German cinema chain UCI Kinowelt will present the premiere of the documentary Deep Purple — From Here to inFinite on the big screen in their theatres across the country on March 16 at 20:00. This is the documentary on the making of inFinite that will be part of all album editions that include a DVD. The film will be shown in English with German subtitles. The event will also include a chance to listen to two new songs from the album before its release on April 7. Ian Paice and Roger Glover will attend the premiere at Düsseldorf location and will do Q&A with the fans afterwards.

Tickets can be booked through uci-kinowelt.de.

Thanks to Lutz Reinert and Yvonne for the info.

Current edition (issue #58) of the German Classic Rock magazine has a spread detailing the polar expedition themed promotional photoshoot, proceeds of which we have featured elsewhere on the site.

Said photoshoot was conducted in Hamburg on December 17, 2016, by Jim Rakete — the same gentleman responsible for Now what?! promotional pictures. More than 100 props and 14 huskies were involved. The shoot took place in several locations:

• a studio located in a district of Hamburg called Schanzenviertel;
• in the harbour, on board of a tugboat called Twister;
• on a river Elbe beach called Falkensteiner Ufer.

There is also a quote from Gillan, who said that a decision will be made after the tour what is going to happen with the band, hence the album was called inFinite and not Finite. (Cunning linguist he is.)

Thanks to Yvonne for the info and to Dirk Kahler for the scan.

Another video from the NAMM 2017. Steve Morse shows off his MusicMan #1 and #2:

And once we’re at it, here are some more Steve’s guitar nuts and bolts videos from a few years back. Here he is demonstrating various features of the original MusicMan and Y2D, and how and why he uses them during Purple gigs:

Thanks to Amit for the heads up, and to Guitars Exchange and Sweetwater Sound for the videos.

Deep Purple are featured in the latest issue of the British magazine Uncut:

While warming up for a final tour and album, Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Ian Paice recall their wild career in rock […]

The issue in question has Björk on its cover and is dated April 2017. It went on sale on February 16 (issue inflation and all that). It is also available digitally from a variety of outlets.

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

Cover art for the second single from the new Deep Purple album inFinite has become available

Thanks to Lutz Reinert for the info.

Ian Paice will be a guest on the Central FM Rock Show tomorrow, February 16, 2017, at 10pm CET. Central FM is an English speaking radio that broadcasts on 98.6 and 103.9 MHz in the Costa del Sol region of Spain, and online worldwide. Their Rock Show is on the air on Thursday nights and afterwards recordings of the show are available at Mixcloud.

Thanks to Akemi Ono for the info.

Five more dates for the Deep Purple’s Long Goodbye Tour have surfaced:

November 6: Stockholm, Sweden
November 8: Trondheim, Norway
November 9: Oslo, Norway
November 11: Helsinki, Finland
November 13: Copenhagen, Denmark

We already have ticket info for all but Helsinki and the tickets are going on sale on February 16. Please not that these particular dates have not been confirmed by Deep Purple management at the time of this writing. These shows have been confirmed as of February 17.

Full details in our calendar.

Thanks to Carsten Ankjær Hansen and Ole Sandgaard Andersen for the info.

Glenn Hughes
live at Toldkammeret, Helsingör, Denmark,
February 8, 2017.

Cool, calm and collected. This is Glenn Hughes as he enters the stage on a windy and snowy evening in Helsingör, Denmark, February 2017. The venue is less than ideal, with a very low stage and pillars obstructing the view. Still, the turnout is better than expected for a Wednesday night and the audience spans fans in their mid 20s to more grey haired ones in their 60s who remain seated in the adjoining cafeteria even as the show is in progress. Glenn seems to have raised his profile these past few years by being in the media eye.

The start of the show is the highlight, with Flow, Muscle & Blood, and Getting Tighter. The band is tight and heavy. Very heavy. Engborg is probably the hardest hitting drummer Hughes has played with (next to Chad Smith?) and the drum sound is crystal clear. His style is slightly unusual. Powerful as mentioned but not a basher per se. Plenty of creative fills and outros where he’s so focused on the delivery that he almost looks bewildered once the song has ended. This power is welcome but it also comes at a cost. In the past Glenn has often played with swinging drummers and his most popular work was built on light and shade, both in terms of vocals and playing. This is the heaviest Glenn Hughes show I’ve seen to date, but there’s also a lack of dynamics as the evening wears on. Glenn and Engborg almost bring enough power on their own, but then there’s also a Hammond player and 2(!) guitarists. The soundscape is living but not breathing.

Soren Andersen is obviously a great sidekick for Glenn in a professional capacity, but clarity in the playing is not his greatest strength. With Blackmore in the 70s you could hear every note picked and somehow he was able to cut through the mayhem with clean leads. With Soren, the wah wah pedal is constantly pressed down and few notes leave a deeper impression. Partly because his tone doesn’t cut through enough. Later in the show Glenn goes on to explain how he wanted a Jon Lord presence in his band and introduces Jay Boe. Jay’s playing is lively and fine but somewhat lost in the mix.

Glenn has surrounded himself with great, hungry talent on this tour, all focused in their delivery, mineral water by their feet. So, why is something still missing? Maybe because they’re not equals or simply because one is spoiled by his earlier collaborators and legendary past. While his band is musically in your face, Glenn is more subdued than normal given recent events and having a cold. This cold has no effect on his performance and even though the acrobatics are all but gone, You Keep on Moving is all the better for it. The bass intro is magical, with Glenn playing notes close to the bridge of his bass while adding just the right amount of stringbending to get that ambient effect. The crowd goes silent in respect of the intro and moment (Glenn introduced the song by talking about his mother).

Throughout the evening it becomes clear no song is too hard to sing for this 65-year-old. While other singers of his generation look like they’re about to have a heart attack any minute trying to do their old songs justice, Glenn clearly employs a different technique. Barely moving an inch, he focuses his stare into the crowd, adjusts his mouth accordingly and lets loose a falsetto, followed by soft improvisation, followed by a full on power voice. Just like that. He’s in total control and it’s cool to witness. It’s also one of the few times my focus is 100% on the stage. If this kind of dynamic was present more often in the show and band, the outcome would have been different. But I think what it comes down to in the end is the combination of songs and delivery. Glenn doesn’t have enough classics of his own to sustain the audience’s excitement fully throughout. Or he simply doesn’t play the classics he has in the way people first heard them. I also think this is partly why the crowd is receptive but not ecstatic. When he does talk to the crowd he connects though and does so by being down to earth and honest. No schtick nor open shirt necessary.

Hopefully he will be back to Scandinavia with a slightly more nuanced approach, in a venue where you can see the stage and where his new level of restraint is also reflected in the band’s delivery.

Daniel Bengtsson
Photo: Alexander Hallden, Sylvester Zimsen

The artwork for the new Deep Purple album inFinite has been produced by design studio of Dirk Rudolph. He is no stranger to the album art design and in his career spanning over 30 years have designed artwork for almost 500 releases for a huge variety musicians ranging from Berliner Philharmoniker, to Oscar Peterson, to Rammstein. And now — Deep Purple.

The typeface and logo for the album artwork were designed by an independent artist Elena Schneider.

Thanks to Deep Purple Tour Page blog for the info.