The US Tour has now finished. It was very important to Rainbow, in that they needed to reach as many people as possible in order to sell records and make money. They could have headlined, but only in smaller venues.The group were part of a triple bill, playing between No Dice and REO Speedwagon.

"A sell-out crowd of 12,000 and the place was electric in anticipation. When Blackmore sauntered on stage, his stage presence incredible, and started into 'Kill The King' all hell broke loose. However he had guitar problems - feedback etc all the way through, and at the end of the show he whipped the guitar off and just tossed it into the crowd. A very weird show, it is idiotic to have them open for anybody! REO would only allow them one hour and no encore." Steve Wunrow

It doesn't match up to 'Northwinds', with a weak sound overall, maybe due to cramming so much onto a seven inch disc. 'Steal Away' is the most promising track. Lovely vocal intro, but 'orrible drumming lets it down, and it lacks the attack of the live version. The best bit on the EP is the superb pinging bass sound Murray gets here, followed by the steal away screams, smothered in echo.

"Straight into a forceful rendition of 'Come On', the weakest (I thought) track on the EP. It certainly cuts it live though. The mix during 'Lady Luck' was bad, emphasised when Coverdale sang 'it would be so much better if I could hear myself' near the end. It will probably be alright when broadcast though." Gary Critcher.

The show was broadcast on July 15th on BBC Radio One, a half-hour set.

Coverdale wasn't happy with the way Pete Solley was going, despite raving about him earlier, and began to look for another keyboard player. When he heard that the Ian Gillan Band was dissolving, he unsuccessfully tried for Colin Towns. In early August, he got in touch with Jon Lord again, and Jon agreed to join. Great news, as we'd been moaning about the lack of a decent keyboard sound in Whitesnake. Interestingly, Coverdale turned down a chance to join Jon and Ian, who wanted to form a band called simply Purple, dropping the Deep. That was before PAL, and was the cause of some reunion rumours.

Arranged in a hurry as part of a short tour to keep the band in trim before they went to record their fourth LP. A curious audience, half students who are only there cos it's Saturday night, a large number of Purple freaks who don't seem to realise they've split yet, and a smaller number of people who actually know that Ian now has his own band. The set was mostly the same as the last two tours, with an ever so slightly business-like atmosphere. A superb 'Mad Elaine' was the highlight, powering along with a drive that a lot of the other material lacks. Perhaps this will have been my last IGB gig. Unlike Rainbow, who really did take me with them for a time in 1976, IGB always seemed to fall short of what I'd hoped for.

Gillan dissolved the group shortly after the June concerts. He then went into the studio to work on the next album with the nucleus of a new band, featuring John McCoy on bass, Steve Byrd on guitar, and a stand-in session drummer. Colin Towns is the only survivor from the IGB. The band had to be rehearsed quickly to avoid cancelling the Reading Festival spot, which will mark their debut. Some low-key British dates start in October.

The concert to mark Maggie Bell's comeback took place on July 16th at London's Festival Hall. The backing group included Jon Lord, and Ian Paice. Also there for the gig were Paul Martinez (from PAL) and Geoff Whitehorn (who replaced Paul Kossoff in Crawler). There was some doubt about Lord and Paice doing the gig, and in fact they zoomed off to Italy shortly before it, only to be recalled by a telegram from Peter Grant telling them to 'get their asses back' or similar!

According to John Colletta, Deep Purple Mk2 (Coverdale refused to do it) were offered a large sum of money to reunite for a series of concerts. Plans were seemingly well advanced, so although Blackmore had not signed anything they must have been reasonably confident of him doing so. The five concerts were scheduled to take place in Spain and Ibiza in May 1979. With the Rainbow split seemingly overcome, and with Lord joining Whitesnake, likelihood faded. Latest news is that it's off.