Live in ESPOO Finland June 11th 2026

[Charger]

Well well well...

My first time seeing Deep Purple live...(it is a shame I know!)

The show was rather brilliant. I found myself getting bit emotional during Hard Lovin' Man...don't really know why...maybe because I AM watching DEEP PURPLE play live. It was a near surreal moment for me...kind of the same feeling as I had watching Heaven & Hell play live for the first time.

The band was in great form. Big Ian has many times said that Simon brought new life and energy to the band and you surely can see it and most importantly FEEL it.
I loved Steve Morse and think he was a suberb player and a great fit for Purple, but the same can be said about Simon. His playing is bit closer to Ritchie's but still with his own unique style.
Everyone on stage seemed to be having a time of their lives. Big Ian was all smiles all the time and he was hitting some high notes you'd never believe a man in his 80s could hit, and the power of his voice was immense.
The interaction between Don and Simon through out was great, they were feeding off of eachother like Jon and Steve were back in the day.
And Roger and Paicey...top notch, neither missed a beat! Watching Paicey drum like that is unreal at his age.

The set was pretty much the same as on the previous tour that ended in April HOWEVER since this being the first show of the new MAD IN EUROPE tour we did have some changes.

1. Highway Star
2. A Bit On The Side
3. Hard Lovin' Man
4. Into The Fire
5. Simon's Guitar Solo
6. Arrogant Boy
7. Lazy Sod
8. Keyboard Solo Intro
9.Lazy
10. When A Blind Man Cries
11. Diablo
12. Keyboard Solo
13. Rapture Of The Deep (This was the surprise! As I was expecting it to lead into either Anya or Perfect Strangers but didn't expect that!)
14. Space Truckin'
15. Smoke On The Water

16. Guinnesis (instrumental that is a bonus track on the new album)
17. Hush w/ Jam
18. Black Night


All in all a good 95+ minute show and the crowd was loving every moment of it...
Speaking of the crowd, there was a nice mixture of age groups. 70+ to under 10. Awesome to see that.

There was a lot of energy on stage...I've seen bands third their age to have third of the energy.

Hands down one of the best shows of my life. Now I'm just hoping I'll have a chance to see them again!

[Zzzptm]

Ah, so they're *opening* with Highway Star on this tour, eh?

So many songs in their catalog, so they can always be reaching back for a deep cut they ain't done in a while!

[Charger]

Highway Star seems to be a song they like to open with...been doing that for a while...bit on and off I guess..sometimes opening sometimes closing.

And it's a funny song as it works great both ways! But as an opener it is one fierce track though!

[Vyn]

Thanks for posting all of that - looks like a great time! I saw DP on their Perfect Strangers tour, late 84 or early 85 - they were in Wichita, KS and I still don't know why they didn't hit Kansas City which is much larger and closer to me. Plus I wouldn't have had to drive in crappy weather to that shit hole Wichita. It was worth it though, I think the opener was Greg Guiffria, or Guiffria, whatever the heck he was calling it then. I didn't much care for their performance, could be because I didn't really like them anyway and they seemed like they wanted to take a nap rather than rock out. DP was solid, Ritchie actually seemed enthusiastic and they played like a band rather than a bunch of guys on an ego trip.

I only remember a couple of songs, both of which are on your set list (HIghway Star and Space Truckin').

It was one of the few concerts I went to back then that I wasn't ten beers into the night by the time I got to the show. Since I had to drive and it was a bit of a haul, I was sober and only had a couple of drinks at the show - I don't recall how much they were, but I recall thiking they were stupid expensive, especially for the 3/2 beer Kansas liked to sell at events.

I haven't heard any sound clips from their current outing, but the ones I've seen recently of them I am impressed by Ian's vocals. He has done a great job taking care of his voice over the years.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Great photos Charger...

... but? Are they dancing girls!!!

[Charger]

They are indeed! They made an appearance on Hush and Black Night...just on the screen though.

[Thelemech]

Sounds and looks like you had a wonderful time with the great Deep Purple
Amazing how much energy these deviant senior citizens can muster
I would love to see them and I am happy you got to see them 😊
Thanks for the pics 📸