The first album I ever purchased was ‘Deep Purple in Rock’.
The year was 1972, the price was a staggering NZD 7.99 – which probably coverts
to NZD 50.00 in current terms. I still have this album 40 years later. I also
managed to see DP live in 1975 at QE2 Stadium here in Christchurch. This was a controversial
concert which had the local Press’s ‘Letters to The Editor’ deluged with
complaints about the noise. Deep Purple was the first major concert in the
stadium which had hosted the Commonwealth Games the year prior. The band arrived
into Christchurch in a 707 ‘freighter’ chocker on a Sunday with what was then
amongst the world’s loudest sound systems. Almost certainly ‘the’ loudest PA to
ever land in Christchurch. Anyway rather naively the bands speakers were set up
facing into the cavernous main stand from midway across the grass infield.
Aided by the ever present easterly wind and the ‘shell’ of the stand, the band
could be heard clearly all over the city that Monday evening (17th
November 1975) My parents could hear them playing in Burnside which is approx. 10kms
east of QE2. For those like me with tickets in the said stand the sound was
deafening. How deafening? Well the next day I had to go home from school
because I couldn’t hear a bloody thing! My mates cousin drove me to the concert
and on the home journey none of us bother to speak because we weren’t trained
in lip reading! Local residents to QE2 wanted further concerts banned, but
settled on the reduced sound levels. Footnote: QE2 Stadium was decimated by the
February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and is due to be demolished sometime
shortly. The doco gem below was from the concert they did in Auckland a four days previous to Christchurch. Set-list of the N.Z Tours songs here.
