Roger Glover became a grandfather again today, December 8, when his daughter Gillian gave birth to a baby girl Aranea. Our warmest congratulations to Roger, Gillian, Aranea, Trevis and Xavier.

Thanks to RogerGlover.com for the info.

The Perfect Strangers of Finland will hold it’s 4th Purple Night on January 14, 2012. The party is dubbed All Night Long and will be dedicated this time to Rainbow. Rainbow music from 1975 to 1995 will be performed by a house band and guest musicians.

The house band consists of musicians who have played with Graham Bonnet and Doogie White on their Finnish tours: “Lacu” Lahtinen (Popeda, Michael Monroe) on drums, Mika “Lamppari” Lamminsivu on guitar, Klaus Wirzenius (Manzana, Pate Mustajärvi N.Y.T.-tour) on bass and Okke Komulainen (Leningrad Cowboys, Sleepy Sleepers, Bomfunk MC) on keyboards. The vocalist Jukka ”Jay” Lewis has played bass in Graham Bonnet´s Finnish touring band as well.

In addition to the house band, the evening will feature guest vocalists Peter James Goodman (Conquest, Purple Society), Jukka Jay Lewis (Yö, OZ), Jukka Nummi (Myon, Rainbow Shakers, Angry Machine) and from the US Tom Oh (Red Car Driver, Rock Rooster). Special guests on guitar will include Nikolo Kotzev (Brazen Abbot, Glenn Hughes, Joe Lynn Turner), Anssi Kela and Juha Tikka (Shades of Purple). As melodic hard rock night needs backup vocals too, Riitta ”Ritchie Millhill” Myllymäki and Päivi ”Daisy Pinehill” Petäjämäki both have experience in classical music from opera choirs and they also sing rock and folk music.

What: Purple Night 2012 – All Night Long
When: 14 January 2012, show starts at 8 pm
Where: Tavastia Club, Helsinki, Finland
Tickets: Tiketti €13 advance, €15 at the door.
Age limit: 18

Thanks to Jari Kaikkonen for the info.

The Chopin’s Story DVD is finally out. It is a documentary about life of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin narrated and presented by Ian Gillan. We wrote about it before. The DVD will feature a brand new, exclusive interview with Ian done on the set of the film.

Copies can be ordered by sending you full name, mailing address and the number of copies you would like to receive to jerzy.szkamruk@tvproject.eu or marcin.rybacki@tvproject.eu. The prices for Europe (excluding Poland) are in Euro whereas for the rest of the world in USD. If you order more than 5 DVDs the shipping fees will be discussed individually via e-mail.

Poland:
1pcs. 22 zł plus 5 zł shipping
2pcs. 43 zł plus 6 zł shipping
3pcs . 64 zł plus 6 zł shipping
4pcs . 83 zł plus 6 zł shipping
5pcs. 100 zł plus 7 zł shipping

Europe (including Russia and Israel):
1pcs. – 4,50 EURO plus 3 EURO shipping
2pcs .- 9,00 EURO plus 4 EURO shipping
3pcs. – 13,00 EURO plus 4 EURO shipping
4pcs. – 18,00 EURO plus 4 EURO shipping
5pcs. – 21,00 EURO plus 5 EURO shipping

North America, Africa:
1pcs. – 6,50 $ plus 4,00 $ shipping
2pcs. – 12,50 $ plus 6,00 $ shipping
3pcs. – 13,00 $ plus 6,00 $ shipping
4pcs. – 24,00 $ plus 6,00 $ shipping
5pcs. – 26,00 $ plus 8,00 $ shipping

South and Latin America, Asia:
1pcs. – 6,50 $ plus 4,00 $ shipping
2pcs. – 12,50 $ plus 6,50 $ shipping
3pcs. – 13,00 $ plus 6,50 $ shipping
4pcs. – 24,00 $ plus 6,50 $ shipping
5pcs. – 26,00 $ plus 9,00 $ shipping

Australia, Oceania and Japan:
1pcs. – 6,50 $ plus 4,50 $ shipping
2pcs. – 12,50 $ plus 8,50 $ shipping
3pcs. – 13,00 $ plus 8,50 $ shipping
4pcs. – 24,00 $ plus 8,50 $ shipping
5pcs. – 26,00 $ plus 12,50 $ shipping

The DVDs will be shipped by priority registered mail after payment to:

TV Project Sp. z o.o.
Czarnieckiego 57
01-548 Warszawa
Poland

Bank account number:
BIC Swift-code: INGBPLPW
IBAN PL81 1050 1038 1000 0023 2687 7475

Thanks to Marcin Rybacki for the info.

Date: 03.12.2011

: Gerry Weber Arena

: Halle

: Germany

This was the second time I saw DP with the orchestra this year, first concert was in Gelsenkirchen this summer. I was really impressed about the gig in Gelsenkirchen, but this one last saturday was much more better – unbelievable good.

The orchester was perfectly involved now and it seems that they enjoyed any minute of the concert. And so did the band. As a lot of reviewers mentioned Don Airey is more and more a regular band member and he is truly on of the highlights now.

The big suprise to me was that they included The Mule into the programm, which also means the Drum solo by Ian Paice.

I have the same impression as a lot of reviewers: The get better and better….

Looking forward to see them again next November, and I would not complain if some new songs would be played then – from the 2012 record.

40 years ago, on December 4, 1971, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention played a gig at the Casino de Montreux. You know the rest. In case you don’t, read on at the Darker Than Blue blog.

MontreuxMusic.com has videos, pictures, and press clippings from the event that changed music history. Check them out.

And the “most subtle piece of rock memorabilia” award goes to Bathroom Wall T-Shirts for their very topical today Casino de Montreux. Live Music. 4 December 1971. number. I’m so getting one myself.

A well written review, in which the author goes to see the Purple show a tad sceptical, but comes out totally enthusiastic.

If anyone tells you that Deep Purple’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra (1969) wasn’t a masterpiece then they’re an idiot. In fact, it was, more or less, the only successful use of an orchestra with a rock band ever. Now, 40 years on, a pensionable Purple have hit the road again with a full symphony orchestra. But they’re not playing the Concerto. They’re playing their hits. And, critically, they’re performing them without founding keyboardist, Jon Lord, and guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore. And so, at 8.30pm when support band Cheap Trick had failed to ignite the room, even with a five-necked guitar, a 12-stringed bass and a lead singer looking like Dave Lee Roth, it looked like this might be another nostalgia night for music past its sell-by date.

Read the whole thing at The Arts Desk.

The highly anticipated DVD of Jon Lord’s Bucharest 2009 concert is finally out. Check out the taster clip below.

The DVD was filmed in Bucharest, Romania on November 5, 2009 and features the full second half of Jon’s concert that night.

It includes tracks from Sarabande, Pictured Within, Beyond The Notes – as well as three Deep Purple favourites rearranged by Jon Lord for full symphony orchestra.

You get 50% off the Bucharest CD if you buy it now with the new DVD at Jon Lord’s web shop.

Coinciding with this DVD release, Jon Lord’s web shop has also launched its Christmas Sale with massive discounts on several of Jon Lord’s other solo projects.

Visit Jon Lord’s web shop

Date: 2011-11-30

: o2

: London

: United Kingdom

Having watched the band perform since Mk III in 74 through Knebworth and many times since (see reviews of Paris, London & Cardiff) I really had a lot of expectation of the fusion once again of Rock Band and Orchestra celebrating their greatest songs at the O2 in London 2011.

We had great seats but I have to say this gig whilst it had some great moments where the orchestra really works with the band such as Rapture, Perfect Strangers the mix and sound was awful at times and was obviously proving a difficult task for the sound crew. At times Ian was left low in the mix as I think he struggles with some of the classics such as Highway the opener. Unfortunately the band at times look tired and there were quite a few mistakes even from Steve (1st time I can remember) at the end of Contact lost and Don going into Perfect Strangers way early and ending up having to quickly divert.

It was nice to see the impromptu Happy Birthday from the Orchestra for Roger and the violin duel with Steve was superb. However, whilst the band are on record as saying it is difficult at times playing with an orchestra and Ian saying there are always plenty of mistakes, this show has been on the road for best part of a year. The musicianship is always solid and the performances from Ian and Roger were solid but in a huge tent they call an arena not dissimilar to an aircraft hanger I would rather see the boys playing the smaller venues with some new material! Come on we’ve waited for 5 years now and rehashing the greatest hits even with an orchestra is becoming worn out. Please get back in the studio! as I remember how fresh those new songs from rapture sounded in Paris!

Date: 2011-11-29

: MEN Arena

: Manchester

: England

I was privileged to witness a stellar performance by the guys in Manchester yesterday. This was my 7th Purple gig, the first being Knebworth in 1985, and this was easily the best. The whole band was on fire, rocking and grooving their way through a perfectly paced set given a new lease of life by the addition of the orchestra.

Indeed, the orchestra was fantastic, playing with gusto and adding real depth and dynamics to the band’s sound, and the “duel” between Steve and the violin player was a real highlight of the show. All five of the guys played brilliantly, they were clearly having a ball and it showed in their performances.

Stars for me were Don Airey (who looks really at home now, no longer the ‘new boy’ but a fully fledged and integral part of the band’s sound) and Big Ian – yes, he occasionally misses the high notes these days but his lower register was strong and powerful and he remains a top front man.

What made the evening really special was that I took my 14 year old lad along for his first Purple show and he loved every minute of it. I went along wondering whether this might be the last time I’d see them, but after this show I reckon they could have another 10 years in them yet!

Thanks for a wonderful night, guys.

Can a lady at the piano sound just as badass as Messrs Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice did back in 1972? Judge for yourself.
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