Deep Purple were the surprise eleventh hour saviours of two European festivals when they agreed to replace Oasis in the wake of the Gallagher brothers’ well-publicised fracas. Read our previous report about Purple’s surprise shows here.

As the weekend newspapers were brimming with gory details of the rumpus, the promoter of the Rock-am-See concert in Konstanz, Germany, was sending out an SOS to Ian Gillan and company, who had just played a gig of their own in Zurich and were preparing to fly to America.

Eventually, the band agreed to fill in for Oasis at Rock-am-See, also at a date in Milan the following day.

We asked bassist Roger Glover whether anybody had demanded their money back?

“Not so far as I know,” he replied. “It certainly didn’t look like it.”

According to internet reports, not only did Purple get the promoter out of jail, it turned out to be a night of proverbial phoenix-from-the-flames triumph.

“Yeah. It was an extremely strange but a great night, to be faced by all these strange creatures – young people,” laughs Glover. “I mean, a massed crowd of really young people – not our audience at all. Loads of people with thin legs and lots of energy jumping up and down, most odd. It was an awesome sight.”

Glover admits to experiencing doubts as stage time approached.

“I watched a couple of the bands that played before us and wondered how the hell we would go down,” he says. “But as it turned out they gave us a great reception. And why not? After all, it’s still loud, pulsing rock and roll.

“Not only did the show go down really well with the crowd, Kasabian and The Kooks were at the side of the stage. They said afterwards they had been blown away by us which is such a great compliment. To go onstage as a grandfather and receive such a reception…”

… Maybe a spot at something as trendy as the V2 Festival awaits? Who knows? Anyway, with Purple due to begin recording a new album after Christmas, Glover now hopes that the exposure to a new audience will prove beneficial in a long term sense.

“The same thing had happened in France a few years earlier – we played a televised date with a really broad mixture of music,” he relates. “There were lot of young people there and BOOM, we could do no wrong afterwards. We did tour after tour in France, all sold out. It came alive for us, all because of that one gig.”