Roger Glover sends a message recalling (what once seemed to be) the ill-fated gig in Slavkov u Brna, Czech Republic, on August 4:

On a tour full of remarkable events, the festival gig outside Brno in the Czech Republic stands out. As we arrived at the venue, we were told that there would be a delay because a heavy storm was approaching. The promoter, although initially requesting us to go on early before it arrived, decided, after watching the storm’s progress, that it would be better to delay the start to let the storm blow through. The crowd of 15,000 people were informed of this and waited patiently. So did the band and crew. We watched the skies as they darkened, waiting to see how strong it would be.

Then it hit. Hard. First came the wind, testing the dressing room tents, flapping and billowing the canvas like sails on a boat going round Cape Horn. The stage shuddered with the first blasts of wind, the lighting rig swayed dangerously and people scurried to find whatever shelter they could. Then the rain came bucketing down at a sharp angle, driven by the fierce wind and illuminated by streaks of lightning. It was decided that we in the band should head to a crew bus for safety. We sat there for an hour or so, unable to appreciate the severity of what was going on outside, fearing for the audience.

Then reports came back that the stage and some of the equipment was drenched, particularly the drums and keyboards, where the covers had been blown off, exposing the delicate instruments to the elements. The damage was serious, particularly to the keyboards. It was still raining hard and so the gig had to be abandoned and we left the drenched, long-suffering Czech audience to their silent, soggy night. Fortunately, the following day was a free day so our management team and the promoters worked out the complicated logistics of shifting things around so that we could do the show twenty-four hours later.

Of course, the following day was a beautiful, sunny one – as if nothing had happened the night before. Our crew, along with some of the local crew, stripped the gear down and carefully dried it out and reassembled it in time for the evening’s performance. We arrived, expecting to see a diminished crowd – after all, it was now a Monday and the weekend was over. Then came the biggest surprise of all; there were more people the second night than the previous one, about 5,000 more. We were amazed. Not only did all of the equipment work flawlessly, but also we had the most fantastic welcome from the crowd. It was a superb gig in every way.

The plan was to do the show, pack up, and, along with our crew, head straight to the airport for a night flight to Brussels and play the next concert that evening. An escort of police cars and motorbikes, lights flashing and sirens wailing, ensured that our convoy of vehicles raced past the traffic to the airport. I’m writing this on the plane as we head to a late check-in at the hotel and some sleep before the next show.

Good luck,
RG

Thanks to Edel Records and Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

[Updated #2: even more video] On August 1 Deep Purple headlined probably the largest heavy metal festival in the world — Wacken Open Air. Uli Jon Roth came on stage to join them for Smoke on the Water, and the whole performance was filmed in 3D for a future DVD/Blu-ray release.

BraveWords has a report:

Must admit that DEEP PURPLE seem to be a bizarre fit at Wacken, but when you step back and view the hard rock/heavy family tree there are numerous roots that need to be recognized and praised, no matter how ancient they may seen and the British icons took matters into their own hands with a wealthy catalog that’s second to none. And the not-so-recent addition of guitarist Steve Morse and keyboard maestro Don Airey, sees that classic Deep Purple sound elevated to a different groove, while longtime members Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Ian Paice just soak in all of the glory they deserve.

So the crowd of 80,000-plus – of all shapes and sizes – lapped it up in front of the Black Stage (the True Metal Stage was empty all day in preparation of RAMMSTEIN’s massive stage show). And whether you were a kid who is barely of age to remember this current line-up of the band, or an aging metalhead who was around when ‘Hush’ ruled the airwaves (which the played as an encore by the way), Purple is a band that satisfies generations…

Read more on BraveWords.

A big portion of Purple’s Wacken performance can be streamed courtesy of German TV network ZDF (forward to 91:25):

A slightly longer version of Purple performance from another German TV network NDR (head over to their site if it doesn’t work for you here):
[video src="http://media.ndr.de/progressive/2013/0804/TV-20130804-2248-4242.hi.mp4" /]

Thanks to Claus and Joerg for the ZDF link, and to Lutz, KAZZ and nupsi59 for the NDR one.

We have reported last month that Argentinian fan club Amigos de Joe Lynn Turner was running a contest with several recent CDs as prizes, Gustavo Solinas now informs us that the winners of the contest have been chosen:

1. Anderson Guimaraes — The Jan Holberg Project At Your Service signed by Jan Holberg
2. Jimmy Carlos — Pushking The World As We Love It)
3. Tanya Lanovets and Tonni Chatterton each will receive a copy of Sunstorm Emotional Fire
4. Frank Beltran and Nicolas Paez each will receive a copy of Avantasia The Mystery of Time (with 2 bonus tracks)

Our congratulations to all the winners!

The winners should receive an email soon. In case of any mishaps, please contact Gustavo via Amigos de JLT Facebook group or JLT Yahoo group.

Thanks to Gustavo Solinas for the info.

J.J. Cale has passed away on July 26. Roger Glover posts a personal eulogy:

One evening in the early 70s, I was at my friend Kent’s place, down by the canal in Uxbridge, with Roger Brewer and Ron Quinten. We were relaxing, smoking some weed and listening to music, when I heard something that blew me away. It was an album called Naturally and I got completely taken with it. Every song was a masterpiece. I needed to know who it was. Kent said, “That’s J.J. Cale.”

Continue reading on RogerGlover.com

A message from Roger Glover was published on BraveWords:

The Montreux Jazz Festival is always a special occasion but this time tainted by the lack of Claude Nobs, whose personality dominated the event. What a legacy he’s left us. Even so, the concert was most enjoyable for us and the atmosphere was electric.

Whenever we play in Italy, I am always bowled over by the welcome we get from the Italian fans. The last few days have been no exception; the wave of appreciation coming at the stage is wonderful. And humbling. Back in 1985, we played our first concert in Milan since the early 70s and the crowd then sang every word, every riff, every solo along with us. And they were so loud that all but drowned us out. I will never forget that moment. Believe it or not, it happened again in Milan and Rome over the last few days. Afterwards, those that I spoke to also said they loved Now What?! Life is good.

As has been already strongly hinted by DP(o), a complete show from the Perfect Strangers tour will be released on DVD. Release is due on October 14 via Edel’s imprint Eagle Vision. The show was recorded in Sydney, Australia, on December 12, 1984.

Track list

1. Highway Star
2. Nobody’s Home
3. Strange Kind Of Woman
4. A Gypsy’s Kiss
5. Perfect Strangers
6. Under The Gun
7. Knocking At Your Back Door
8. Lazy (including Ian Paice drum solo)
9. Child In Time
10. Difficult To Cure
11. Jon Lord Keyboard Solo
12. Space Truckin’ (with Ritchie Blackmore guitar solo)
13. Black Night
14. Speed King
15. Smoke On The Water

Bonus feature: Tour documentary

Running time: 141 minutes

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Deep Purple live at Montreux Jazz Festival (Montreux, Switzerland 2013-07-19)

Getting blasted by SOTW in Montreux, always a special experience.

For the rest, a typical, high-energy concert, with only three new tracks (Vincent Price, Above and Beyond, Body Line)

(Editors note: All the Time in the World was also played, so four new songs!)

and some new twists in the solos, which was more than welcome. The old stuff was belted out in the usual professional manner and kept the crowd energized. Like many others, I was there with my kids, and they just loved it. For me, I think the highlight came from an odd place: The Mule was – dare I say it? Better than on Made in Japan.

My only regret: not enough new stuff. I’ve always held DP in my “top spot*, hardly a day goes by (since 1973) without me listening to their music. So for me, a concert is many things, but hearing new stuff should always be part of the experience.

Finally, a note on a long-running topic: IG’s voice. It was perfect. He managed old and new material without a strain and I wondered why there are so many words written about this in the comments!

review by Another Martin

Front Row: Ian Paice and Ian Wright (DrumWright owner). Back row left to right: Chris Wright, Ryan Dobson, Julian Parkes, Ronny Grinstein, Mark and Christine Norman, Vance Withers.

A year ago Pearl Drums in cooperation with Ian Paice and his local drum store DrumWright produced a very limited edition signature drum kit. Grand total of 12 kits were available and each came with a promise of an invitation to a private dinner with Paicey himself. Music Radar reports that five lucky fans made it to Oxfordshire for the dinner, with another one been invited to a meet’n’greet when Deep Purple played in Sydney, Australia.

Ronny Grindstein travelled to the dinner from Norway. “For me, this is a 35 year dream come true”, he said.

Julian Parkes travelled to the dinner from Chester. “It was an incredibly enjoyable evening. I am sure I am not the only attendee who will cherish the memory for ever.”

Thanks to Music Radar for the info.

More Black Than Purple has announced that

[…] a RAINBOW box set provisionally entitled A LIGHT IN THE DARK is being released. It contains many previously unreleased tracks, and spans the band’s years from 1975 – 1984. More news soon, but it could be out before the end of the year.

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

Blackmore’s Night have appeared today, July 16 in Bayerischer Fernsehen programme Abendschau.

Warning: these are high resolution videos, you can select lower resolution by viewing directly from BR.de here and here.

Interview with Ritchie and Candice (complete with a facepalm moment of showing footage of Tommy Bolin while introducing the “legendary songwriter and guitar player”):
[video src="http://cdn-storage.br.de/mir-live/MUJIuUOVBwQIb71S/uXOHb7Z1iwOD/_2rc_H1S/_-0S/_2865-4P/b51b1e73-5215-4df1-a424-a245cedf4945_C.mp4" /]

Miming to Dancer and the Moon in the studio:
[video src="http://cdn-storage.br.de/mir-live/MUJIuUOVBwQIb71S/uXOHb7Z1iwOD/_2rc_H1S/_-0S/_2865-FP/89855bef-3f3c-4ede-b75b-19584eb1a3f7_C.mp4" /]

Thanks to Kevin Dixon for the info.