24/07/2011 Dolina Charlotty, Slupsk, Poland

What a pity. I didn’t know my brother would be in Slupsk. I’d buy three tickets, the more so as he’s never seen Deep Purple live, although he’s their fan, too. When we reached the venue, all tickets had been sold out.
Kruk, the support, surprised me a lot. I haven’t heard such music for years. They played famously! What’s more, their last song, Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and hell”, was dedicated to Deep Purple. An unbelievable band.
As for Deep Purple, they played very well as usual, although there was something wrong with Ian Gillan’s voice. He avoided high keys, sometimes spoke instead of singing, even sang out of tune (Woman from Tokyo)… “Hard lovin’ man” was too slow. “Maybe I’m a Leo” came out better, but the ending sounded very poor. “Rapture” was played too slowly again, and a bit dully. A few phrases were missing in “Knocking at your back door”. And Mr Gillan behaved unnaturally. He may have been overworked lately.
Well, since we’ve already grumbled at the weak points, let’s talk about the strong ones, as in general the band didn’t disappoint us. Those brilliant solos from Don and Steve! That unbelievable play from Roger before “Black night”! The fragment of the As major polonaise was much longer than usual, maybe on the occasion of the Chopin’s Year we celebrated in 2010.
But the biggest surprise of the year was a guest performance of that brilliant violinist. So far I’ve heard only “Smoke” with a violin. On 24th July more songs were played with that lovely instrument: “Lazy”, “Contact lost” (what cool solos!), “When a blind man cries”… It was fantastic.
Ian Gillan, after having a rest during Steve’s solo in “Lazy”, started singing quite well. “No one came”, “Space truckin’”, “Smoke”, “Hush”- sounded much better. People who don’t listen to rock often ask me if I shout and wave my hands during rock gigs. Yes, from time to time, but my husband does it better. I prefer singing and dancing, and I did it this time, too. Many people did it, the benches we were sitting on didn’t be any obstacle. Yes, Dolina Charlotty is an excellent venue for rock festivals.
Two hours of Deep Purple show, one hour of the support before, it was my best evening of the year. I only wish I could get some autographs from the musicians, especially from Roger Glover who has just released his new solo album. Maybe next time?
Many thanks to my brother for giving us a lift! If not for him, we couldn’t get out from the venue, as there is no bus communication there. By the way, although he couldn’t be at the show, he heard everything from his car. He was surprised by the repertoire, as he didn’t expected so many songs he’s fond of. He says he liked the show very much, so when the opportunity occurs, we’ll take him to another one.

-Joanna Ostrowiecka

In the latest installment of Road Life, Roger Glover shares with us events which happened to him during just one day on the road:

Anyway, we recently flew in for a gig at a spa resort in the countryside where a rock festival is annually held. The three-hour journey by van from Gdansk airport went smoothly enough, at least as far as I was concerned. Of the three vans (and a crew bus), one of the van drivers was an awful driver. When I say he was awful, let me relate how Don Airey and Steve Morse described his driving skills. He would come up behind a car much too fast, slam the brakes on, straining everyone’s seat belts, and wait until he had the opportunity to overtake. Then he’d hesitate too long and one can imagine him talking to himself, saying, “What kind of man are you? Go for it, you can make it.” By the time he had convinced himself that he had enough time to overtake, it was too late. He would pound on the accelerator, shoot forward with a stomach-churning lurch, veer around the other vehicle, scatter the oncoming traffic, and leave the passengers shaken but lucky to be alive. He was promptly ‘let go’ as nobody wanted to drive with him again.

Read more on RogerGlover.com. And once there, be sure to check the updated photo gallery.

Why on the street, you ask yourselves? Well, it is a bit macabre I must admit, but this phrase came to my mind on the way to the venue. When we were a few kilometers ahead of Kunzelsau, we saw thick black smoke in the distance. We first thought a barn or something is burning somewhere. Then the traffic stopped and 200 meters in front of us we saw a burning car in the middle of the road. Lots of fire engines, police cars and emergencies around. Must have been a terrible accident. And somehow – being on our way to hear ‘Smoke on the Water’ – ‘Smoke on the Street’ came to my mind.

The show itself was great. Ian’s voice was in best shape. Of course not as good as in the good ol’ times of the 70s, but this was one of his best concerts since the last 10 years I would say. Keep in mind he turns 66 next month!

The Setlist:
1. Intro by the orchestra
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. Steve Morse Solo (partially with orchestra)
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

Encores:
18. Hush
19. Roger Glover Solo
20. Black Night

It was the same as on the whole tour so far. Together with an orchestra it is rather difficult to change anything.

Well, the orchestra. It was there. We could see it. But we could not HEAR it unfortunately. For that the band, especially Don’s Hammond, was much too loud. Only during ‘Knocking at Your Back Door’ was it balanced and Don controlled himself, so that we could hear the riff being played by the orchestra. Some songs like Maybe I’m a Leo or Space Truckin’ they didn’t even play at all. Too bad.

Instead the violin solo of the conductor during Lazy was most impressive. Guitar and violin in a duel, now that’s really something new.

All together a successful evening. Even the weather cooperated. Just in time it stopped raining and in the crowd in front of the stage it was so warm, that we didn’t even need our jackets.

At the end there was a firework display, what inspired me to the second part of the headline: “Fireworks in the Sky”.

Helge, from Uhingen, Germany

The nominations are in for the 2011 Classic Rock Magazine Awards. The awards are chosen both by the magazine team and by polling the readers. There are several Purple related entries in the running. The categories you can vote in (and relevant entries) are:

• Best New Band
• Album Of The Year — BCC2
• Reissue Of The Year — Come Taste The Band
• Film/DVD Of The Year — Phoenix Rising
• Band Of The Year — Black Country Communion

You can vote from anywhere in the world. And you don’t even have to be a subscriber.

http://awards2011.classicrockmagazine.com

Thanks to glennhughes.com for the info.

Here are a couple of videos from the Black Country Communion gig in Copenhagen on July 12 (the one that Svante was tweeting live).

Man in the Middle:

And a very fiery rendition of Burn, with Søren Andersen guesting:

Thanks to kingkeld for the video and to Daniel Bengtsson for bringin it to your attention.

It struck me the other day that we at THS have seen Deep Purple an awful lot of times throughout the years, but at each concert there are people there seeing the band for the very first time.
Have you just been to see Purple for the first time? We’d like to hear about your experience, so head on over to the reviews form and let us know how it was!

Amphitheater
Gelsenkirchen
Germany
20-07-2011

The whole day it was raining in Eindhoven. And when we left to Germany, Gelsenkirchen at some places it was still raining and busy on the road. In Gelsenkirchen no rain the whole concert. It was awesome Steve Morse a lot of solo’s, same as Roger Glover when he communicate with his guitar to the audience. And Ian Gillan on that age and still can ROCK!! like that respect for him. The orchestra was also very good. The conductor battled on his violin with Steve Morse it was nice to listen to it. So a perfect night, a perfect group, and a perfect orchestra.

I want to thank DP for a great night and the best father (my dad) of the world who recommended me to listen to Deep Purple and thanks to that they inspired me to play guitar.

I hope everyone enjoyed it to!!

Greetz,

Robbert Zwart

And till 2 December in Gelredome, Arnhem, The Netherlands DEEP PURPLE!!

As we’ve reported previously, this past Friday, July 15, Jon Lord was awarded a honorary Doctor of Music degree by his home town’s University of Leicester. Local press covers the event; Leicester Mercury writes:

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was in Leicester on Friday. You may have heard about it, seeing as news of his honorary degree from the University of Leicester seemed to be plastered everywhere.

Slipping under the media radar, happy to play a low-key second fiddle to the man from South Africa, was Jon Lord; Leicester-born keyboard maestro in Deep Purple and Whitesnake, bona-fide rock ‘n’ roll star and, pleasingly, an allround decent, stand-up chap. Tutu may have stolen the next day’s headlines, with his smiley charm and theological bonhomie – “he was nice, but he smelled of churches,” said one onlooker – but the real story here was Lord and the homecoming of a musical hero, now the proud holder of an honorary Doctorate in Music from the University of his home town. “It means,” says Lord, old eyes lighting up with infectious enthusiasm, “that even though I am clearly not, I can call myself a doctor. Imagine that.”

Read more in Leicester Mercury

This is Lecestershire:

A rock legend has spoken of his delight at being made an honourary doctor of music by the University of Leicester.

Former Deep Purple and Whitesnake keyboard player Jon Lord, 70, had the doctorate conferred upon him in a ceremony at De Montfort Hall yesterday.

Jon, who played Hammond organ on iconic tracks such as Smoke on the Water, said: “It’s indescribable. It was such a surprise when they offered the honour to me a couple of months back – I was genuinely and overwhelmingly thrilled.”

Read more in This is Lecestershire.

Update (July 26): University of Leicester has posted a video of the ceremony:

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

Houston Press has a rather favourable review of the recently released Phoenix Rising:

Phoenix Rising details the “untold story” of DP Mk IV, first with Deep Purple Rises Over Japan. The 30-minute concert film, originally shot for movie theaters but not released until 1985 – this was before MTV and YouTube, kiddies – has the band blasting through “Burn,” “Love Child,” “You Keep on Moving” as well as earlier lineup hits “Highway Star” and (of course), “Smoke on the Water.”

The performance is fully restored and remixed, and it’s fascinating to watch how commanding the pre-Whitesnake Coverdale, all of 24 at the time, is as a front man.

Read more in Houston Press.

Thanks to Bob Ruggiero for the info.

Euronews has a news report on the closing of the 45th Montreux Jazz Festival featuring our heroes:
Continue Reading »