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Hush on the high seas

Deep Purple performing Caught in the Act medley and Hush on the Rock Legends Cruise that sailed from Florida last Monday, February 13, 2023:

Thanks to MrRogerRocks2 for posting this and to Mike Whiteley for bringing it to your attention.



32 Comments to “Hush on the high seas”:

  1. 1
    DeeperPurps says:

    I love Simon McBride’s playing technique and guitar tone. I hope this newly invigorated band comes back for a full-on American tour later this year – I have to see McBride play.

  2. 2
    Jude says:

    aged like fine wine. superb. another renaissance.

  3. 3
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Nice shirt, Herr Gillan!

  4. 4
    Gregster says:

    @1, +1 here, though I hope a visit Down-Under is on the agenda at some point.

    Peace !

  5. 5
    Adel Faragalla says:

    They could have squeezed an extra two songs instead of the extended jamming but that’s not a criticism it’s just a fact.
    Peace ✌️

  6. 6
    Coronarias says:

    I guess there’s no realistic prospect, after almost 53 years, of Big Ian getting the words to the chorus of Hush right……….

  7. 7
    Rick says:

    @5 The extended jamming, for me anyway, is what makes Deep Purple a very alive and dynamic band on stage. Bring on the jams!!!!

  8. 8
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Coronarias, as his tenure with with the Sabs amply proved, memorizing other people’s lyrics was never Ian’ forte!

  9. 9
    Adel Faragalla says:

    @7
    True but if it’s not adding anything new and the format is repetitive then jamming becomes a filler rather than an improvisation.
    This is a fact and not a fiction and the live shows don’t lie.
    They can do extended versions of old songs as they please but the catalogue of material from the Steve Morse Era is so rich and diverse and it’s a crime not give the fans a bit of a taste.

    Pease ✌️

  10. 10
    Coronarias says:

    Uwe, I’ve been down the front at Gillan gigs singing the right words while he sang the wrong ones – to his own songs!

  11. 11
    Gregster says:

    @10…Yes, age & being caught-up in the moment may be contributing factors in this aspect, but it’s not as though other singers don’t suffer from the same issue from time-to-time.

    Ozzy has the lyrics displayed on a TV-screen near the monitors during the show, & he still muddles the order-up…In fact, Ozzy was forgetting his place back in the early 1970’s when he was a young man, as “War Pigs” reveals from “Live at Last”…

    Not a biggie imo to lose your spot here & there. Something happening on the stage that the audience can’t see may cause one to get distracted, & lose concentration.

    Peace !

  12. 12
    James Gemmell says:

    Pretty good extended jam on Hush.

  13. 13
    MacGregor says:

    Back in the REAL world. Age has something to do with memory issues. There can be other reasons, Ozzy probably has a few of those & even decades ago. However the longer a vocalist who entertains for, the more chance he or she will forget a few lines here & there. so many lyrics adding up over time, easy to forget on the go ‘which song is this’. It happens the same as another musician who forgets a chord or a note & rhythm etc. Surely we are not moving into a ‘perfect’ & mistake free teleprompter, autotune & metronomic computerised world. Oooops, we already have. What a disaster! Cheers.

  14. 14
    VD says:

    IG misremembering or forgetting lyrics is nothing new.

    Has he ever sang live the lyrics to Perfect Strangers as recorded in studio? Third verse of Lazy has been modified a long time ago too. And what about the legendary mumble in the third verse of Highway Star from Made in Japan?

    I see it as part of his charm really.

  15. 15
    Tommy H. says:

    Just listen to this version of Green Onions:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVAFjvRBswY

    Purple’s version is all wrong, a pain to listen to. Also, what has happened to Hush?! One realizes that Don wants to do too much every time he’s out of time in his solo. No comparison at all to, for instance, the following version:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaW-0PlmQUY

    I’m sorry but I didn’t enjoy that video. I’ve seen way less accomplished musicians do better than that.

  16. 16
    Pier says:

    I am 50, Italian, and a fan of deep purple since my early youth. I have seen them live many times. Ian seems to me very fragile lately. I hope to be wrong.

  17. 17
    Rick says:

    @9 But…they are adding something new…Simon McBride!😀✌

  18. 18
    John says:

    Looking forward to an album with Simon. That guy rocks!

  19. 19
    Adel Faragalla says:

    @ 17
    He is just a perfect fit and so cool talented and level headed what a great addition 😊

    @16
    Totally agrees, I think the lose of life time companion and true love is so painful. It’s a bitter taste that we all have to experience and it’s not easy. I guess touring is the perfect
    saviour.

    @18
    I hope the guys heads to Nashville for some a bit of fun with Simon. That would be great to hear some material with Simon.
    Peace ✌️

  20. 20
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Tommy, you can’t seriously compare Booker T. Jones’ approach to Hammond playing to Don Airey’s! Booker is a soul-blues original, Don is someone also reared on Keith Emerson in a hard rock outfit! It’s like saying that Ritchie is no BB or Albert King.

    Yes, Don can be a little angular in his playing sometimes (he used to be much more angular before he freed his playing with DP), but he also takes chances and stretches himself live. There is also a lot of humor in his playing. Jon was less angular, sure, but certainly not more accurate. In fact Jon made slightly sloppy Hammond playing with great panache an art form of his own!

    As regards Ian garbling lyrics, what new is else? To his credit, his lyrics are also a lot more complex and lengthier than your usual hard rock fare.
    Ozzy, an ADHD child by today’s standards, was never good at remembering Geezer’s (mostly) or Bob Daisley’s lyrics either, but that was part of his charm. He even jokes about it here when he mixes up the lyrics in the last bridge at 04:00 to “I saw them on the radio” and “I heard them on the video” (rather than “heard” them on the radio and “saw” them on the video), classic Ozzy!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWAW_jsFb64

  21. 21
    Tommy H. says:

    @ #20:

    Uwe, please compare the rhythm of Booker T’s to Deep Purple’s version of the Green Onions riff – there’s something completely wrong with the latter. There’re those rare riffs or even entire songs which only sound great if they’re played one way which, in most cases, is the original way – especially when there’re simple. In this case, I’m fully aware that Booker and Airey are totally different players but that doesn’t change the fact that Booker’s way to play that riff is the only way it really sounds great. Many, many organ players will agree with me. That’s pretty much a discussion like how to play the Smoke on the Water riff on guitar. There’s also only one way to play it and that’s Ritchie’s: plucking two strings at once instead of striking them successively makes a huge difference in attack. On organ it’s absolutely clear that the notes of those fourths are played simultaneously but on guitar it’s less obvious.

    I don’t care who the organ player is if this player doesn’t respect the groove. If any player who wants to play a solo messes with the rhythm it’s uncomfortable to listen to and simply amateurish – there’s no excuse here. Jon very rarely found himself off time, no matter how much he “stretched himself” in a solo spot with Ritchie or Steve. That guy was really groovy in fact – sloppy or not – and he was very original too!

  22. 22
    MacGregor says:

    Had the pleasure of witnessing Jon Lord & The Hoochie Coochie Men perform ‘Green Onions’ at this gig standing next to the camera man. This is one way I like the blues being played, for a short time. However having said that the Green Onions tune is rather boring to my ears, always has been. It is in that tempo range of the blues that becomes a little tedious after a few minutes, each to their own. Booker T yes he sort of owns it. This latest DP clip I will admit I couldn’t stay with for long either. It happens, well to me it does. Maybe that medley version on Turning To Crime is the way to include it in a ‘jam’. Cheers.

    https://www.google.com/search?tbm=vid&q=Jon+lord+Hoochie+Coochie+Men+live+at+Coolum+QLD&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi8x5SJtKv9AhW4LEQIHapUD8cQ8ccDegQIDBAF&biw=1440&bih=676&dpr=1.33#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:518bbe16,vid:gz0cc9dUnJc

  23. 23
    Tommy H. says:

    Just as a remark:

    I’ve seen Don Airey playing awesome things (one of many examples is the solo in that referenced version of Hush from the Live 8 festival/2005 where he absolutely nails it). But at times, he’s nothing more to me than a professional who’s wanking up and down the keyboard. Anyway, that’s only very natural and has nothing to do with the fact that I really appreciate his talent and contribution to Deep Purple.

  24. 24
    Alejandro says:

    Apparently they have added two songs from Abandon, Watching the sky and Any fool knows that, is that true? It may be for the 25th anniversary of the album. Great set!

    https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/deep-purple/2023/steinmetz-hall-dr-phillips-center-for-the-performing-arts-orlando-fl-63ba92c7.html

  25. 25
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Jon was a groovemeister and together with Ian very much responsible for the groove in Purple, PAL and (early) Whitesnake. He was to DP what Keef is to the Stones, I’ve said it many times.

    Don has other qualities – there is a lot more songwriting input from him and he is technically the more proficient player (Jon never played music even remotely as technically demanding as Colosseum II) -, but he is not as rhythmically smooth as Jon. That said, I credit him for having become a lot more organic in his playing in his by now more than 20 years with Deep Purple. When you listen to Down To Earth-, Ozzy- and Gary Moore-era Don and the one today, the development is vast. Give him some more time, Tommy! : – )

    What I loved about Jon was that he was never static in his rhythm work. Even when his parts were not the focus of a song, there was always something going on (I love for instance his rhythm work in the SOTW verses). That rhythmic component fell away with Rainbow, Ritchie is not the kind of player to provide it and all the Rainbow keyboarders didn’t have it either.

  26. 26
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Alejandro, those additions would be great, I always loved Watching the Sky!

  27. 27
    NWO says:

    This is actually from day 2. Wednesday February 15th, 2023. It sounded better that this recording (You can only do so much with a phone!) I loved the jam! They didn’t jam much on the first show in the theatre or the last show on the deck. The outdoor deck show was great, but I loved this jam as well so hard to pick one..
    PS – Ian doesn’t have any teleprompters with the words on them on stage…and they will not add any songs so as MC5 said – Kick Out The JAMS!

    As for another notable performer, Roger Daltrey called his first theatre night a rehearsal and was not that good. He sounded much better outdoors. I call it PEOPLE FILTERS! Ask any sound guy, they know it!
    Randy Bachman Rocked! and George Thorogood was as he always is – a lot of fun! Honorable mentions to Night Ranger and Two Wolf (Blackfoot) as some of the better performances on the ship. There was more, but this is a DP site!

  28. 28
    Uwe Hornung says:

    I love Night Ranger, my favorite AOR band! They consistently deliver. I’ve only seen them once unfortunately (they hardly ever tour Europe), early 80ies when they were playing a small club near Orlando, at that point “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” and “Sing Me Away” from their debut were just beginning to garner FM airplay. But the gig was great and you could see that they were destined for greater things.

    Thankfully one of those American bands with more of a Deep Purple than a Led Zep influence.

    And I’ve always dug BTO as well.

  29. 29
    Tracy(Zero the Hero)Heyder says:

    Was on the Cruise. Saw all 3 of their shows. All the same set list except for the 3rd one, they left out the Caught in the Act medley.

  30. 30
    sidroman says:

    Hey Uwe,
    Love BTO also, saw Randy Bachman with Ringo Starr’s All Star Band in 95 he was great. About Roger Daltrey, about a week or so before this cruise, he lost his voice and had to cancel a show. I watched it on Youtube. The last time I saw The Who was in Philly in 2019. They really need to call it a day already. It’s not The Who, They’ve turned into a Who tribute act. Townshend and Daltrey backed by a group of faceless and nameless musicians other than Zak Starkey. I remember seeing them in 2001 when they stripped everything back, and Townshend, Daltrey, Entwistle, with Zak on drums, and Rabbit on keyboards, no fancy stage show or backing musicians, and one of the best shows I ever saw in my life.

  31. 31
    MacGregor says:

    @ 30- I know you are a Who fan but being a bit harsh are we not? Daltrey from what I read cancelled that gig 6 songs into it because of an indigestion problem. Regarding the Who & other iconic bands from the ‘classic’ era, are they not paying tribute to their own music, for want of a better description. Even if some band members may have had nothing at all to do with most of it if not all of it. It is the way of things these days. It is their music, the band or brand. I don’t like a lot of it at certain times & I can & have been harsh with criticism at times, but credit to any original or classic era band member for keeping the flame burning, it is their life & what they do. I know what you mean on the other hand though in some respects. Father time is watching & waiting & waits for no one. Cheers.

  32. 32
    GAVIN MOFFAT says:

    I enjoyed Simons playing, especially his intro to Uncommon Man. Looking forward to a new album with his input. I love Purple. Their last 3 albums have been a real a hievene t for a band formed in 1968. I am sick however of Hush and Green Onions. When they next tour I feel they should scale down … go out as headliners only and play a set of music chosen for its depth/variety. … combining the best of the Blackmore/Morse/McBride (new album ?) eras.
    I’d pay a premium on the ticket price at smaller venues for that. Some hope!
    Give the fans who’ve stuck by them since 1972 (every U.K. tour) something to treasure before this great band ends and let us hear something beyond the greatest hits .. for cruise passengers. A tour for the long standing (now sitting) fans.
    I didn’t fully agree with her but I overheard an (I suspect) “cruise” type fan (female) say as we left the auditorium.”That was s**t .. apart from the encore. It’s bad when the encore is the best bit” – I of course had the opposite view. No more hushing onions 🧅 PLEASE!

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