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This wasn’t simply another guest appearance
Long Island Sounds empathically reviews the gig on August 12, 2026, at the Jones Beach Theater:
There are some concerts you attend.
There are others you experience.
Deep Purple at Northwell at Jones Beach Theater was very much the latter.
At 80 years old, vocalist Ian Gillan is no longer the singer who effortlessly unleashed those legendary high notes in “Highway Star,” “Lazy,” or “Space Truckin’.” Nor should anyone realistically expect him to be. Time has a way of reminding even the greatest performers that they are human.
But give Gillan credit: he tried.
And that effort was evident throughout the evening.
Continue reading in the Long Island Sounds.
Thanks to Tobias Janaschke for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Nice review!! Thanks so much for putting this online!! Yup, Ritchie 2026 and I think he did a GREAT job as did the entire band!!!
August 16th, 2026 at 18:19Who says there are no DP fans left in America?! 👏
August 16th, 2026 at 18:20LOL Good one UWE. Yes, there are fans left here but all the folks I know that like DP are in 60’s and 70’s, many balding and with beer bellies (the guys, not the ladies) 🙂 . Hard to believe that in the 1970’s they were huge and getting airplay on all Rock stations, AM and FM. FM stations used to play tracks off all their albums, even the live version of Space Truckin off of MIJ!! I think the last song I heard was Hell to Pay off of Now What. If I bought an FM station the first song I would put on would be Mandrake Root off of Live in Stockholm 1970!! That might get people’s attention LOL.
August 16th, 2026 at 19:08The way this happening was arranged and executed – dignified and without fanfare – is a credit to the Ritchie, Candice, Ian and the entire band. I am still basking in the warm feelings of August 12, and I have never been more proud to be a lifelong Deep Purple fan.
August 16th, 2026 at 19:20I just watched the whole show on Youtube, and Don’s excellent solo includes riffs from “Down to Earth.” Nice touch!
August 17th, 2026 at 00:02How inadvertently prophetic the lyric from the song “Sacred Land” off of the new Deep Purple album Splat! seems to be in this moment:
“””I pished into the mist
And saw two gnarled and craggy men
They were battle scarred and weary
They’ll never fight again
Once raw and bitter enemies
These fearsome Highland Lords
They’ve done with all the feuding
And put away their swords”””
Blackmore and Gillan, two old battle-hardened vets, have after several decades, now buried the hatchet.
August 17th, 2026 at 13:46Excellent review. Made me relive the entire evening especially the magical moment.
August 17th, 2026 at 15:18Congratulations to the author.
It is nice to, every now and then, come across writers who know their Deep Purple.
He certainly does. Plenty.
@6 I totally agree!
btw I like “Sacred Land”, it has some celtic touch…
August 17th, 2026 at 16:29@ 6 Exellent observation
August 18th, 2026 at 13:22A great review, although the writer must not have been aware that Blackmore played a handful of gigs about a decade ago with a reconfigured Rainbow in Europe. It definitely was a moment to behold. And the review caught the historic magnitude. I’m holding there will be a get-together after DP’s global tour ends in late November. A Christmas meeting in Long Island or something. Or some joint video discussions among the band members, maybe sharing some memories. Whether Ritchie could contribute a tad to the next album via a remote recording at a Long Island music studio might be too much to expect. But after what transpired at Jones Beach last week, nothing seems impossible.
August 18th, 2026 at 15:23It’s amazing how much this news is getting on Social Media!!! I LOVE it!!!!
August 18th, 2026 at 18:58Many fans of DP in US – still one of their biggest markets tour-wise. Their tour will most likely gross between $18M – $24M; not too shabby for a classic rock act that doesn’t get a sniff of publicity for new releases here. I think the NY alone show did something like $1.2M. That is some good cheddar!
August 18th, 2026 at 19:19#10 James:
but apparently Ritchie didn’t know either since when he announced the Event the day before he said he hadn’t played rock for about 25 years!
August 18th, 2026 at 20:37#12 Good point. Ironic, too, that the only (partially) recorded Deep Purple Mark II concert captured on video from that era – May 29, 1973, by ABC-TV network on the “In Concert” show – was also recorded on Long Island, just 13 miles away from where the Jones Beach concert was played on Aug. 12, 2026.
August 19th, 2026 at 01:28A very gracious set of reviews. To indulge in a wee bit of Tappish nit-picking, though, the signature “Jon Lord sound” was a Hammond through a Marshall rather than a Leslie.
August 19th, 2026 at 03:22#3 That’s an enormously well-done tune off that 1970 live album – maybe the best version. The bonus version is great, too. Just listened to it the other day. Blackmore is unbelievable on that. Gillan and everyone else, too.
#15 Only partially true. Lord also used valve-driven Leslie cabinets to create the classic rotary speaker modulation.
August 19th, 2026 at 06:57#13 He later clarified in an article – was it by ‘Guitar World’? – that he meant he hadn’t played electric guitar on a regular basis in 25 years. He, obviously, remembers playing the Rainbow gigs a decade ago plus the times he has rarely plugged in with Blackmore’s Night on stage.
August 19th, 2026 at 17:03@16
Indeed, great track and and even improved with Gillan.
Should ve been done live in the last 3 decades.
BONUS VERSION? Huh?
August 20th, 2026 at 19:25@18 It’s a second version on CD-2. And there also is a version on the bonus DVD.
August 21st, 2026 at 02:44