The are more developments in the Fall tour schedule:

• All Russian dates in October are now confirmed.
• Another gig has been confirmed for Israel: Caesaria on September 18. Please note, that the September 7th show in Caesaria has disappeared from the tour dates list on both official sites, despite the claim by Jerusalem Post that it is going ahead. So far, this leaves us with 3 confirmed shows in Israel (Sep. 8, 9 and 18) and one unconfirmed (Sep. 7)
• The gig in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia on Sep. 5 also had disappeared from the official listings. However, we have an unconfirmed report that it is being rescheduled for September 7. We are trying to verify this story.

Please report of any developments in the local press to our news crew.

This concludes our mix of fact and rumour for today.

Thanks to Jerusalem Post, deep-purple.ru and deep-purple.com for the info.

Some time in late July, Paicey spoke to the Jerusalem Post, who have just published his interview in anticipation of Deep Purple’s visit to Israel:

When Roger and I play together, it’s like second nature. We don’t even have to think about it. When something’s about to happen, we know about it, even if we don’t know exactly what it is that’s going to happen. Sometimes it’s in relation to just one note and the way it’s played, and you react immediately in the same way, two musicians locking in.

I wouldn’t want to pontificate because usually my way is the wrong way – except for me. I don’t play the bass pedals the right way, I don’t hold the sticks the way they should be held. What I try to do is give information about drumming so a young drummer will have an idea of what he’s getting into.

Read the full inerview.

Thanks to Blabbermouth.net for the info.

Roger contemplates the end of the tour leg:

If you think I’m going to sit here and look for words of complaint about the rapid passing of time, you’d be right. I realise that the precious time spent with my mother before she passed away took a large chunk out of the year but even so, I find myself looking at September coming around when I had barely kissed goodbye to January.

Read the whole message at rogerglover.com. Ah, and in case you’ve missed it, there’s been a big Chiaroscuro update there.

My previous copyright rant sparked a lively discussion with Mike Eriksson who argued

Personally, I still buy my music and my DVD´s and I do not like all this downloading. If somebody, like this author, wants to give his stuff away for free, good. The problem arises when somebody wants his or hers work protected…

To which I’ve replied that artists who are actively fighting the free (as in free beer and as in free speech) sharing of their works are extremely shortsighted.

Ars Technica has a report from the frontline trenches of the music business (if you go there, make sure you read both parts). The report hails the times they are a’ changin’, where “from distribution to promotion to actually making money, indie bands are doing more than just getting by without the major labels—they’re actually thriving” with the help of not only such services as Tunecore, CD Baby and the venerable Myspace, but also using the power of, ahem, free downloads to promote their music:

Not only do many indie artists hate DRM, but they view P2P is a force to be harnessed, not something to waste energy fighting. The folks from Panda Riot recounted a story about their album showing up on BitTorrent and a number of other P2P networks—somehow, they found a site that listed how many times the album had been downloaded and they saw that it was relatively high. “At first, we were going to send a takedown notice, but then we decided to keep it up and see what happens,” Cook said. So… what happened?

“Well, our sales doubled.”

To anybody who is following the copyright debate here in Canada, this should not come as a surprise. In 2006 Canadian Recording Industry Association (which comprises Canadian subsidiaries of the Big Four labels) commissioned a study on the effects of digital piracy on their bottom line. The big labels being what they are, of course concluded that we need new draconian laws to protect their business models and enable their wet dream — so that customers would have to pay repeatedly for the same product. However, the study contained some very interesting numbers, which led to the following analysis from Prof. Michael Geist (University of Ottawa, School of Law):

In summary, CRIA’s own research now concludes that P2P downloading constitutes less than one-third of the music on downloaders’ computers, that P2P users frequently try music on P2P services before they buy, that the largest P2P downloader demographic is also the largest music buying demographic, and that reduced purchasing has little to do with the availability of music on P2P services.

Coincidentally, free sharing solves two major problems on both sides:

• On the musicians’ side — the biggest problem is not piracy, but obscurity. Even for well established bands like our heroes, vast majority of the people who have not bought Rapture of the Deep are not those who downloaded it illegally, but those who haven’t even heard that Deep Purple have a new album out.
• And on their, errm, consumers’ side, the biggest problem before the advent of free downloads was very low availability of the “try before you buy” concept as applied to music.

That’s why I am still convinced that the artists who oppose to free distribution of their works have every right to do so, but it is extremely shortsighted to do so.

Not every right that you have should be exercised all the time.

I attended the gig in Copenhagen with a VIP-ticket.

Very excited to see the backstage and meet DP. At 6 PM I met other VIP-fans and this was very fine to talk to other big fans of DP. We got a tour by Gordon from the DP-staff and he did a real good job showing us all the soundboard, the whole stage with stories to the keyboard, guitars and drums. Good stories.

Afterwards we went backstage and said hello to the members from DP. Very very nice people and down to earth; made the time to sign autographs and talk about whatever we asked about. To the Lord of DP; Mr. Roger Glover I showed an old photograph of my bedroom 35 years ago in 1973 when I was 13 fully plastered with posters of DP! He thought it was a funny story from an true devoted old fan.

Good talks with all the members; Steve, Ian, Don, Ian and Roger about lots of things. And then the show: full energy from the very beginning and with that energy it was very hot and humid in the hall!

I enjoyed especially well dressed guitar, sometimes I feel like screaming, Ian’s drums, Roger’s solo before Black Night (I must say that Steve has a competitor in Roger when it comes to big sound from a guitar!). I whish there was more volume to Don’s keyboard; he deserves it.

This was my 12th concert starting in 1975 with Coverdale, Hughes, Blackmore, Lord and Paice, and the energy and excitement is still there.

Looking forward to more concerts and a new record

Søren Mørup from Denmark

A great, fantastic show really from Deep Purple at the Steinkjer festival 120 km north of Trondheim.

They started at 22.00 hrs sharply, and since the nights here in mid-Norway now are becoming darker again, the light show really came on during the concert. It was a clear and beautiful late summer evening, and 6.100 people enjoyed every minute of the group’s performance.

The set list (see below) had no big surprises, Perfect Strangers was included, which indeed is a concert favourite among the fans, and three encores were given (Mary Long, Hush and a lenghty Black Night with Steve Morse and the audience exchanging play and sing along responses – great fun for all!).

Good sound all through the concert, and Ian’s voice was in top shape. The band was very pleased with the show themselves afterwards, and I think no one went home that night disappointed, but instead enlightened highly by Deep Purple and what they still represent. For many it probably was a ‘first’ of seeing Steve Morse and Don Airey live, and Steve does not fail to impress any ‘newcomer’.

Many young people attended and there is clearly a new ‘Purple generation’ experiencing and following the band nowadays. Personally I think this concert was even (slightly) better than the one I attended in Montreux in July.

Norwegian television filmed part of the concert and aired a short clip of it on the 23 o’clock evening news at main channel NRK1, and the local NRK radio and most of the mid-Norway newspapers in Trondheim and Steinkjer had long pre-show articles, interviews and good and positive reviews the day after.

Deep Purple, Steinkjer Festival 15 Aug 2008, 22.00-23.45.
Set list:

Fireball
Into the Fire
Strange kind of woman
Rapture of the deep
Kiss tomorrow goodbye
Contact lost / Steve solo
Well dressed guitar
Sometimes feel like screaming
Wring that neck
The Battle rages on
Don Airey solo
Perfect Strangers
Space truckin’
Highway star
Smoke on the water

Encores:
Mary Long
Hush
Black night

Thanks Deep Purple!

Hans Peter Jenssen
Trondheim

An alternative version of the No, No, No video from September 1971 performance at the Beat Club:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGrlUqOOTRw

Thanks to Jim Collins for spotting this one.

A Gibraltar website reports that Deep Purple concert on September 11 in Marbella, Spain has been rescheduled to September 12th at the same venue (Plaza De Toros in Estepona) “due to rescheduling of the band’s tour”. Tickets already purchased for the 11th September in Estepona will now be valid for 12th September. This will be their only date in Andalucia, chosen because it is a charity event (a donation from this concert will for to children’s charities.)

We have also received venue and ticket info for the September 15 gig in Palma de Mallorca. The show will be held at the Palma Arena (cap. 4,500) and tickets are on sale at €39 for arena floor and €95 for a seat with “VIP package” (no it’s not the DP VIP package, it just allows early entrance to the arena and some free drinks, but no access to the band).

A Japanese group has Youtube’d their own feisty instrumental take on Deep Purple’s Burn – complete with special slowed down guitar lesson at the end.

I guess we get the best of both worlds on the current DP tour. The energy level is high and the setlist is interesting enough to enjoy even after 40 years(!). In Copenhagen we got the kind of show we expected – with dynamics, humor, improvisation and virtuosity.

The setlist is working fine to build up the atmosphere as you get (no formula here) 3 classics, 2 new songs, 2 slow ones and 2 instrumentals before we get the audience participation bit. The setlist is already widely known – see other reviews.

But it takes some courage to rely on 6 NOT sing-along-songs in a row and still expect people to be going crazy from one second to another in the middle of The well-dressed Guitar, following Gillan’s instructions to join in. IG has the courage and it happened.

In Sometimes I feel like Screaming I think there was a bit of confusion in the band and it sounded different as some parts were being left out, but then again we want something new and may be an apt title would be Sometimes I feel like playing something else…

One of the most enjoyable parts of the evening was Roger’s solo before Black Night. He was totally into it and played some raw stuff sounding very heavy and melodic at the same time. More of that, please. Paicey delivered as well and this rhythm section is hard to beat.

Wring that Neck was an interesting choice and could be the next vehicle for duelling between Steve and Don. Actually we never heard their interpretations of this piece in full length, so this is an opportunity!

Gillan has been pointing out that the audience nowadays is ranging from 18 years to whatever. If you haven’t been to the gigs I can assure you that they are selling t-shirts in all sizes incl. S and I was next to 2 Swedish guys 10 and 12 years old wearing the new DP t-shirts, so this is the way of the world.

Per Eidnes Sørensen/CPH

Speaking of age differences, Rasmus Heide caught this couple in the front row: