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The (first) end of Deep Purple

Empire, Liverpool, England 15th March 1976

25 years ago Deep Purple played what became their last show in over eight years. To commemorate this 25th anniversary, we have taken a look at that final show and put together this special.

After tours in Australia, the Far East and America, Deep Purple returned to their home country, Britain. They were greeted with curious scepticism. Their focal point guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had left the band one year earlier and in his place had stepped American hot shot Tommy Bolin. 

Deep Purple band had recorded and put out a new album "Come Taste The Band", but the home crowd was yet to experience at first hand this new line-up thus consisting of David Coverdale on vocals, Jon Lord on keyboards, Glenn Hughes on bass and vocals, Ian Paice on drums and new boy Tommy Bolin on guitar.

The five dates on the UK tour that proved to be not only the end of Mark 4, but the end of Deep Purple for the next eight years, became an excercise in frustration. Glenn Hughes and Tommy Bolin had teamed up and gone their own way, with a disintegration of the live shows as a result. In 1983 Jon Lord told Chris Charlesworth: "At one of the British shows I had to drag Glenn back onstage to do an encore. I made up my mind that Deep Purple was over. For the first time in my life I was ashamed of being in Deep Purple and it was a disgusting feeling." 

25 years later Jon Lord explains: "Ian Paice and I had been in discussions stretching back over several weeks as to what should be done about what we saw as a pale imitation of what Deep Purple ought to be. We had already decided some several days before Liverpool that this was the end. Liverpool just confirmed that." According to Jon Lord "it was a substandard show. We were trying to do our best because the Liverpool audiences had always been marvellous to us. They should have booed us off but they didn't." 

David Coverdale stormed off stage after the show in Liverpool, in tears over the shambles the band had become. He vowed never to go back and found that Ian Paice and Jon Lord had similar feelings. Jon Lord: "In actual fact, when David came into the dressing room that night to see Paicey and myself and say that he was leaving the band, we rather sadly informed him that there was in fact no band to leave." 

On July 6 a press statement finally announced the break-up of the band.

Comments and corrections are welcome.

With thanks to Jon Lord and to Chris Charlesworth's Illustrated Deep Purple Biography.