Flashback Of Deep Purple's Career Before Watching Their Action In Solo

JAKARTA - Deep Purple's glorious era emerged when they released the album Deep Purple In Rock in 1970. However, music critics considered Fireball (1971) and Machine Head (1972) to be the best rock albums at that time. Ritchie Blackmore's real guitar playing begins to appear in these two albums. Unfortunately, after those good times, the friendship of the five personnel was destroyed. And all because of the song Smoke On The Water.

Deep Purple is a group of geniuses who do not know each other personally. The reason is, after releasing Fireball and Machine Head, two well-known albums that brought them to the top of world fame, instead of getting closer together, they actually experienced a lot of internal shocks.

"Because of Smoke On The Water's share of the royalty, relations between personnel are strained. Each of them questioned their friends' share of fortune, and each of them questioned: Why should my share be the same as his?'; 'Why is his part bigger while my work is harder than him?,' bassist Roger Glover said, as quoted in the March 2010 issue of the LOUD magazine.

“Everyone feels they have contributed to the song. And looking at what other people donate is meaningless," continued Glover.

Since the fuss over the distribution of fortune, the most obvious thing that has surfaced in public is Blackmore's feud with vocalist Ian Gillan. December 9, 1972, Gillan sent a letter of resignation in the form of a telegram to Deep Purple's management which read "Deep Purple has become a boring machine that is no longer innovative". However, Gillan still wanted to carry out his obligations to complete the tour that had already been planned until the end of 1973.

The story of Deep Purple Mark IIa ended when they performed at Koseinenkin Hall, Osaka, Japan, on June 29, 1973. Gillan suddenly put up a barbed fence around him, making drummer Ian Paice annoyed, to the point that his backup snare was kicked to the end of the stage. Paice, Blackmore, and Jon Lord then left the stage. Gillan and Glover, who had been stunned, finally took off. Hot atmosphere. The crowd was about to go berserk, but then realized: Deep Purple Mark IIa was finished.

The joining of David Coverdale and Trapeze bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, resulted in the heavy blues rock album, Burn, one of the most successful of Deep Purple. However, Coverdale and Hughes later added elements of funk, r&b, and soul to Deep Purple's composition on their next album, Stormbringer. Blackmore didn't like it, so he left Deep Purple in 1975 to form Rainbow.

Rainbow represents the true game and soul of Blackmore's music. His guitar skills, such as fast arpeggios, whammy bars, tremolo picking, and economical picking spill over into Rainbow songs.

Concert in Indonesia

With Blackmore's departure, Deep Purple opened a large vacancy which was then filled by Tommy Bolin, an American guitarist who had joined Zephyr, James Gang, and Billy Cobham. However, Bolin was not ready to replace Blackmore's big name, so he received ridicule from the audience in several shows because his game was unstable.

However, it was this formation that brought Deep Purple to Indonesia. The hard rock legend managed to anesthetize 150 thousand spectators at the Senayan Stadium, which is now the GBK Stadium. The concert at the biggest stadium in Asia and the extraordinary welcome from the Indonesian people, made the concert the most memorable for Deep Purple, considering that at that time the Indonesian people were facing political problems; the transition from the Old Order to the New Order. The concert was opened by the Indonesian band, God Bless, which at that time had only been established for two years.

Unfortunately, this concert was marred by a riot incident. Many spectators forced themselves closer to the stage in order to see Deep Purple more clearly. Apart from that, many people pushed their way in even though they didn't buy a ticket. There was even a riot between the audience and the security forces.

As quoted from the March 23, 1976 issue of Circus Magazine, security forces fired rubber bullets. One member of Deep Purple, Jon Lord, even saw with his own eyes a dog dragging a young boy to a pool of blood. As a result of the riot, the Senayan Stadium was heavily damaged.

Back to Tommy Bolin. His addiction to heroin also exacerbated the situation where after the traumatic Come Taste The Band tour, Deep Purple disbanded! Shortly thereafter, Bolin died of a heroin overdose while on tour supporting Jeff Beck.

Reunion and Redispute

Deep Purple was officially revived in April 1984. Statements of the band's reformation were made on The BBC's The Friday Rock Show; "The classic early 70s line-up consisting of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, and Paice began recording new material". They signed with Polydor in Europe and Mercury in America. In October 1984, the album Perfect Strangers was released and supported tours from New Zealand to Europe.

In 1987, the line-up returned to record, The House of Blue Light, and toured despite declining sales. Several shows were recorded for the live album Nobody's Perfect in 1988. And that same year in the UK, they released a new version of the song Hush to celebrate 20 years since the formation of Deep Purple. In 1989, Gillan was fired due to not getting along with Blackmore where he was replaced by former Rainbow vocalist, Joe Lynn Turner. This line-up resulted in the album Slaves and Masters and a tour. However, after the tour, Turner was fired due to Lord, Paice, and Glover wanting Gillan back. Blackmore relented so the classic line-up was re-formed and recorded The Battle Rages On in 1993.

During a successful fall 1993 European tour, tensions between Gillan and Blackmore resurfaced, and this time it was Blackmore who left. In 1993 when Deep Purple held a world tour, Blackmore officially resigned again in the midst of a series of concerts taking place in Europe. As a result, Joe Satriani filled Blackmore's position. The virtuoso guitarist stayed on until the 1994 European tour was over. However, when asked to stay at Deep Purple, he refused because he wanted to continue his solo career.

Deep Purple then got Steve Morse, guitarist for the Dixie Dregs, to become Blackmore's permanent replacement. Finished guitarist affairs, in 2002 it was Jon Lord's turn to decide to retire from this band in order to fully concentrate on his solo project. His replacement is not new to the world of rock, Don Airey, former keyboardist for Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake.

Steve Morse Resigned, Deep Purple Concert in Solo

In March 2022, Steve Morse took time off from live shows for Deep Purple due to family issues. Morse's replacement was Simon McBride, who had previously served as touring guitarist Ian Gillan and Don Airey.

"Hello everyone. I just did a few shows with Deep Purple, after years of not playing live. This is a bittersweet, and beautiful time to come together," Morse said in an official statement.

"However, my dear wife Janine is currently battling cancer. At this point, there are so many possible complications and unknowns, that whatever time we have left in our lives, I need to be right there with her.

"I'm not leaving the band - I hope once he's healthy I can rejoin on tour. However, I don't see a situation where I can tour overseas anytime soon. I continue to be privileged to be part of the Purple family, and also feel the immense support from so many loyal fans and other members of the band."

"There is a certified world-class guitarist ready to take over live shows that everyone is sure to hear. I appreciate all of your sincere prayers for Janine and thank you all," concluded the guitarist before officially stepping down from Deep Purple four months later.

The year 2023 marks the meeting point of Deep Purple and God Bless for the second time. Rajawali Indonesia will hold a Deep Purple show in the city of Solo, Central Java, on March 10 and will be opened again by God Bless.

"With the appearance of God Bless together as the opening act for Deep Purple, this will be like a reunion concert 48 years ago, they were on the same stage together the first time Deep Purple performed in Indonesia," said Anas Alimi as the founder of Rajawali Indonesia in his official statement some time ago.

Deep Purple this time will present a triumvirate of MK II personnel: Ian Gillan (vocals), Roger Glover (bass), and Ian Paice (drums). They will be accompanied by Don Airey (keyboards) and Simon McBride (guitar). This concert will be held on March 10, 2023, at the UMS Edutorium, Solo.