DEEP PURPLE is without a doubt a legendary band. It is DEEP PURPLE with which the dreams and the desires of a restless and resilient generation have dressed, a generation that still maintains its vitality and stubbornness even today.

The ancestors of hard rock / heavy metal music are returning to Greece and adding the Rockwave Festival to their European tour stops to celebrate with the Greek public the 25th birthday of the country’s biggest festival! On Saturday June 6th, British legends promise a Summer Night, which we’ll be discussing for a while.
 
DEEP PURPLE’s history spans more than 50 years. It begins in 1968 when, in Hertford, Great Britain, a group of musicians soon to be called Deep Purple joined forces with the British hard rock / heavy metal band Heretic Holy Trinity, along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

The band’s first season, or Mark I, is the introduction as DEEP PURPLE is first introduced to audiences both inside and outside the UK. But in the summer of 1969, EVERYTHING changes! With the incorporation of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, Mark II opens the band and begins with it the beginning of triumph and world recognition.

Jon Lord’s inspiration for composing the Concerto for Group and Orchestra and the band’s decision to rock at London’s Royal Albert Hall along with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra provided Ian Paice, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord one world premiere and the coveted recognition in Great Britain. A recognition that was sealed with the release of Deep Purple in Rock, a few months later, in 1970. Then begins the most creative period of DEEP PURPLE, a period that has given humankind emblematic albums. Albums, to which you come back again and again and each time managing to communicate with the audience over time. In other words, classic albums: Fireball, Machine Head, Made in Japan, Who Do We Think We Are!

The Mark II era establishes DEEP PURPLE as the band that composes the hard rock anthems of the 20th century and influences as few artists as “hard” and not only sound. Child in Time, the 10-minute anti-war epic that establishes Gillan as the lead singer of all time, Strange Kind of Woman, song-cut in rock ‘n’ roll history, Black Night, the band’s commercial success and, of course, Smoke on the Water, the most recognisable riff in music history.

The following years found DEEP PURPLE experimenting with different line-up and cut-off compositions for eight years, from 1976 to 1984. The “purple” locomotive came back with the reunion of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice and the release of Perfect Strangers. In 1989 the line-up changed again, with Blackmore initially replacing Satriani, until Steve Morse’s arrival. The band’s new composition continues to work feverishly with releases and live performances that leave history behind.

On the night of June 6, DEEP PURPLE arrives at Terra Vibe Park to flood the Attic night with the most “lyrical noise” of rock music.

The “titans” of prog metal, OPETH also join the 25th anniversary of the Rockwave Festival!

Mikael Åkerfeldt’s first riff on guitar is, of course, none other than Smoke on the Water, and as he himself has stated, his Deep Purple worship is “eternal”. So on June 6th, OPETH is back in Greece and getting ready to meet their idols, the legendary Deep Purple, to celebrate the 25th birthday of the Rockwave Festival!

OPETH are one of the most beloved bands of the Greek public. Where romance meets melancholy and psychedelia intertwines with progressive forms, the result is a captivating amalgam of hard but carefully worked sound. A band that never ceases to evolve and offers fans of hard audio masterpieces and impressive live performances.