The fourth DVD in the upcoming box set, listed below as "Documentary film about the Steve Morse era" is a 90 minute edit of a fly-on-the-wall 'Access All Areas', which has been in production for some years.

Following the Total Abandon tour of Australia in 1999, it was decided to document life on the road with the band. Collated primarily over a 4 year period and starting in Japan 2000, Ian Gillan, Ian Paice and Drew Thompson collected vision from the tours. According to Drew: "it's an amazing insight into life on the road, and takes a look at elements of touring never really seen. It was never meant to showcase the performances from this period, but shows life on the road as it really happens; the fun, the humour, the politics and the camaraderie. The transition period of Jon Lord leaving the band and Don Airey reinvigorating proceedings has been captured at close hand, beautifully complimenting the live NEC performance. This is a must see for any fan of the band."

The full "Access All Area" documentary runs to beyond 3 hours, and has been edited down for the new DVD package. Drew expects that later in 2008 a full length version will be released. If it is, that may leave the NEC 2002 show as the only disc exclusive to 'Around The World'.

There are some advance copies of the 4DVD set about and people tell me the new documentary actually leans heavily on material which first appeared on the Gillancam feature on Ian Gillan's fabbo Highway Star effort last year. We've not seen it ourselves yet.

SR #6002531

Ian Gillan has told a reporter in Peru that he hopes the group will record a new album in 2009, but so far there doesn't seem to be anything more concrete than this.

SR #600252

In May 2008 Eagle are issued a 4 DVD Deep Purple box set called 'Around The World'. The discs comprise:

1. Bombay Calling and Korea 1995 both of which have been out before
(Bombay Calling on DVD twice, and VHS).

2. Total Abandon and Down Under both of which have been out several times in one form or another.

3. Live At NEC 2002, with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover interview. This is new.

4. Documentary film about the Steve Morse era. Origin unknown.

Most fans would I think have preferred the NEC show as a stand alone product (to avoid marital strife if nothing else!), but you do get a 32 page booklet thrown in. It can be pre-ordered at dpas mailorder.
Click here to see a full pack-shot of the box.

SR #6002511 (Thanks to Nigel Young for the heads up)

Ian Gillan has written an article for The Times about Deep Purple's private show at The Kremlin on February 11th:

"The younger guys and more junior staff were all up on their feet, although they were looking nervously over at their bosses to see whether they could loosen their ties. It was as if they were asking, “How much fun are we allowed to have?” I’m sure I could have had everyone on their feet but I knew Tina Turner was on next and it wouldn’t have been cool to do that.

When we had finished our show, Medvedev and Alexei Miller, the chief executive of Gazprom, came into our dressing room where we had a chat and a couple of drinks. Medvedev had this stupid grin on his face because he was meeting his favourite band. We had a nice chat but we didn’t talk about politics. All of us in the band have such wildly different opinions on religion and politics that we never get into it. "

See the full article here.

TS #600250

Deep Purple are listed as being due to perform on July 30th 2008, as part of a series of gigs linked with the British International Motor Show at the ExCeL Arena in London. Doors open at 20:00, with the band on stage at 21:00. Tickets are already on sale from ents24.com. Other acts confirmed for earlier in the week include UB40, Joolz Holland and Status Quo.

DB #600249
(with thanks to Mark Jones, Paul Harrison and Tim Clark)

photo: Nick Robinson

Deep Purple were flown to Moscow to perform a special show on Fwebruary 11th at The Kremlin's Palace of Congresses, in front of Russian luminaries such as Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev - a man described by the Moscow Times as "chairman of state-controlled gas giant Gazprom and a virtual lock to become the country's next president." The party was to mark the 15th anniversary of the firm's creation.

The evening began with an address by Russian president Vladimir Putin, which was followed by performances from Tina Turner and Deep Purple among others. According to news reports "the fans wore furs, suits or war medals rather than jeans and T- shirts; they arrived in black chauffeured limousines not buses; and the front row of the audience included Russia's likely next president Dmitry Medvedev and a top former KGB spy." During Deep Purple's one hour set  "attempts by Ian Gillan to encourage audience participation led to the kind of slow, steady handclap which used to reverberate around the wood-panelled hall during Soviet Communist Party congresses."

TS #6002471

Deep Purple are apparently 'in negotiation' to play the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, which runs from July 4th-19th 2008. They are listed for 'Great Classics Night' along with the likes of Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al di Meola, and The Scorpions. Corea, Clarke and di Meola (along with Lenny White) are the original Return To Forever. The final listing is promised in April.

MR #600248 (with thanks to Denis Zürcher)

In addition to the German festival dates pencilled in for 2008, one has now cropped up in Norway. Trondheim newspaper 'Adressavisen' has reported that Deep Purple will headline the Steinkjer Rock festival on August 15th 2008. Steinkjer is a small town approx 120 km north from Trondheim and 90 km north from Hell and Værnes (the airport). The newspaper report also says that it will be the only concert by Deep Purple in Norway in 2008.

Hans Peter Jenssen #600245

(photo: Peter Rossen)

CD tracks list in full : Pictures Of Home / Things I Never Said / Strange Kind Of Woman / Rapture Of The Deep / Wrong Man / Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye / When A Blind Man Cries / Lazy / Keyboard solo / Space Truckin' / Highway Star / Smoke On The Water.

dpas mailorder are stocking both editions.

DVD disc 1 includes the band's set from the 40th Montreux Festival in 2006 plus iInterviews with the band members. Disc 2 contains the whole of Deep Purple’s 60 min performance from the Hard Rock Café, London, to celebrate its re-opening and the launch of the band’s new album “Rapture Of The Deep” back in October 2005 (audio from this set was on the special tour edition of Rapture Of The Deep CD). 1) Fireball 2) I Got Your Number 3) Strange Kind Of Woman 4) Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye 5) Rapture Of The Deep 6) Wrong Man 7) Lazy 8) Perfect Strangers 9) Highway Star 10) Smoke On The Water.
Due mid-June 2007. It looks as if Perfect Strangers is absent from the DVD as well as the CD (collectors tell us it was absent on TV and FM in Europe when the show was broadcast last year).

It looks as if the Japanese edition of this new CD will include ALL the set on two discs, rather than the slightly shorter single CD in Europe which lacks the encore and Morse's showcase. Silly thing to do and annoying for collectors. Info is scarce but if we're right the extra CD tracks would be The Well Dressed Guitar, Hush, Too Much Fun, and Black Night. To confirm, the Montreux set IS complete on the DVD in Europe. dpas mailorder are stocking this import edition. If anyone who has ordered the single CD UK edition wishes to upgrade their order, please email Ann asap.

Eagle have confirmed a blu-ray DVD edition of Live At Montreux 2006, which will be released in February 2008 in Europe. Content is as the previously released DVD (reviewed in DTB 58), but the picture is high definition. It can be pre-ordered at dpas mailorder. (for more info on blu-ray, see our format guide).

SR#6002397

The band are back on the road for a batch of European shows, which kicked off at the National Stadium in Bucharest, Romania on October 31st. There are galleries of photos from the show at www.metalhead.ro:80 and www.carteadenisip.ro:80 (in the 'galerie foto').


DB#600244 (with thanks to Danut Ivanescu / HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE, and Emil Ionescu from METALHEAD.ro)

(photo: Martin Ashberry)

The band are doing three more shows in Italy from November 9th-12th. (see 2007 tour dates for more details). Tickets are available at usual local outlets now and via the web at www.ticketone.it.

The Italian Deep Purple fan club reckon that with these shows the band will have played 15 concerts in Italy in less than two years (from March 2006 - November 2007), and played to more than 80,000 people on the way.

Thanks to Deep Purple Italia for the news.
DB#600243 (photo: Martin Ashberry)

Having realised that there is a great market for Deep Purple in France, they are certainly taking advantage. News is that the group will be back there AGAIN in November for more concerts. See the tour dates page.

Stats: By the end of 2007 Deep Purple will have played 23 times in France. There are said to be plans to film the Paris show for a DVD.

SR#6002381 (photo: Alexei Zaikin). Thanks to Mathieu Pinard.