Montreux 2008
The 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival will be held on July 4-19 this year. Deep Puple are included in the preliminary festival program announced a couple of weeks ago. The program should be finalized by...
View ArticleSummer tour of Europe confirmed!
All European tourdates that we had posted for the summer are now officially confirmed. In addition to that, Montreux is confirmed for the closing day of the festival — July 19, plus a couple of French...
View ArticleAnother #1 for Smoke on the Water
According to the students of the London Tech Music School, Smoke on the Water riff is still the greatest of all times: 1. Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple (1973) 2. Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana...
View ArticleMontreux’2006 on big screen
Deep Purple’s performance headlining the 40th Montreux Jazz Festival is coming to a big screen near you. That is, if you live in certain states. On April 28th a company called The Bigger Picture will...
View ArticleDeep Purple on VH1 Classic
VH1 Classic in North America is airing a show called Seven Ages of Rock (which was co-produced together with the BBC). The fourth episode Never Say Die is about hasrd rock and heavy metal and features...
View ArticleMontreux: Solid concert
Sold Out: 10:30 – 12:10 Deep Purple playing solid concert Gillan voice with problems Set list: Fireball Into the Fire Strange Kind of Woman Rapture of the Deep Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye Contact Lost Steve...
View ArticleFullly packed in Montreux
Just home from a trip to Montreux where me and my wife got to witness an incredible performance by Deep Purple at the closing of the 42nd Jazz Festival. The set list already given by others. What...
View ArticleFrom the Swiss vaults
This deserves promotion to a separate post. Some historical TV footage have appeared on YouTube. Montreux, April 1971, live and interview...
View ArticleMontreux on German TV
German TV channel ZDFdokukanal is currently showing a documentary about Montreux Jazz Festival. From what we understand, the film includes an extensive interview with Claude Nobs and covers both the...
View ArticleMontreux ’96 and ’06 on vinyl
Good news for all you vinyl junkies out there. Apparently both Montreux 1996 and 2006 shows have been released on vinyl at the end of last year. They quietly came out on a UK label Rock Classics, each...
View ArticleFunky Claude and the gambling house
Leading up to the 44th Montreux Jazz Festival (which will be held in July), MontreuxJazz.com started a weekly column of ‘behind the scenes’ reminiscences. This week Claude Nobs recalls the events of...
View ArticleFunky Claude tells the story
Gibson.com has an interview they recently did with Claude Nobs. The inevitable question, of course, came up: Tell me what you remember about the “Smoke on the Water” incident on December 4, 1971. This...
View ArticleMontreux’2006 on US TV
The 2006 Deep Purple appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, released on DVD as We All Came Down to Montreux, has entered rotation on the Direct TV channel 101 Network. It will be on the air...
View ArticleOn the Lake Geneva shoreline
Euronews has a news report on the closing of the 45th Montreux Jazz Festival featuring our heroes. Watch it inside.
View ArticleMontreux’2011 on DVD
Eagle’s Polish distributor Mystic Production reveals that this year’s Deep Purple appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival is due to be released on November 7 on DVD and blue ray. Track list:...
View ArticleMontreux’2011
A 48 minute edit of this year Deep Purple’s appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival apparently has been shown on the Swiss channel TSR2. The complete show will be released on DVD and blue-ray on...
View ArticleIt died with an awful sound
40 years ago, on December 4, 1971, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention played a gig at the Casino de Montreux. You know the rest. In case you don’t, read on at the Darker Than Blue blog....
View ArticleMontreux’2011 on vinyl
The Live at Montreux 2011 is about to be released on vinyl by a small label called Night of the Vinyl Dead. The release will be a limited edition, hand numbered to 500 copies, triple purple glitter...
View ArticleFunky Claude
“Funky” Claude Nobs has been injured in a skiing accident during the Christmas break. “The Montreux Jazz Festival communicates that during the Christmas holidays Claude Nobs fell while practicing...
View ArticleThank you Claude
A message has appeared on the Montreux Jazz Festival site confirming that Claude Nobs has succumbed to his injuries sustained in a skiing accident recently. “On January 10th you left us! Only a few...
View ArticleDown to Montreux
Deep Purple will perform this year at the Montreux Jazz festival on July 19, with tickets going on sale in the morning of April 19. Also appearing on the bill for July 19 is a member of another band …
View ArticleTribute to Funky Claude
In a recent interview to Russian newspaper Kommersant Ian Gillan mentioned, among the usual, that the band is contemplating a special tribute to Claude Nobs during their visit to Montreux (they...
View ArticleHe was there and he was the last one out
A first hand account of the infamous fire at the Casino de Montreux on December 4, 1971: I was heavily engrossed in the concert. Frank Zappa was playing again as the drum set had been fixed, and he...
View ArticleUnpredictable in every possible way
About a month ago Brian May appeared on UK’s Planet Rock radio with an interview. When they asked him to pick his favourite guitar track, his answer was Since You’ve Been Gone.
View ArticleRevolution 1971
The official Youtube channel has posted a video produced by Swiss TV in 1971 looking at how people “consumed” music and if it’s any different from consumption of, say, Coca-Cola. The event they chose...
View ArticleMontreux 2011 for the Record Store Day
Back on Black Records will be celebrating the Record Store Day this year by releasing Live at Montreux 2011 on vinyl. This show already had a vinyl release back in 2012, which was limited to a run of...
View ArticleReturn to Montreux
On Saturday, July 16, Deep Purple will once again headline Montreux Jazz Festival, which celebrates this year its 50th anniversary. Festival tickets go on sale April 15, with full festival schedule to...
View ArticleJust add fire in the sky
Deep Purple headlined the 50th Montreux Jazz Festival this past Saturday, July 16. Swiss Air Force has sent their aerobatics team to greet the event. One of our readers just happened to be on a boat...
View ArticleThey ended up at the Grand Hotel
Tribune de Genève has an account of Roger Glover revisiting the site of the Grand Hotel. The hotel itself has closed long time ago and the building now houses a pharmacy and a business school on the...
View ArticleKnebworth and Machine Head books in the works
Two new books of interest are being prepared for publication. The first one — For One Night Only by Jerry Bloom — tells the story of Knebworth 1985 gig, which became legendary in Britain for the simple...
View ArticleWhen Frank Zappa caught on fire
North American syndicated radio program In The Studio with Redbeard: The Stories Behind History’s Greatest Rock Bands is celebrating the 45th anniversary of Machine Head with an hour long program...
View ArticleIt’s all in the DNA….
Or Deoxyribonucleic acid as you may know it as. The building block of everything living now is being used in a new process to store information for future generations (and life forms?!). As part of the...
View ArticleNot as empty, cold, and bare any more
Swiss site 24 heures reports that a memorial plaque has been unveiled this Wednesday, July 4, on the Résidence des Alpes building in Territet (Montreux) — the very same building that was the Grand...
View ArticleFire In The Sky
A new book by Simon Robinson, called Fire In The Sky, is tentatively due to be published on March 28 via Easy on the Eye Books. The book tells the story of making Machine Head, and is a follow up to...
View ArticleMontreux calling
Montreux Jazz Festival is not happening this year just like everything else. They’ve decided to celebrate their 54th summer by posting a series of select performances from the past years. Yesterday...
View ArticleAn epic battle of snobbery vs. Dionysus
In case you have nothing better to do over the holidays, why not sit down and read a fictional story about Vladimir Nabokov encountering a certain band in Montreux in 1971. Nabokov vs Deep Purple is...
View ArticleThrough the windows of room 56
A contemporary report from deep in the bowels of a certain Grand Hotel in Montreux, Switzerland. This was originally published in January 1, 1972, issue of New Musical Express. Charlie Chaplin would...
View ArticleBest place around
Casino du Montreux is holding a little celebration this Saturday, December 4, 2021, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of said gambling house burning to the ground, immortalizing itself in the...
View ArticleWe’ll never forget
[Updated March 29] An overview of publications from across the web celebrating the 50th anniversary of Machine Head.
View ArticleComplaining about Smoke even before it was finished
A couple of things that are probably not really news for the people frequenting our site. Far Out magazine has a story about Lars Ulrich’s favourite band, you know which one: His love affair with music...
View ArticleEternal Spirit of the chainless Mind
An online lifestyle magazine thrillist has profiled a certain Swiss town with a rich history connected to arts and music — from Lord Byron and Stravinski to Charlie Chaplin and Freddie Mercury. And it...
View ArticleThey all came down to Montreux
Louder Sound publishes what appears to be a transcription of the Machine Head recording story as told in the Classic Albums series documentary by everyone involved. Deep Purple’s Fireball was the...
View ArticleBut no emptiness, no eagles, and no snow
This gentleman travelled all the way down to Montreux to tell the story we all know. The short film is nicely put together, and he managed to get inside the Résidence des Alpes (née THE Grand Hotel)....
View ArticleThey All Came Out To Montreux
A three part documentary about the Montreux Jazz Festival, titled They All Came Out To Montreux, will air in the UK on BBC Four starting at 10:15 PM on June 16. The film was directed by British...
View ArticleThe Rolling what?
Louder Sound reproduces another Classic Rock feature, this time on Claude Nobs. Funky Claude’s legacy includes not only being immortalized in that song about a gambling house burning down, but also...
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