On This Day (January 22)…Rapture Of Barcelona

Deep Purple performed on this day at the Pavelló de la Vall d’Hebrón on this day in 2006.

This gig was a part of the Rapture of the Deep tour, undertaken to support their recent album of the same name.

The setlist was identical to other concerts from this time period, a delicate balancing act between their work of the past and of the present. The most unusual addition of the old work is “Living Wreck”, which hadn’t been played since 1970 (source).

Sources state that there was some issue with the promoters for this concert, resulting both in a late starting time and no support act. This caused Ian Gillan to sarcastically dedicate “Living Wreck” to said promoter, presumably ensuring they would work together again. (Indeed, while they’ve been back to Barcelona twice since, they have never been back to this particular venue!) (source)

The response to this night’s concert was mixed. One member stated that the band’s work felt too “safe”, though it was good (source). Another, however, speaks of the concert as though it was an enlightening experience about the importance of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, and the realization that the band is still strong and sounds like it should in the absence of Ritchie Blackmore (source).

The concert is known to have been recorded and is in circulation online.

All I could find about the venue, thePavelló de la Vall d’Hebrón was that it was originally built for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics.