Deep Purple live at O2 Arena (London, UK 2017-11-23)
Saw the boys last night for the 14th time. Stretching back to the first time with Tommy Bolin in 1976. But this was the first time out of my home of Southern California. With Thanksgiving and my 60th birthday plus Purple all the same day, I had to make the trip. What a difference. In the US, it’s been double billed shortened shows with little emphasis on the new music. Last night at O2 was easily the best show I’ve seen in a decade. And the fans were so much a part of it. Happy to be with a crowd that appreciates Purple as much, or more than me. I thought it to be a great offering all the way around. A memorable night. I’ll appreciate the music and “Pictures of Home” from this show for the rest of my days. Fantastic.
Back in July Sverige Radio published an interview with Roger glover, done at his home in Switzerland. Roger baked a banana bread and talked about what he wants to do when he grows up. The interview itself is in English and starts about 2’15” into the clip.
Mash bananas in a bowl, add butter warmed to the room temperature, eggs and sugar. Mix well. Add flour and baking soda and mix to a smooth paste. Add vanilla extract. You can also add crushed walnuts or other nuts and stir. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake 40-50 minutes in the middle of the oven. Probe with a stick towards the end of baking. The bread is ready when the stick is dry. Allow to cool and remove bread from the pan.
The acclaimed documentary From here to inFinite about the making of Deep Purple’s latest album will be shown on German TV channel Nitro this Thursday, November 23, starting at 23:05.
The film, of course, has been released on blu ray earlier this month, accompanied by a plethora of bonus material.
Deep Purple live at Jäähalli (Helsinki, Finland 2017-11-11)
What a great show again. The band just gets better and better with the approaching dead line (!) The crowd and the band both were so enthusiastic. Icehall was full of DP fans and they showed their love for the band. Bedlam, Fireball, Bloodsucker, SKoW. What a start for a concert! Great vibes. The four songs really worked well. After that some “light jazz”: All I Got is You! What a nice piece of music it was with Paicey being the centre piece of the groove. After that I must have lost the sense of the running order of songs but at least these were played: Surprising and Birds of Pray from InFinite album; Lazy, Smoke and Space Truckin from the Machine Head album. From Perfect Strangers album there were two songs played: the title track and Knockin at Your Back Door! This was a big surprise for most of the audience. Uncommon Man for the late Jon Lord. In his solo number Don Airey played some Sibelius, actually quite an extensive section of Finlandia on piano. It was greeted with roaring applause. Encore: Green Onios, Hush, Black Night with a longish bass solo by Mr. Glover. It was kinda funky. It was all fun. Great night! Hope to see the band next year again in Helsinki 😉
2000-2200
Purple live in concert http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09dwcdf
Also in vision via the BBC Red Button for UK audiences.
available on BBC iPlayer for thirty days after.
All I Got is You got its live premiere in Stockholm on November 6. Here is a recording, and in pretty good quality too (if a little bass heavy on the sound):
A new Rainbow photo book is coming out in Japan. It is quite a hefty volume at 288 pages and promises a wealth of pictures from the band’s Japanese tours from 1976 to 1984, many of them previously unpublished. The pictures were taken for the Music Life and Young Guitar magazines. The promo blurb mentions that the book is being published in the hopes of enticing a certain guitar player to tour Japan with his current lineup.
Anyhow, at ￥2,592 (about $23/€20/£17) + delivery charges, it’s not all that bad. It is also already a #1 bestseller in the ‘Foreign Rock & Pops Music’ books category on Japanese Amazon.
So sad to hear of his passing. Sad, for several reasons… when a hero dies, of course, one thinks first of the person and his family and the sorrow about it all, followed with the wider recognition of the rich legacy he left behind. But linked with that, somehow there is grieving for one’s own lost childhood.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/glover3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey3.jpg)
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing