Posted on by Nathan Beaudry

Episode 323 – Deep Purple – Knebworth ‘85

Link to video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t57p-vGKR5k

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The Venue:

  • Saturday, June 22, 1985
  • Knebworth House
  • Lineup:
    • Alaska
    • Mountain
    • Mama’s Boys
    • Blackfoot
    • UFO
    • Meat Loaf
    • Scorpions
    • Deep Purple
  • Reportedly there were approximately 70,000 people in attendance but had secured a license for up to 120,000.
  • The security bill was quite high and lead to the show to almost be canceled a week prior.
  • Eventually the financials were worked out with the police and the show was allowed to proceed.
  • They did not get a license to serve alcohol so people were free to bring their own beverages.
  • The show was advertised to have no camping and no bottles but according to concertgoers both were plentiful.
  • There was a radio show the night prior in the order the musical acts would go on. Gillan was reportedly seen walking through the campsites the night before to drum up some exciting for the following day.
  • Tickets for the show had a face value of £12.50.
  • As the day wore on the mud got worse and worse and started sliding down toward the stage. After 12 hours outside people started getting a little restless. Mud and bottles were being thrown.
  • Excerpt from the Stevenage Gazette: “Dozens of music fans were treated for hypothermia at the midsummer pop festival at Knebworth on Saturday. Emergency services had to work through the night as wintry conditions caused havoc at the all-day event attended by 70,000 people. Inches of rain fell, turning the arena and car parks into a mud bath and keeping 12 ambulance crews at full stretch caring for casualties of the weather. Six tractors loaned by nearby farmers were put into action to drag bogged-down coaches from the fields used as parking areas. In all, about 300 spectators were treated for various injuries and the effects of the cold. Ten people were taken to the Lister Hospital in Stevenage, mainly suffering from the effects of alcohol, or from burns received from one of the fires lit in the bid to keep warm. Police made 12 arrests in the surrounding area with only one of those arising from an assault made in the park“.
  • All the bands playing that day (with the exception of Scorpions) gave the BBC permission to record and broadcast the show.
  • The show was broadcast the following Saturday, June 29th.
  • The show was not filmed but some short videos were recorded by a local TV news station.
REVIEW INDEX &Advertised approximate show times
Arena opens10:00
ALASKA11:45
MOUNTAIN12:50
MAMA’S BOYS13:50
Colt Car (?) Sky divers14:35
BLACKFOOT15:00
UFO16:15
Marlborough Aerobatic Display Team17:00
MEAT LOAF17:30
SCORPIONS19:15
DEEP PURPLE21:30
End23:30
  • By all accounts there was a gap of about 1 hour between Scorpions and Deep Purple. As many concertgoers had been there well over 12 hours and with the weather conditions being what they were the result was a lot of thrown mud and bottles including at Tommy Vance who took the mid between sets.

Setlist

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/deep-purple/1985/knebworth-house-knebworth-england-5bd7f304.html

  1. Toccata and Fugue in D-minor
  2. Highway Star
  3. Nobody’s Home
  4. Strange Kind of Woman
  5. Gypsy’s Kiss
  6. Perfect STrangers
  7. Under the Gun
  8. Lazy
  9. Knocking at Your BAck Door
  10. Difficult to Cure
  11. Space Truckin’

Encore 1:

  1. Woman From Tokyo
    • Short version explained on rockline clip
  2. Speed King

Encore 2:

  1. Black Night

Encore 3:

  1. Smoke on the Water

Interviews:

Interviews from Friday Rock Show the night before the concert: June 21, 1985.

Deep Purple Interviews: Jon Lord #1 (From ‘Friday Rock Show BBC’)

Deep Purple Interviews: Jon Lord #2 (From ‘Friday Rock Show BBC’)

Deep Purple Interviews: Ian Gillan #1 (From ‘Friday Rock Show BBC’)

Deep Purple Interviews: Ian Gillan #2 (From ‘Friday Rock Show BBC’)

Deep Purple Interviews: Ian Paice #1 (From ‘Friday Rock Show BBC’)

Deep Purple Interviews: Ian Paice #2 (From ‘Friday Rock Show BBC’)

Deep Purple Interviews: Roger Glover #1 (From ‘Friday Rock Show BBC’)

Deep Purple Interviews: Roger Glover #2 (From ‘Friday Rock Show BBC’)

Deep Purple Interviews: Ritchie Blackmore #1 (From ‘Friday Rock Show BBC’)

Deep Purple Interviews: Ritchie Blackmore #2 (From ‘Friday Rock Show BBC’)

Deep Purple Interviews: Ritchie Blackmore #3 (From ‘Friday Rock Show BBC’)

Deep Purple’s TV appearance June 1985 with Interviews from Knebworth 1985

Hi Nate,

Sorry I can’t make the livestream for this one, that would have been fun having been there, I’m sure you’ll have others online to share their memories. 

The road to Knebworth started, obviously, the previous year with the news of the reunion and the release of Perfect Strangers. I kind of agreed with Geoff Barton’s take on the album, it was a good album but not outstanding really. To me at the time it was enjoyable enough but sounded out of context in 1984, even by then things were changing and I thought Rainbow had sounded more modern. 

Still I looked forward to the tour announcement and once again faced the slight disappointment that followed the announcement of just one concert in Britain way down in South East. I couldn’t persuade any of my other friends to go but nonetheless I bought a ticket and contacted my Aunt, a headteacher, who lived in North London who agreed I could stay at her place, even better she knew two of her younger female colleagues were going to the festival. She arranged that they would collect me and drop me back afterwards, all good.

At the time I had a job that had me working all around Scotland, the week before Knebworth I was in Aberdeen, drive back to my flat in Edinburgh on the Friday afternoon, repacked for the weekend and got on an overnight train from Edinburgh to London, not even a sleeper train. Any hope I might find myself accompanied by other Purple fans was quickly dispelled when I realise just about everyone else on the train was heading for Milton Keynes where U2 were also playing a huge gig on their Unforgettable Fire tour. 

The day itself was as history records, the weather was awful and I was ill prepared for that, the facilities were also poor and food stands were very minimal. I can’t remember if we settled initially unwittingly amongst a gang of Hells Angels or if they arrived around us. Either way it was unsettling at first as that’s not really my look…., however they took to my Scottish accent and the fact I was there with 2 girls gave me an entirely unwarranted level of credibility;  they were ultimately good company for the duration of the event.

The support acts seemed to drag, there were some big names, but a bit unremarkable to me, I didn’t really know their songs too well. The weather didn’t help and my companions’ main interest was Meatloaf, who even they admitted was awful, after that they’d have happily gone home but they were stuck with me and I had come a long way to see Purple. 

The weather seemed to clear for them and again the set is a matter of record, I enjoyed it but saw very little beyond the light show, too far back. The next day was my 25th birthday and spent it on a slow train back to Edinburgh with incredibly muddy shoes. Back to work on Monday!

It was a bit of a haul but glad I went, not sure in retrospect how successful it was, I think the promoter went bust because of it. U2 were the band of the moment that weekend and the weather most likely put many off if they thought they might go along on the day, I don’t think it was sold out. A proper UK tour might be remembered a bit more fondly. 

It did give me a better appreciation of Perfect Strangers though, I played it a lot afterwards for a while. 

Look forward to revisiting it all when the episode comes out!

All the best

Arthur

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Bustin’ Out The Spreadsheet

Reviews

  • Fayre Warning
  • Deep Purple at Knebworth
  • The rain-sodden, mud-splattered Kerrang! krew file a
  • front line report from the the recent Knebworth Fayre…
  • By MARK PUTTERFORD
  • (From Kerrang! No 98, July 11-24 1985, p. 42)
  • SO WHO doubted them then, eh? C’mon, WHO DOUBTED THEM!? As Deep Purple plugged into the driving power of ‘Highway Star’ and rocked rampantly through ‘Nobody’s Home’ with Ritchie Blackmore rolling in and out of some astounding solos, the years fell away meekly and the reincarnation of a legend exploded on us in a fireball of glory.
  • I can’t quite imagine that anyone expected the re-grouping of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice on the same stage to be a disappointment, but with a brain-boggling multitude of bare forearms thrusting rhythmically to a remarkable fresh recollection of the ancient ‘Strange Kind of Woman’, it all seemed faintly unreal. And when, after a short blues passage, Lord and Blackmore duelled viciously throughout a frighteningly pacey rendition of ‘A Gypsy’s Kiss’, it was distinctly lump in throat time. Twelve years? Sheesh!
  • With Ian Gillan looking and sounding healthier than he has for years, the epic brilliance of ‘Perfect Strangers’ revealed some flashing lasers during its haunting middle riff and ‘Under The Gun’ typified the fresh determination of a band revelling in the electric excitement of a truly momentous occasion.
  • Blackmore in particular appeared to be enjoying every note; dressed inevitably in black (including black wellington boots!) and with that familiar white strat riding on his slim hips, he stood with left knee twitching in a contentment confirmed with the occasional shake of the barnet, flicking elaborate hand-signals in all directions and blazing up’n’down the frets like only he can.
  • A nod of Blackmore’s machine head and Purple’s classic blues romp ‘Lazy’ unfolded into Ian Paice’s drum solo, the stage transformed into a titanic temple of technical excellence, swamped in colour and illuminated by the pumping adrenaline of a long-awaited homecoming. Say what you will, he’s still the best r’n’r drummer in the world for my money.
  • Next up, Lord’s eerie keys, Glover’s bobbling bass and Paice’s punching drums led the crowd into a massive cheer of recognition for ‘Knocking At Your Back Door’. And then Rainbow’s ‘Difficult To Cure’ instrumental found Jon Lord amusing himself like a mad professor in his lag during a lengthy, roaming solo. Finally, Ian Paice’s wispy hi-hat shuffled into the sprawling ‘Space Truckin” which, as the green pencil-thin lasers bounced off huge mirror balls spraying the thousands with a swirling mass of stars and a blinding array of lights flashed wildly, climaxed with Blackmore’s chaotic solo echoing savagely around the vast field like a violent thunderstorm.
  • After a dazzling deluge of sparks had showered the stage and more or lasers jerked sharply here and there, Purple returned with a ‘Woman From Tokyo’ and ‘Speed King’. Here, Lord and Blackmore stood shoulder to shoulder rifling riffs at each other and splashing about in wild abandon before charging back.
  • Masses of whizzing fireworks overhead threw light on the orgiastic ocean of bodies and heralded another encore in the shape of ‘Black Night’, and after what seemed like hours of cheering, the band trooped on yet again to play ‘Smoke On The Water’, with Blackmore and Glover swooping guitars halfway through. To cap it all, a firework display which made the Battle Of Britain seem like a total non-event mushroomed into the heavy, foreboding blanket of clouds, and hey… I didn’t even realise it was raining!

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