Deep Purple European Tour

Deep Purple European Tour

Tour by Deep Purple
Associated album	Deep Purple, In Rock
Start date	10 July 1969
End date	21 June 1970
Legs	11
No. of shows	138 (143 scheduled)
Deep Purple concert chronology

The Deep Purple European Tour was a year-long successful concert tour by English hard rock band Deep Purple, lasting from July 1969 until June 1970. The band played mostly United Kingdom shows, also covering West Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. It was the first tour to feature the classic Deep Purple line-up: Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord and Ian Paice. It is considered to be the pre-tour for the In Rock album, as the band mostly played songs from the upcoming album.

Tour pre-history

In 1969, cofounders Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord decided to replace vocalist Rod Evans with Ian Gillan. Gillan declined to join Purple without his former bandmate Roger Glover. Lord and Blackmore accepted and, in 1969, Gillan and Glover, replaced Evans and bassist Nick Simper. This new line-up, known as MKII, immediately went on tour throughout Europe and the United Kingdom.

"I remember back in 1969 when Roger and I did our first show with Purple at the Speakeasy," recalled Gillan. "There were only twelve people there; well, twenty if you counted Keith Moon. But I looked at Roger and said, 'Oh man, this is it.' It was the kind of band we had both been dreaming of."

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
10 July 1969	London	England	Speakeasy Club
18 July 1969	Redcar		Redcar Jazz Club
20 July 1969	Erdington		Mothers
26 July 1969	London		Klooks Kleek
13 August 1969			Revolution Club
15 August 1969	Newcastle		Mayfair Ballroom
16 August 1969	Birmingham		Rebeccas
20 August 1969	London		Revolution Club
22 August 1969	Bilzen	Belgium	Jazz Festival
23 August 1969	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Paradiso
24 August 1969
26 August 1969	London	England	Klooks Kleek
29 August 1969			Lyceum Ballroom
30 August 1969	Gravesend		Kent Pop Festival
3 September 1969	Gothenburg	Sweden	Que Club
5 September 1969	Lund		Store Salen
7 September 1969	Copenhagen	Denmark	Club 6
9 September 1969	London	England	Marquee Club
12 September 1969	Barnstaple		Queen's Theatre
13 September 1969	Narberth	Wales	Queens Hall
20 September 1969	Malvern	England	Winter Gardens
21 September 1969	Redcar		Redcar Jazz Club
24 September 1969	London		Royal Albert Hall
27 September 1969	Nottingham		Nottingham College
28 September 1969	London		The Roundhouse
4 October 1969	Montreux	Switzerland	Montreux Casino
9 October 1969	Augsburg	West Germany	Pfarrsaal
10 October 1969	Stuttgart
11 October 1969	Essen		Grugahalle
12 October 1969	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Amsterdam Concert Hall
14 October 1969	Hamburg	West Germany	Musikhalle Hamburg
22 October 1969	Ipswich	England	Baths Hall
24 October 1969	London		Lyceum Ballroom
25 October 1969	Weston-super-Mare		Winter Gardens
30 October 1969	Leeds		University of Leeds Refectory
1 November 1969	Bristol		Mayfair Ballroom
2 November 1969	London		Lyceum Ballroom
3 November 1969			The Roundhouse
7 November 1969	Romford		King's Head
8 November 1969	Folkestone		Leas Cliff Hall
10 November 1969	Bath		Bath Pavilion
13 November 1969	Newport		Regency Theatre
14 November 1969	Birmingham		Aston View
15 November 1969	Leeds		University of Leeds Refectory
16 November 1969	Glasgow	Scotland	Kinema
17 November 1969
21 November 1969	Eltham	England	Avery Hill
22 November 1969	Bradford		University of Bradford
23 November 1969	Epping		Groovesville
24 November 1969	Birmingham		Bennett Concert Hall
28 November 1969	Guildford		Guildford Civic Hall
29 November 1969	London		Imperial College
30 November 1969			Roundhouse
4 December 1969	Worthing		Worthing Assembly Hall
5 December 1969	Sunderland		Polytechnic
6 December 1969	Manchester		University of Manchester
7 December 1969	Bradford		St George's Hall
9 December 1969	Stafford		Keele University
10 December 1969	London		University College London
11 December 1969	Bournemouth		Rye Ballroom
12 December 1969	Hereford		The Flamingo
15 December 1969	Carlisle		The Cosmopolitan
18 December 1969	Redruth		The Flamingo
19 December 1969	Plymouth		Van Dyke Club
20 December 1969	Dagenham		Dagenham Roundhouse
21 December 1969	Birmingham		Mothers Club
28 December 1969	Croydon		Greyhound
5 January 1970	Paris	France	Anciennes
6 January 1970	Worthing	England	Assembly Hall
10 January 1970	Reading		University of Reading
19 January 1970	Dunstable		Dunstable Civic Hall
21 January 1970	Newcastle		Newcastle Music Hall
23 January 1970	Lancaster		University of Lancaster
24 January 1970	Hatfield		Curzon Cinema
30 January 1970	London		Royal Albert Hall
31 January 1970	Cottenham		Lawns Centre
6 February 1970	Waltham Forest		Technical College
7 February 1970	Leicester		Union Hall
8 February 1970	Erdington		Mothers
13 February 1970	Cardiff	Wales	Cardiff University
14 February 1970	Manchester	England	Free Trade Hall
15 February 1970	Nottingham		Boat Club
16 February 1970	Romford		Kings Head
19 February 1970	London		Paris Theater
20 February 1970	Preston		Preston Civic Hall
21 February 1970	Twickenham		St. Mary's University College
22 February 1970	Croydon		Greyhound
24 February 1970	London		Imperial College London
25 February 1970	Bristol		University of Bristol
27 February 1970	Leeds		Polytechnic
28 February 1970	Liverpool		Philharmonic Hall
4 March 1970	Zürich	Switzerland	Volkshaus
6 March 1970	Bern		Tanzdiele Matte
7 March 1970	Lucerne		Verkehrshaus
13 March 1970	Blackpool	England	Winter Gardens
14 March 1970	Weston-super-Mare		Winter Gardens
15 March 1970	Epping		Wake Arms
17 March 1970	Exeter		University of Exeter
20 March 1970	Edinburgh	Scotland	Odeon
21 March 1970	Dundee		Caird Hall
22 March 1970	Dunfermline		Kinema Ballroom
23 March 1970	Aberdeen		Music Hall Aberdeen
24 March 1970	Glasgow		Electric Garden
25 March 1970	Hamilton		Hamilton Townhouse
28 March 1970	Dagenham	England	Dagenham Roundhouse
29 March 1970	Hamburg	West Germany	Ernst-Merck Hall
30 March 1970	West Berlin		Berlin Sportpalast
4 April 1970	Cologne		Mulheim Sporthalle
6 April 1970	Vienna	Austria	Konzerthaus
11 April 1970	Chatham	England	Central Hall
18 April 1970	Ewell		Technical College
24 April 1970	Stoke		King's Hall
25 April 1970	Bath
1 May 1970			Art College
9 May 1970	Dagenham		Roundhouse Dagenham
11 May 1970	Leicester		De Montfort Hall
15 May 1970	Chelmsford
16 May 1970	Birmingham		Birmingham Town Hall
17 May 1970	Bristol		Colston Hall
18 May 1970	Dunstable		Dunstable Civic Hall
22 May 1970	Brighton		Brighton Dome
25 May 1970	London		Queen Elizabeth Hall
28 May 1970	Kiel	West Germany	Ostseehalle
29 May 1970	West Berlin		Neue Welt
31 May 1970	Mannheim		Rosengarten
1 June 1970	Düsseldorf		Rheinhalle
2 June 1970	Hamburg		Musikhalle
4 June 1970	Bedford	England	Bedford Town FC
6 June 1970	Cologne	West Germany	Sartory-Saal
7 June 1970	Munich		Eisstadion
8 June 1970	Basel	Switzerland	St Jakob Sportalle
9 June 1970	Offenbach	West Germany	Stadthalle
10 June 1970	Hanover		Niedersachsenhalle
12 June 1970	Twickenham	England	Eel Pie Island
14 June 1970	Croydon		Fairfield Halls
16 June 1970	Cambridge		Jesus College
19 June 1970	Manchester		John Dalton College
20 June 1970	Oxford		University College
21 June 1970	Frankfurt	West Germany	Radstadion

Setlist

During the tour, half of the setlist included MKI hits with the other half consisting of new MKII songs. "Speed King", "Child in Time" and "Into the Fire" were premiered on the tour, before being released on the In Rock album.

1. "And the Address" {opening bars only}
2. "Kneel and Pray" (early version of "Speed King" with different lyrics)
3. "Into the Fire"
4. "Kentucky Woman" (only occasionally)
5. "Child in Time"
6. "Mandrake Root"
7. "Wring That Neck" aka "Hard Road"
8. "Ritchie's Blues"
9. "Paint It Black", instrumental (The Rolling Stones cover)
10. ~Drum solo

Tour diary and notable live dates

Deep Purple MKII kicked off their first tour at the London Speakeasy Club. In a recent interview, Ian Gillan named this show to be favourite live performance of his career, as it was his first show with Deep Purple.

After a few United Kingdom dates, the band headed to Belgium, where they headlined Jazz Bilzen, and then again returned to the United Kingdom.

On 24 September, the band played at London's Royal Albert Hall, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Arnold. This was one of the earliest examples of a rock band collaborating with an orchestra. The show was called Concerto for Group and Orchestra and was later officially released. The Concerto and album itself was influential, with many rock bands following in Deep Purple's steps and playing with orchestras. Rock band Metallica made their orchestral debut in 2000 and named Purple's 1969 show as the main influence. The orchestral parts were written by Jon Lord and included three movements.

• Opening set – first part (without Orchestra):

1. Hush"
2. "Wring That Neck"
3. ~"Jingle Bells" instrumental
4. "Child In Time"

• Concerto For Group And Orchestra (second part)

1. First Movement – Allegro moderato
2. Second Movement – Andante
3. Third Movement – Vivace presto
4. ~Drum solo

• Encore:

1. Third Movement (2nd half)
2. ~Drum solo

In April 1969, Deep Purple headlined the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland as well as the Pop & Blues festival in West Germany. Other festival acts included Pink Floyd and The Nice. Ritchie Blackmore jammed with The Nice's Keith Emerson

On 19 February, they performed at the BBC's Studios, with the show later being released on CD. They then returned to West Germany, Switzerland and Austria, before again returning to the UK. The tour ended at Frankfurt's Radstadion on 21 June 1970.

Live albums and DVDs

Several live albums from the tour were later released.

1. Concerto for Group and Orchestra CD/DVD
2. Gemini Suite Live CD
3. Kneel & Pray CD
4. Live in Montreux 69 CD
5. Scandinavian Nights CD/DVD
6. Deep Purple in Concert CD/DVD
7. Live in Stockholm CD/DVD
8. Space Vol 1 & 2
9. Doing Their Thing DVD
10. Heavy Metal Pioneers (Tour documentary)

Line up

• Ian Gillan – vocals
• Ritchie Blackmore – lead guitar
• Jon Lord – keyboard, hammond organ
• Roger Glover – bass guitar
• Ian Paice – drums

External links

• Deep Purple setlists – 1969–2005
• List of all Deep Purple gigs – full gigography
• Deep Purple Tour Page – 1968-2010