See the band's classic Mark II lineup at the peak of their powers
We thought we'd glance back at the classic Mark II lineup of Deep Purple - Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Roger Glover (bass), Ian Gillan (vocals), Ian Paice (drums) and Jon Lord (keyboards) - tearing it up, live in New York in 1973.
The performance, which once existed in one 23-minute-long YouTube clip, is now broken out over three videos, one of which has sadly been lost to the unforgiving gods of the internet (and copyright.) Still, they show Deep Purple at the top of their game.
They plow through Strange Kind of Woman (in the top video) before turning things over to Lord, who is eventually joined by Blackmore, who throws down and steps on his Strat, tosses it in the air, replaces it with another (out-of-tune) Strat and slips into smoke-machine nirvana.
While we don't know much about the show's exact date or venue, we know it was filmed before July 1973, when David Coverdale officially stepped in for Gillan.
The current version of Deep Purple features the same rhythm section seen in the videos below - Glover and Paice - plus Gillan on vocals. Dixie Dregs axeman Steve Morse and keyboardist Don Airey round out the band's current lineup. Lord, who died in 2012, retired from the band in 2002. Blackmore called it quits in 1993.
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Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
