This morning, January 3, BBC Radio 4 broadcasted a programme celebrating 40 years of Heavy Metal, focusing on founding fathers: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Some short interview clips from the 80s with Robert Plant and David Lee Roth, plus new interviews with the Sab’s first manager and Gillan. Usual stories – why he quit, the story behind Smoke (Eden au Lac version) etc.

You can listen to the show at the Radio 4 web site (you can choose from Flash player with high bitrate and standalone RealMedia stream at 64 kbps max).

Thanks to Doug MacBeath for the info.

Intrigued by the daft packaging, priceless misletoe, silly chateaus and stupid seagulls? See more at CarambaTV.

Thanks to Steve Campbell for the info.

Christmas came early this year …

What would you think, if you get an sms telling you Deep Purple is doing a private gig tomorrow night and you’re kindly invited to it? April Fool’s Joke?

For me being a Purple fan for over 30 years (I’m 41) it sounded like heaven on earth. 20 hours later my brother and me saw a fantastic Concert in the Kongresshalle in Zurich.

The whole band seemed to enjoy the evening and played absolutely relaxed a couple of their greatest hits.

As a big Paicey fan a dream came true to watch one of the greatest rock drummers live so close. Thanks to little Ian for the drum stick!

For the encore songs Ian Gillan wanted us as close as possible near the stage and the crowd did so …

And last but not least: Thanks to the private banker and his friends who organised and financed this evening!

Cheers
Christian ‘Purpendicular’

Carrying on the Rapture of the deep world tour Deep Purple’s 34th show in France (in less than two years) took place in Le Mans, world-famous place of the 24 hrs car and motorcycle races: actually there couldn’t be anywhere better in this country to perform Highway star!

The arena named Espace Antares, usually designed mostly for sportive events (including frequent basket-ball matches), seemed smaller than expected (aproximately 3.500 people roomful) but revealed sufficient acoustics for the very warm audience to ensure a great concert.

Support band Cafe Bertrand was much acclaimed, and DP’s performance was the most wonderfull collective shock, for such rock legends had never been visiting this town.

Among his pals all at their very top, Ian Gillan confirmed himself as an astounding singer and sounded in better form than in Paris one week ago. As an unexpected gift in the set-list Sometimes I feel like screaming offered a shattering guitar solo though it was a quite short version.

Set-list:

Pictures of home
Things I never said
Into the fire
Strange kind of woman
Rapture of the deep
Mary Long
Kiss tomorrow goodbye
Contact lost
(Steve Morse solo)
The well-dressed guitar
The battle rages on
Lazy
Sometimes I feel like screaming
(Don Airey solo)
Perfect strangers
Space truckin’
Highway star
Smoke on the water

Hush (including Ian Paice solo)
(Roger Glover solo introducing:)
Black night

Purply yours
Gilles Colas

I went to Besancon for Deep Purple’s concert with my 14 year old boy who plays guitar. It was a fantastic moment I will remember all my life. I first saw Deep Purple a long time ago and they are still as excellent as they were at the time.

They are very friendly and communicative with the people even if they don’t speak French. It is evident they had a great pleasure to play together and they shared the fun with everybody in the audience. The songs are just a perfect choice and the show is very intense.

Great musicianship also which is usual with them. I saw many young and older people with the same smile on their faces, just like after making love. They gave us everything we need to be happy: a magical moment of rock with sensibility and heart.

Thank you so much for everything you give to all the people who love rock’n’roll all over the world.

Alain Gavignet

11 years after recording their famous live album “At the Olympia” Deep Purple came back to the most famous Parisian club for a brilliant sold-out show, without Jon Lord this time but introducing Don Airey to a mythic place of music and culture.

France was widely toured in 2006-2007, and this very date was particularly awaited by about 2.000 people challenging Rapid-Transit on strike to be part of this memorable stage of the “Rapture of the deep” world tour.

Usual French support band Cafe Bertrand warmed up the audience efficiently as ever. However resonance defects punctually occurred during DP show, surprisingly due to Olympia’s disappointing acoustics.

Other slight disillusions were Ian Gillan’s voice not at its very top (although much more audible than on recently-released “Live at Montreux 2007”) and the unexpected briefness of Steve Morse and Don Airey’ s solos.

The rest was real ecstasy and I doubt tracks like “Mary long” and “Loosen my strings” were for ages or ever performed in France.

Set-list:

Pictures of home
Things I never said
Into the fire
Strange kind of woman
Rapture of the deep
Mary long
Kiss tomorrow good-bye
Contact lost
(Steve Morse solo)
The well-dressed guitar
The battle rages on
Lazy
Loosen my strings
(Don airey solo)
Perfect strangers
Space truckin
Highway star
Smoke on the water

Hush (including Ian Paice solo)
(Roger Glover solo introducing:)
Black night

Purply yours
Gilles Colas

Very good, rather funny performance in Besançon. It was the final show of the French Tour. The show began half an hour before the previous time, and the set list was a little shorter than for the other French dates. The show was speed, but without Speed king …

Nevertheless the band was in good form and showed us a few moments of humor. Jokes like the arrival of Darth Vader when Don was playing his solo, including the Star Wars movie music …

Many people enjoyed the show in the full Micropolis. We all hope they come back to France as early as possible…

Fanny Boch & Jean-Richard Ringele

Johan and I arrived at 7 pm after a 3 hours drive (we got a ¾ hour traffic jam around Brussel). There were quite a lot of people; although when ordering a drink at the bar we did not have to wait. Yet half an hour later there was a queue already. The T-shirt sellers did a good job, shouting and luring people. The prices dropped by 5 euro compared to Roeselare 2004. I had a hard time choosing one; my wife will be happy: my 50th T-shirt!

The average age of the attendees was around 45, I saw young people of 10 years and even someone of around 70. Some men looked like half-bald and half-ponytailed weirdoes. Talking of which: Johan was wearing a Blackmore’s Night T-shirt. Some people were talking about this, in a way of: “this guy does not even know Blackmore is no longer in Deep Purple!” I don’t think they know Johan has seen Deep Purple over 100 times (if not more!).

A few minutes before 8 pm we heard some noise, the support (Café Bertrand, a French band) already started their part of the gig; while Johan and I emptied at ease our drinks: we are used that most Purple supports are shitty (except for Gotthard and Uriah Heep), and because we had numbered seats. When we came into the hall, it was completely dark and a lot of noise, or was it music?

After our eyes got used to the dark, we saw the arena part of the hall was already filled; and, because of the darkness and the steepness of the stairs, we could not find our seats,. So 3 minutes later we returned to the bar. I was glad we had seats because I felt a bit ill, and probably would not like it to be on my feet for the whole show. (Afterwards I was home on sick leave for more than a week).

After another beer (and half an hour) everyone returned to the bar, so we went looking for our seats, which were already taken by someone else. As our tickets and seats were numbered, they quickly changed places. Our places turned out to be great: the first row above the arena; we even had little foldable tables!

Useful to put my camera and writing stuff on. I only was afraid that people would be standing in front of us (there was a small path). By now the hall was even more filled with public, only a few seats –with bad view of the stage – remained empty. Apparently there was an audience of 5500 music lovers.

At 21:00 drums started rolling: the intro to PICTURES OF HOME. Nice view: all those little camera screens. We got a short solo from Steve, including a very short piece of Child in Time.
The song went straight into THINGS I NEVER SAID, again with a short solo from Morse. I think the audience quite liked the song, since it received a good applause.

Like we got used to (by the last concerts we’ve seen), they again directly went into another song: INTO THE FIRE. I had the impression Ian was slightly hoarse.

During STRANGE KIND OF WOMAN everybody was clapping along, which was a nice view from where I was sitting. I still like the new ending Gillan knitted at the song. But I do have to say, that so far, all this songs were played rather routine.

Now Ian spoke for the first time this evening: “Superb! Thank you very much! Alrite! Amazing…blah blah… And now the title track of our new record, it has been out for 2 years now RAPTURE OF THE DEEP” (this last he said in a very deep voice). It looked like things got more loose, and they did not take it no longer as a routine, perhaps they had to warm up, like a diesel car?

“We have 2 friends, people back from the sixties. They were puritans both, and they had 4 buttocks…huh?… Mum?!? (Laughter in the hall) I did not know you were coming tonight? I’ll throw 20 dollar. Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford…” Then he said something about 2 buttocks and 4 breasts. MARY LONG. Steve was fantastic again with a nice solo. I had a look at Johan and it looked like he really enjoyed himself as well. “That’s a true story, they were very rude, so were we, but they started it.”

Ian was rattling along about something I did not understand a word off. KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE. Love the heavy, bassy sound. Again I had the impression Gillan was struggling with the higher tones. But, hey! I am not complaining, after all he sang this kind of stuff since he was a young lad, and now he is 62! I hope that I will be as fit as he is when I will be 62 (in 13 years time)

“Kiss Tomorrow goodbye, what a morbid thought…blah blah… we all know that the price of petrol is more than 100 dollars… now I am gonna introduce you to the one and only Steve Morse” CONTACT LOST. This soon switches over to his terrific solo, including some dreamy stuff. And, this is quite a long time ago: the guitar parade! Please please me (The Beatles), Cat Scratch Fever (Ted Nugent), (Led Zeppelin), Sweet Child of Mine (Guns & Roses), Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix), …? And then into the majestic WELL DRESSED GUITAR. As usual this was the highlight of the evening, agreed by the complete audience, after this more than 12 minutes masterpiece, the applause was furious!

THE BATTLE RAGES ON, without his usual ‘and now from the four corners of hell”. Good one!

Then it was Don’s time to show what he is capable off, pity his intro lasted only about 1 ½ minutes. LAZY. Which was played fantastic. Everybody was clapping their hands during the song. I must say, although the venue being a sport hall, that the sound was great. And I was glad no one stood in front of us, on that foot path.

Ian again was babbling; I could not understand a word of it. LOOSEN MY STRINGS. Great to hear this one (as far as I remember well, I think for the first time). I “blame” it on the internet, I already knew that they were gonna play this song. Gillan was again struggling a bit with the higher notes, but it had something special.

“And now… Don Airey” With a real solo, he played a bit heavy classic stuff (Bach and Rachmaninov apparently), next was a piano recital which turned into one of Jon’s trademarks: boogie woogie. He really is the best continuator for Jon. Someone said he played even some Ozzy stuff. Apparently he also did something which is well known in Liège. And no Star Wars!!!

After a too short 4 minutes is was time for PERFECT STRANGERS now even without the blue spots, only white ones. I had the impression, during the intro, that the pictures on the video wall of Don playing was not completely matching the stuff we heard. Strange… (Or was it my imagination?). Maybe that was the reason why I found it a lesser performance of this song, which normally I love.

“and now we are gathered together… SPACE TRUCKIN’ . Always loved that one (except for Mk III, when it became too funky). It only lasted 5 minutes. Pity all songs are shorter than in the 70s. Wouldn’t that be a nice idea, for their last tour? Playing 15 – 30 minute songs like the good ol’ days? Again a huge response from the crowd.

HIGHWAY STAR. I love the ‘new’ long intro. Only Paicey gives away what song they will play. It takes 2 minutes before they launch into it. Brilliant!! The audience were having the time of their lives in the hot hall.

Steve started a sweet short slow, unknown to me, intro. Not even a minute later the whole hall exploded: SMOKE ON THE WATER. As usual a real crowdpleaser with everybody clapping and singing along. “Unbelievable, unbelievable, you are fantastic… We love you”

At 22:37 the first part was over.

A short 2 minutes later Deep Purple returned on stage. Roger’s roadie, wearing a chef’s hat, handed him over his bass. Paicey tried to juggle a drum stick, but sadly lost it. Don started a roundabout tune. HUSH. Nice one, including Ian’s infamous one handed drum roll during his solo. I do hope that the many pictures I took (1443!!) won’t be too shaky, because the bench we were sitting on was trembling all the time, with everyone clapping and tapping their feet.

Immediately Roger played his nice long intro to BLACK NIGHT. Pity it was the last song. It all ended much too soon at 22:55. Roger was the last one to leave the stage.

While we were having a beer, trying to avoid the traffic jam, we saw someone from the support, Café Bertrand, selling and signing t-shirts and so. We met Ron, a Dutch man whom we often see at gigs. The concert was good, not bad at all, seen them better, but seen them worse also. After a slowly routine start it got better and better.

Of the 1.443 pix I took, after a first check, I already binned 863. Now I’m gonna check them out some more, so when I keep about 100, that would be great. And yeah, I still enjoy a concert when I am taking photographs.

Michel de Pourq

Seeing Purple in 2007, after losing track for almost 15 years, is a unique experience.

Last time I saw them was February 1991 — was that Deep Purple? — all I can recall was the opening number, Burn — the rest was the reason I decided to quit being a fan, except for a slight moment of weakness (I didn’t completely regret), buying The Battle rages on …

But that was it. I still listened to the old tunes, but completely ignored recent band history. And so I had to give myself a big hard kick to go to their Bordeaux show in March, although I now live in this place, and we don’t see many rock’n’roll bands down here.

Ah yes, and I also got Rapture, which sounded a bit lame, but not bad at all when I first listened to it. So I was really stun by what I saw last Spring. To tell the truth, and despite the fact I’m writing on a site where everybody loves DP, have 80% of the bootlegs and must have seen them at least 18 times, I must say I had mixed feelings about the show. It’s like seeing old friends you used to love 16 years (20 years in the case of Ian Gillan!).

They’ve gone through a divorce, new partners are there you’ve got to get used to. It’s all so weird. You feel old yourself, and think of the good old days … And then, they’re not mature men anymore, but … wow, they’re old! It took me ten seconds to realise this man there on stage was actually Ian Gillan, a bit slow in his moves and looking like a retired Englishman in Madeira or wherever.

But then again, they were great! No more bad vibes (I remember an awful show in Saarbrücken, Germany in Feb 1987, when Blackmore refused to play the encore Smoke on the water — I was 17, man, and I came to see the band I loved! Imagine my feelings!), a lot of fun, a well-balanced band, and so much skill! So all in all it was weird and good at the same time.

Seeing Purple for the second time, now in Angoulême, is a gift.

Now, I knew what to expect, and meanwhile I had time to catch up, got myself the four studio albums with Morse plus a couple of live things, read about band history, and even dived back into the old days. So there was no more I can’t believe this about last night’s show, but that made me concentrate on the show itself.

The Parc des expositions of Angoulême is a new hall, modern, rather small, in a rather small city. I guess that’s the band’s new touring policy, at least in France. This made things absolutely great: excellent visibility, enough space to breathe (the place wasn’t packed, but well filled — 1.500 people, 1.800? I’m bad at estimating crowds, but the venue in Bordeaux was much larger, and it was I think 4.000). I stood about 10 meters from the stage, slightly on the right, Steve’s side, even though I had left to get a few beers during the set of Café Bertrand, the same opening band as in March.

Nothing very exciting or at least new about the setlist: the same as in March, Fireball and When a blind man cries replaced by Mary Long (often underestimated by fans), Kiss tomorrow goodbye and Loosen my strings (apparently, they switched back to that one instead of Sometimes I feel … they played in Angers).

All faves were played, except again Speed King, of course Child in Time, and Woman from Tokyo and Knocking at your back door they played in eastern Europe. But the setlist isn’t the most important, at least to me, as long as they play such a bundle of good songs. It’s like a football team: you may discuss endlessly about the 11 players on the field, but it’s only part of the thing: it’s how they play that really matters just as much, at least when you got 25 or more excellent players. It’s just the same with DP songs, although I got my personal faves, like everyone else.

They kicked off with the no-transition-four-song-opening-number. The crowd, even if not precisely composed of a majority of teenagers (average age more or less 40, not 20 as Mr Gillan claims), supported the band from the start, and went quite wild as things went on.

The sound was good, but deafening when the five musicians interacted, so don’t ask me if Gillan had voice problems, which seems to be the all-time-favourite issue among reviewers. No substantial ones as far as I could hear. And his total, physical implication into his singing is very impressive.

Pictures of Home and Into the Fire were played brilliantly, and Strange Kind of Woman got a lot of applause. The song works much better in a live context, while I must admit I can’t bear it anymore at home. Mary Long was just fine.

The Rapture stuff came over well too, Kiss tomorrow goodbye sounded better than on the lame Youtube version I’ve seen: the band plays it tighter now, Gillan’s vocal is more aggressive.

The second part of the show is somewhat cooler, with a mixture of solos and songs; Morse changed his riff catalogue, and in general it must be said he grew and grew that night, a bright grin all over his face.

Things I never (could have) said about the Blackmore era: friendly hugs between band members, Gillan staying on stage for most solo parts, sometimes sitting on Paice’s drumkit in the background, not to be seen or to demonstrate some false interest, just watching and listening to Steve like a friend or fan. It’s obvious this band is not into posing, and is into real musicianship.

On Lazy, Don quoted a French traditional, the audience sang along (which was the high point of his rather average solo).

The end of the set is an incredible bundle of classics, all well known, and well played, without any surprises though. Space Truckin’ in particular really kicked ass!

The encores climaxed the show, with the typical DP extensions of simple hits (Hush, Black Night). For the first time of my life, I enjoyed a drum solo: Paicey’s awesome!

All in all, they were fantastic. More energy, even more good vibes than last Spring, all musicians in a great shape. And after a while I thought: Isn’t Gillan the greatest old man I ever saw on stage?

Watching such a band, isn’t that a gift? They’re part of my life again.

Stéphane Dethloff

Another great two hours show in front of a sold out crowd.

I’ve had the pleasure to see the band for the third time in one year and the last show was the best show.

If the setlist is nearly the same it was a big surprise to hear two new songs in the set (Mary long and Sometimes I feel like screaming).

The guitar solo with Contact lost, some famous riffs of guitar (Hey Joe, Rock’n’roll hoochie koo, Purple haze) and Well dressed guitar were absolutely fabulous.

Best regards and sorry for my poor English.

Yves Nauleau