In 1969, cofounders Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord decided to replace vocalist Rod Evans with Ian Gillan. Gillan declined to join Purple without his former bandmate Roger Glover. Lord and Blackmore accepted and, in 1969, Gillan and Glover, replaced Evans and bassist Nick Simper. This new line-up, known as MKII, immediately went on tour throughout Europe and the United Kingdom.[2]
"I remember back in 1969 when Roger and I did our first show with Purple at the Speakeasy," recalled Gillan. "There were only twelve people there; well, twenty if you counted Keith Moon. But I looked at Roger and said, 'Oh man, this is it.' It was the kind of band we had both been dreaming of."[3]
During the tour, half of the setlist included MKI hits with the other half consisting of new MKII songs. "Speed King", "Child in Time" and "Into the Fire" were premiered on the tour, before being released on the In Rock album.[4]
"And the Address" {opening bars only}
"Kneel and Pray" (early version of "Speed King" with different lyrics)
Deep Purple MKII kicked off their first tour at the London Speakeasy Club. In a recent interview, Ian Gillan named this show to be favourite live performance of his career, as it was his first show with Deep Purple.[5]
After a few United Kingdom dates, the band headed to Belgium, where they headlined Jazz Bilzen, and then again returned to the United Kingdom.
On 24 September, the band played at London's Royal Albert Hall, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Arnold. This was one of the earliest examples of a rock band collaborating with an orchestra. The show was called Concerto for Group and Orchestra and was later officially released. The Concerto and album itself was influential, with many rock bands following in Deep Purple's steps and playing with orchestras. Rock band Metallica made their orchestral debut in 2000 and named Purple's 1969 show as the main influence.[6]
The orchestral parts were written by Jon Lord and included three movements.
On 19 February, they performed at the BBC's Studios, with the show later being released on CD. They then returned to West Germany, Switzerland and Austria, before again returning to the UK. The tour ended at Frankfurt's Radstadion on 21 June 1970.
Live albums and DVDs
Several live albums from the tour were later released.
