Did any of you see the fake Deep Purple back in 1980?

[Modern Saint]

I kind of remember DP coming to Hawaii that year but didn't bother. I also recall Tony Flynn on guitar but IIRC, Blackmore's Rainbow came in '81 which I did see at the UH Amphitheater.

While searching for the concert date, I found this....

 

[deepest70]

I kind of remember DP coming to Hawaii that year but didn't bother. I also recall Tony Flynn on guitar but IIRC, Blackmore's Rainbow came in '81 which I did see at the UH Amphitheater.

While searching for the concert date, I found this....

View attachment 97547

Four Deep Purple shows in Hawaii in 1980, on July 12 and 13 at the Campus Center Ballroom, University of Hawaii in Oahu.

 

[deepest70]

This photo of Deep Purple in Hawaii in 1980 has recently surfaced. Showing f.l.t.r. drummer Dick Jurgens, guitarist Tony Flynn, unknown, keyboardist Geoff Emery, unknown, Rod Evans, bassist Tom De Rivera and a woman on the far right who got married that day and met the group. It looks like Rod is writing something in her little white book. I wonder if the book still exists?

 

[Modern Saint]

Four Deep Purple shows in Hawaii in 1980, on July 12 and 13 at the Campus Center Ballroom, University of Hawaii in Oahu.

With respect, I only was interested in seeing original members hence me only going to Blackmore's Rainbow. If DP had everyone Paice and Lord, would have probably gone. FWIW, Alkatrazz played in the Campus Center Ballroom in '84.

 

[Dexter Inferno]

Iirc Rod is still doing tours promoting himself as the original DP singer, mainly in tiny pubs across Europe. Anything to get an audience I guess.
Same thing with Dave Evans who was in AC/DC for a few months and never actually released anything with the band. Must be something about that last name I guess.

Sort of pathetic really. No career to speak of for about 40 years and then do tours doing material you've actually never done to begin with bar the odd song or two.

I don't think John Rutsey did tours playing all of Moving Pictures.

 

[deepest70]

Iirc Rod is still doing tours promoting himself as the original DP singer, mainly in tiny pubs across Europe. Anything to get an audience I guess.
Same thing with Dave Evans who was in AC/DC for a few months and never actually released anything with the band. Must be something about that last name I guess.

Sort of pathetic really. No career to speak of for about 40 years and then do tours doing material you've actually never done to begin with bar the odd song or two.

I don't think John Rutsey did tours playing all of Moving Pictures.

Well, it's not Rod Evans, it's original Deep Purple bassist Nicky Simper who keeps the Mk1 spirit alive. Great band, they played at Crocus City Hall in Moscow in 2015.

 

[Andrew Sak]

Well, it's not Rod Evans, it's original Deep Purple bassist Nicky Simper who keeps the Mk1 spirit alive. Great band, they played at Crocus City Hall in Moscow in 2015.

Surely these guys didn't perform any post The Book Of Taliesyn DP songs?

 

[deepest70]

Surely these guys didn't perform any post The Book Of Taliesyn DP songs?

View attachment 97613

Here's Chasing Shadows, from the third album "Deep Purple", same place

 

[deepest70]

Everything we found from the Deep Purple 1980 tour and the individual shows can be seen on Dirk Kahler's great Deep Purple 1980 Tour Page. My website dpac.at has already been mentioned.

Here is the link:

=== Deep Purple Tour Page === | concert dates - tour diary

Deep Purple Tour Page, complete tourdates history, gigography, ticket and poster archive, gig list, all concerts from 1968 - 2026

www.purple.de

 

[Andrew Sak]

Everything we found from the Deep Purple 1980 tour and the individual shows can be seen on Dirk Kahler's great Deep Purple 1980 Tour Page. My website dpac.at has already been mentioned.

Here is the link:

=== Deep Purple Tour Page === | concert dates - tour diary

Deep Purple Tour Page, complete tourdates history, gigography, ticket and poster archive, gig list, all concerts from 1968 - 2026

www.purple.de

If Wikipedia calls these guys Bogus Deep Purple, I have to follow suit. I will take a hard pass on checking out BDP.

Here's a Wik snipet:

 

[deepest70]

If Wikipedia calls these guys Bogus Deep Purple, I have to follow suit. I will take a hard pass on checking out BDP.

Here's a Wik snipet:
View attachment 97624

Ultimately, the court made the decision. Rod was convinced until the end that he had done nothing wrong.

Rod Evans, October 1980: "It's unbelievable that as soon as they see one is earning a few dollars honorably with a product that I formed, and which I have not only refused royalties from record sales but any involvement, now leave the bush and cut us into pieces. They have the money and we do not, and I wonder, now as they won the lawsuit, what the hell will they do with the name?"

 

[Andrew Sak]

Ultimately, the court made the decision. Rod was convinced until the end that he had done nothing wrong.

Rod Evans, October 1980: "It's unbelievable that as soon as they see one is earning a few dollars honorably with a product that I formed, and which I have not only refused royalties from record sales but any involvement, now leave the bush and cut us into pieces. They have the money and we do not, and I wonder, now as they won the lawsuit, what the hell will they do with the name?"

From everything I've checked out, the fans felt duped and ripped off. Rod Evans isn't who I think of when I hear the name Deep Purple.
But hey, he was the original singer. They can't take that from him. Unfortunately, the 1980 lawsuit took the DP royalties from him. That's a shame. Wikipedia says he became a respiratory therapist after his life in rock. So was his wife.
I do enjoy the song Hush. I don't know too many pre-Gillan DP songs. That was a good one though.

 

[deepest70]

From everything I've checked out, the fans felt duped and ripped off. Rod Evans isn't who I think of when I hear the name Deep Purple.
But hey, he was the original singer. They can't take that from him. Unfortunately, the 1980 lawsuit took the DP royalties from him. That's a shame. Wikipedia says he became a respiratory therapist after his life in rock. So was his wife.
I do enjoy the song Hush. I don't know too many pre-Gillan DP songs. That was a good one though.

Yes, that's a nice video, funny fashion and haircut I think one of the main problems in 1980 was that nobody knew who was really in the band. Some promoters mentioned Rod in the announcements, others didn't. The rest of the musicians weren't mentioned at all. A big mistake. People could only speculate who they would see, and if there is NO familiar face on stage, I'm disappointed too, and feel cheated somehow. And the musical performance probably did the rest in many cases...

Even though it wasn't legal in the end, that period in Deep Purple's history has always fascinated me. I like Rod, so I started to research the story. At the time, maybe ten or twelve concerts were known, now we're at almost 60. And there's still something to find, the internet is great.

So come on, you keepers of "Deep Purple" 1980 tickets and concert info, get in touch!

 

[deepest70]

Some of my 1980 tour stuff, the T-shirt is also the original one and pretty rare I think

 

[benzuda]

I went down a rabbit hole this morning thinking about the bogus Deep Purple tour of the early 80's and the subsequent disappearance of the original DP singer Rod Evans. Basically, Evans was recruited by a shady promoter to front a fake Deep Purple band on a tour, and after a number of disastrous shows and legal action by the real Deep Purple, he was sued down his skivvies and pretty much vanished into thin air. No one (or practically no one) has been able to track him down since then, and he was a no-show for his RRHOF induction with the rest of the legit Deep Purple. A shame, really, because Evans was a pretty great singer.

There's a great old-school website about the whole fiasco here: https://www.dpac.at/Bogus_Deep_Purple_1980.html

And a good writeup here:
https://pleasekillme.com/rod-evans-deep-purple/
(Or at least there was this morning. Site seems to be down now.)

Footage from Mexico:


Anyhow, since there's a lot of middle-aged rockers here, I'm thinking surely someone here saw this tour. Please regale us with your tales of the crummy Deep Purple.

(I could swear I vaguely recall hearing about this at the time, since I was the right age and demographic when they played my town, but it's not a show I or anyone I know saw.)

I realize this has been up for a while but I did want to chime in. I did see the the Rod Evans bogus DP in El Paso TX. One of 5 dates in Texas before they got served with their cease and desist. They actually announced on KLAQ that it wasn't Blackmore, Gillan, Lord, Paice, and Glover a couple of days before the gig but the place was still full.
Ersatz Purp was actually better than I expected. They did put some effort into it. The Jon Lord impersonator had a Hammond set up to rock back and forth. You could tell though from the way it was set up in a balroom with less than professional lighting that it was "d" circuit grade stuff.
What I remember more than "BSDP" was the opening act "Facelift" who sounded like a King Crimson/Gentle Giant hybrid. I have not seen nor heard of them before of since that show. Anyway soon after they got sued and had to stop the tour.
That's my recollection of it. If anyone knows what happened to Facelift I'd be curious.
Ben Zuda

 

[PunkKitty]

I saw them for the Perfect Strangers tour. I think it was 1984.

 

[Knox in Box]

If I had a DP tribute band, I'd have to call it Bogus Deep Purple now.

 

[Andrew Sak]

If I had a DP tribute band, I'd have to call it Bogus Deep Purple now.

I would check that out.

 

[jrockbridge]

Authentic Purple FTW!

 

[Bob411]

If I had a DP tribute band, I'd have to call it Bogus Deep Purple now.

I'd go with Deep Fake Deep Purple.