Deep Purple’s Roger Glover on the challenges of mixing old and new songs on tour

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Deep Purple recently launched their =1 More Time tour, and after releasing the brand new album =1 in July, longtime bassist Roger Glover says there’s a challenge to creating a set list with old and new songs that will please everyone. 

“It’s a huge problem,” he tells ABC Audio, noting they usually need to play several songs from their 1971 album, Machine Head, which doesn’t leave much room for new songs. 

“Machine Head was such an iconic moment and produced a lot of the, the songs that, you know, we play to this day,” he says of the album, which features their biggest hit, “Smoke on the Water.” He adds that because they focus a lot on those songs in concert, they’re constantly hearing from fans who say, “Oh, you don’t play stuff of the new, you don’t play this, you don’t play that.”

Glover says this tour will likely feature several songs from =1, but notes that it’s not as simple as just plugging the tracks into the set list.

“The way we’ve designed the show, it has a pattern to it, has a shape,” he says. “And so songs have to sort of fit into that shape.”

He adds, “You don’t want to sort of leave the audience with a downer and, you know, you want some kind of climax, because that’s what it’s all about, climaxing.”  

Deep Purple’s =1 More Time tour, with special guest Yes, hits Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday. A complete list of dates can be found at deeppurple.com.

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