At the age of 12, I got the albums 24 Carat, In Rock and Machine Head on vinyl from the guys at my mother’s ballroom dance hall. In the meantime Maiden, Priest and Saxon found their way to the public and to me.

I’m still a music fan in all these years, gonna play a little bit guitar, I had played in a band on vocal – still local… and then I became a roadie for The Bintangs (so called ‘Dutch Rolling Stones’ established 1961)

On June 19 2007 we get the van from Haarlem (the orginal name of Harlem, USA), get the amps and other equipment and went on the road again to Hellendoorn.

We see a little of the soundcheck of Deep Purple. Amazing in 10 minutes but without members of the band. After that we get the equipment on stage.

The Bintangs played their ‘smog rock’ straight into the air. Great gig. After good food backstage and a great Y&T, Purple find their feet and music on stage.

All you Purple fans, in one word: Great. Keep them alive!

Rock and roll!

With kind regards
Jur Kehl (crew The Bintangs, www.bintangs.nl)

A day without Deep Purple is a like a day without sunshine

A sunny day in the Antwerp harbour… nice temperature… fantastic day to show off my new Rapture of the Deep T-shirt which I bought at the last gig I saw at Rock Zottegem last year.

I convinced a French friend to come along…

Also the first time to check out the new Lotto Arena in Antwerp. And yes, we were lucky we had one of the best seats in the house at the left of the stage seen from the band.

From the Geneva setlist I could see that “Pictures from home” was the opener and I must say that my suspicion turned into reality. I like more Fireball, Hush, Ted the Mechanic as an opener because those song have more power.

“Things I never said” went a bit lost in the sound which was not completely tuned yet. Then we all went “Into the fire” with DP, briliant!

What I don’t understand is why there was no pause between all these songs. Hello, we all speak English, Ian! We like to hear you talk about the witch’s leg, etc…

After a small greeting (sic) “Strange kind of Woman”, as dynamic as it ever can be. Followed by “Rapture” which I find is one of the best songs written in the last decade by DP.

Then the magnficent “Fireball”. Followed by “Wrong Man”, about a guy who is accused of a murder he did not commit. Did Ian make allusion to PrisonBreak? And did they return the favour to play Hush on the radio before it would explode in episode 2 of the second season?

Anyway no time to waste because the man who drinks his milk and rides his horse… gave a brilliant solo. So good a “Blind man would start to cry”.

The very magnificent “Lazy” rocked to my opinion the first time the venue! The video made a reference to the Machine Head album which had 3 fantastic songs. Maybe an idea to use more the video screens in the future without turning into a movie theater.

“The Battle Raged On” as only DP can rage. The dangerous Don Airey gave a solo which made me think of DP in concert with the London Symphonica. Thanks to the video cameras we could see that playing the keyboards is hard work.

“Perfect Strangers” was again perfect and strange. Again I like the dancing of Ian. Is it because he is in Flanders that he does some kind of Flamengo?

“Space Truckin'” and “Highway star” exploded the venue as it is expected of these songs.

“Smoke” rocked but unfortunately it is a song I heard too much in my life…

As encore we received “Hush” with a very dynamic Ian juming up and down enjoying himself.

Then Roger gave a solo. Believe me, the bass is hard work too since I was one time in front of Roger on the front row in Forest National and Roger kicks ass.

The ever so fantastic “Black Night” drove us home in the darkness.

Wondering why it all had to end so quick and why we have to wait again another year before they come back.

Greeting to to the band and special greeting to Jon Lord.

Dirk Van Rompaey

I have seen DP every time in London since 2002 and this was their best to date.

Highlights were ‘Into the Fire’ and ‘The Battle Rages On’ (the latter so much the better without the dreadfully clunky studio guitar solo).

I would have liked more recent material (you would be surprised how much demand there is for the Morse era product), songs like Ted the Mechanic / Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming / Silver Tongue / Wrong Man are all magnificent – especially live!

That said, DP played superbly and I have never seen a band so ‘together’ as it is today.

Roll on the 40th anniversary tour!

Simon Bird

Ian Gillan talked to an internet radio station ROCK 247 Online on May 6. Ian joined the Classic Rock Show to talk about his career, and discuss the newly-available remasters of his albums with The Ian Gillan Band and Gillan. He also touched upon how the idea of playing machine Head on the UK tour came up Deep Purple, and the recent Gillan’s Inn album.

If you missed the show, or want to hear Ian’s comments again, you can now listen to the entire interview (about 12 minutes) at ROCK 247’s Myspace Interview site (Macromedia Flash).

Thanks to Doug for the info.

“All my favourite drummers are dead.”

Paicey makes no secret that he grew up on the music of classic Big Band drummers such as Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, who had a tremendous influence on his style.

Buddy Rich would have celebrated his 90th birthday on September 30th, and 2007 also marks 20 years since his passing. The special one off concert celebrating the life of a legend, known to many as The World’s Greatest Drummer, will be held at the Garrick Theatre in Lichfield, England on September 29.

Ian Palmer, one of Europe’s foremost session drummers has brought together six of the world’s leading drummers to perform alongside the award winning Fat Chops Big Band. They are: Ian Paice (Deep Purple), Steve White (Paul Weller), Jon Brookes (The Charlatans), Pete Cater (The Pete Cater Big Band), Garry Allcock (The All Stars Big Band) and of course, Neil Bullock (Fat Chops Big Band) as they perform the music made famous by Buddy Rich.

Tickets are available via the theatre website or by calling 01543 412121.

Thanks to Michael Mountford for the info.

We have reported previously that Kansas City will be attempting on June 3 a take on the Guinness Book record of the most guitarists playing together.

Another ambitious attempt will be made in Stuttgart, Germany on June 23. The Gutar World Record Open Air Festival will be held at the Fair Hall grounds near the airport between 10am and midnight:

Band festival, music mile, workshops, air guitar show, guitar solo competition, surprises from 10 to 24 CET & aftershowparty for all musicians, music fans and families. The street around the festival area will become a music exhibition for bands, musicians, recording studios, record companies, agencies, music schools? There will be free workshops on www.gitarrenweltrekord.de and on the event.

• The song to be played for the World Record attempt is Smoke on the Water
• Current standing record is 1322 guitarists.
• A selection of V.I.P. guitarists and the winners of the solo competition will play the original guitar solo in unison.
• The first 1500 guitarists will play on a Marshall MS-2 battery amp and receive it as a present
• The event will be conducted by the famous conductor Gotthilf Fischer
• Entrance to the festival is free

Thanks to SiriusB42 for the info.

Champaine and caviar, (the appearances of) Electromagnetic Compatibility, the wasted time during “travel days”, and dodging flying beers: read all about it in the current issue of Steve Morse’s notes from the road.

Caramba reports that Ian Gillan has signed up to do a concert in Thessaloniki, Greece on Saturday 30th June (although the orchestra’s site says June 29th) with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra.

The venue is an open-air theatre called Theatro Gis. It seats 4.500 and is at a beautiful spot in the north part of the city.

Ian will be singing to orchestral arrangements (by Friedemann Riehle) of the following songs:

Highway Star, Fireball, Smoke on the Water, Black Night, When a Blind Man Cries, Ted the Mechanic, Strange Kinda Woman, Perfect Strangers

Caramba promises more info on their site as soon as they get it.

Ritchie and Doogie White jam over a pint in preparations for the 1995 Rainbow tour of Japan. Lovely! It’s been my long time pet theory that Doogie got the Rainbow gig not just because he’s an excellent singer, but because he can do all those wonderful ad lib drinking songs.

Cheers! Continue Reading »

Upcoming gigs by several British tribute bands:

Pure Purple

Sunday 27th May, The Vic Bikers Pub, Coalville
Monday 28th May, Gilberts Bar, 54 Field Street, Willenhall, (On stage 8 to 9pm)
Saturday 2nd June, The Engine, Donisthorpe

Deeply Purple

Saturday 2nd June, The George, George St, Hailsham, E. Sussex

24 Carat Purple

Saturday 9th June, The Beacon Court Tavern, Gillingham

Purple

Saturday 9th June, The Diamond, Sutton in Ashfield
Thursday 14th June, The Vic Bikers Pub, Coalville

Rainbow Rising

Friday 25th May, De Rots Rock Concern, Antwerp, Belgium
Saturday 26th May, Cultureel Centrum, Eijsden, Holland
Saturday 2nd June, The Diamond, Sutton in Ashfield

Thanks to Mike Garrett for the info.