Archive for the ‘Bullet’ Category

9 Sep

Deep Purple live in the early 70s

Posted by vintagerock in Bullet, Deep Purple. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Deep Purple live in the early 70s
Deep Purple were just untouchable live in the early 70s. They had all those classic rock songs: Black Night, Speed King, Strange Kind of Woman, Child in Time; and they were all top class musicians and performers. I can picture them now; Jon Lord rocking his Hammond organ back and forth while squeezing rich swirling chords out of it; Ritchie Blackmore sombre, dressed all in black: black hat with a sliver buckle, black scoop neck top,  black velvet flares; Ian Gillan, long lion-like hair, screaming and screeching the vocals, Roger Glover on bass, wearing a hat and leather trousers, smile across his face, rocking back and forth in time to the music; and Ian Paice on drums, a constant in terms of rhythm, but also in terms of the band and its many incarnations. This was the classic Purple Mark II line-up. I first saw Deep Purple at Newcastle City Hall in 1971, which was the Fireball tour. They were loud and just amazing. I was seated in the 7th row, and had a great view. I was a young kid and I was just fascinated and enthralled by Blackmore, who was the ultimate guitar showman in those days, running both hands up and down the neck of his Fender Stratocaster, pulling at the amps, ringing feedback from the guitar, throwing it in the air. I too had a Strat at that time and was watching his every move; total hero worship. My mate John was there and recalls: “My first gig at the City Hall – I remember it was just fantastic. They played the now-classics from “Deep Purple In Rock”: Speed King, Child in Time, plus Black Night and my all time favorite the single Strange Kind of Woman plus a lot from Fireball. While not their best album I thought it was a great show with Fireball, No No No, Demons Eye, No One Came, the extended version of the Mule plus the rather odd Anyones Daughter. Support was Bullet featuring members of Atomic Rooster John Cann and Paul Hammond – although for years I thought it was Glencoe”. Setlists from the time also show that Highway Star was included in the set, although it was yet to appear on record, as it featured on Machine Head, which came out in 1972. I think the encore will have been Black Night, followed by Lucille and a medley of old rock n roll songs. Thanks also to John for the scan of his Fireball poster. John was lucky enough to see Deep Purple at Sunderland Top Rank in 1970. I wasn’t at that gig, and am so jealous of him. John’s memories of that gig: “I was 15 and it was my first gig. Free were the headliners but as the Purple van broke down on the highway and they arrived late, they played last. We arrived at about 6.30pm and queued up outside with many others; the line was from the door across the bridge before. It was billed as an Indoor Festival with five bands. I don’t remember the first band (Yellow), Principal Edwards were strange but I really enjoyed Cochise and bought their album (which features Steve Marriott on the stand out track Thats Why I sing the Blues). At this time they were still playing tracks from the Mark I line plus tracks from their new, and soon to be classic album, Deep Purple In Rock. I believe they played Speed King, Child in Time, Into the Fire (?) and the old songs I remember were a very long Wring that Neck and Mandrake Root at the end of the set. The encore was the hit single Black Night and Lucille which I thought was odd – why would a cool band play such an old song?. I had much to learn. I seem to remember the show finished at about 1.30am which I thought was very cool and then I walked home on my own because the others left early, missing the encore.”