Deep Purple performed on this day in 2018 at the Olimpijski Stadium in Moscow, Russia.
This date was their second of 2018 as they continued The Long Goodbye Tour, undertaken to support Infinite, their most recently-released album. The 2018 leg of the tour had some slight differences from the 2017 leg, notably the reintroduction of “Mars, Bringer of War” as the concert opener as compared to 2017’s more muted extended introduction to “Time For Bedlam”. The song “Time for Bedlam” was still on the setlist for this and other European concerts, however, just later in the order.
Another thing which those who were watching the band may have noticed as a change was the renewed vigor of the band at this concert. While The Long Goodbye Tour had originally been billed as a farewell tour, this concert and others that followed showed that they had kept their footing even fifty years since the band first took the stage.
As a note of interest, former member Ritchie Blackmore had taken Rainbow to perform on this stage less than two months prior to this concert, as part of their Memories in Rock 2018 tour. The two bands even had some of the same setlist, notably “Perfect Strangers”. It provides a fascinating point of comparison for the two bands, which I might have to detail one of these days!
This concert is recorded in full, with copies circulating on YouTube and anywhere where bootleg recordings are shared!
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