Amazing, but true. Geoff Barton writes in the Classic Rock Magazine blog:

Steve Morse has become the longest-running guitarist for Deep Purple, having joined the band in 1994.

Morse’s unbroken 17-year tenure beats founding guitarist Ritchie Blackmore’s stints with the band from 1968-1975 and 1984-1993 (we make that 16 years).

While Geoff didn’t quite get his math right, the undisputable fact is still there.

The first known Deep Purple gig was on April 20, 1968 in Tastrup, Denmark. This started Blackmore’s tenure in the band which lasted uninterrupted until that Paris gig on April 7, 1975. Which makes it 2,543 days or 6 years, 11 months, and 18 days. News of the reunion were announced some time in April 1984, however if we stick to the live dates, the first show was on November 27, 1984 in Perth, Australia. The “second coming” lasted until Helsinki on November 17, 1993. Which makes it for another 3,277 days or 5,820 days in total.

Now, the first gig Steve played as a member of Deep Purple was on November 23, 1994 in Mexico City. As of today (June 29, 2011) this makes him Deep Purple’s guitar palyer for 6,062 days or 16 years, 7 months, and 6 days. He had surpassed Blackmore’s tenure on October 30, 2010. On that date he (what else!) played a gig with Deep Purple at the Spodek arena in Katowice, Poland.

Some people might argue that in 1968 the band started much earlier and in 1984 they’ve spent the whole summer recording. Okay, let’s be generous to Ritchie and say that the band started on, let’s say, February 1, 1968 and the reunion happened on April 1, 1984. That’s 2,622 + 3,517 = 6,139 days. This only means that the drum roll would be postponed by a couple of more months. No matter how you look at it.

Thanks to Editor Emeritus Dave Hodgkinson for the info, to Martin Ashberry and his Live Index for the dates, and to the Date Difference Calculator for number crunching.

Coinciding with the North American release, AOL is now streaming the whole Phoenix Rising CD online. It can be listened to at this location. If you get a Beyonce CD instead, wait until the whole page finishes loading. And never mind the screwed up track listing, after all it’s a record company we’re dealing with. 😉

Order from a store near you:

DVD+CD

CD+DVD

Blue ray

Date: 2011-06-23
Venue: Pearl Theatre, Las Vegas, USA

A June day in Las Vegas, Neveda. 108f. Walk to the site of the show. Only 4km. Stopped and picked up 2 bottles of water. 1 liter each. 45 minutes later I have reached the Pearl Theatre. Only a few ounces left in my second bottle. Too hot to drink. Drop it into the trash. Stroll inside. As everywhere else here, a Casino. Walk past the slot machines and reach the Theatre. Seems like a small Movie theatre.

Walk back to my motel, picking up 2 more bottles of water along the way. One thing you notice. No sweat. It vaporates. The heat here is deceptive. I take a shower and change of clothes. Grab a bite to eat. Go back to my room to rest. The Doors open at 1900. I leave at 1800. Reaching the Theatre with 10 minutes to spare.

Talking to fellow fans, I am surprised at the number of fans hoping they will play songs from the bands last 4 albums. The songs I hear mentioned the most are “Ted the Mechanic” and “Sometimes I feel like screaming”

The Opening act was Eddie and the Automatics. They blew the roof off. The Sax player was a personal friend of the late great Clarence Clemons. He gave a very emotional eulogy followed by a song he played in the movie “Eddie and the Cruisers” the entire soundtrack of that movie was very Springsteen influenced. The song was “On the Dark Side”. Featured a haunting emotionally charged Sax solo, with the player, Michael “Tunes” Atunes crying as he played with all he could summon. The Lead guitar player and the drummer had been with the group BOSTON. The act ended with 5 Boston songs bring the house to their feet.

It took the stage crew less that 30 minutes to clear the stage. The lights dimmed and the Orchestra strolled out and took their seats. The first thing you noticed was 70% of them were young beautiful ladies. The Conductor took his place, tapped the stand and away we went.

The only change being the usual 6th spot and the usual 10th spot. On the US leg we have “Woman from Tokyo” then “Knockin’ at your backdoor”. As always the band played brillantly. Gillan’s voice was STRONG! The best well received portion of the show was the “Contact Loss” “WABMC” and “WDG.” Don’s portion of the evening was another highlight. “Perfect Strangers” was impressive. Then we got “Lazy”. What maded this so good was the Conductor played a Violin solo and got into a lick for lick with Steve. A win win for everyone. The next song that caught me off guard, because I feel it need’s to be put out to pasture with a few other old warhorses was “Space-Truckin”. It was a hard hitting rocker that was played straight ahead leaving me breathless. I came away with a new found respect for that number!

This was followed what has become the “Bring the house down number” around the world. SOTW. As noted by others, the band has been a little caught off guard by the lack of a explosion on the audience’s part. They tend to view it as another great song. The song that get’s the reaction the group is looking for is “Hush”. Hush was a huge hit here in the States back in ’68 and is still in most Radio Stations song rotations.

“Hush” is part of the Encore. Which started off with “Going Down”, “Hush” and another crowd pleaser “Black Night”. All in all a great show. Perfect view and sound. I had a chance to move and stand at the Stage-no security guards- I was on Steve’s side. Facing him from the 4th row. To move there would have block the view of a elderly couple that was there with their two daughters both in their late 50s. A few others had stood in front of them but, out of consideration moved. So, I stayed put. No harm. Steve looked dead at me. He was throwing out Picks. I held out my arm for the throw. It sailed wide left. He shrugged as if, “oh well”. Another personal highlight for me was Ian Gillan pointing at me. He had glanced at me,so I waved. That was when he pointed and nodded. I will remember. Of course, that was Thursday. They played last night and tonight ends the tour. Quite a few people were doing the Trilogy. All three West Coast shows. The guy sitting in front of me was staying to see RUSH in Vegas last night then DP tonight.

I got to see them. Up close and personal.
I was and I am satisfied….till next time.

While in New York, Steve Morse spoke to Joe Bosso of Music Radar with the extensive interview now appearing on their web site:

The band is currently working on a new record. How far along are you with things?

We’ve got the music pretty mapped out for the majority of the recording. The goal on this album isn’t to stretch out to new heights; it’s more about revisiting the roots – riff-oriented blues rock. Heavy stuff, you know?

I know you said the band encouraged you to be yourself on stage, but when writing with the group, is the atmosphere the same?

No, writing for Deep Purple is much different than playing with them on stage, and it’s very different from writing for a Steve Morse solo album. I think it’s good for musicians to understand the particular situation they’re in and what’s expected of them. The band wants me to come up with lots of ideas, the vast majority of which never get used.

My way of doing that has been a bit of a shotgun approach: I just hit them with tons of ideas and see what really sticks. One thing I like to do – and I’ve encouraged the rest of the guys to do this, too – is to only bring in snippets of things, not finished tunes, because people might only like this bit or that bit. They might not like an entire song. Giving them sections is a cool way for everybody to contribute and truly make a song ‘Deep Purple.’

Read more in Music Radar. There’s lots more and it’s interesting stuff.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

The budding anthropologist in me (with no thanks to Dr. Brennan) says — here’s a fine specimen of the infamously dry British humour:

Thanks to Deep Purple YouTube channel for this gem.

Date: 2011-03-23 and 25
Venue: Olimpiysky Sports Complex (Moscow) and IEC (Kiev)
Moscow, Russia and Kiev, Ukraine

This year I decided to go and see two Deep Purple gigs in the same tour – in Moscow where I live and in Kiev. They were my 6th and 7th Deep Purple concerts correspondingly. My desire to see Kiev and the fact that there was also a concert of Nazareth on the same weekend were two other good reasons which made the decision to travel from Moscow to Ukraine much easier.

The concert in Moscow was on Wednesday, 23rd of March. It was announced to start at 19.00 which is very early for the business day, and therefore I had to run from work to be on time for the gig. Luckily there was a local support band playing, so I was not late for Deep Purple. By the time my friend and I entered the venue, which is a huge sports complex, the house was full. The audience being not very excited with the performance of the local band was impatiently waiting for the legends to appear on stage.

Deep Purple started to play at 20.00. With the first chords of Highway Star the crowd exploded! We managed to take a good position in the standing stalls to the right from the center of the stage, just a few rows from the front. Looking around at the crowd and seeing their happy faces singing together I couldn’t be other than happy myself. This kind of crowd unity filled with positive energy and mutual happiness always impresses me!

The gig’s set list was the same as in the previous concerts of the tour:

Highway Star
Hard Lovin’ Man
Maybe I’m a Leo
Strange Kind of Woman
Rapture of the Deep
Silver Tongue
Contact Lost
When a Blind Man Cries
The Well Dressed Guitar
Almost Human
Lazy
No One Came
Keyboard Solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin\\’
Smoke on the Water

Encores:

Hush
Bass Solo
Black Night

As I was following different reviews (including from my family and friends) about the latest gigs in other Russian cities (Yekaterinburg and St Petersburg) where the band played before Moscow, I was very much looking forward to the concert in Moscow and was wondering how Ian Gillan would sound (because of the different information from the previous gigs). And I must say Ian sang very well! It seemed to me that his singing was much better and stronger than in Samara last year. Though it may be due just as much to the sound settings and the position at the concert.

Steve and Don, as always, impressed me with their solos. Steve’s solo though was much calmer this time, without extra difficult passages, like before. It was an incredibly beautiful solo, very pleasant to the ears, but I wish it was balanced with some more active and virtuous guitar riffs. However, Steve showed his high guitar technique in the songs performance. Highway Star and The Well Dressed Guitar are the good examples. Gillan, as usual, during the latter song stood behind Morse and clapped his raised hands supporting Steve, and the crowd, of course, followed Ian by doing the same.

It was great in general to see how the musicians support and cheer each other during the gig, always smiling and interacting with the crowd charging us with the positive energy.

Don’s solo was fantastic, so powerful and diverse, that one moment the crowd was standing still and the other moment it was exploding with excitement. By the end of the solo Don played some low-pitched sound chords which made all the venue vibrating, and it seemed like the earthquake was about to start! Impressive! Hearing the famous classic tunes and the local song was also a pleasant part of the Airey’s performance.

It’s a pity that there was no Paice’s solo. However Ian was great even without it.

The new thing for me was Glover’s solo accompanied with Paice’s drums before the last song. Roger was sounding and looking superb! I like this musician very much; he is so kind and positive that it is visible even from the stage! In the end of the concert I caught Roger’s guitar pick which magically jumped off my hand and then flew back again. My friend also caught a guitar pick almost the same moment as I, which was thrown by Steve Morse. Her little hand was almost injured by the big boot while she was trying to get it from the floor, but in the end we both were standing happily with the guitar picks in our hands.

We got to meet with Don, Roger and Steve after the concert, and as the night before they had dinner with President Medvedev, they have shared their positive impressions from the meeting with us. In 30 minutes meeting they got to talk about rock music, politics and football, and the son of the President played guitar for them.

In the evening of the next day my other friend and I took a night train to Kiev to be on time for the next concert, on Friday, 25th of March.

When we arrived to the venue one hour in advance, we were caught off guard by the long line outside the venue. While we were waiting in the line the local support band was playing. Unfortunately we missed them, and later I found out that the band was quite good, and Don Airey even called them Ukrainian R.E.M.

Kiev’s venue was also a huge one, but it was a big exhibition center, so the acoustics there was not as good as in the venues specially made for concerts. We took a very good position in front of the stage, closer to the middle, and therefore I was even more happy and excited at the gig than in Moscow. However, this time Gillan’s vocals could be heard worse. Being closer to the stage we could also see that his shape is not as good as the shape of the rest musicians in the band. Nevertheless, the general impression about the gig was very good. Singing along Steve’s guitar during the Highway Star Ian sounded impressive!

I would also like to mention how the band acted when the security tried to push the crowd hard back (although the crowd didn’t really push forward): Ian Gillan and Steve Morse first with gestures and later with other methods tried to let the security know that it is not necessary to act so harshly towards the crowd. Musicians asked someone from their crew to talk to the security, but it didn’t work, so finally during one of the songs Ian without stopping singing a song went backstage, took his towel there, came back to the stage and thrown it into the security guy to attract his attention. In between the songs he also asked them from the stage to stop pushing us. The way the musicians acted really impressed me, and at the same time I was upset that these inhuman unnecessary methods are still used by the concert security in Kiev. They reminded me of my hometown concert security 10 years ago.

As about the rest, the show was similar to the gig in Moscow and other cities of the tour. I am very happy I got to see two of them – I’ve got twice as much positive emotions and happiness!

I’ve got to meet with Don, Roger, Steve and Ian Paice after the show. The band was very kind and sociable, as always. Don Airey was especially generous and kind to us and other guests (including the support band) doing everything to make us feel comfortable. We got to catch Paicey just before he left, and asked him, why there was no drums solo this time. Ian said he does enough work without it. Well, I completely agree with him!

I wish the great musicians good health and inspiration, and will wait for their next tour here.

Date: 2011-06-08
Venue: Bushnell Theatre, Hartford, CT, USA

I’ve been reading a lot of negative comments regarding the US tour. Well, I’ll tell you this my fellow dp friends/fans. These guys put on one of the best performances I have seen. And I’ve seen DP with the banjo player and with Steve several times.

The concert rocked from start to finish. Rapture of the Deep was great. No One Came – fantastic. I spoke with the band after the show and they said this was the best crowd response yet. I had 6th row, floor seats. The crowd rushed the stage by the 2nd song. On our feet the whole time. Mixed age’s. Packed house. Everyone was spot on!! Ian’s vocals were terrific, Steve’s guitar playing is second to none. Roger, well is Roger. Always having a blast!!

Don’t miss this show people, you’ll regret it. Long live the Morse Era!!

Date: 2011-06-06
Venue: Place des Arts, Montreal, Canada

I attended the Deep Purple with orchestra show in Montreal with family and friends last Monday. On the way to grab a quick beer and some food with my nephew before the show, our route took us right beside the Place des Arts venue. As I was stopped at a traffic light I looked towards the venue just as Roger Glover was exiting a vehicle and heading inside. Cool… had to be a good sign.

Eddie and the Automatics began their set at 8 pm sharp. Two former members of Boston in this group and the 9 minute Boston medley was outstanding. Deep Purple took to the stage at 9 pm. The set began with the 20 something piece orchestra playing and then the band began with Highway Star. They looked and played with great energy and, as usual, great proficiency. I had thought the orchestra might take the edge off the sound a bit but I was wrong. The songs were tight and the orchestral accompaniments were well timed and sounded great. The venue, normally reserved for jazz and classical music acts, provided a great setting for the show. The capacity for the arena was around 3000 and the show was sold out.

We met the band after the show, thanks to Roger Glover, who I first met in 1982. Everyone came out except Ian Gillan. We talked about touring (the guys have been out for 10 months now), Roger’s latest addition to the family, Colin Hart’s new book and what it was like to play with an orchestra. I spoke to a few of the orchestra players and they were thrilled to be a part of the show. In all the years I have seen this band, I am really happy that they are still having fun with the music and that they can still bring it night after night. If you get a chance to see this tour I highly recommend you do. It was nothing short of magical.

Date: 2011-06-18
Venue: Ravinia Festival
Highland Park, Illinois, United States

Me and my wife ventured on a 9 hour trek to see our heroes. We stayed a few miles away from the Park, in the Marriot Courtyard Hotel. They offered a shuttle service to and from the event for the Hotel Guests. Upon climbing aboard the van, with a few other concert goers, we began chatting about the upcoming show and I had also made mention that I had just seen ‘Black Country Communion’ at the Pageant Theater in St. Louis, Missouri. Then, a dude in the back of the van asks…. ‘Are you Tracy Heyder aka Zero the Hero?’ I turned and acknowledged as so, and it turned out that the Dude was none other than ‘Stoffer’ whom frequents THS and that I have had many a correspondence with there. With him was his wife and son. What were the chances of that meeting taking place? AMAZING!!! We chatted on the way and got some pictures together. Still can’t get over the chances of that taking place.

The show was to begin at 7:30 pm with an opening act…. “Ernie and the Automatics”. We didn’t see much of them due to taking in the park, eating their fine food, and drinking their beer. We did decide to go ahead and take in the last few songs though, and it turns out, they were quite good. A mix and match of some old veteran rockers. The original drummer for Boston and also Barry Goodreau from Boston. Didn’t catch who else was in the band, but they actually were quite good. They played some Boston tunes and others from the bands the others were from.

What a great venue this is. They have 3 concert stages. Purple played in the ‘Pavillion’. Perfect size for some good viewing and listening, no matter what seat you are in. The park is scattered with high tech speakers throughout, so you can hear the music anywhere in the park with super high quality sound. Amazing. They allow you to bring in your own food, blankets, booze, whatever, and sprawl out just soaking in the music and festivities. In our case, we had pretty good Comp. tickets and also after show guest passes, thanks to Roger…..

Now for the review…..All I can state here is…. “YEEEEOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!”

I really didn’t know what to expect. I had my reservations regarding the Orchestra thing. I was afraid they were going to water down the songs. Man, was I wrong!! They used the Orchestra just as I had hoped. They came in with the right stuff at the right time. Nice soft nuances during the suttle parts and booming in during the heavy parts. Truly a welcome addition to the show, and they also seemed to enjoy themselves.

Set List:

1. Orchestral Intro with Short Smoke on the Water

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 – with Morse solo ending

9. When A Blind Man Cries

10. Well Dressed Guitar

11. Knockin’ at Your Backdoor

12. Lazy

13. No One Came

14. Don Airey Solo

15. Perfect Strangers

16. Space Truckin’

17. Smoke on the Water

ENCORE

18. Hush – with Going Down intro

19. Black Night – with Glover Solo intro

The band was on fire. They played as well as I have seen them play and changed up many parts of the songs regarding solos and structure. Ian Gillan was in amazing form. No kidding!! He hit the high marks very well and also did an outstanding job holding notes longer. Really did sing his ass off. Don Airey finally seems to have taken hold of his position. He stood out big time. He even got all animated and pushed the Hammond around during the solo and intro to Perfect Strangers. His rendition of Lazy was as fine as any I’ve heard, even from Lord. Don thoroughly stepped up and is not laying back anymore. The Best I’ve seen from him Period. Steve did the same. It’s as though after all these years, he has decided to step out of the ‘shadow’ and make these songs His. He showed his prowess and did so with a Hard Rock feel I haven’t heard from him till now. Roger and Ian were as usual…. the steady backbone and typical familiar rhythm section that defines Purple. Roger did quite a nice solo before Black Night. Ian did a short, but sweet solo halfway through Hush. One very cool thing that took place was the Conductor joining in at the finale of Lazy with a fantastic Violin Solo and Jam with the band.

My only complaints….

A little too short and hardly any songs from the Morse/Airey era.

The show clocked in at 1 hour and 50 minutes. Not too bad…. but I still think 2 hours should be the bare minimum.

Rapture of the Deep, Contact Lost and Well Dressed Guitar were the only songs from the Morse/Airey era. This is totally unacceptable. There is absolutely no reason for this. This is where the added time I expect would come in. Take the 10 or 15 added minutes, remove a couple of the Older songs and add 5 or 6 songs from the Mk7/8 albums. Half and Half would be awesome, but at least a 3rd of the songs should be from Mk7 and Mk8.

After the show, we got to go to the meet and greet for just a couple of minutes. Roger and Don were the only ones whom came in before they were rushed out by the management of the venue whom wanted to shut down and go home. For the few minutes we had to chat, they both expressed the fact that they have some songs put together and some jams that are in working progress. They both stated an album Will be out next year. Don seemed disappointed in the lack of an album for so long. Roger just basically confirms that they don’t rush these things and it’s something that they do when they feel ready. According to him…. they are ready now.

Aside from lack of MK7/8 songs, a fantastic show, and I am truly glad to have witnessed this performance. Don’t miss the chance to see these guys. They won’t be around forever, though the way they are playing, you wouldn’t know it….

Cheers,

Tracy Heyder aka (Zero the Hero)

On June 10, Roger Glover and Steve Morse stopped by the studios of the WAXQ-FM / Q104.3 radio station in New York City and joined Gerry Martire for a special Live At 5 before the band’s show at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. Differences between Concerto and current tour, having a little jam in G, chasing Ritchie with an armchair leg in hand — all that and many more in this entertaining interview:

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.