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Like a good neighbour
In this 1987 interview George Harrison talks about the first time he saw Deep Purple in concert and jammed with them. Which happened on December 13, 1984, in Sydney, Australia.
The said jam:
Thanks to Randy Nichols for the heads up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
George asked what key they would play Lucille, Big(mouth) Ian hollered: “I can sing that song any which key you want!”, so George went ahead and unknowingly chose the worst possible key for Ian to sing. ; – ) Shit happens.
January 13th, 2022 at 23:33If George was in the wrong key, the band followed.
January 13th, 2022 at 23:46I am not sure that I have seen Ritchie defer to anyone else.
George Harrison or as Gillan introduced him ‘Arnold from Liverpool’. We didn’t know who it was until after the gig, not being close to the stage we couldn’t see his face at all. I have told people over the years that I have been in the same room with Harrison who was also jamming with a few other musicians. Then after a little while the penny drops. All good fun & more wonderful memories from December 1984. It is interesting to hear Harrison’s story about it.
January 14th, 2022 at 06:39Thanks for posting those clips. Cheers.
Tears of joy and profound respect to the most hard working live band in the world.
January 14th, 2022 at 10:12If it wasn’t for the last two years of COVID restrictions DP would have toured around the world twice.
Peace 🙂
#Marcus: I’m sure Blackmore felt honored and was extremely pleased to share the stage with Arnold. Harrison was held in high esteem as a guitarist by people who knew and know their trade (Gary Moore, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, even Ted Nugent) for the idiosyncratic sound he created with his guitar. You recognize Harrison after having heard three notes.
Blackmore has been dismissive of the Stones in interviews, but has also said that to him the Beatles are in a different league.
As they undoubtedly are. Sgt. Pepper (the album) is to me a turning point in all pop and rock music. And Paul is a wonderfully melodic bassist.
Jon Lord appreciated the Beatles too btw, good shot of him at 2:40 …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVBZR__BlPE
It went both ways:
That Macca played with Little Ian says everything, Sir Paul (a more than competent drummer himself) can be a real bitchy taskmaster with drummers as not only poor Ringo learned (ironically, Little Ian cites Ringo as an influence and really likes his drumming).
Lennon otoh commented positively on Purple’s take on Help which to me is also among the strongest tracks on Shades of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsBYen4qXQo
Big Ian could have done a nice version of that too. He has a hand with Beatles material.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9MEu08Sz4o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZBNxwF40NM
January 14th, 2022 at 14:35It’s cute how they all huddle around together, really enthused about playing the track, Ritchie very gentlemanly playing rhythm guitar to George’s trademark solos.
Yup, Little Richard left a mark on DP, no doubt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Ujb6lJ_mM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyenXwFKtlU
And if they had ever played it live, it might have looked a bit like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD2-LHy_O7I
Never thought that a bad track, they should have released it, though obviously borrowed quite a bit from Little Richard, but why not steal from the best?!
January 14th, 2022 at 17:49I remember it well.
January 14th, 2022 at 20:28With the elation and energy of a reunited Purple, George coming on, being inaudible, and having his back turned to the audience most of the time was really IMO just a fleeting novel moment in proceedings. He clearly wasn’t fusing with the energy level and looked, well, like “Arnold from Liverpool”!!
– not the way I wanted to see a much beloved Beatle for the first time on stage God bless ‘im.
Ritchie and George trading off on the solo runs there. Fantastic.
January 16th, 2022 at 01:55In Gillan’s biography “child in time” that concert with Harrison is mentioned, also with some photos.
January 16th, 2022 at 16:03I was in the audience that night and the previous night. The band had done their encore and had come back for a second encore. When Ian Gillan said, “We want to bring out the winner of the guitar competition”. Everyone was thinking which guitar competition? Ian said to the guitarist “What’s your name?”. “George” came the reply. “Where are you from George?” George replied “Liverpool, Liverpool NSW”. The band kicked in with Lucille (in the key they always played it in) and it was when Ritchie and George started to do the Beatle moves together that a roar started to go through the venue “that’s George Harrison, that’s George Harrison!” It was front page news in the Sydney papers the next day with the headline “Our George” and accompanying photo from the gig. I still have the newspaper.
January 24th, 2022 at 00:12I knew the video of Lucille with George was available on Youtube, but I had never watched it.
January 25th, 2022 at 01:20I’m glad I finally did watch it.
It’s a great moment in Deep Purple history.