We're a little bit backed up on getting my concert
photographs up here on The Old Blog. I suppose we will catch up at some
point, but this would be a good time to remind you that my concert photographs
can be seen in a much more timely manner by visiting V13 Media,
which you can do by following the link. If you'd like an even more direct
route to my photographs, you can visit my personal page over there but using
the following
link. Some bands hold an immortal place in history. Deep Purple certainly has a place in that
group. One could trace the lineage of
hard rock and heavy metal back to the group’s beginnings. It has been over 50 years since the band
witnessed a casino engulfed in flames. And
still we stop whatever we’re doing today when that opening riff plays over the
radio or stereo at home. Their current
North American Tour rolled through the Place Bell in Laval. I ended up just missing
out on their previous visit so I was really happy to get the message telling me
I would be able to cover the show. Though
some of the names and faces have changed over the last 50 years, the music that
the band has created continues to rock as hard today as it did then. As the dust settled, a rumble began to be felt from the
crowd. We were mere moments away from
seeing some legends. I for one, could
not wait. As the arena went dark, a
video played featuring an aspect of every Deep Purple album that has been
released. From 1968’s Shades Of Deep Purple up to Splat!, which dropped back in
July. Ian Paice led the band on
stage. Rather 
appropriately as he
remains the only member to have appeared in every version of the band. Simon McBride’s guitar roared to life with the opening notes
of “Highway Star”. Roger Glover was
laying down a rocking groove on the other side of the stage, rarely straying
from Paice’s side. Finally, Ian Gillan
appeared from the center of the stage.
It may have looked like he was straining from time to time, but that
voice is still there. And still remarkable. Deep Purple did play a few songs from Splat!. Notably “Diablo”, for which JeffersonAirplane’s David Freiberg and Cathy Richardson returned to the stage for. Of course, it was the hits that got the biggest
reaction. Deep Purple closed out the
show with “Perfect Strangers” and ‘Space Truckin’”. But it was “Smoke On The Water” which saw the
fans in attendance explode. The
flammable energy threatened to blow the Place Bell roof straight to Montreux. Though they are old enough to be grandfathers to a number of
current rock stars, they demonstrate that ones age is merely a number. The band continues to release rocking albums
and tour the world. Deep Purple put on a
show for the ages. They proved that you
are never too old to rock. Deep Purple
are indeed immortal. All of the photographs were taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths. Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of Deep Purple while they performed up on the Place Bell stage.
