The Songs That Built Rock Tour was a 2011–12 world

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

by British

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

band

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Originally formed as ...

Overview

Along with the band, the tour featured a 38-piece orchestra. It was the first time Deep Purple toured North America in four years. It took place at the world's largest arenas, such as the

O2 Arena O2 Arena may refer to: *The O2 Arena (London) *O2 Arena (Prague) *The 3Arena The 3Arena (originally The O2) is an indoor amphitheatre located at North Wall Quay in the Dublin Docklands in Dublin, Ireland. The venue opened as The O2 on 16 Decemb ...

in London and

Arena di Verona The Verona Arena ( it, Arena di Verona ) is a Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra in Verona, Italy built in 30 AD. It is still in use today and is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there. It is one of the be ...

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

, Italy. The official management's press-release said the show would include Deep Purple's biggest hits, such as "

Smoke on the Water "Smoke on the Water" is a song by English rock band Deep Purple, first released from the band's sixth studio album ''Machine Head'' (1972), which chronicles the 1971 fire at Montreux Casino. In a 2004 publication by ''Rolling Stone'' magaz ...

", Highway Star", "

Woman from Tokyo "Woman from Tokyo" is a song by the English rock band Deep Purple. It was first released on their 1973 album ''Who Do We Think We Are'', and later as a single. The song was featured on the 2011 DVD Deep Purple with Orchestra - Live in Montreu ...

" etc, covering the 42-year history of the band.

Tour history

Announcements

*The first few European dates of the orchestral tour were announced in January 2011, including shows in Germany and the Arena di Verona, Italy. It was billed as just "Orchestral Tour". *Billed as "Deep Purple: The Songs That Built Rock", the tour was officially announced at the end of February 2011, with

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the ...

dates being first, followed by European ones. The North American tour includes three show in Canada and three shows in the New York City area. (New York area concerts combine 20,000 tickets for sale.) *At the beginning of April, Jacky Paice, the wife of Deep Purple's drummer

Ian Paice Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and last remaining original member of the rock band Deep Purple. He is often cited as one of the greatest drummers of all-time. He remains the only membe ...

, announced the 2011 edition of The Sunflower Jam, the annual charity event hosted by the actor

Jeremy Irons Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...

. This edition includes Deep Purple appearing at London's

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

among some of the biggest names in the history of rock, such as

Jon Lord John Douglas Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English orchestral and rock composer, pianist, and Hammond organ player known for his pioneering work in fusing rock with classical or baroque forms, especially with the British rock band Deep ...

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his solo albums released in the 1970s. Born and raised ...

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 1944 – 11 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He becam ...

, Joe Bonamassa, Neuton Faulkner and members of the rock band

Thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

. (with more names to be confirmed, as promised). The Sunflower Jam has been criticised in the ''

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...

'' for fundraising in support of ''

The College of Medicine The College of Medicine (CoM) is a United Kingdom-based organisation founded in October 2010 that grew out of The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health after it was shut down due to accounting fraud. It is chaired by Michael Dixon, a former di ...

'', an

alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and al ...

lobby group In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

in the UK linked to Prince Charles. *12 April saw the band announcing four UK arena dates, including their first ever show at London's O2 Arena.

Ticket sales

* According to

Ticketmaster Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with Live Nation under the name Live Nation Enter ...

, on 16 April Deep Purple reached #2 in the list of week's biggest ticket-selling artists in the UK. ( Download Festival being #1). The band sold nearly 70,000 tickets in two days. The fourth day of ticket sales saw them as the #1 bestseller artists of the week in the UK. * The LG Arena show in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

sold out after one week of ticket sales.

Tour dates

Songs performed

Line-up

;Deep Purple: *

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is a British singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

– vocals *

Steve Morse Steve J. Morse (born July 28, 1954) is an American guitarist, best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the lead guitarist of Deep Purple from 1994 to 2022. Morse has also enjoyed a successful solo career and was briefly a member of ...

– guitar *

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and R ...

– bass *

– drums * Don Airey – keyboards ;Other * The 38-piece Orchestra, Europe tour:

Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt The Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt is an orchestra based in Offenbach, Germany. The Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt, established in 1996, is beside its work as a classical symphony orchestra one of the leading crossover orchestras in Europe. The orchestr ...

* The Sunflower Superjam 2011 line up includes

, Joe Bonamassa,

Newton Faulkner Sam Newton Battenberg Faulkner (born 11 January 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and musician from Reigate, Surrey. He is known for his percussive style of guitar playing. In 2007 Faulkner's debut studio album ''Hand Built by Robots'' was c ...

, alongside

Notes

* Concord, California concert on 25 June 2011 is without the Orchestra, guest Joe Satriani plays the guitar on "Smoke on the Water" * The SunFlower SuperJam concert on 8 July 2011 is without the orchestra and with guests Jack Moore, the son of Gary Moore on guitar, Bill Bailey on cowbell and Joe Bonamassa on guitar on "Smoke on the Water", Joe Bonamassa also played guitar on "Maybe I'm a Leo" * Montreux, Switzerland concert on 16 July has been recorded and was released on DVD and CD as ''

Live at Montreux 2011 ''Live at Montreux 2011'' is a live release by English hard rock band Deep Purple's mk VIII lineup credited as Deep Purple with Orchestra, and performed alongside the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt conducted by Stephen Bentley-Klein. This conce ...

'' on 7 November 2011 * The Słupsk concert "Rock Legends Festival" on 24 July 2011 is without the Orchestra * The South American concerts in October 2011, the concerts in Canada in February 2012 and the final European Concerts in October, November and December 2012 were played without the orchestra.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Songs That Built Rock Tour Deep Purple concert tours 2011 concert tours 2012 concert tours