I have been a DP fan for more than 30 years now and must admit that when talking about DP, I always had Mark II in my mind at the very top of the list. Of course I followed all other line-ups and bought all the albums but always having MKII as the benchmark. After yesterday’s performance I must admit that Mark VIII is now sharing that leading position in my ranking of favorites.

I don’t have words to describe how well the guys performed. Even though English is not my mother tongue, I doubt that in Spanish I should be able to find the exact word to express how did I feel yesterday and how do I still feel now.

The venue was absolutely packed with people everywhere, at least that was what I could see from my second row standing in from of the stage. After 30 minutes of an opening local Slovak band, DP hit the stage at 9 o’clock and the crowd went crazy. Not only “mature-middle age” people like me but also a lot of youngsters-teenagers really enjoying and chanting all songs, which is spectacular. It means that DP is much more alive than ever before… great!

I cannot remember the set list since I did not write it down, I was so concentrated enjoying the show that did not even think about doing it.

Anyhow I guess that was a wee bit different from the reviews I had read about previous shows. Three or four songs from Rapture of the Deep (Rapture of the Deep, Wrong Man, Kiss tomorrow goodbye and guess there was a 4th one but honestly don’t recall).

Into the fire was a huge and amazing surprise since I hadn’t heard that songs for some time now. When a blind mind cries thrilled me to the marrow, honestly. All time classics Lazy, Perfect Strangers, Space trucking’, HS, SOTW and Hush and Black Night as encores all of them performed in a superb way completed a marvellous and unforgettable evening.

To remark the revamped and revitalized starting of HS with an outstanding jam between Roger and Steve that really made me take some time to recognize that my all times ever favorite song was coming….gorgeous indeed!

Individually all the guys performed superbly with a lot of energy and power, the rhythm duo was extremely solid (as usual), Steve Morse incredibly robust in his role (nothing to envy to RB), Don very good on keyboards but for my taste his introductory solo to Perfect Strangers was too long (must admit am not a great fan of any kind of solos) and nothing new to say about how great IG is, not only as lead singer but also as a front-man, idol!

Final words to praise the personal and professional attitude of the guys on stage. It is amazing to see how genuinely they enjoy while performing and that feeling is transmitted to the audience and of course the crowd responds accordingly.

In short, an evening to remember forever and really looking forward to a next opportunity hopefully within shortly.

Long live DP.

Enrique Cotado

Reports are coming in that merchandise sold on the current Deep Purple tour includes a Machine Head t-shirt with Ritchie Blackmore’s face missing from the album design. And thanks to Luke Antosz we can now show the infamous t-shirt.

Now you see him – the original Machine Head sleeve with Ritchie Blackmore:

Now you don’t – current Deep Purple tour t-shirt:

But he used to be on that t-shirt! This one was sold on the last Mark 2 tour in 1993:

So what happened?

According to some, Blackmore’s current management sued Deep Purple for use of his image on the t-shirt.
According to others, the band simply doesn’t want to be associated with Blackmore anymore.

If you know, please let us know too – rasmus@thehighwaystar.com.
Continued…

Ian Gillan has kindly donated a signed copy of his yet unreleased book “Smoke This” and a signed 2006 Tour Poster to be auctioned to raise vital funds for The Linda McCartney Centre. Both items are signed by Ian Gillan, Dean Howard, Michael Lee Jackson, Randy Cooke and Rodney Appleby.
For more information, visit  Linda McCartney Centre (in the news section under the heading “The Voice Of Deep Purple”).

A charity art exhibition has been organised to raise vital funds and awareness for The Linda McCartney Centre in November. The exhibition will be taking place between the 20th and the 24th November in the main entrance of The Linda McCartney Centre based at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital in U.K., from 9am until 5pm daily. A painting for the exhibition has been kindly donated for auction by Roger Glover. For more information, visit  Linda McCartney Centre (in the news section under the heading “Charity Art Exhibition”).
Thanks to Linda McCartney Centre and Lesley Worrall for the information.

The authorities in Munich, Germany, have taken imprints of various entertainers and athletes who have performed at The Olympiahalle. When this venue was built at the start of the seventies, Deep Purple were the first band to play there (January 21, 1973). When Deep Purple played there the last time (February 18, 2006), Deep Purple stuck their hands into the wet concrete. See the picture.
Thanks to DPAS and The Aviator for the information.

Vigier Guitars has released the Excess Roger Glover signature bass. The bass features an Excess alder body with a maple top, phosphorescent dots on the fingerboard (available in rosewood or maple), phosphorescent contours around the knobs and a brand new three-band EQ electronic designed by Glockenklang amplifiers. See the photo.
Thanks to Vigier Guitars for the information.

As many of you already know (thanks for the emails), Sir Malcom Arnold died last Saturday at the age of 84. He had a long and distinguished career, but he is best known to Deep Purple fans as the main champion of Jon Lord’s Concerto For Group And Orchestra in 1969, conducting the Royal Philharmonic at the premiere at the Royal Albert Hall. He was also involved with Jon’s followup classical work, the Gemini Suite.

You can read more details about his life at:

• BBC
• Guardian
• NY Times
• Wikipedia
• Yahoo UK

Steve Morse mention a possible Dixie Dregs / Steve Morse Band tour in USA in January 2007. In his latest letter he says:
“I just talked to our Deep Purple manager, Bruce Payne, and also my manager, Frank Solomon. DP is doing lots of gigs this fall, and we’re looking at doing the Dregs/SMB tour for a little while in January stateside. I really don’t know for sure if that’s possible with all the scheduling commitments from the other guys, but that’s the very latest in the possibilities.”
Read his full letter here.
Thanks to Steve Morse for the information.

When Ian Gillan were in San Francisco earlier in the week, he answered a few questions from Don Sanchez at ABC7/KGO-TV/DT. Here are a few bits:

About Ian’s source of inspiration.
“My grandpa was an opera singer, my uncle a jazz pianist. I was a boy soprano in the chuch choir and all.”

About doing Jesus Christ the film Jesus Christ Superstar.
“It was no contest. Be a film star or be in deep purple? It was a no brainer.”

Read and watch the full interview here.
Thanks to ABC7/KGO-TV/DT for the information.

Ian Gillan took some time off from his North America tour and answerd a few questions from Mike Ross at Edmonton Sun. Here is a few bits:

About that Luciano Pavarotti nearly sang “Smoke On The Water” on Gillan’s Inn.
“I sang Nessum Dorma a couple of times on his charity thing, so he owed me for that” “But he’s not well these days”

“My manager phoned up and said, ‘you’ve been singing now for what? Four hundred years or so? I think it’s probably time you put out an anniversary record.’ I thought he was talking about doing a compilation and I started burning some CDs and toying with it, but it was hopeless. It didn’t work at all. The production values were all different and it sounded like a mishmash. So we did it live.”

Read the full interview here.
Thanks to Edmonton Sun for the information.

I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere – not that I am present anywhere on Deep Purple related ‘net communities anymore – but Drew Thompson’s releases of Purple stuff seems to be readily available via iTunes – at least my local, Norwegian version, but I guess this is global.
The original 12-CD box “The Soundboard Series” originally published in 2001 seems to be available in full, alas as separate 2CD albums, each priced at twice the normal album price.
Drew, are you reading this? Price them as one normal album a piece, and I might be buying one or two.
Normal setlist for the normal gigs seems to have been a la (Mk 7 lineup: Gillan-Glover-Lord-Morse-Paice):
1. Woman from Tokyo
2. Ted the Mechanic
3. Mary Long
4. Lazy
5. No one came
6. Black night
7. Sometimes I feel like screaming
8. Fools
9. Perfect Strangers
10. Hey Cisco
11. When a blind man cries
12. Smoke on the water
13. Speed king
14. Hush
15. Highway star

and the two last gigs were from the Concerto tour, complete with Ronnie James Dio and a Japanese philharmonic orchestra.

Titles available via my iTunes are:
– Australian Tour 2001 – Melbourne
– Australian Tour 2001 – Newcastle
– Australian Tour 2001 – Wollongong
– Live in Hong Kong
– Live in Tokyo 3/24
– Live in Tokyo 3/25

Live at the Rotterdam Ahoy (Concerto-gig) is also available, as is the “Well Dressed Guitar”-single.

Now, can anyone please recommend me which of these gigs to buy, if I’m only getting one?

And Drew, drop them to single album price, and you’ll see sales rice dramatically.