Glenn and DP: It was 30 years ago today!!!!!

[JohnH]

It was 30 years ago today that the amazing and influential vocal power of the "Unrighteous Bros", David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes took to the stage with Deep Purple for the first time. What an amazing gig that must have been.

Sometimes erroneously stated as December 8, the first concert actually took place on the 9th, in Copenhagen, Denmark after troubles developed getting the band's equipment to the venue.

The show is described as follows in Chris Charlesworth's excellent Deep Purple, The Illustrated Biography:

The 'Burn' sessions were completed at the end of November and Deep Purple had been off the road for lay off from road work in the group's career. American promoters were offering gilt-edged contracts to Bruce Payne, Purple's American agent almost six months, far and away the ongest, but it was felt wise to launch Deep Purple Mark III with a handful of fairly low-key dates in Europe first.

Their first concert was at the KB Hallen in Copenhagen. 'David was obviously very frightened,' says Jon Lord. 'Glenn had been used to big crowds because Trapeze had toured with The Moody Blues in America but even his slick professionalism couldn't hide the fact that he was nervous. I don't think I've ever seen Ritchie so nervous before either. For a period before the show David hid in a dressing room away from the rest of the band. "Everyone was looking for me to keep me company" said Coverdale. "Later I could see the rest of the band were as nervous as me and we all stood there trying to make each other laugh. Everyone was shaking."

When it came time to go on stage Coverdale ran out, grabbed the microphone and yelled "How are yer!" at the top of his voice through Purple's enormous PA system. "It frightened the hell out of me" said Jon. "I thought what the **** is he doing now. It turned out he did that to release the tension he was feeling. Once I'd got over the shock the gig went like a dream. I think David forgot a few of the lyrics but he and Glenn played both the new and old songs with great heart. David had been a great fan of DP so to be actually singing up on stage with us must have felt like reaching the dark side of the moon on a Vespa, Lord said.

According to the GH Tourography the set list was as follows:

Burn
Might Just Take Your Life
Lay Down, Stay Down
Mistreated
Smoke On The Water
You Fool No One
Space Truckin'
What's Goin' On Here

There are some photos of the band, (which are for sale) believed to be taken just before the gig here:

www.angel.dk/deeppurple/DPovers7.html

JH