Deep Purple performed on this day in 1970 at Fairfield Hall in Croydon, England.
The Gig
This concert was comparatively early in the In Rock World Tour, undertaken to support the album of the same name. The In Rock World Tour was Deep Purple’s second lineup’s second major tour, following on the heels of the European Tour. This tour would see the Mark II lineup playing in the United States for the first time.
The concert was fairly standard for their live work from the In Rock World Tour, primarily featuring work from the Deep Purple In Rock album. By this time, Deep Purple had dropped their Mark I material from their setlist. As well as songs from In Rock, the band included a song by the Rolling Stones, “Paint it Black”, and two by Little Richard, “Lucille” and “Good Golly Miss Molly”. It is quite interesting that the group chose to cover other material instead of revisit their own, though given Mark I’s output featured many covers of their own, it provides for some interesting artistic continuity.
Due to keyboardist Jon Lord having suffered an injury during his tenure with his previous band The Artwoods, he occasionally suffered from back pain. This became so serious during this time period that one concert immediately preceding and two concerts following this one had to be cancelled. The band continued with their tour the following week in Germany.
The concert has been recorded and has not been officially released. It is in circulation online.
The Venue
The venue at which they performed, Fairfield Hall (sometimes styled as Fairfield Halls), stands on what was once a nineteenth-century fair ground. It was built in 1962 with multiple performing arts venues involved, and has been a significant concert site since.
Notably, Fairfield Hall has seen a few live concerts recorded at it over the years. It was the site of a performance by the Nice in 1969 where they recorded their album Five Bridges. Later on, during their first of five career performances at Fairfield Hall, Tangerine Dream recorded portions of their semi-live album Ricochet.
The location recently underwent development, though as of 2022 has reopened. You can find its site here.
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- Edit on 2020-09-04: Added information. Updated formatting. Optimized for new site.
- Edit on 2022-04-17: Added reflection on covers. Updated Fairfield Hall section.
- Edit on 2022-04-28: Added info on Tangerine Dream at Fairfield Hall.
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