Simon McBride now a permanent member of Deep Purple.

RocknRollDave

https://youtu.be/aVv9HS_sgTA

Seems a decent fit to me.

Thoughts?


(Let’s just take it as read that we’ve all noticed how weak Gillan’s vocals are now…)

EricTheWeary

Not watched that clip but Gillan was awful as a vocalist and front person last time I saw them. Morse wasn't great either. 
I can't see why McBride can't competently handle the gig, he's a very talented guitarist. Maybe not an ooh that's interesting appointment. 
They are playing the Utilita Arena in Brum in late October (BOC as support I think) so if I can get a cheap ticket I might toddle along. 

axisus

There's a lot of keys at the start of the vid, jump to 3.20 and you can see Simon playing. Sounds good to me! Yeah, he's a good fit.

It always amazes me when someone jumps into a gig and learns the material so quickly. I'm sure he's played a lot of that stuff all his life, but it's still quite a task.

Jez6345789

It's a bit sad really, it sounds like Steve's wife is not doing very well but Mcbride is a talented guitarist and can easily cover the Purple gig. I agree its goodnight's bad nights at their age, especially for vocalists and I am happy I got to see them back in the day and again for Jon Lords' final show.

Kebabkid

I've liked Simon McBride for a while now and think he's a good player. It's a shame to see Steve Morse go out due to his family circumstances but I'm pleased SMcB is playing with the big boys and it's well-deserved, too.

I think it's a good fit

CoffeeAndTV

He’s got really good time, I like his playing.  Never heard of him before. I’m off to read up on him. 

Philly_Q

Interesting news, and does this make PRS cool..?  Nah, probably not.

Yes, it seems a pretty good fit although he'll be the youngest member of the band by at least 30 years.  I wonder if they'll do another studio album?  They've been relatively prolific recently.

bacchanalian

I had heard about this a few weeks ago.
Simon lives just behind a friend of mine and he could hear Simon practising Smoke on the Water.

He is very much in the mould of those other great Northern Irish guitar players Gary Moore and Viv Campbell.
He can really tear it up at times.

Bellycaster

I rate him very highly!

Lodious

Sounds like he might be a good fit. I've never thought Steve Morse sounded good in Deep Purple, his playing sounds too smooth and controlled. Sounds like Simon's playing has a bit more edge, so hopefully he will work out OK. 

PhilKing

For those of us of a certain age, doesn't Roger Glover look like Catweazle?  Interesting custom PRS that he's playing.   Also, does Jon Lord have an Engl guitar amp for monitoring, or do you think he runs his keyboards through it?

RocknRollDave

PhilKing said:

For those of us of a certain age, doesn't Roger Glover look like Catweazle?  Interesting custom PRS that he's playing.   Also, does Jon Lord have an Engl guitar amp for monitoring, or do you think he runs his keyboards through it?

John Lord’s been dead a while.

EricTheWeary

RocknRollDave said:

PhilKing said:

For those of us of a certain age, doesn't Roger Glover look like Catweazle?  Interesting custom PRS that he's playing.   Also, does Jon Lord have an Engl guitar amp for monitoring, or do you think he runs his keyboards through it?

John Lord’s been dead a while.

…and retired ten years before he passed away. It’s been Don Airey in DP since 2002. 

stufisher

Yeah but Don rhymes with Jon innit!

prowla

Hmmm - Steve Morse was his own thing, whereas this seemed to be a Blackmore tribute with some (non-Arabesque/Bach) scales thrown in.

Perhaps he'll grow into it.

mudslide73

I really enjoyed that - he's a really good fit and I might even go to see them. There's another part of my brain that says that DP without Ritchie isn't really DP but Simon looks like he can do the business.

EricTheWeary

I keep getting ads for the gig on Facebook. With comments explaining how badly the tickets are selling, which seem to be true. Okay, selling more £50 tickets than most of us could manage but DP probably need to give up the pretence that they are still a stadium band. 

Philly_Q

EricTheWeary said:

I keep getting ads for the gig on Facebook. With comments explaining how badly the tickets are selling, which seem to be true. Okay, selling more £50 tickets than most of us could manage but DP probably need to give up the pretence that they are still a stadium band. 

I never even consider going to gigs nowadays, but just looked at the tour dates.  I had no idea they were playing such big venues. 

ICBM

I have to admit it's a long time since I've paid any attention to anything Deep Purple related, despite being a huge fan of the Blackmore era - Steve Morse just never did it for me.

Thoughts -

Don Airey sounds more like Keith Emerson than Jon Lord on the first part of that.

Simon McBride is a better fit than Morse. Strange honky tone he's using though...

Gillan sounds and looks absolutely ancient.

Paice and Glover are still excellent.

EricTheWeary

He did good!

EricTheWeary

I struggle with BOC. Rather anonymous mix of AOR, sci-fi rock and Southern boogie. Three different singers. If there were your mate’s rock covers band you’d be impressed but for 45 minutes in front of a decent sized crowd they were underwhelming. 

The Utilita, we thought, reduced to around 50% capacity, half the car parking closed off as well. But most seats filled with what remained. Deep Purple overall much, much better than I remember from a few years ago. Whilst Gillan shows his age his voice was there and McBride was excellent. Morse was one of (maybe the) worst pro guitarist I’ve ever seen whilst McBride had a clear, articulate tone and played his arse off.