Steve Morse will hold a guitar clinic in Stuttgart, Germany this Saturday, November 8. The Clinic will be at the Liveclub Samba, Max-Eyth-Str. 54 (Industriegebiet Langes Gewand), Winnenden. Doors open at 15:00, clinic will start at 16:00. Free admission. The clinic is sponsored by Engl and Soundland. Call +49 711-510980-0 for more info.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for info.

Whitesnake has won the Album Of The Year for the Good To Be Bad at this year’s Classic Rock Roll Of Honour awards. Here’s a picture of one very happy Mr. Coverdale collecting the prize.

Other celebrated glitterati included Ozzy Osbourne (living legend award), Foo Fighters (band of the year), Paul Stanley (best showman), Airbourne (best new band), AC/DC (DVD of the year for Plug Me In), Metallica (reissue of the year for the first three albums), Led Zeppelin (event of the yar for the O₂ Arena reunion show), Jeff Beck (outstanding contribution), Peter Green (classic songwriter), Harvey Goldsmith (music promotion), Wayne Kramer (metal guru), Cream (classic album for Disraeli Gears) and Slash (Marshall ‘11’ award). Syd Barrett was posthumously awarded the Tommy Vance Inspiration Award, which was collected by Syd’s sister.

The ceremony was held in London’s Park Lane Hotel and also celebrated 10th anniversary of the Classic Rock magazine.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson and BBC for the info.

Six months ago, when I bougth tickets I wasn´t sure whether the setlist would be worth the euros or not. With no new album around it would be either the same old ROTD setlist as in Kiel three years ago, or just another best of – revue, or so I thought.

I should not have worried. With a fun and energy level so high throughout a concert lasting for more than 125 (!) minutes Purple can do no wrong.

Glover pumped his bass right into our stomachs (especially during Wrong Man, Into the Fire and Black Night); Gillan screamed – not only sometimes – as if there was no tomorrow; Paice had our jaws dropped with his one hand drum roll. But the real star of the show was Steve Morse with new solos all over the place and a rhythm work more prominet than the whole rest of the lot.

My only complaint is that Don Airey was too far back in the mix with his otherwise brilliant keyboard work.

After the opening bravado of Pictures, Things and Into the Fire, SKOW was rearranged to almost a new song.

With five new songs (i.e. Rapture, Wrong Man, Contact Lost, Well Dressed Guitar and the Purpendicular stand out Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming) all in a row no one can say Purple ignore their Morse years. [By your standards Highway Star was a new song when the band reformed in 1984. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming is 12 years old. /Slightly Wiseass Ed.]

But the best was yet to come: Hearing long lost gems Wring That Neck, The Battle Rages On and Mary Long I was over the moon.

The mighty Perfect Strangers, Smoke and Space Truckin´ made a grande finale.

But the band was so fired up by the reaction of the capacity crowd in the sold out sports arena that they didn´t hesitate to return almost immediatly to the stage with a lengthy and true to the original version of Lazy; and singing along to Hush, Black Night and, finally, Highway Star we ruined our collective voices… So for each and everyone it was a night to remember.

Even more so for me, because for the first time I had my twelve years old son coming with me to see the band I loved and followed for a good third of a century (yes, I´m 47 years old – thanks but no thanks for asking).

Setlist in Hannover:

1. Pictures of Home
2. Things I never Said
3. Into the Fire
4. Strange Kind of Woman
5. Rapture of the Deep
6. Wrong Man
7. Contact Lost (w. Morse solo)
8. Well Dressed Guitar
9. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
10. Wring That Neck
11. The Battle Rages On
12. Mary Long
13. Perfect Strangers (w. Airey solo)
14. Smoke On The Water
15. Space Truckin´

16. Lazy
17. Hush
18. Black Night
19. Highway Star

Ernst Lüders, Hamburg

For years and years I am complaining about the seltist. And now the big surprise: Yesterday in Hannover I was absolutely satisfied with it.

Deep Purple gave us a two hour concert, Gillan in very, very good shape, the band superb. Highlight for me was Don´s solo spot. Crowd pleaser was – Smoke…

A good idea were the video screens on both sides of the stage.

A really well balanced setlist I think. There was very little chat between the songs, the first four songs were played in a row without a word from Gillan in between.

Maybe not in total correct order:

Pictures of home
Things I never said
Into the fire
Strange kind of woman
Rapture of the deep
Wrong Man
Contact lost (dedicated to Pyro)
Steve Morse Solo
The well dressed guitar
Mary Long
Sometimes I feel like screaming
The battle rages on
Wring that neck
Don´s Solo
Perfect Strangers
Space Trucking
Highway Star
Smoke on the water

Sadly we had to leave before the encores, because my wife didn´t feel well in the sold out AWD Hall. But from outside the hall we could hear them start with Lazy.

Our very own undercover war correspondent reports with a despatch from the New Forest:

In the 11th century on boggy marshland near the south coast of England, King William 1 created The New Forest. It came as quite a shock to the Boggy Marshans who’d been used to scraping a living on open ground.

Rapidly maturing trees had the civilizing effect of dividing a first nation into two tribes. When The Separation occurred over a dramatically short period, superstition and lifestyle adapted to the altered environment.

Read the parable on Caramba! Yes, there’s a moral to it.

Thanks to Steve Campbell for the info.

In the cockpit of a Tu-134, the “Russian GPS”, playing gargantuan arenas, and pondering finite moments of life — read all about it in the latest installment of Steve Morse’s Notes from the road.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

Here’s something for you to dwell upon — Gillan discussing everything from the current financial crisis to monogamy in a recent interview for the Russian Internet TV station Nevsky Express:

Thanks to Tatiana Marshanova (via deep-purple.ru) for the info.

…And sometimes they don’t.

While the setlist is one of the more favourite topics of lament on pretty much any Purple website and forum, sometimes they do feel like doing something a little bit different. SIFLS got two airings on the recent Ukranian/Russian tour. Here’s the second outing, which happened in Moscow on October 27:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr8UCh_faSo
The next day, in St.Petersburg, the band didn’t do SIFLS, but threw in about a minute long istrumental jam of Back In USSR to open the encores.

Thanks to deep-purple.ru for the info.

Klaus “Pyro” Porzia passed away. He was a great photographer and a dedicated Purple fan. One of us, people who love this band. I have met Pyro on several occasions while following Purple tours in Europe. He was always there, every single show, always with his cameras.

His nickname came from an incident before one of the concerts, when he accidentally put out his cigarette in a pyrotechnic contraption on stage, with spectacular consequences. Ever since everybody called him Pyro. He loved that name.

Steve Morse mentioned Pyro’s death in his latest note from the road and Roger Glover commemorated him on rogerglover.com. The band also have sent flowers to his funeral. They were the only musicians to do so. Nice touch on their behalf. The funeral took place on Friday, October 24, near Darmstadt, Germany.

You can see Pyro’s work at his Myspace page and in the artwork of recent Deep Purple and Gillan releases.

Rest in peace, Pyro.

Thanks to Michael Meier for the info and picture.

Steve Morse sends another message from the road. Junkyard Wars, “ticofi”, and in memoriam of Klaus “Pyro” Porzia — read it on stevemorse.com.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.