Deep Purple live at Patinoire Mériadeck (Bordeaux, France 2015-11-03)

A very short review of my 20th Deep Purple show:

I was very, very pleased with this year’s only concert (as far as I’m concerned, of course) — Gillan absolutely back in the game after some good, but not outstanding performances in 2014. Reminds me of the 2010 tour ! And when Gillan rolls, Purple rocks. Everything just perfect — and a lot of smiles, joking and british nonsense on stage, as usual (and even more this time) !
Venue well filled, but not full (on a tuesday night), excellent sound as always with Deep Purple (but rather an exception worth mentioning in the Patinoire Meriadeck, which has poor acoustics).

No setlist revolution (rather conservative, in fact, compared to some polish setlists, see below), but I was happy enough with Demon’s eye, the totally revamped Contact Lost (it’s not a completely new instrumental to my ears, it’s something like “Contact Lost Number 2”), and a big surprise with the return of “Mary Long” (I love that song so much, and they played it brilliantly). Another highlight for me was Uncommon Man, one of the greatest songs they did since, well, 1984 if you ask me.

If I may criticise something (and there is really not much to criticise, it’s complaining on a very very very high level), it’s the ever same 5-song routine (6 if you include the keyboard solo ) at the end of the show — all of those five are wonderful songs, don’t get me wrong, but why don’t they just change the running order, for instance … But that’s the typical criticism of someone who saw too many shows, I guess …

So, to put it short, they were absolutely great. Period.

Here’s the setlist for those interested:

Highway Star
Demon’s Eye
Hard Lovin’ Man
Strange Kind of Woman
Vincent Price
Contact Lost II
Uncommon Man
The well-dressed Guitar
The Mule
Mary Long
Lazy
Hell to pay
Keyboard solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Smoke on the Water

Hush
Black Night

review by Stéphane

Purple music is prominently featured in the new installment of the Evil Dead horror comedy franchise — TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead. The first episode theme was Space Truckin’, with Highway Star featured in the second.

For all the wrong reasons. Creator Sam Raimi explains:

When my brother Ivan and I were writing the character, and asking where he’d been for the last 30-35 years, we realized he had not grown. He stopped his development. My brother said the music should reflect the last time he was engaged in society, and living. My brother and editor chose those different pieces to reflect his lack of growth.

By that time frame they might as well use Perfect Strangers next…

A photo documentary by THS editor emeritus Trond J. Strøm Jon Lord in the Nidaros Cathedral is now available as a photo book. The book contains 58 photographs on 46 pages documenting Jon’s rehearsals at the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway, before his gig on May 23, 2010. You can preview the material at the author’s website, through which you can also order the book in any of the 4 formats. All profits from the project will be donated to the Norwegian Cancer Society.

Thanks to Trond for the info.

A lengthy interview with Ian Gillan that may or may not have stemmed from his gardening activities. It is also kind of curious due to slightly unorthodox questions and even more unorthodox answers.

How do you deal with line up changes?

How about your songwriting?

Was it harder or easier to start in the music industry when you did?

How do you deal with any anticipation before going on stage?

Can you tell us about your charity projects?

What about any other on going projects?

Deep Purple gig in London in December 2015

Who would you invite to a dinner party and why?

Thanks to Rabbit Attack PR for the info.

A 2002 vintage interview with Roger Glover done by Eric Blair was recently posted on YouTube:

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

Blackmore’s hard rock band, or the 2016 incarnation of Rainbow (if you prefer), will be comprised of Ronnie Romero on vocals, Jens Johansson on keyboards, David Keith (a.k.a. Troubadour of Aberdeen from Blackmore’s Night) on drums, and Bob ‘Nouveau’ Curiano (a.k.a. Sir Robert of Normandie) on bass.

Given Blackmore’s track record of picking (relatively) unknown vocalists and turning them onto stardom, let’s pause for a moment on Ronnie Romero. He is Chilean born, now living in Spain, where he is involved in several Rainbow, Dio and Queen tribute bands, as well as Lords of Black — a band that plays original music.

With Rainbow tribute band Rising:

Doing Dio’s Rainbow in the Dark in the studio:

Stormbringer cover:

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

A third show for Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow has been announced for June 25 at the Genting Arena in Birmingham, UK. And according to his booking agent, the 3 already announced gigs — two in Germany and this one in the UK — will be it for Blackmore’s foray into rock in 2016. Tickets are £52.83 to £58.95 and go on sale this Friday, November 6, at 10:00 am GMT.

Goldmine magazine has interviewed Roger Glover on the occasion of Wacken/Budokan release. A lot has been covered — from differences between German metalheads and Japanese audiences, to getting not tired playing Smoke every night, to producing Judas Priest, to being snubbed by a certain Hall of Fame. Roger also confirmed his view on bootlegs, which is markedly different from some other members of the band:

GM: With Deep Purple performances, no one concert is alike. There is improvisation in every Deep Purple concert. And fans collect these live performances like Deadheads collect Grateful Dead jams. Deep Purple fans seem to be very in tune to the catalog of live performances whether it’s a official releases or bootleg. You once told Goldmine that you had mixed opinions about bootlegs — and other band members themselves had mixed opinions — but even the bootlegs serve a purpose. You made the quote: “When I listened to some of the bootlegs I realized what a dangerous band we were.”

RG: It’s true. When you’re in a band you really don’t know what you are, what you represent to fans. We know what we are between us. And bootlegs in the early days were definitely frowned upon. It was illegal and they didn’t sound that great. But I remember when I was considering reforming Deep Purple for “Perfect Strangers,” whether it was a good idea or not, and that was when I started listening to some older recordings and thinking, “Actually, we were a lot better than I thought we were.” (laughs) I was all for it then. And as soon as we started playing I knew that it was right. We jammed together and it felt so good. We’ve always been a live band. The whole point was live. Back when I first started with the band, you know, we didn’t get played on the radio. We didn’t have any kind of coverage or anything. It was just the audience that was there that night. Actually, nothing much has changed in that respect. Music is a kind of a strange and wonderful art form. You can’t touch it or smell it or see it. The moment you hear it it’s gone. With a museum you can look at things, with books you can read them and so forth but music’s just here and gone. And the only way you can actually capture that is by recording something live, which is not the same experience as being there of course. Being there is everything.

Read more in Goldmine.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

From the new songs that are not for the people who are staying at home, to reverse engineering the Universe — when Big Ian digs, he certainly digs deep. An interview he gave before the concert in Łódź on October 25:

And the new track in question is apparently called Got My Hip Boots On or the whereabouts (it’s a work in progress anyway). Here it is as performed in Ostrava on October 27:

Thanks to RockOtheque and Luke1916 R’N’R for the videos Lutz Reinert for bringing them to your attention.

The new track premiered live this Sunday in Łódź is called Hip Boots. And judging from the setlist, the new guitar instrumental was an impromptu thing thrown in at the last moment in lieu of Contact Lost.

Thanks to Francesco (Deep Purple Italia) for the info.