On 20 October 2014, Eagle Rock Entertainment release “Live In Verona” by Deep Purple on DVD and Blu-ray[Cat Nos EREDV0121 and ERBRD5218]. This amazing performance includes “Smoke On The Water,” “Lazy,” “Strange Kind Of Woman,” “Perfect Strangers,” “Highway Star,” “Woman From Tokyo” and many more.

Filmed in the spectacular surroundings of the Arena di Verona, a Roman amphitheatre originally built in 30 AD, this concert from the summer of 2011 sees Deep Purple joined on stage by a full symphony orchestra for performances of all their classic tracks.Deep Purple remain one of the finest hard rock bands on the planet and are undoubtedly at their best when performing live.

The line-up for this show features Ian Gillan (vocals); Ian Paice (drums); Roger Glover (bass); Steve Morse (guitar); Don Airey (keyboards). As bonus features we include two extra tracks, “Hush” and “Black Night” recorded that night.

TRACKLISTING

1) Deep Purple Overture 2) Highway Star 3) Hard Lovin’ Man 4) Maybe I’m A Leo 5) Strange Kind Of Woman 6) Rapture Of The Deep 7) Woman From Tokyo 8) Contact Lost 9) When A Blind Man Cries 10) The Well Dressed Guitar 11) Knocking At Your Back Door 12) Lazy 13) No One Came 14) Don Airey Solo 15) Perfect Strangers 16) Space Truckin’ 17) Smoke On The Water

On “Live In Verona” the orchestral arrangements give an added depth and range to the familiar songs and the band respond to both playing with the orchestra and performing in such a historical location to deliver a brilliant show in front of a huge and enthusiastic crowd.

It’s widely known that Scandinavia is a good market for Purple and apparently their popularity extends all the way into the royal families. In Norway, crown prince Haakon joined a local band at their gig and played Smoke on the Water.

His wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who was in the audience, was less enthusiastic and was seen putting her fingers in her ears, according to The Local.

Thanks to Chris Blackmore for the link.

Ian Paice will feature with Purple tribute band Purpendicular on three of their European dates this October. This will be Ian’s third stint with the band.

October 7th – Sono Centrum – Brno – Czech Republic
October 8th – Riffelhof – Burgrieden (Ulm) – Germany
October 9th – Uhlenspiegel – Rutesheim (Stuttgart) – Germany

Purpendicular are touring accross Europe in support of their upcoming new album ‘tHis is is tHing#1’.

Ian Paice features on the album on a track called ‘Somebody Done It’, which will most likely get an airing at the shows together with surprises from DP Mk3 and other obscurities.

Purpendicular’s album ‘tHis is the tHing#1’ will also feature Don Airey, Steve Morse, Roger Glover, Ian Paice and Neil Murray.

For more details incl ticket info, please visit: www.purpendicular.eu

Deep Purple live at Hard Rock Live (Hollywood, USA 2014-08-31)

The gang was great tonight. Same set list as previously posted for other concerts on this tour. They were tight and the sound was great. No opening act, which I thought was odd. Eddie Trunk from Metal Show introduced band. They went on at 7:15pm. Took my 21 year old daughter who loved the show. Show was over at 9pm. This was my 5th time seeing Purple, but my last. Just can’t spend $85 a ticket to see a concert thats over at 9pm. Without an opening act, they should be playing a 3 hour set. They certainly have enough material. Always my favorite band, but as Dylan said. Times – they are a changin! Morse and the gang were great! Keep rockin! But I am afraid my last time!

review by Mitch Lesovoy

An hour long documentary on Made in Japan will air on the UK TV channel BBC4 starting at 9:15pm this Friday, September 12. The film was directed by Ian Carmichael and produced by Drew Thompson. Judging by the BBC’s promo blurb, our guess is that it’s the same documentary that was released on the 4CD+DVD edition of the 40th anniversary remaster.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Deep Purple’s groundbreaking double live album Made in Japan, this documentary explores these recordings and Deep Purple mark 2, the line-up between 1969 and 1973.

The film highlights the mark 2 period of this classic British rock band featuring the classic line-up of Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Roger Glover and Ian Paice with a focus on the recording of the album Machine Head in Montreux, Switzerland in late 1971; the friction that developed within the band as a result of this recording and their incessant touring of the world in general and North America in particular; and the live recordings of the band’s first Japanese tour in August 1972, released that December in the UK as Made in Japan, a Number 1 UK album. Lars Ulrich of Metallica has cited Made in Japan as his favourite album of all time.

Featuring previously unseen exclusive footage, this film promises to uncover the meaning behind the song Smoke on the Water, known for one of the most iconic riffs in rock history, and to reveal the background to the mystery that lies behind the three nights in Osaka and Tokyo during the recording of the live Made in Japan album from 1972.

The showing will be repeated on Saturday, September 13, at 0:15am, and Monday, September 15, at 1:00am.

Thanks to Jonathan Earnshaw and Garry Mccormack for the info.

The record company has posted Space Truckin’ from the upcoming Live in Verona video release, which is due on October 20.

Track list has also been made public:

1. Deep Purple Overture
2. Highway Star
3. Hard Lovin’ Man
4. Maybe I’m A Leo
5. Strange Kind Of Woman
6. Rapture Of The Deep
7. Woman From Tokyo
8. Contact Lost
9. Guitar Solo
10. When A Blind Man Cries
11. The Well-Dressed Guitar
12. Knocking At Your Back Door
13. Lazy
14. No One Came
15. Keyboard Solo
16. Perfect Strangers
17. Space Truckin’
18. Smoke On The Water

Note that the encores (Hush and Black Night) are conspicuously missing. Saving them for a “deluxe” edition due next year, eh? 😉

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Ian Gillan sang Smoke on the Water at the Guitars on the Beach festival in Lyme Regis, UK, this Saturday, September 6. BBC reports that he was joined by 3,325 guitarists, which didn’t quite beat the world record of 6,546 (helped to set by Steve Morse in Poland 2009), but only a national one. Local fishermen provided the smoke 😉

The event raised between £6,000 and £7,000 for local charities.

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov (deep-purple.ru) for the info.

Roger Glover guested on the Noize in the Attic podcast on August 29. And although a lot of material was covered in the lengthy interview, what made waves around the ‘net as far as The Guardian was, obviously, the Hall of Fame bit (we’ve covered what he thinks on the matter before).

Use your favourite player to listen to the podcast (MP3, 155M) or the embedded the player below. The interview segment starts around 29 minute mark and continues for about 50 minutes, with music. (On a side note, Smoke was not played; it was Into The Fire, Hell To Pay, Meanstreak, No One Came and Wicked Ways, with a Judas Priest track thrown in for a good measure.)

Thanks to Blabbermouth and Andrey Gusenkov (deep-purple.ru) for the info.

PS. And kudos to the band’s publicist (or whoever did the job) on this past North American tour. Lots of interesting, well researched, in depth interviews, done by knowledgeable people, with very little to none of the “Mr. Grover, Mr. Gillian, you must’ve made a million” stuff.

Deep Purple live at Hard Rock Live (Hollywood, USA 2014-08-31)

Now it was onward to Hollywood after a tremendous show in Orlando. Hoping this show would match the intensity of the night before. Well, the band was great. Gillan did crack a couple of times but overall the music was again wonderful. But we left with that feeling that something was missing. we discussed and came up with the answer. The crowd. The crowd up front was not as into it as the night before. Being part of the pre-sale I was hoping for seats up close. They just weren’t available at all. Don’t know who got them, but clearly not fanatic purple fans. There were a few, but most everybody else was more concerned with taking photos or video than actually listening to the music and paying attention to the people on stage. I think the band noticed too. I was 7 rows back and all you could see was arms up in the air holding their phones up. Still the band played great. I sure hope they go ahead and make that new CD and start a tour right back here in the states. I can’t wait to see them again. They truly are one of the greatest rock bands ever. Thanks again to Deep Purple for 2 shows that were quite memorable.

Del Ferguson,
Holiday, Fl.

review by Del Ferguson

Deep Purple live at Hard Rock Live (Orlando, USA 2014-08-30)

Just got back to the room after watching a stellar performance at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando. The band was on Fire from the opening note of Highway Star to that final closing note of Black Night. Gillan sounded great tonight, Glover was solid as ever, Paicey continues to show just what a great drummer he really is. Airey was fine as always and Morse just lit the place up. He was grinning from ear to ear most of the night and the whole band seemed to feed off a much enthusiastic crowd. Same set list, so no need to repeat it, but they were just awesome. Can’t wait to see them at the final show tomorrow in Hollywood. Thank you to Ian Paice for the drumstick and to Steve Morse for the picks. My wife and I took our oldest son and his wife. My son grew up listening to Purple so he knows all the songs. We all just had a wonderful time. I hope they won’t wait so long to get back to the states for another tour. Thanks again Deep Purple for a fabulous show.

review by Del Ferguson