After some months of preparation, Jon Lord has released a new live album titled simply LIVE. Listen to the exclusive teaser below.

Recorded in Bucharest, Romania in 2009 with a full symphony orchestra, the album includes a selection of orchestral pieces that represent Jon Lord’s touring repetoire since leaving Deep Purple in 2002.

The album includes three completely reworked Deep Purple classics with full orchestral arrangement by Jon Lord; Pictures of Home, Soldier of Fortune and an immense Child in Time.

Also featured are Pictured Within (voted everybody’s no. 1 favourite Jon Lord track on JonLord.org); The Telemann Experiment; two pieces from the Sarabande Suite and the female voice delights Wait a While and The Sun Will Shine Again.

Steve Balsamo and Kasia Laska handle vocals throughout. The Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Nayden Tadorov with Darin Vasilev (guitar), Ivaylo Zvezdomirov (bass) and Venko Poromanski (drums) completing the line-up.

Listen here to snippets of Bouree, The Sun Will Shine Again, Soldier of Fortune and The Telemann Experiment:

Jon Lord Live CD teaser by JonLord.org

For all you good people who have expressed words of support and encouragement to Jon in his fight against cancer, please go and check out the album. After all, there is no better way to show you appreciation to the artist than to admire his music.

Watch a clip of Child in Time filmed at the Bucharest concert:

Ian Gillan will take part in the Rock Meets Classic Tour 2012. The tour will also feature Steve Lukather (Toto), Jimi Jamison (Survivor), Chris Thompson (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band), Robin Beck, The Mat Sinner Band & The Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague.

The line-up also includes Jimmy Kresic (keyboards), Alex Beyrodt (Primal Fear, Voodoo Circle / guitars), Oliver Hartmann (Avantasia / guitars, vocals), Martin Schmidt (drums), Amanda Somerville (Trillium, Aavantasia / vocals), Tiffany Krikland (vocals), Verena Schock (vocals), Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear / vocals), Sascha Krebs (vocals), Bernhard Fabuljan (conductor) and Mat Sinner (bass, vocals).

They will play a busy schedule in January 2012 covering most of Germany, plus a few dates in Austria, Switzerland, France and Denmark. Tickets are on sale for most of the dates starting from €40-€61. Full details in our calendar.

Thanks to George Kikonishvili for the info.

Eagle’s Polish distributor Mystic Production reveals that this year’s Deep Purple appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival is due to be released on November 7 on DVD and blue ray.

Track list:

1. Orchestral Intro
2. Highway Star
3. Hard Loving Man
4. Maybe I’m A Leo
5. Strage 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
18. Hush
19. Black Night

Thanks to Kuba Stawiarz for the info.

UK cable/satellite channel Sky Arts will be showing highlights from this year High Voltage festival on Saturday, August 20 at 10pm. We are not sure as to the exact content of the programme, but the following artists are mentioned in the announcement along with Black Country Communion: Judas Priest, Dream Theater, Slash, and Thin Lizzy.

Jon Lord has released this message today on JonLord.org:

I would like all my friends, followers, fans and fellow travelers to know that I am fighting cancer and will therefore be taking a break from performing while getting the treatment and cure.

I shall of course be continuing to write music – in my world it just has to be part of the therapy – and I fully expect to be back in good shape next year.

God bless and see you soon
Jon

May we also, at Jon’s request, ask if everyone could please respect his need for privacy so that he can spend time with his family (and his music).

Thank you.

Purpendicular will be released on vinyl by a boutique Dutch label Music on Vinyl at the end of August. This release will include bonus track Don’t Hold Your Breath originally available on the Japanese edition of the album.

Amazon UK says that the title will be available on August 29th.

Thanks to Peter Nikolakakos for the info.

In 1999 Deep Purple restaged Jon Lord’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra for the first time in 30 years. This then formed the basis of tours in South America, Europe and Japan in 2000 and 2001. Singer Ronnie James Dio was the band’s special guest at these shows.

In 2001, conductor Paul Mann donated to The Highway Star several items from his personal collection to be used as prizes. For a variety of reasons, ranging from technical to getting the main item signed by the band, the intended competition did not happen.

The items have been carefully stored for the last decade and now, with Paul’s agreement, it has been decided to auction them off in three lots.

All proceeds will go directly to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund.

These are being auctioned on eBay under the name purpleconcerto and payment will have to be made via PayPal. The auction will run from Saturday 6th August to Saturday 13th August 2011.

Lot 1: Original poster for the two Albert Hall gigs. The poster is 96 x 146 cm (38 by 57 inches) and in very good condition –- there are some minor creases caused by rolling/unrolling the poster to get it signed. It has been signed in black marker by Paul Mann, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Steve Morse, Jon Lord, Ian Paice and Don Airey (autographs were obtained during the re-scheduled 2002 UK tour which featured both Jon and Don on keyboards). The poster will be posted rolled in a rigid tube.

Lot 2: Set list and plectrum. The set list, now slightly creased having been used on the night, is signed in pen by Paul Mann. The plectrum is one of the special dated ones made up for Roger Glover – one side says Deep Purple with a facsimile signature, the other ‘Royal Albert Hall Sept. 25-26, 1999’.

Lot 3: Programme from Albert Hall shows – in very good condition and signed by Paul Mann on his article on ‘Restoring the Concerto’

These will be posted worldwide (from the UK) so bid with confidence and bid high!

While being on tour in the UK with Black Country Communion, Glenn Hughes spoke with the O₂ TV:

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

On August 16 Eagle Rock Entertainment will release on CD 4 historical Purple live albums: In Concert 1970/1972, Scandinavian Nights, Live in London and Mk.III The Final Concerts. Out of those, Live in London will be available domestically in North America for the first time. In Concert 1970/1972 and Scandinavian Nights were released on Spitfire in 2001, while Mk.III The Final Concerts was released circa 1997 by the now defunct label Archive Records under the title Archive Alive! and has long been deleted.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Update (Aug 13): On August 23 Eagle Rock will also be re-releasing Rainbow Live in Germany 1976, previously available in the US as Live in Europe, released in 1996, and under the present title released in 2001. Both previous releases have been deleted and sealed copies fetch a pretty penny on the secondary market.

On July 27, Deep Purple were in Vienne, near Lyon, for what should be their only concert in France this year.
It was part of their “Songs That Built Rock” tour, with orchestra.

The venue is really unique. The “Théâtre antique” of Vienne was built in the 1st century AD. It’s open air, and the sound is perfect!

The supporting act was a guitarist alone. He did a very nice job. The only thing is that he didn’t say his name (or I didn’t hear him). When he came, he just said “I’m not Deep Purple!”.
If anyone knows his name, please let me know in the comments.

Then at 9PM, Deep Purple came on stage, preceded by the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt Orchestra who played a nice intro, inspired by Smoke On the Water.
They opened then with a great version of Highway Star (the organ solo with the orchestra behind sounds wonderful).
That was nice to hear Woman From Tokyo and Knocking At Your Back Door back in the setlist (with the orchestra, a different tuning and a bit slower, it sounded really so powerful).
Lazy with the “battle” between Morse and the violonist at the end was great.
Perfect Strangers, one step down, definitely sounds darker.
The Well-Dressed Guitar…well it was written to be played with an orchestra so it was perfect!

And how impressive is the riff of Smoke On The Water with the orchestra behind! This is really a must-see!
The crowd was really on fire (around 6000 people)!
Really a great night with Deep Purple! Thank you!

Cyril

Setlist:

Highway Star
Hard Lovin’ Man
Maybe I’m a Leo
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture of the Deep
Woman From Tokyo
Contact Lost
When a Blind Man Cries
The Well Dressed Guitar
Knocking at Your Back Door
Lazy
No One Came
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Smoke on the Water
Hush
Black Night