What really impressed me about the concert was how tight the band was. These guys are one of the best live acts around. The other thing that was great to see was the smiles, laughter and respect for each other. They were having a great time on stage. The crowd were more into this concert than the previous 3 I’d seen. I think they need to visit the Middle East more often.
I’ve been a great fan of DP for many years and have been fortunate enough to see them 4 times 1984, 1993, 2003 and most recently last weekend in Dubai.
Having read recent comments about Gillan’s voice in Agentina I was a bit concerned before the concert but I am very pleased to report he came through with flying colours!! He sounded great and had plenty of punch when required!
As for the set list it had the usual minus – Wrong Man, Pictures of Home, Mary Long. Highway Star kicked it off then Things I Never Said, SKOW, Into the Fire… Ted the Mechanic and Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming were there as was Contact Lost.
A great heavy version of Space Truckin lead by Roger Glover with a heavy base sound. Smoke on the Water was followed by an encore of Hush and Black Night!!
Don’t give up on these guys yet. Fantastic show!!
We have a whole lot of new and confirmed European tour dates. Deep Purple’s itinerary now looks like this: end of August / Early September they play a couple of open air festivals in Switzerland, then Fête de l’Humanité near Paris, followed by arenas in Barcelona and Madrid. Then off until the British dates in November (second gig at Hammersmith has been confirmed as well). After the UK, they are heading to the continent once again, first to Antwerp and Amsterdam, then Scandinavia. The band will round off the year 2009 by playing 6 dates in brand spanking new French arenas (in fact, so spanking new that half of them still feature as construction sites on satellite maps).
Full details in our Purple Calendar. As usual, please mail any additions, corrections and ticket info to the tourdates editor.
Blackmore has issued a statement through his lawyers in reply to Gillan’s interview to Rockpages.gr which was published in October:
In an interview he gave to a music website recently, Ian Gillan made a number of comments about Ritchie Blackmore that twisted facts and which require setting the record straight.
Read the whole thing at Rockpages
Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.
It appears that Ticketmaster is selling tickets for the second night at Hammersmith on November 15. The tickets quietly went on sale on Wednesday and are all seated this time.
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Promotion for the Ian Gillan’s album One Eye To Morocco goes into full swing. Tonight, Saturday, March 21, starting at 6pm he will appear in a 2 hour special on Rock Radio in Scotland:
Ian takes over the airwaves to celebrate the release of his new solo album, One Eye to Morocco, next week. During the show he plays some of his favourite tracks and talks about why they’re important to him.
The show will be repeated on Sunday, March 22, at 8pm on Rock Radio Manchester. You can listen to both broadcasts online if you’re in the UK, and as we’re told by the Rock Radio, there’ll be a chance to listen again afterwards.
We apologize for such short notice.
Rock Radio has also put together a Ian Gillan special on their website.
Decent promotion has paid off in other countries. One Eye To Morocco has entered the German album chart at #97. The chart is compiled by a market research company Media Control GfK, although the full 100 long entry list is only available to subscribers. Let us know how the album is doing in your country.
Thanks to Lisa Johnston and Blabbermouth for the info.
On April 17 Italian label Frontier Records is releasing the second Sunstorm album called House of Dreams with Joe Lynn Turner on vocals.
The Sunstorm project came to being in 2006 when Turner accepted Frontiers President Serafino Perugino’s concept to “blow the dust off” from songs that Joe wrote for the aborted follow up to his 1985 solo debut Rescue You. This resulted in the first album simply called Sunstorm.
The new album apparently follows the same formula, with some tracks dug up from JLT’s archives and some contributed by other musicians.
Track list and preview:
- Divided
- Don’t Give Up
- The Spirit Inside
- I Found Love
- Say You Will (Jim Peterik)
- Gutters of Gold (Jim Peterik)
- Save a Place in Your Heart (Paul Sabu)
- Forever Now (Paul Sabu)
- Tears on the Pages (Jim Peterik, Jon Lind and Russ Ballard)
- House of Dreams
- Walk On
(Co-)writing credits appear where appropriate. Brothers Tom and James Martin (House Of Lords, Khymera) wrote the remaining tracks.
Artist: SUNSTORM featuring Joe Lynn Turner
Title: House of Dreams
Label: Frontiers Records
Format: 1CD
Music Style: Melodic Rock
Release date: April 17th 2009
Cat. #: FR CD 409
Cod: 8024391040928
Special Notes: Features sticker with lineup info
Producer: Dennis Ward
Guitars: Uwe Reitenauer and Thorsten Koehne
Drums: Chris Schmidt
Keyboards: Gunter Werno
Thanks to Frontier Records, Lisa Walker and Gustavo Solinas for the info.
Belgian radio station Classic 21 has a special for One Eye To Morocco. You can watch Gillan’s interview undubbed, and our francophone readers will certainly appreciate the text. See and read it at classic21.be (you might need to scroll down the page a bit).
Thanks to Valerio Dossini for the info.
In the latest issue of the Polish Teraz Rock magazine (March 2009) there is a very interesting three page interview. Ian Gillan and Wieslaw Weiss are talking about One Eye To Morocco and some other things. Plus a few fine photos.
Thanks to Joasia Ostrowiecka for the info.
Judas Priest have announced on their official website some North American tour dates, starting July 1st and going into the early August. They have also stated that they will be touring with Whitesnake for most of the dates, but not all of them. So far, there is nothing on Whitesnake.com.
Thanks to Blabbermouth.net for the info.
In case you’ve been wondering what that after gig moment was all about, here is the explanation — Battle Rages On at the Cosquin Rock Festival as shown on Argeninian TV. Brings back painful memories of Hammersmith’2002.
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Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing