Deep Purple have announced a UK tour for October.
The legendary British rock band will be joined by Blue Öyster Cult at Manchester Arena, London's O2 Arena, Glasgow's SSE Hydro, Leeds' First Direct Arena, and Birmingham Arena. The new dates are part of The Long Goodbye Tour which kicked off in 2017 and stopped off in Europe, North America and Japan. Tickets go on general sale at 10am on December 6.
Alongside the tour announcement, band vocalist and lyricist Ian Gillan has also shared news of a new album. In a lengthy post on Facebook, Gillan revealed that the band have once again worked alongside Bob Ezrin, who helmed 2013's 'Now What?!' and 2017's 'Infinite'. More details are due in the new year. In the meantime, read Gillan's post below:
"It was late March in 2019, when I found myself in Nashville TN, renting an Airbnb delight called ‘Rose River Cottage’, on one bank of the Cumberland River, almost directly opposite the Grand Ole Opry, from where the quaint music would drift across the water into the wee small hours.
"It was springtime, and – along with the woodchucks – I was emerging from hibernation.
"Across town, other members of Deep Purple were staying in more urbane accommodation. This was a shock, as we are famous for our lack of planning and we all wondered what had drawn us together in this place and time.
"An even greater surprise was to follow; each member (arms and legs I’m talking about) arrived at a rehearsal studio and then a recording studio at roughly the same time on roughly the same day with roughly no idea of what we were doing.
"It was a total coincidence, the like of which has probably never been witnessed since – unbelievably – exactly the same thing happened a few years earlier when we spawned some In-Finite ideas.
"Then – blow me down – Bob Ezrin turned up and said ‘Let’s have dinner on Monday’
"Someone enquired ‘What’s the big occasion?’
2Bob replied ‘To celebrate the fact that we are all still alive…’
"In which case’ continued the world-weary muso, ‘We’d better make it Sunday’
"But we survived the weekend and had dinner on Monday.
"Tuesday, we made another album and Wednesday we went to the pub….
"Something like that anyway (it was all a blur) and now we gird our lions (yes, I know, but I’m in Africa) for a year of febrile activity into which a rare amount of planning has been invested; obviously not by us.
"I sense the grinding of campaign wheels, the oiling of creaky roadies, rumours of itineraries and ripples of creativity in Hamburg. Quite plainly something is in the air; but I have no idea what it could be.
"Perhaps, after another brief hibernation, all will become clear, in the spring of 2020."
