DEEP PURPLE

Xfinity Center
Mansfield, Massachusetts
August 27, 2017

Photos & Review by Dan Wenc

For nearly fifty years Deep Purple has been to playing the stages of the world. Between live shows and standard music play, their music has been entertaining millions in their time. Deep Purple music continues to fill the airwaves of classic rock stations. Purple classics have been played on 8-track, vinyl, cassette, CD and now digital formats. In 2016 Deep Purple was inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame, which included previous band members David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore and Glenn Hughes. Deep Purple poured the foundation for rock and heavy metal music as we know to today. Deep Purple has been an influence on many bands of the 80’s through musicians of today. Plus, everyone’s first song ever played on a guitar… “Smoke On The Water”. One could call them a group that one of the founding fathers of heavy metal, along with the likes of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Black Sabbath to name a few. The reach of Deep Purple has spanned the globe and many generations of rock n’ roll fans.

In 2017 Deep Purple hit the road once again for the “Long Goodbye Tour”, also in support of their 20th studio Infinite. The Deep Purple musical catalog includes twenty studio albums, eighteen compilation albums and twenty-eight live albums. When it comes to a rock n’ roll legacy, this band is it.

Deep Purple (2017) is, founding members Ian Gillan (vocals), Roger Glover (bass), Ian Paice (drums), along with Steve Morse (guitar) since 1994. And Don Airey on keyboards in place of the amazing Jon Lord, who passed away from cancer in 2012. Don Airey has laid down the keys for many acts to include Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Whitesnake, Saxon, Michael Schenker.

The Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts was a stop on this tour. It was a night of pure classic rock. The crowd showed up to watch rock n’ roll royalty perform live once again. Deep Purple can respectfully be referred to as the grandfathers of the rock n’ roll, helping to form the heavy metal genre.

The night’s bill was Edgar Winter, Alice Cooper and Deep Purple, three legends playing on one stage that night. Without bands like these, who knows what direction music might have gone, theses bands leave a legacy in the music world. Deep Purple has put out many rock anthems, such as “Highway Star”, “Smoke On The Water”, “My Woman from Tokyo” and “Knocking at Your Backdoor”, to name just a few. These guys are legitimate rock superstars, a band that has taken the stage thousands of times in front of millions of fans in there time. Its was great to see Deep Purple out on the road once again.

The Long Goodbye Tour will be wrapping up in 2018 with some US dates and dates overseas. This could quite possibly be the last time fans see Deep Purple perform live in these parts. Don’t miss out on seeing Deep Purple live once again.

The band sounded great and put on a solid performance. For more info on Deep Purple and tour dates, visit the official webpage: http://www.deeppurple.com