[hand] [face]
The Original Deep Purple Web Pages
The Highway Star

Down to Earth down under

Graham Bonnet spoke to Australia’s Heavy Magazine promoting his upcoming short tour down there. He mentioned that he will be marking the 40th anniversary of Down to Earth by performing the whole album live:

We’re actually going to play the whole ‘Down To Earth’ album that I did with RAINBOW that’s never been done before, so it makes an interesting show, I think, along with some oldies but goodies. I think it’s going to be good.

When I was in RAINBOW, we did a lot of their old stuff that Ronnie Dio sang, so when we played songs from ‘Down To Earth’ live, we probably only did about four or five songs — something like that. We never did the whole album as such. This is everything. I’ve got to relearn songs that were, like, B-sides to singles… There’s about two or three that have never been done live before, so this is quite an experience for me, apart from the audience.

Graham Bonnet Australian tour dates:

Jun 6th 2019 – Enigma Bar – Adelaide
Jun 7th 2019 – Corner Hotel – Melbourne
Jun 8th 2019 – Manning Bar – Sydney

Tickets, including VIP passes, are available from the promoters Hardline Media.

If you feel hungry for more Graham anecdotage, we leave you with another Australian interview:

And here he is, belting out Eyes Of The World in 2018 like there’s no tomorrow:

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Posted in Blog by Nick on 2019-05-25
7 Comments

Soak up as much as you can

Ian Gillan was caught by NME on the proverbial red carpet at The Ivors yesterday, May 23. And he mentioned that he just flew in from Nashville (if you know what we mean).
Continue Reading »

Posted in News by Nick on 2019-05-24
4 Comments

Inspiring them to do their best

Bob Ezrin (who may or may not have been working with Deep Purple recently on their 3rd collaboration album) was a guest on CBC Music Q show. This produced a very interesting chat about his life, career, producer philosophy, and music in general. All be it Deep Purple were never mentioned (but to be fair, not much of his work past the 1970s was discussed).

The interview is slightly more than an hour long, so kick back and relax.

Thanks to BraveWords for the heads up.

Posted in News by Nick on 2019-05-24
4 Comments

Mark 2 picks up a songwriting award

Deep Purple Mark 2 are the the winners of the 2019 Ivor Novello Award in International Achievement category. This is sort of a “lifetime achievement” category, as opposed to any particular song or album. The awards, knows as The Ivors, are presented annually in London by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). The award itself is a bronze sculpture of Euterpe, the muse of lyric poetry.

Update May 24: The awards were presented yesterday, May 23, at the Grosvenor House in London, with Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, and Ian Paice in attendance. Deep Purple Mark 2 were honoured “acknowledging an exceptional legacy that has inspired and shaped generations of hard rock musicians all over the world”.

Thanks to M Magazine and Blabbermouth for the info and to marcus for the heads up.

Posted in News by Nick on 2019-05-23
15 Comments

Rainbow vorwärts

Rainbow vorwärts cover art

The latest incarnation of Rainbow has recorded a grand total of 4 “new old” tracks over the years: Waiting for a Sign (a Stranger in Us All outtake), remakes of I Surrender, Black Sheep of the Family, and Blackmore’s Night’s The Storm. These 4 tracks will be put on a limited edition EP CD to be sold on the upcoming in June Rainbow shows as merchandise. The EP is called Rainbow vorwärts (“vorwärts” is German for “forward”).

Thanks to Lutz Reinert for the info.

Posted in News by Nick on 2019-05-23
26 Comments

New releases from Cherry Red

Several relevant releases from the British label Cherry Red Records, that owns the RPM catalogue and has now partnered with Purple Records.

Hughes Bootleg Box Set Vol.2

Glenn Hughes: The Official Bootleg Box Set: Volume Two 1993-2013

This includes 6 CDs in a clamshell box set. Disc one is a collection of demos and outtakes called Incense And Peaches: From The Archives Volume 1. Originally released in 2000 through Glenn’s own Pink Cloud Records, it was a collection of previously unreleased songs covering more laid back, pop and soul tracks rather than hard rock.

Disc 2 contains recording of a June 1993 live show at the Blitz Nightclub in Borlänge, Sweden.

Disc 3: September 1993 show at the Zoo Club in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Discs 4 & 5: November 1996 show at the Gino’s in Stockholm, Sweden.

Disc 6: May 2013 show at the Crossroads Club in Rome, Italy.

Caveat: record company blurb includes a disclaimer that “whilst every effort has been made to produce the best possible audio, limitations in the material drawn from various, non-standard, and un-official sources means that the quality may not be up to the standard usually expected”.

The box is due for release on May 31 and can be preordered via the label for a quite reasonable amount of £23.99 + shipping.

Butterfly Ball 2LP 2019

Roger Glover’s Butterfly Ball & Grasshopper’s Feast, reissued last year on CD with bonus tracks, is now available on vinyl. The 2LP purple vinyl edition includes the material contained on the first two CDs of the digital version — original album on disc 1, plus demos, alternative mixes and 1974 radio special on disc 2. It was released on April 26 and can be ordered directly from the label.

PHENOMENA Anthology

A Phenomena Anthology of a besf-of type compilation from the tree albums of the project, featuring Glenn Hughes, Cozy Powell, Mel Galley, Neil Murray, Ted McKenna, and many other guests. It is said to be “fully endorsed by Tom Galley, who personally compiled the track list”. It is a 1CD affair, with a couple of bonus tracks, released on May 3, and available directly from the label.

Thanks to our editor emeritus Benny Holmström for the info.

Posted in News by Nick on 2019-05-20
3 Comments

Another achievement for Flesh & Blood

whitesnake-flesh&blood-german-chart-20190517

Recently released Whitesnake’s Flesh & Blood album has reached #3 on the Official German Album Chart issued on May 17. What is interesting however, is that according to BraveWords, this is the highest chart position for Whitesnake in Germany in all of their career.

Posted in News by Nick on 2019-05-18
6 Comments

Rainbow The Storm now streaming

The new Rainbow single The Storm has been released and is now streaming:
Continue Reading »

Posted in News by Nick on 2019-05-17
57 Comments

Rescheduled UK dates for Glenn Hughes

The new dates for Glenn’s UK tour have been promptly rescheduled for November, neatly arranged around the previously announced two shows in Scotland. Unfortunately, Edinburgh, St Albans, Liverpool, and Nottingham had to be cancelled for logistical reasons. Four new shows were arranged in their stead: Bexhill, Cambridge, Cheltenham, and Middlesbrough.

Ticket holders for the cancelled shows can return the tickets to their original point of purchase to request refunds.

Four shows have been rescheduled at the same venues: Salisbury, Norwich, Holfirth and Birmingham. Original tickets will be valid for these dates. Refunds for customers who no longer wish or unable to attend will be made available until Monday, May 27th.

Full details in our calendar.

Thanks to BraveWords and GlennHughes.com for the info.

Posted in News by Nick on 2019-05-15
1 Comment

Flesh & Blood is #1 in Japan

Whitesnake Flesh & Blood in Japanese chart

On May 10, the day of its release, the new Whitesnake album Flesh & Blood landed on the #1 spot on the ORICON Daily Album Ranking in Japan. This is the general chart for all genres, not just “overseas music” or rock albums. It slipped down to #6 on May 11.
Continue Reading »

Posted in News by Nick on 2019-05-12
8 Comments

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

||||Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
© 1993-2026 The Highway Star and contributors
Posts, Calendar and Comments RSS feeds for The Highway Star