Deep Purple performed on this day in 2006 at La Cubierta de Leganés in Madrid, Spain.
At this time, the band was experiencing a bit of a rebirth. Don Airey had now been a permanent member for four years (incidentally making the Deep Purple post the longest he’d been a permanent member of a band) and, with two albums and many concerts under their belts, the Mark 8 lineup were gaining well-deserved confidence and were truly hitting their stride. They have yet to fall out of it now fourteen years later!
The band were on tour supporting Rapture of the Deep, which had been released the previous November. The group’s longevity proves to be a double-edged sword when it comes to crafting setlists even with Ian Gillan’s moratorium on singing anything he wasn’t originally on (Hush being something of an exception, though even this isn’t quite a straight example). Even so, they brought forth several numbers from their newest album, including the title track, the closing number “Before Time Began”, the pro-environmental “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye”, and even “Wrong Man”. Old songs like “Pictures of Home” and “Living Wreck” showed up besides their usual best of the 70s and 80s. The show also featured several Morse-era classics, including the always-welcome “Ted the Mechanic” (source).
A review of this concert points to the animation of the band, likening the atmosphere to a celebration (source).
The concert has been recorded and is in circulation online. A video bootleg may also be extant based on trading lists seen here.
The venue at which the group performed, la Cubierta de Leganés, doubles as a bullfighting ring. It opened on July 31, 1997 (source). Wikipedia states that it can seat 10,000, though I haven’t been able to get independent verification on that.
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