s and Agnetha’s studio voices with ABBA were. Go figure. But if Gillan doesn’t want something, he doesn’t want it, period.
I don’t agree, AndreA, that the backing vocalists of the Stones are not there to help out Mick Jagger. Jagger (in my view a severely underrated vocalist and a singer of utmost rhythmic precision) practically invented “pacing yourself live”. That is why he has largely kept his voice. And he is a grandmaster of skipping notes live and leaving them to Bernard Fowler, the way he and the backing vocalists interact live is sheer musical elegance. Jagger doesn’t leave things to coincidence.
What is true though is that the Stones were eventually unafraid to employ backing vocalists and support instrumentalists on stage because they were confident of their bad boy image (which they skillfully preserved over more than half a century) and because their black American Blues and Soul role models from the 50s and 60s had done so too. James Brown didn’t perform as a quartet, you know.
Uwe @16
I appreciate and agree with that, but only up to a point. The RS have always played a genre where—as we know—backing vocalists have always played a significant role (blues and soul), and their contribution accounted for more than half of the show during concerts.
Now I struggle to imagine how many Deep Purple songs would actually feature backing vocals during a live set. Which songs would you pick? I don’t really see backing vocalists fitting in with the tracks from the last two albums, either. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not music that calls for backing vocalists. Cheers 🖐 🍷
I would support Ian live on every darn chorus (he doesn’t sing them too often) and most bridges.
I think the reason why DP Mk II was sans backing vocals live is simple: None of the others could sing (Roger doesn’t have a rock voice, even as a backing vocalist) to save their life. And they never worked at it (unlike Uriah Heep) either. There is nothing like a good singer and Little Ian, Ritchie, Roger and Jon (“I sing like a drain!“) were nothing like good singers.***
*** I stole that line from Noddy Holder when he said in an interview that for the first time Jim Lea would sing a song on a new Slade album, adding mischievously: “There is nothing like a good singer and Jim is of course nothing like a good singer!” The track in question was the very tuneful …
That Noddy Holder comment is a classic, very amusing. Talking of background or backup singers, Morse and Glover (I seem to remember one conversation about this a little while ago, somewhere) from the 90’s gigs that Fla76 has been posting links to over at the forum, thank Fla for those. The ‘support’ vocals are not in the live mix at all. Is that deliberate, ha ha ha. Meaning are they THAT bad that they mixed them out, if that is possible after the event or was the live mixing person at the concert just trying to protect everyone in the audiences hearing. Cheers.
in fact after the Contractual Obligation experience a couple of backing singers (including the very talented Amanda Somerville who is also a singing teacher) could have been a welcome novelty for the DP audience and an advantage for BigIan
When Deep Purple toured here in Sydney Australia circa 2001 the band had the backing of 3 gents in the brass section, and 3 female backing singers. From memory, not on every track. Gave the vibe of a chunky, rich, fuller sound. Thanks.
Hi everybody, Lorenzo A. here, I just want to tell I’m glad you found my footage (as of today, the only live Horse on the web) and posted it here ✌🏻 I don’t even know how I managed to hold my phone steady when I realised they were playing that song, I was expecting Rapture until the end of Don’s solo…anyway, it’s been an amazing experience and I’m proud to have witnessed this great song performed live 💜
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/mcbride1.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/mcbride4.jpg)
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Well, that Horse is still finding it’s legs.
July 25th, 2026 at 00:48Scribb Gibb,on the other hand is rarin’ to go.
I would like to have Simon ( has a good voice) do backing vocals on the chorus of “The Only Horse In Town”.
July 25th, 2026 at 08:20I love this song, it remember me the atmosphere of Maybe I Am A Leo and I also love it because my surname is Horse 🤣
July 25th, 2026 at 11:46Horse was OK but SG was a better live song…the chugging riff works nicely…
July 25th, 2026 at 12:09And you tell me that Ian’s voice hasn’t been turned up live over the years! 😂
I’m not complaining’, just observing’, my ears bear witness.
Nice solo by Little Simon.
July 25th, 2026 at 15:39Wow! No need to look a gift horse in the mouth! Thanks Purple gentlemen. My favorite song on the album. If radio was still as it was many years ago, this would be in regular rotation. Horsepower like eight cylinders.
Time for lunch here in New Jersey. And I intend to eat like a horse.
Peace,
July 25th, 2026 at 16:27Ted
I love TOHIT with its AoR flavor and Simon’s solo that makes us drive in a convertible Impala at sunset on the boulevard!
July 26th, 2026 at 12:19This album is made with lots of live songs in the making but I wonder how much will be incorporated in their live set when they hit American soil. The American audience is hungry for the classic MK2 material.
July 26th, 2026 at 13:08Peace ✌️
As I learn this fantastic new album ,this song has become a favorite. I can picture that horse standing outside the saloon swishing its tail! Ian Gillan -wordsmith!
July 26th, 2026 at 13:30Rock On Deep Purple!
Come on Ian, give yourself a helping hand and get some backing vocals.
July 26th, 2026 at 15:26@10
July 26th, 2026 at 16:47Roger can sing and it’s on his CV😂
Peace ✌️
Yup, there would be no shame in that. Mick Jagger works with three dedicated background singers and that is not counting the instrumental band members who also sing.
July 26th, 2026 at 17:54I like the song; it’s melodic and Gillan’s vocals are great live and on the album.
July 26th, 2026 at 20:06Uwe Hornung@12
July 27th, 2026 at 08:52Will Candice Night be a good candidate?! 😀
Peace 🤞
But the Rolling Stones had backing singers as far back as the 60s and 70s, and certainly not to compensate for the lead singer; it was purely a matter of musical style. Gillan is just like that—take it or leave it; having backing singers would be embarrassing (perhaps for everyone involved).
July 27th, 2026 at 10:29It would be a matter of allowing him to pace himself even more. If there is one not so great thing to say about DP, then it is that the band’s backing vocals support to their lead singers in a live setting hasn’t been exactly exemplary through the decades.
But among the majority of DP fans there seems to be this concept that having backing vocalists on stage is somehow a sissy thing and does not befit DP’s macho and “honest rock toilers under the sun” image. Which is ironic given the fact that since the dawn of his career Ian Gillan has multitracked his voice in the studio to an extent that would make Ozzy Osbourne blush and that Ian’s studio voice is a composite just as Annafrid’s and Agnetha’s studio voices with ABBA were. Go figure. But if Gillan doesn’t want something, he doesn’t want it, period.
I don’t agree, AndreA, that the backing vocalists of the Stones are not there to help out Mick Jagger. Jagger (in my view a severely underrated vocalist and a singer of utmost rhythmic precision) practically invented “pacing yourself live”. That is why he has largely kept his voice. And he is a grandmaster of skipping notes live and leaving them to Bernard Fowler, the way he and the backing vocalists interact live is sheer musical elegance. Jagger doesn’t leave things to coincidence.
What is true though is that the Stones were eventually unafraid to employ backing vocalists and support instrumentalists on stage because they were confident of their bad boy image (which they skillfully preserved over more than half a century) and because their black American Blues and Soul role models from the 50s and 60s had done so too. James Brown didn’t perform as a quartet, you know.
July 27th, 2026 at 14:27Uwe @16
July 27th, 2026 at 22:11I appreciate and agree with that, but only up to a point. The RS have always played a genre where—as we know—backing vocalists have always played a significant role (blues and soul), and their contribution accounted for more than half of the show during concerts.
Now I struggle to imagine how many Deep Purple songs would actually feature backing vocals during a live set. Which songs would you pick? I don’t really see backing vocalists fitting in with the tracks from the last two albums, either. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not music that calls for backing vocalists. Cheers 🖐 🍷
I would support Ian live on every darn chorus (he doesn’t sing them too often) and most bridges.
I think the reason why DP Mk II was sans backing vocals live is simple: None of the others could sing (Roger doesn’t have a rock voice, even as a backing vocalist) to save their life. And they never worked at it (unlike Uriah Heep) either. There is nothing like a good singer and Little Ian, Ritchie, Roger and Jon (“I sing like a drain!“) were nothing like good singers.***
*** I stole that line from Noddy Holder when he said in an interview that for the first time Jim Lea would sing a song on a new Slade album, adding mischievously: “There is nothing like a good singer and Jim is of course nothing like a good singer!” The track in question was the very tuneful …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAv9EpLAbCo
In some ways, the songwriting partnership of Holder/Lea was the second coming of Lennon/McCartney, albeit calibrated for a teenage audience.
July 28th, 2026 at 00:38That Noddy Holder comment is a classic, very amusing. Talking of background or backup singers, Morse and Glover (I seem to remember one conversation about this a little while ago, somewhere) from the 90’s gigs that Fla76 has been posting links to over at the forum, thank Fla for those. The ‘support’ vocals are not in the live mix at all. Is that deliberate, ha ha ha. Meaning are they THAT bad that they mixed them out, if that is possible after the event or was the live mixing person at the concert just trying to protect everyone in the audiences hearing. Cheers.
July 28th, 2026 at 09:17in fact after the Contractual Obligation experience a couple of backing singers (including the very talented Amanda Somerville who is also a singing teacher) could have been a welcome novelty for the DP audience and an advantage for BigIan
July 28th, 2026 at 12:41For Herr MacGregor’s light entertainment and lasting amusement:
https://youtu.be/gAF6b9M5QlM?is=DW8rRDLupQneFkO3
July 28th, 2026 at 16:59When Deep Purple toured here in Sydney Australia circa 2001 the band had the backing of 3 gents in the brass section, and 3 female backing singers. From memory, not on every track. Gave the vibe of a chunky, rich, fuller sound. Thanks.
July 29th, 2026 at 04:39As a closet Blood, Sweat & Tears fan, I would not even dare to mention horns in a DP forum, you are obviously a very brave man, John!
Tell me when you need to seek asylum.
July 29th, 2026 at 17:55Hi everybody, Lorenzo A. here, I just want to tell I’m glad you found my footage (as of today, the only live Horse on the web) and posted it here ✌🏻 I don’t even know how I managed to hold my phone steady when I realised they were playing that song, I was expecting Rapture until the end of Don’s solo…anyway, it’s been an amazing experience and I’m proud to have witnessed this great song performed live 💜
July 30th, 2026 at 20:06#24 Lorenzo:
July 30th, 2026 at 23:31Thanks for the video, Lorenzo! Welcome!
Yep, bring the ladies and the horns back! Live at the Olympia is prove it works fantastic.
July 31st, 2026 at 13:39