Saw all the Sydney shows, also Perth, Adelaide, Canberra & Melbourne... been a DP fan since 1970 & had the extraordinary good fortune to be photographing & interviewing during their Oz tour in 84. I'd had backstage access before & after every gig... except this one. I wasn't told why. All became clear when this happened. Unbelievable! I was told (several days later) by Jon Lord that it was Ritchie's idea to ask George if he'd like to have a play. Jon had known George a long time & didn't think he'd agree to it, but no-one had the nerve to ask him... and it fell to Ian Gillan. Much to their surprise & delight, George agreed, a song was chosen, and George was given one of Ritchie's guitars to play (another story in itself). The next day, I'd organised with their local tour manager to have my work colleagues play soccer with DP at Sydney's Centennial Park. After the match which, I was assured, was amongst the best DP had played, I went back to the hotel to pick up show passes for the players. As I waited in the hotel foyer, George & his wife wandered in from the street. Never one to balk at a cosmic opportunity of this magnitude, I walked up to them, politely introduced myself, and thanked George for making the show the night before into something truly unique & special... he thanked me in the most polite, gentle and humble manner. My one brief moment with him... I'll never forget it...
I was at this show and for years when I told people George Harrison came on as a guest, most would give a disbelieving look to me. Now I have proof. There were probably 6 cameras filming this gig, so I can't understand why they wouldn't have kept the cameras rolling to capture this. Maybe Deep Purple never thought it was such a big deal, but for me, being a life long Beatles tragic, getting to see one of the Fab Four playing live with another of my favorites was something I've never forgotten.
George said in an interview that Jon Lord and Ian Paice were his neighbors for 9 years (this was after Purple disbanded). He was on a visit Down Under when Jon and Ian Paice invited him to their venue. Harrison recalls how they talked him into joining them onstage. George said even though he was neighbors with Lord and Paice, he had never been to any of their shows until their reunion world tour (in Australia).
I was there, along with a million others it seems. We had no idea it was George from the Beatles. We thought he was just some guy who won a competition to play a song onstage with deep purple. Maybe those closer to the action knew. Next day the headlines in the paper: "Beatle performed in Sydney". If I'd only known. That's my memory anyway. I thought he was introduced as George from Liverpool which seems incorrect now.
He's been known to use different aliases beside Spike or Nelson Wilbury. One of my favorites was when once called himself Jack Lumber, after Monty Python's Lumberjack Song
George Harrison is the guitarist with the greatest rock riffs and While My Guitar Gently Weeps is a song that any band would like to have in their repertoire. George Harrison is one of the great guitarists of Rock and is a Beatle.
@@blueshouseroberto5856 Jajjajaj you forget that John Lennon was a great politically incorrect. He sent the queen to hell and the conservatives too when he said that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. that's having balls
The Thames Valley Gang - that's what the neighbors loosely called each other Alvin Lee, Jon Lord, George Harrison, Dave Edmunds, Jim Capaldi and Ron Wood 🎸
I can't imagined 2 of my fav guitarist seeing each other face to face playing guitar together..i never thought 2 of them met..and boogie with rock n roll..damn! I love Mr.Harrison..i love Mr.Blackmore..
I was at this concert...if memory serves me correctly Harrison was living in Queensland at the time and Deep Purple visited him before the tour...Harrison turned up for this concert...sat on the side of the stage and wandered on at the end to play and was introduced as Arnold from Liverpool, Sydney...classic performance !!!
Would be great that gig..Deep Purple and Mr.Harrison being interviewed together..can see Mr.Blackmore and Mr.Glover open gensture welcoming Mr.Harrison for the show.
Saw this gig, but was way up the back, but recognised George instantly. My memory of the song starting was it being a bit slow, but the tempo here is just right, so it was obviously my expectation, not the song! As a regularly working musician then, the whole band had to say they were unavailable for gigs on this night, which - two weeks before xmas - is the busiest time of the year. Went went along thinking, this was the last opportunity we'd get to see the 'classic' DP - and got a Beatle for our money too!
Ian Gillan here was clearly the director of them all.. he has even told Ritchie when to play the solo.. I love them so much, I 've just whatch this with one big smile while jumping on my seat
@@cinematicpassages8884 What??? DP has a cover of "Help" on Shades of Deep Purple album. I remember reading RB's interview praising PM as the best songwriter we had this century.
@@ravenbonanza1522 ah yes the help cover, right but perhaps the other guys wanted to do the cover mostly because they where so much nicer and chill than RB ever was and you have to remember that Ritchie loathed the first purple albums, he hated those records and wanted to move foward and never look back with "in rock", i know jon lord loved george and the beatles...but all these years RB Is just saying that the beatles where boring or simple, i have to search that about macca but... honestly all i've read through the years is that the beatles where doing silly music according to him (WHICH i don't agree btw), same for the rest of the bands back then UNTIL he listened to hendrix, cream, vanilla fudge, beck and early zeppelin. About the song writer interview...i have to look for that one, because i've only seem him talk like that on Bob Dylan. Edit: can't find the interview where he said that about macca. 🤥 I reccon he mellowed down these years though...he's less hostile towards his peers now.
@@cinematicpassages8884 This is a quote from an Australian Radio show, "Ritchie Blackmore said he admired Paul McCartney and stated that “The Beatles were excellent. Probably the best band ever lived, without a doubt, along with Hendrix and Jethro Tull.”
I can honestly say, I was there at this concert when the amazing George Harrison came on stage, first concert, since well before my time, so a piece of nostalgia for me. For the record I was 20 years old, at the old Syd Entertainment Centre (now gone for high rise apartments). And for the other record, I saw U2 Under a Blood Red Sky tour, same venue, about the same time, my ears were ringing more after U2 than Deep Purple, but great musos indeed.
I cant imagined..Mr.Harrison is my fav beatle & my fav guitar hero..Mr.Blackmore is my fav guitar player..2 of them meet and face to face guitar battle with LITTLE RICHARD'S Lucille.Damn! Should made the video on the front view..seeing Mr.Harrison of the Beatle and Deep Purple co founder ex screaming lord sutch guitar player..whoaaaaa! Fantabalous!!!
I was at that concert ,if memory serves me correctly George Harrison was in Australia at the same time doing a book signing tour,a great tour 4 sold out nights at the Sydney entertainment center,
i had just finished year 12 and was only 12 rows back from stage. Seen a lot of bands since then, pubs, festivals etc yet I remember this concert the most. After all these years its still the best gig I have ever been to.
That Arnold is pretty good. He started to repeat the opening phrase (as is common in blues) but the band did the first change early. Guess Arnold missed rehearsal. LOL Seriously though, considering it was George's first time seeing them play... it went very well. All hail Little Richard, the father of Rock and Roll! 🤘🧙♂️🤘 Rich the Ancient Metal Beast
it’s funny, I came here from a George Harrison interview talking about this performance and how he was playing in the wrong key but it didn’t seem to matter and you can hear it @ 5:20 funnily enough
Gillan, no comparison. George in his own self assured style was just appropriate blended well. Blackmore owned the last solo. They were smart enough to keep the lights low because George for who he was would have grabbed all the limelight.
This vid really brings back great, childhood memories :-) I was 15 at the time, and the re-union of Purple was like the second coming of Christ to me. We didn't have RU-vid, internet, cellphones or any other gadgets, but we did have musicmags....and a lot of patience :-D I remember reading about those Australian gigs in a mag, and it gave me goosebumps just reading about it. To able to see it on YT? Amazing!!!
Thanks for sharing this! Reading the musical news at that time, I've heard that it happened. Now I can really watch it. Pitty that feedback is so low,but still thanks! Who ever cared for great music will continue to do so!
Probably because Sony owns the rights to Deep Purple('s music publishing) but Universal owns the rights to Little Richard('s music publishing). Sony could have released this song on the cd/dvd, but they'd have to give up something like 9.1% of the revenues to Universal. It's all about money.
