Glenn Hughes will countinue his “Glenn Hughes Performs Classic Deep Purple Live Tour 2018/19” in October 2018 in Germany.

The dates we have so far are:

17.10.18 Berlin – Admiralspalast
18.10.18 Hamburg – Fabrik
20.10.18 Worpswede – Music Hall
21.10.18 Leipzig – Gewandhaus
24.10.18 Bochum – Zeche
25.10.18 Bensheim – Rex
27.10.18 Winterbach – Lehenbachhalle

Deep Purple have picked up a couple of Planet Rock The Rocks awards on the strength of their 2017 performance — Best British Band and Best British Album for the inFinite. Unlike some other industry awards that we know, these are decided by the fan vote “as a welcome antidote to the pop music back-slapping”.

Other winners include:

BEST INTERNATIONAL BAND – Foo Fighters
BEST INTERNATIONAL ALBUM – Foo Fighters Concrete & Gold
BEST WORLDWIDE SOLO ARTIST – Alice Cooper
BEST BRITISH SINGLE – Inglorious I Don’t Need Your Loving
BEST LIVE BAND – Metallica
BEST NEW BAND – Wayward Sons

Shooter Promotions, who brought Rainbow to the Loreley in 2016 annouced a new festival called “The Crossroads Festival – Guitar Fest Of The Year”

The festival will take place on June 16, 2018 and feature Steve Hill, the Henrik Freischlader Band, Bernie Marsden and Joe Bonamassa.

Rainbow will release a second installment of Memories in Rock on April 6 via the in-house label Minstrel Hall Music. This will be compiled from the 2017 UK shows, plus a bonus disc of backstage clips and interviews, a new lineup studio recording of I Surrender, and a brand new track called Waiting For a Sign. The latter will also be released as a single on March 16.

Memories in Rock II will be available as 2CD+DVD as well as 3LP in blue, red, green, or black vinyl. Apparently the vinyl edition will not include Carry On Jon nor Temple Of The King.

Disc 1:

1. Over The Rainbow
2. Spotlight Kid
3. I Surrender
4. Mistreated
5. Since You’ve Been Gone
6. Man On The Silver Mountain / Woman From Tokyo
7. 16th Century Greensleeves
8. Soldier Of Fortune
9. Perfect Strangers
10. Difficult To Cure
11. All Night Long
12. Child In Time

Disc 2:

1. Stargazer
2. Long Live Rock’N’Roll / Lazy
3. Catch The Rainbow
4. Black Night
5. Carry On Jon
6. Temple Of The King
7. Smoke On The Water
8. Waiting For A Sign

Disc 3:

1. Ritchie Blackmore Interview
2. Ronnie Romero Interview
3. Jens Johansson Interview
4. Bob Nouveau Interview
5. David Keith Interview
6. Candice Night Interview
7. Lady Lynn Interview
8. Dave David Interview
9. Andreas Bock (tour manager) Interview
10. Michael Bockmühl (guitar tech) Interview
11. Bonus Backstage Clip
12. I Surrender 2017 Backstage Clip

Japanese release will come out 2 days earlier, on April 4. From what we can ascertain at the moment, there will be the following editions:

• 3CD with the listed above 2CD material, plus a special CD for Japan that includes Land of Hope and Glory, I Surrender and Waiting for a Sign; (Land of Hope and Glory and the Ronnie Romero’s version of I Surrender were released in May 2017 as downloads but not on a CD);
• deluxe edition that includes all of the above and will add the DVD;
• super deluxe that will come with a T-shirt.

All Japanese editions can be preordered from Amazon Japan.

Thanks to BraveWords and Akemi Ono for the info.

Glenn Hughes will take his “Classic Deep Purple Live” set to the UK later this year. The 9-date starts on October 2 in Bristol and wraps up on the 15th in London. Tickets for most shows go on sale for general public on February 23 at 10am.

Glenn’s band will include Soren Anderson (guitar), Jesper Bo Hansen (keyboards) and Fernando Escobedo (drums). There’s no word yet as to who will be in his band, nor who will be opening the shows.

Further details in our calendar.

Thanks to Lutz Reinert and Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

A relatively rare glimpse behind the curtains of how the band works during rehearsals. This clip is from a studio showing the band preparing for their appearance on the Australian TV show Hey Hey It’s Saturday in 1999:

…And the performance itself:

The official DP Youtube channel has published a contemporary documentary about the project known as PAL.
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A Czech outfit called Crocodile Quartet offers their take on the Highway Star. Ladies and gentlemen, behold, the way you never heard it before:

This post has been brought to you by our came-across-a-rare-gem-in-the-depth-of-youtube department.

Roger Glover writes:

And where did I go? On the road, that’s where. The road that leads to your door. To many doors; stage doors, closed doors, dressing room doors, hotel corridors, van doors, bedroom doors – dreaming through that revolving door of time.

More thoughts on the last twelve months can be found at RGs official website.

A quick preview of what’s in store for the Purple family on the road in the next year.

Black Country Communion will kick off the new year’s proceedings with 2 gigs in the UK: January 2 in Wolverhampton, and January 4 in London. These will be followed by a performance at the Blues Alive at Sea cruise at the end of the month, which has been sold out for months. Glenn Hughes will also do a solo tour in April, going this time to South America and performing Mark III/IV classics.

Ian Paice will continue sporadic performances with tribute band Purpendicular from late January through the end of March.

Don Airey will make a special appearance at the Tony Carey’s Rainbow Project gig in Russia on January 31 with Doogie White singing. He will then embark on another tour in March, performing a string of European dates apparently in support of his new solo album.

Steve Morse will take part in the original Dixie Dregs lineup reunion. Their extensive tour of the States starts on February 28 in Tampa, Florida, and finishes at the end of April with an encore gig at the band’s home town of Atlanta. If you are thinking of going, hurry up – most dates are very close to be sold out.

Ritchie Blackmore will do another string of Rainbow shows in April — two in Russia, plus one in Finland, Germany and Czech Republic each.

Whitesnake has just announced another massive tour of the States. This will be a packaged affair with Foreigner headlining and David & Co taking middle slot. Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience will open on all dates. Tickets are already on sale.

Which brings us to the main event. Deep Purple will resume their Long Goodbye Tour in May. There is one very much unconfirmed Mexican festival date on May 4, with more reliable dates in Eastern Europe following at the end of May – early June. Another string of dates is being booked for July, this time mostly outdoor venues and festivals across Western and Northern Europe. New dates continue surfacing on a regular basis.

Thank you to everybody who contributed to The Highways Star throughout the past year. You make this site tick.

All the best, and cheers!