Deep Purple Set to Perform in Lebanon Next Week; Fans Not to Be Discouraged.

WESTPORT, Conn. -- Currently in the midst of a two-year-long world tour for the album "Rapture of the Deep" -- including a performance scheduled for Thursday, July 28, just outside of Beirut for the Baalbeck Music Festival, Deep Purple does not plan on disappointing Lebanese fans. Currently one-quarter through this two-year tour, the band continues to peak and has never cancelled a show and has no intention of doing so. If the festival promoter decides to cancel the show as a result of the current conflicts, Deep Purple will vow to reschedule in the near future.

Since January, they have visited South America, Australia and many European countries. In October they will spend a month in Russia followed by South America. After breaking for the holidays, the tour will continue in January 2007 -- including the United States in February.

They are poised to continue onward, and beloved fans needn't be discouraged, regardless of their location. Deep Purple is a band that truly believes that music is a universal language and their fans are a huge part of their success. "There is a moment that begins on stage, when there are no managers, no journalists, no outside distractions -- just the band and the audience," said Ian Gillan, of Deep Purple. "This is the time when there is an unspoken exchange of energy between the fans and us that words can not describe. That makes all the other parts of the job worth it."

At any given performance, anywhere in the world, there is a pretty good chance that fans in attendance can include people from every continent and the band appreciates the loyalty. "Our fans are very special," said Roger Glover, of Deep Purple. "They always respect our privacy and that is why we have a very open backstage policy and often find ourselves inviting them back to visit with us after the show."

Prestige also comes in the form of recently closing the 40th Montreux Jazz Festival, where Deep Purple was not only the featured guest but everything to do with the festival was represented by Deep Purple in some form or another. In fact, their silhouettes were used as logos for the entire festival, including bottles of Montreux wine that highlighted Roger Glover on the red wine bottles and Steve Morse on the white bottles.

Deep Purple has sold more than 250 million albums worldwide and has also just released a special tour edition of "Rapture of the Deep," that includes five bonus live tracks from the Hard Rock Cafe in London last October, when they helped celebrate the re-opening after a fire had destroyed most of the venue.