July 20, the hot summer day was a memorable day for Ian Gillan, Georgian fans and for Istanbul, of course. Why? Here’s a really great story how Georgian fans had a special meet&greet with Gillan in Turkey, before the show:

THE IDEA
I live in Tbilisi, Georgia. Unfortunately DP hasn’t visited our country, but we had a great time with Ian Gillan in 1990, in Tbilisi. He had 5 sold-out shows in Tbilisi Sports Palace as part of his [then] USSR solo-tour, and a great wedding with his wife Bron Gillan, in national Georgian clothes. Gillan’s and Bron’s wedding in our city was the event, we never forget, as well as Gillan & Bron theirselves.

Tbilisi is a real Purple city, but we had no chance to see DP. In January 2009 I read on ths.com DP coming to Istanbul and decided: “something gonna change, we should do something great”. I called to some of my friends and we began collecting Georgian fans to visit Istanbul for one Purple night. I began internet and outdoor promotion for the show, posted posters on Georgian sites, sent press-releases to georgian news-agencies and even published posters in Tbilisi streets. the result was – 50 Georgian fans, one full bus ready to go to Istanbul.

In April I wrote e-mail to Ian Gillan, telling him our preparation for the show and asking to tell us story of his wedding in Tbilisi. In 1 week Sally, Gillan’s PA answered me that Gillan was very happy for the letter and he would be in touch soon. So we had nothing more to wait for Ian’s answer.

THE GREATEST E-MAIL
On June 6 I received the greatest e-mail in my life, DP’s tour coordinator Kate notified me, Gillan was so happy for my e-mail, that he decided to meet all Georgian fans in Istanbul, before the show. It was the day I never forget. Georgian fans became crazy, waitting for July 20 to meet our hero.

MEETING WITH IAN
July 20 was a crazy day – 60 georgian fans were waitting at the back entrance of Turkcell Kurucesme Arena, where the show would take place after several hours. we entered the arena at 5:00PM, straight in front of stage waitting for Gillan. And he came.

Arena was deafen by our screaming when we saw the man himself – the greatest rock vocalist and our hero. He met us so warmly, kissing and huging, smiling all the way, signing tickets and CD’s, T-shirts and flags of Georgia. then Gillan told us the story of his visit in Tbilisi in 1990: “My visit in Tbilisi was fantastic, we [Ian & Bron] never forget our wedding and time we had there, great people, great city”.

Ian seemed to be in a huge emotions during talking to us. The biggest surprise was when we gave the photos of the wedding to Bron – she screamed: “ohh my goooodd” and began crying (Bron was there, celebrating 25th anniversary of their wedding).

All in all, the meeting was so emotional, I can’t express the emotions:

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INTERVIEW
after the meeting I had interview with Gillan. it lasted more then half hour (not 15 minutes as it was planned). When I told him, that i was George, he who wrote a letter to him in April, he huged me and said “Thank you George for your lovely letter, Internet is quite a good thing”.
Then I took photos with Gillan, he signed my ticket and my copy of Rapture of the Deep CD and said, that Bron was still in emotions after seeing those wedding photos which she had never seen.

After this super-emotional meeting and interview, we had left nothing more, to wait for the show. I’d admitt: 60 Georgian met Gillan, but all in all over 400 fans from Georgia were at the arena.

THE SHOW
And they came on stage. Deep Purple kicked off with Highway Star, unfortunately we could hear only bass and drum due to technical problems, vocs, key and guitar was hard to hear.
Things I Never Said followed and then the bombastic version of Wrong Man. At that time sound was improved and was brilliantly. Personal highlights from the show were Wrong Man, rapture of the Deep, Fireball, Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming, Well Dressed Guitar, The Battle Rages On, Perfect Strangers and Black Night.

The band was in superb form, as well as Gillan himself. he only had some difficulties during Space Trucking. even physically Ian was absolutely full of energy, running and jumping on the stage, enjoying the great 20 000 crowd.

the biggest surprise was when he said hello to the crowd: “he Heyyyy, hello Istanbul, Hello Georgia… Where’re you Georgian fans?” and the arena was deafen by our screaming after he said hello to us.

another highlight was Roger Glover, who was fully in fire, especially during Black Night – this is really Roger’s song, he conquerd the crowd.

the crowd itself was absolutely amazing – 20 000 people singing and shouting together, they were very responsive and loud, you could hear screaming of 20 000 people during EVERY song, including tracks from Rapture.

all in all, it was a fantastic meeting, fantastic interview, fantastic show and fantastic day, which we (together with Gillan and Bron) will never forget.

Ian and the purple boys, we Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank youuuuuuuuuuuuu, so much, it was unbelievable.

Setlist:

Intro
Highway Star
Things I Never Said
Wrong Man
Strange Kind Of Woman
Rapture Of The Deep
Fireball
Contact Lost
Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
Well Dressed Guitar
Wring That Neck
The Battle Rages On
Don Airey Solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Truckin’
Smoke On The Water

Encores:
Hush
Black Night

Glenn Hughes and Come Taste The Band.
Restaurant Løa, Vennesla, Norway, July 24th 2009.

Glenn Hughes and the Norwegian tribute band “Come Taste the Band”, delivered to expectations at Restaurant Løa, when they performed their tribute show; “An Evening of Deep Purple”.

I have seen Glenn H. and CTTB a couple of times before, and once again they really impressed me. From the first riff of “Stormbringer” to the last encore “Burn”, they played tightly with great energy.

Glenn H. is always acting very professional, and this time he really got the best out of CTTB.
I have never heard the band playing better, and they all seemed to play with great confidence. It looked as Glenn H. really enjoyed himself, when he performed this setlist of Mark III
and IV songs.

Those who also came to hear “The Voice of Rock” was not disappointed. His voice still reaches the highest notes, and during the concert, he did several great vocal improvisations., both rock and soul.

This is not Purple Mark III, but today this is the only chance Purple fans have, to hear one of the original members, perform a full setlist of Mark III/IV stuff. Glenn H.\’s great contribution to the show is vital.

I have already mentioned his brilliant voice, but he is still a fantastic bass player, with a spesial sound.

I had never before heard Glenn H. and CTTB, perform “Holy Man” and “What’s Going On Here”..

According to Glenn, (Jo Henning from CTTB told me), had Purple never played “Holy Man” live.
“What’s Going On here” was only performed a couple of times in the beginning of the Burn tour.

After the last encore, there were an great applause from the crowd, approximately 500-600.

Once again I went home after a memorable evening, still dreaming about a Mark III reunion.

Setlist :
Stormbringer
Might Just Ttake Your Llife
Sail Away
What’s Going On Here
Mistreated
Love Child (performed by Vidar from CTTB)
Getting Tighter
You Fool No One
Holy man
You Keep On Moving

Encores :
Soul Mover
Burn

Last weekend Deep Purple played at the Fête de l’Humanité festival just outside Paris. This cheeky video ad for the festival aptly illustrates how the music we love transcends ages, races and, ahem, political persuasions:

A live video clip from the festival offers a unique point of view that may or may not explain certain things:

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for spotting the ad and to zerockerparis for the live video.

On September 4 Ian Paice played another gig in Italy that for some reason went completely under our radar. He performed at a Roman club called Stazione Birra with a tribute band Hush. Keyboard player Gianluca Stabbi (from the Ranfa Blues Band) and guitar player Marco Carpita (from Blackmore’s Night tribute band Morning Star) were the special guests.

During the night there had been a moment of commemoration of Aldo Murgia, bass player from Orchydea (another Deep Purple tribute band from Rome) who was tragically killed last April. Little Ian himself handed the commemorative plate to his brother Filippo Murgia.

Setlist (might not be in the exact order):

Highway Star
Strange kind of woman
Child in time (guest Gabriele Pizzuti on bass)
Woman from Tokyo
Perfect Strangers
Mistreated
Fireball/Into the fire
Lazy (guest Gianluca Sabbi on keyboards)
Burn (guests Gianluca Sabbi on keyboards and Marco Carpita on guitar)
Speed king inc. drum solo (guests Gianluca Sabbi on keyboards and Marco Carpita on guitar)
Hush
Smoke on the water (guest Marco Armari – second drumkit)
Black Night (guest Marco Armari – second drumkit)

Regarding this particular version of Mistreated, it is peculiar how the band (an they are undoubtedly very competent musicians) take a back seat to the drummer on a tune which can hardly be described a drummer’s showcase. Meanwhile Paicey manages to turn it into one.

We’ll leave you with this energetic take on the Speed King:

Thanks to Francesco from deep-purple.it for the info, to nikos833 for the video and to Kevin Dixon for spotting it.

Back in 2003 ITV1 Wales did a documentary on Roger Glover. Now, with it’s appearance on Youtube, all of us who missed it on TV and on the bootlegger’s grapevine, have a chance to see it.

Thanks to landinleonardo for the upload and to Andrey Gusenkov for spotting it.

This one’s from Review Fix, and focuses on Classic Rock guitar players. Everyone has an opinion, to be sure, but this list offers justifications along with the names, which is a nice change from the usual here’s a set of names approach.

Read the details at http://reviewfix.com/2009/07/our-ten-best-episode-11-classic-rock-guitarists/

Rockpages Web Magazine in Greece conducted an exclusive interview with Ian Gillan before the recent band’s appearance in Athens. And as it is often with the Big Ian’s mind process it’s all in there — state of the British health care, prospects for a new album, the writing process, idiocracy, Cold War, and Darwin’s theory — mixed together and properly stewed in one big pot.

Rockpages.gr: Back to the 21st century and Deep Purple. Are there any plans of a new album?

Ian Gillan: I think it’s about time. Although, you can’t put the words “plan” and “new album” in the same sentence, when it comes to Deep Purple. I can smell it coming… there has been the occasional talk… we are thinking about October-November… that’s a good month for writing the new record.

Rockpages.gr: That means you don’t have any written material…

Ian Gillan: We never go into the studio with written material. We’d probably start recording next year. It shouldn’t take long… if you struggle to finish a song after 20 minutes, then forget it… destroy it… start something else. Otherwise, it becomes contrived and unnatural.

Perhaps Ian is just a tad too enthusiastic about the “October-November” timeframe, seeing as the band has only about 3 weeks free of touring commitments in the calendar between the September 24 Sunflower Jam gig (Paicey and Don Airey will be there) and the start of Steve Morse band tour in the US on October 15. Nevertheless, it’s encouraging to hear that the thought of a new album wasn’t abandoned alltogether.

Read the rest of the interview.

Thanks to Sakis Nikas for the info.

Don Airey recently gave an interview to Get Ready to Rock that covers a lot of his career, from the very first gig on a cruise ship to the recent (and now infamous) Oasis story.

What have been your highs and lows in the music industry?

Oh God! Well, the highs, they keep coming thick and fast with Deep Purple. We’ve just had an amazing thing happen to us, taking over from Oasis and getting away with it, at our age, very gratifying. When I first played with Purple with played a concert in a natural amphitheatre in Athens, against a backdrop of rock, 5000 people there, and a full moon. I’ll never forget it. And the keyboard solo I played “Never On Sunday”, they all went mad, it was wonderful.

Low points, I guess the gig after Randy Rhodes died, back out on the road, that was awful. There’s been a lot of low points actually. Some gigs I’ve done and I’ve thought “How’s it come to this?” But if you’re a musician that’s what happens, you just have to keep on going. Playing’s better than not playing, that’s the thing.

Got and read the whole thing, it’s well worth your time.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

German newspaper Suedkurier has an article going into further details of the fascinating story of quick thinking, snap decisions and triumph of open mind that resulted in Deep Purple headlining Rock am See festival in place of Oasis.

Here is the English translation:

Deep Purple save the “Rock-am-See” festival

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Oasis: Cancellation

Last Friday night, Oasis were supposed to play a concert in Paris. Shortly before their gig, the local promoters were informed of the cancellation. The game of domino had begun: At 0:30am, Dieter Bös, organizer of the “Rock-am-See” concert in Konstanz, received a phone call informing him that Oasis would not be playing there either. Bös says he started walking to and fro like a tiger in a cage, writing down names for possible replacement bands, but finally rejected them all. Then came the relieving idea: Deep Purple had played a gig in Arbon, Switzerland that Friday night…

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Deep Purple: Confirmation

So at around 2am Bös calls the tour manager of the rock veterans. At that time, Deep Purple are en route to their hotel in Zurich. Negotiations ensue. Offers are exchanged. Every half hour, the telephone lines between Konstanz and Zurich are busy. Six phone calls and a couple of e-mails later, at around 4:30am, Deep Purple confirm that they will play the gig. Dieter Bös is relieved. He sleeps for three hours and is busy again at 7:30am, instructing his drivers so that Deep Purple reach Konstanz safely. Actually, the band was going to fly back to the US from Zurich.

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Oasis have split — so what? For most of the about 20,000 fans at the “Rock-am-See” (“Rock at the lakeside”) festival, the news was no reason for bad spirits. They celebrated and enjoyed the nice weather and a strong line-up of bands.

What a night! Even one day later, Dieter Bös, business manager of the “Rock-am-See” organizers, can hardly believe what happened during the night from Friday to Saturday. “It was just surreal”, he says, tired, but relieved, during an interview with the Südkurier newspaper on Sunday. One day before, he had experienced the absolute worst-case scenario for a concert organizer: The infamous Oasis were to play the last gig of their world tour in Konstanz, Germany [It actually was the last but one. The very last one was a festival next day in Milan, Italy, where Deep Purple took headliner’s spot once again. — THS]. The media buzz was tremendous when the organizers announced the booking the well-known band — the joy and happiness lasted until about twelve hours before the start of the festival.

At around 0:30am (cf. chronology in the side bar), Bös received a phone call from Oasis’ management. The scheduled concert in Paris the night before had been cancelled, and the band around the constantly fighting brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher would not be playing in Konstanz either. Guitarist Noel Gallagher had announced earlier that night that he would quit the band, just three gigs before the end of their world tour. One week before, Oasis had cancelled their gig as top-act of the well-known Virgin festival in the UK. At that time, the official reason was: the singer Liam Gallagher is suffering from a laryngitis.

The organizers from Konstanz watched all of this closely. “I had hoped that they would end their world tour in a decent way” says Bös. It is pretty impossible to book a top band on a “maybe”-basis. “That doesn’t work. No band will play along with that” says Dieter Bös. So he took the chance, the anxiety grew with every passing day, and finally, Bös delivered what will probably be his organizer’s masterpiece: Within four hours, he brought a replacement headliner on stage — despite the difficulty that the expectations of fans of Oasis and Deep Purple are quite different. “Still”, says Bös, “I went to the festival area with much more anxiety this year. I had no idea how the crowd would react.” Would lots of plastic glasses be thrown onto the stage? Or would the crows just stand there in silence during Deep Purple’s gig? Oasis fans had traveled a long distance, even from Hamburg — how would they take the anger and the frustration?

What’s amazing: the rock seniors (average age: 61) took the festival arena by storm. Admitted, a part of the audience (about half of the crowd according to the police) left the area shortly before or during the Deep Purple gig, but the 10,000 people that remained celebrated a band that proved with a roaring gig that they are not too old to rock. One hit followed another (“Highway Star”, “Strange Kind Of Woman”, “Fireball”, “Hush”), and when the famous riff of “Smoke On The Water” filled the air, thousands were jumping with the rhythm of the music.

There’s no other way to put it: the organizers had a stroke of luck with this replacement headliner, and even fans that didn’t care about 70’s hard rock admitted that the elder gentlemen presented a phenomenal gig.

A possible alternative would have been to have the Swedish rock band Mando Diao as headliner and book a medium-class band as openers — but this was not possible since the five Scandinavians could not play that late at night due to other commitments. And apart from that: Mando Diao did not really live up to the expectations of a headlining band during their gig. They did deliver their well known hits (“Mean Street”, “Dance With Somebody”) in a powerful way, but too often they got lost in rather ineffective instrumental baublery.

Looking back, says Bös, everything turned out well. Deep Purple had fun, so did the crowd. Bös is relieved. And what about Oasis? There are rumors about discussions with the management concerning the “unprofessional conduct”. Possible consequences included. “That’s no way to treat your fans” says Bös.

Michael Lünstroth and Norbert Faulhaber

Thanks to Roger Glover for sending the article, to Lars Wehmeyer for his quick and excellent translation and to Andree Schneider from The Aviator for arranging it.

Showbiz oriented website Pollstar tells the story behind Deep Purple saving the night at the Rock am See festival:

Waking to a 2 a.m. phone call telling him Oasis wouldn’t appear at that day’s Rock Am See, it took Dieter Boes only a couple of hours to bring in Deep Purple as a replacement headliner.

“There’s not much you can do in terms of getting hold of people at that time of day, but then it struck me that Deep Purple had just played across the border in Switzerland,” he explained. “I tracked down the band’s tour manager and after I’d convinced him it wasn’t a joke, he got in touch with the individual members and they said they’d do it.”

Although Deep Purple isn’t an ideal replacement for Oasis in terms of musical style, Boes said he wasn’t exactly spoilt for choice and the U.K. rockers set went down a storm with the 20,000-plus crowd.

See for yourselves:

Thanks to windi11 for the video.