Deep Purple performed on this day in 2011 at the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The group were at this time late in their “Rapture of the Deep Tour”, undertaken to support the album of the same name. Stretching from early 2005 until early 2011, the tour is one of the longest in the band’s history. As well as performing many of their classic hits, the band also included a few numbers from their contemporary work, including “Rapture of the Deep”, “Contact Lost”, and “The Well-Dressed Guitar”. This was the only concert the band performed in Ukraine in 2011.
A reviewer praised the band overall, though noted that Ian Gillan’s vocals were worse than they had been two days prior in Moscow. The reviewer also criticized the venue’s acoustics.
This concert is known to have been recorded, and is in circulation online.
The International Exhibition Centre’s website claims that it is the largest expo center in Ukraine. It was initially built in 2002. This concert was the only one which Deep Purple performed at the IEC.
The most notable event in the venue’s history was in 2017, when the Eurovision Song Contest was held there after Ukraine’s victory in the 2016 competition. A reference on the venue’s website suggests that the concert hall was built specially for the event; this may explain why the reviewer of the Deep Purple concert claimed the acoustics were poor, as that concert took place prior to the construction of the hall. The website also claims that this hall could hold around 11,000 people.
As of this writing, the venue’s current status is unknown. It is possible that it has been damaged during the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Its website can be found here.
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