Deep Purple - Come Hell Or High Water (1994)

The tour, called "The Battle Rages On Tour", was intended to celebrate the band's 25th anniversary; a concert album and video were released under the title "Come Hell or High Water".

The recordings were made at the concerts in Stuttgart on October 16, 1993 and Birmingham on November 9, 1993. The video only contains the material from the Birmingham concert, supplemented with interview excerpts, which is why the order and length of the songs are different.

Although the dream of millions of fans came true in the spring of 1984 when the second line-up was re-formed, unfortunately this formation really could not (was not...) survive for long. First, they managed to hammer together two albums, but Gillan left his companions for the third, several people were auditioned for his position (what voices we missed out on!) but the songs from the one album made with the new singer, former Rainbow frontman Joe Lynn Turner, were lost forever. In 1993, they finally managed to get Gillan back into the band, which resulted in a fairly successful album (the aforementioned The Battle Rages On). But the joy didn't last long either, before the end of the tour Blackmore left without a word, and he last appeared on stage in Helsinki with his former bandmates as a member of Deep Purple on November 17, 1993. (NB Mr. Blackmore turned 80 a few days ago.) By the end of the tour, they had to find a guitarist, preferably not just any kind of one; the Yankee Joe Satriani took on the thankless (?) role. Soon after the tour, they found another American, Steve Morse, who spent no less than 28 years in the band, made 8 studio albums together, and played countless concerts. It was only fate that intervened, if it hadn't been for his wife's unexpected illness, Morse would (perhaps) still be a member of the band today... there are just too many "ifs". (Janine Morse died on February 4, 2024, of metastatic lung cancer. Steve Morse returned to music a few months later, performing with his former bands and continuing his solo career.)

The two Purple concerts in question were released in full in 2006 on the 4-disc live album Live in Europe 1993, but they were also available separately.