IAN PAICE & PURPENDICULAR ASCHAFFENBURG COLOS SAAL GERMANY 17th December 2008

Nürnberg 17th of december 2008 on wet dull morning I fuelled, watered and oiled my BMW for the trip to pick up the worlds best drummers in Ian Paice of Deep Purple at Frankfurt airport.
I got there rather early to avoid confusion…three hours in fact! I had a short sleep in the car until I realised it was time to meet Ian at terminal 2.
The flight was 5 minutes ahead of schedual and in walked Ian with his two roller cases.
As we drove to the first venue in Aschaffenberg we talked about politics, women and music. Ian asked me what musicians where on this tour, and I told him It will be the best line up to date, he smiled and said…I trust ya.
We got there on time to meet up with Chris Grüber from Artefix music our tour manager for the last three tours, and of course the ‘crazy gang’ as i refere to my band Purpendicular of which I couldn’t wait for Ian to hear.
I introduced the band 1 by 1. Stoffi on hammonds in which Ian was pleased to see from previous tours. then I introduced Simon Radner on bass and then the master of guitars, young Joe Doblhofer.Joe is one of the sweetest guys I have ever met and he leaves me sometimes with my mouth open when he plays them strings. he never plays the guitar heroe, he just lets his playing do the talking.
The Roadie on this tour was Jürgen, a great guy who was always on hand if anything went wrong.
Ians snare drums were not in the cases, so we had to Phone pearl and they got them right to the venue in time for the show. Now thats service!
Ian asked if we could play something slow to warm up and get into it. I suggested ‘Blind Man’. he replied..’ Not that fuckin slow hahaha’
We did soundcheck with Loosen my strings and a snippet of cascades so Ian could remember the arrangements.
Then we had some cold buffett which was laid on backstage upstairs at the Colos Saal. I had some early beers while Ian did his very witty Drum Clinic. Me and my Great buddy Joe watched the clinic and laughed a lot.
After Ian met some fans and did an autograph session. Then we all met up backstage and had a real laugh, telling jokes and rehearsing acoustically. The band mixed perfectly with Ian both musically and personally, something that lacked on the last tour with demons eye. There was no jealousy or confusion, just 6 buddys having a good time.
So just before kick off, Chris poured out the family drink which consisted of 6 jack daniels coke. we all shook hands and wished each other luck.
When I introduced Ian I noticed the venue was full. Then Ian came on and gave a small speech, insisting as on previous tours, if there are nay mistakes they are probably his mistakes. True gentleman.
In fact only the ending of Bad attitude went missing hahaha.
The chain on Ians hi-hat stand snapped in two after just three songs as the band were playing very hard. The set consisted of the opener Highway star, Bad Attitude, Emeretta, Child In Time, Never Before, Loosen my Strings, The Mule(drum solo), Cacades(guitar solo), Mistreated, Stormbringer, (organ solo)Perfect Strangers,Black Night (with jam) Smoke on the water and Lazy and Hush for our encores.
Ian was very pleased with the band saying that ‘the last line up in demons eye (he couldn’t remember the name:-)) was a good work out but he didn’t have to think that much because of the lack of improvisation, but with the guys in Purpendicular, he had to think because of the improvisation parts that were coming up. Every night is different. not just in the solo parts of the guitar or organ. thats easy, anyone can do that. But with these guys, you gotta stay on your toes.Always little jams going on from all of the band and everyone following everybody. Great stuff. Ian would later comment on this after the tour!
The crowd were simply fantastic as was all the musicians. They did themselves proud.
The after show party we were joined by some very nice French fans, Markus and Bea from the Pegnitzbühne or was that the pregnant bühne:-) we drank just about enough, signed autographs and took photos.
Then we had a late meal which consisted of fish and vegatables with chips or pommes if your German. It was great. The venue really did a great job and we would like to thank Clause again.
Back at the hotel, we all sat at the bar with some fans laughing and joking into the early hours. Then I noticed Ian telling Joe, ‘hey man, well played, really good’.
Then after that, Joe knocked his beer over me! he says it wasnt on purpose but I’m not too sure :-)) then when i finally dried myself, Simon knocked his bacardi cola over me from the other side! Ian though it was me knockin stuff over. absolutly hilarious fun.
Then we took ourselves to our hotel rooms in which outside the snow was falling. Really beautiful.
Myself, Joe and chris went to my room to drink some vodkas and talk about the evening and our recent split ups with our respective girlfriends. Music heals the soul and when you play with a players like Joe, it takes the pain away very easily.
Chris then went to his room which looked like a whole fucking apartment :-)) are you sure that was room chris????
Me and Joe talked a bit more about our past shows etc, a bit drunk at this stage as you can all imagine.
Truely a great debut show from all sides!
Next morning we all met for breakfast which was really cool as we all mixed together with the roadies the band and Ian and Chris, everybody was in great mood. A couple of sore heads but nothing we can’t handle!
And with that…on to the next Venue…Innsbrück Austria, but thats another story:-)
Pics from this show can be found under the pics section of this site.

TOUR REPORT 2 IAN PAICE & PURPENDICULAR INNSBRÜCK HAFEN .. 18th December 2008

The drive from Aschaffenberg Germany to Innsbrück Austria took about five and a half hours. I drove all the way despite the heavy partying from the night before.The weather was wet but thank god we avoided a 12kmh traffic jam near Nürnberg. Ian, Chris and myself travelled in my car and the guys travelled in the tour bus.The guys told me they were watching films in the bus. what films I cannot repeat on here :-)) apparently Joes favourites:-).
On the journey we stopped for lunch near the austrian border. We talked about how the banks are running nowadays, what people should get backstage passes and the usual dirty joke section:-)
Chris was busy in the back seat making calls and doing the business stuff and checking on the guys to make sure they didnt wreck the autobahn:-)
When we arrived in the beautiful city of Innsbrück we checked into our respective hotel rooms. The hotel was really top class. We lay down for an hour or so before going to the venue by Taxi. At the venue entrance we met up with some old friends from Italy who obviously had a hard time with the security, but we fixed that problem.
Then Dave arived (Joes little brother) who is a great guy.W e had a lot of laughs together.
Ian went straight to the stage to start his evening drum clinic. Not many people turned up sadly but Ian gave his all as he always does.
Poor stoffi didn’t feel very well on this occasion and opted to go back to the hotel for a lay down. I offered him some tablets but I don’t think he trusted me:-) They were only pain killers.
Joe and Simon went also back to the hotel to rest for a few hours while I entertained myself with Vodka red bulls and mixing with the support band ‘The Fiction play’. They are great guys and very funny. I then took myself from backstage to side stage to listen to the end of Ians clinic.
One by one the band then arrived from the hotel to warm up. Man do they warm up early. maybe 2 hours before the show Joe and Simon only played their instrument while i told them ridiculas jokes and took some pics. We then had dinner which consited of rice, potatoe wedges and chicken. It was really nice.
Come show time I got the call from Chris that we are about to go on. So I got changed and ready. Tonight we decided to drop Emeretta so we could Jam more at Ians and the bands request.
Aagin we kicked off with Highway Star and I noticed the venue had filled up. The audience gave us a great reception fpr every song, and Ian applauded mostly every song we did, especially Joe on Loosen my strings and Cascades.
After Mistreated he called me over and applauded me in which is a nice feeling to be complimented by your hero.
The gig was a huge success. Myself and Joe had a real party with the santa hats. Ian called me Santa O Clause. Sounds like an Irish name:-))
So I joined Ian in his room for a few Jack Daniels cola and it was there he told me how special Joe is on Guitar.He told me that he is one of the best guitar players he has heard and very close to Steve Morse the current Deep Purple Guitarist and also the fact he is so young but very mature on the stage.
He told me he wanted to jam more the next night in Friedrichshafen with Joe
So then in walked Chris Grüber to join us and then eventually Joe and Stoffi who by this time was feeling much better.
After the after gig warm down we all got changed and agreed that we go back to the hotel and then on into the city to party.
The whole crew and the two bands arrived at this little bar in the middle of Innsbrück called ‘Cubanos’. We all mixed and bought beers and told many very very funny stories. We then decided to tell Ian that we are going to change the whole set list for the next show. He repleid…OK:-)) but it was only a joke. Ian was the first to leave the bar at around 2.30. Chris left the bar at 3.30 and Simon, Joe and myself left when we were kicked out. Stoffi left just before us i think. My memory is hazy on this one:-). But it was one great party. We got back to the Hotel at 5am… and went straight to bed. We all had a great sleep and we didnt have to get up until 10.30 or something and have breakfast together. I was last to arrive for breakfast where Stoffi was asking Ian about recording our new album. The mood was very high and we were all in good spirits for the short two and a half hour trip to Friedrichshaven Germany. That story will be covered for you very soon…….
Pics from this show can also be found on the pics section of this site.

TOUR REPORT 3 IAN PAICE & PURPENDICULAR FRIEDRICHSHAFEN GERMANY 19th December 2008
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Friedrichshaven BAHNHOF FISCHBACH
As we drove out of Innsbrück the traffic was chaos. This time I let Chris drive my car as I tried to sleep in the back. Ican never sleep in cars especially when I’m driving! 🙂 anyway, the snow was plenty and the 2 and a half hour drive wasn’t that bad. I tried to take some pics of the wonderfull mountains but the white haze and snow blizzards didn’t allow.
On the way we stopped for a few beers somewhere in the mountains. Really beautiful scenary. During the beers Ian talked about Rod Evans dodgy Deep Purple formation in the 80s. Interesting story. Then we talked about how easy guys are and women will never understand us :-))) in a nice kinda way.
Ian asked to let Joe do what he wants on the stage tonight, as in, let him bring the band in a different direction during black night jam.
We arrived at the hotel on time to lay down for an hour. the guys were at the venue with the roadies and stage hands.
When we arrived at the venue The guys went back to the hotel for a while for a rest. So myself and Chris sat backstage enjoying a few more beers.
Sadly the promotion for this gig was next to none, and Chris was a little angry and disappointed as the promoter must of lost a fortune.
One of our friends Volker Thiele had also arrived and opted to film this show instead of the short Graz appearance.
During Ians clinic he told the audience how good the band were and how good Joe is on Guitar. Something he never did before during his clinics. I was very proud at this moment because Ian didn’t have to say anything. It was his clinic.
The guys then arrived one by one and we decided to drop some songs in order to jam. Lazy being one of them, Emeretta and Never Before.
We all had our usual family drink and sat around and jammed backstage and had a lot of laughs. Ian always wanted to share his dressing room (or undressing room) with the band. He took out his small navi/TV and put on an Irish comedy called Father Ted. Man was that funny, even the guys thought it was great. If you can imagine us all sitting around this tiny navi watchin TV before a show.Ian then decided to have his usual Jack Daniels coke before going on, so we had to join him 🙂
We kicked off with Highway Star, with the band having a different sound mix to what we had in soundcheck.then my microphone stand broke into pieces….. i tried to get the roadies attention and eventually a new one was found. (mic stand not roadie hahaha)
Ian applauded Joe after a scintillating solo at the end of Loosen My Strings and again after the fantastic Cascades. but i must say that the whole band were firing at this stage. Christoph (Stoffi) is simply a wonderful soloist as well as his rhythm playing. he has a real Lord feel. Something that I missed since last playing with him with Ian in 2004. If you listen carefully to the recording of this show you can hear him doodling and getting in lovely bits of rhythm and fills and more importantly his sound. He seems to get better. Like wine, it gets better with time:-) Plus he is a gentleman like all the lads.
We had a lot of improvisation on this night. I dont mean the guitar player opening with 3 or 5 minutes solos alone. thats easy…I m talkin about the band making up peices of music in that moment that where never played before and the whole band adding their peice. it was a joy. Especially the end of Mistreated, and the end of Hush, but the best of the night was Ians wish to let Joe go off on his own jamming, in which he did brilliantly in Black Night. he halved the tempo gave Ian the signal and the whole band switched to follow into a waltzy blues thing.
During the Mule poor Ian dropped his drum stick 3 times!!! hahaha . butterfingersssss:-)
then after 3 minutes or so, we found our way back to Black Night. when the song ended Ian put down his sticks and applauded the whole band saying ‘absolutly Fantastic’.
The audience was small but very very good god bless em. They sang their hearts out.
After Smoke on the Water, Ian went to the microphone to tell the audience not so much applause for him, but for the guys, fantastic band and he told us take a bow guys Jesus Christ. It was the best compliment any band playing Purple could have. and one that was never given before in the past other than, the band are good and know what they are doing etc etc. so I was very proud, and at this moment I realised that all the decisions i have made with other bands in the past was the correct one at that given time.
Anyway, we all went back stage and came back again for the encore and raced through Hush. I added a peice of ‘ Hang me out to dry’ from gillans inn album. Joe and myself wore Santa hats for this one and had a right laugh. Simon did a great solo at the end to conclude the nights proceedings.
backstage we a few more drinks and a laugh and then we were invited to dinner by the promoter. Most of us eat thai food i think, and I had steak.boahhhh.
Volker Thiele then arrived at the table with some fans and wanted to tell me about the DVD recording. The show was also recorded from the mixing console, but the sound is not so good being the Vocals are too loud, bass too light. I just got the show on DVD from Volker and its much better than i though, luckily.
After our meal, Ian said goodnight and went back to the hotel for a late beer and then bed. We partied on at the venue and then we went back to the hotel (Stoffi, Simon, Jürgen, Myself and Joe with volker and a friend of his).
We went to the hotel bar were the waitress was really nice. we had to make the set much shorter for the next day as we only had to play 45 minutes. So after several beers and discussions, we finally came up with the right mix of songs and cut the set down to 8 songs, kicking off with Perfect Strangers with Stoffis classical intro.
At this stage we were all tired and went to bed as the next journey was another big one. 5 and a half hours to Graz and we had to drive back from the direction we came from . At breakfast it was only Chris and me, as Ian eat early and so did the guys. They were already gone on to Graz. I can Imagine the laughs they had in the bus. Simon was so good to download my photos on his Laptop as I needed more space for the Orpheum gig in Graz which is a great Venue. But again, thats another story, into the car and on the road again……
Pics from this show can be found on the pics section under Friedrichshafen Fischbach Bahnhof.

TOUR REPORT 4 IAN PAICE & PURPENDICULAR GRAZ ORPHEUM AUSTRIA 20th December 2008
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The drive from Friedrichshafen to Graz was a long one in miserable conditions. It Snowed and rained the whole way and of course we got caught in the middle of the christmas skiing traffic jams.
We stopped off in a Autobahn restaurant with Chris staying in the car as the restaurant was so full. Ian bought me dinner and we of course had a couple of beverages. The weather was so bad and traffick jams so long that we had a few more beers in the car and a lot of good conversation and banter.
Chris was driving at this point. We again drove through wonderful mountains in which it was hard to get any pics because it was so dull and misty.
Ian had his navigator on and generally made fun of the signals the female voice was giving out. At one point chris drove the wrong way and the navigator told us to ‘Turn around’. Ian turned around in his seat with his seat belt on. I nearly got sick laughing and so did Chris.Very witty indeed.
We arrived at first the hotel were we checked in. Ian went to his room for a rest and I went to Chris room where we discussed business and other things and of course the new tour in 2009 with Ian.
Chris was busy on the phone as the guys came in one by one to chrises room where we had a few beers watched TV and generally hijacked poor Chrises room. after a couple of hours we got a visit from our roadie Jürgen to tell us everything is in place and the Orpheum is sold out to capacity.
It was no surprise as it was a festival for children ‘Lets Spend the night together’.
We were the headliners and we were due onstage at around 22.30.
We all went to the venue in a mercedes bus ala Deep Purples mini sprinters. we had 3 hired. Joe Ian Chris and myself travelled in one and when we got to the venue it was full everywhere. the bar, the halle the backstage, upstares areas, but we had a small room. when Chris asked Ian did he want to have a room on his own he said ,yes, but when he found out that he would be only sharing it with just the Purpendicular guys, he said . we share the room together no problem.He really loved the guys and I was happy about this. I think they were very relaxed around him and didnt keep asking him Deep Purple questions like i experienced before. Theres nothing wrong with that but sometimes he needs to talk about something else.
Joe was warming up in the backstage room with Ian and myself when Ian complimented Joe again, and said, Musicman are really great guitars. I will give you Steves (Morse) contact and if you need anything for your guitars ask him . Joe was a little embarrassed I think, but to be honest Joe deserves everything as he is a beautiful human being and an amazing Guitar player.Most players can copy, But he has his own style but yet again, he can copy morse identically without any effort. There are not many players on the planet that can do that as Steve Morse is the worlds best technically.I have had Ritchie Blackmore copys in the past and i hear some in other bands which is great, but much much easier to copy once you find the balance of sound. In a way it makes you limited. Ritchie was a genius at writing, but he can be easily copied in my view.But in saying that Ritchie is my all time favourite guitar player. Ian said to me that I never heard anybody on this planet so close to Steve as Joe. He also asked me and Chris not to put too much pressure on him and to take care of him. we will :-)) at the bar and did…at the bar 😉
ORF TV from Austria then wanted an Interview first with me and then with Ian. I already had a few beers and scotches by this time and was in ‘good mood’. I was expecting music questions but instead i was asked about what women i want to spend the night with, and what do I think of christmas. I was baffled. Ian was on next and I was doing my best with Joe to make him Laugh while the camera was on him, but he answered very catiously the questions haha. then he jumped on me saying I told you I told in front of the cemeras which were on ahahah Great stuff.
Come showtime we got the call to make our way to this fantastic stage. The engineer checked all with us before and he is such a great nice guy. No ego, just a perfect job.we all made jokes behind the curtain before going on. We were introduced by the moderator.
Stoffi was first on with a classical intro…. and left out the usual intro to Perfect Strangers. Instead after his classic intro Ian counted in and we Belted into Perfect Strangers with the full light show going on in time to the opening bars. Great stuff. goose bump city Juhu.
I notice the place was full to the rafters. and the crowd went wild. After a stomping version of PS, we then opted to play Loosen My Strings, Stormbringer Child in time, The Mule with Ians Solo Cascades,Bad Attitude Black Night and of course Smoke on the water.
The audience sang their hearts out. we couldn’t improvise so much as we had a time schedual. we played for 50 minutes i think. The light show was really awesome.We hope to visit the Orpheum again with Ian in 2009.
backstage after the show we had a bottle of Jameson that darling chris had found for us, as we all celebrated a fine tour. Ian and the guys went to eat upstairs at the buffet and bar. Then I met Simons really nice parents. The we made some pics and signed some autographs.
we all ended up in the bar getting drunk and talking and laughing and the guys told me again of how greatfull and thankfull they were to be invited to play with Ian. I told them they deserved it and it was a pity they were not around for the last tour in 2007 when I gave this offer to people that absolutly did not deserve nor respect it. One of my lifes biggest regrets to this day.
Ian went back to the hotel as we had an early start to get to vienna so he could catch his plane.
when we evntually got back to the hotel we had more fun but this I cannot repeat on here:-)
The I went to bed last I think, and I slept really well.Ian told fans in the hotel that he would again like to play with Purpendicular soon as he knows all DP dates and when they will be doing the new album.
The next Morning Chris had a meeting with Ian at 7am in the hotel foyer and to organise the next tour. Ian agreed and was more than pleased with this new line up and how good they are.
Ian was also notified by Chris of how badly Robbys ex band had treated him. He was also happy I have moved on and made Progress musically, and said he will be back very soon with Purpendicular. Business will come.
We said our goodbyes in Vienna and vowed that we would stay in touch whilst Ian is in South America with Purple (the mothership).
All in all it was the best tour of my life with great musicians and personalities.Everything went like a dream this time around.
I would like to thank Chris Ian and the guys for a wonderful job and a tour I will never forget.
God Bless and see you all on the road with Pur.pendicular) in 2009 and of course Ian.
And thanx to all the fans who came out to see us.

Pics from this show can be found in the Pics section.

‘**all tour reports were compiled by Robby Thomas Walsh Purpendicular singer.