Good news first, because this story finally has some. Ian Gillan posted an update on Saturday, November 7, and it is the one Deep Purple fans have been holding their breath for: he had a procedure the day before, it was successful, and he is now resting so he can make a complete recovery and get back to work as fit as he can be.
Here is how we got here. Gillan, who is 81, was hospitalized in Leipzig at the end of October. The October 31 show there and the November 1 show in Hamburg came off the board, and on November 2 the band made the hard call and postponed the rest of the European and UK tour until further notice. Gillan said at the time that he had hoped to hang on to the end of the run, but that carrying on came with very serious risks. That is not a sentence any singer writes for fun.
“No diagnosis, no return date, no drama. Just a singer resting so he can finish the job right.”
Moe Train
The postponed dates are real rooms with real history: Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham, and Manchester in the UK, then London twice, the Eventim Apollo on November 24 and the Royal Albert Hall on November 25, plus the European stops ahead of them. Every ticket stays valid for the rescheduled dates, and the band is working on finding the right time to put them back on the calendar. Hold your tickets. This is a pause, not a cancellation.
Nobody has said what the procedure was, and nobody has put a date on his return, and honestly that is fine. No diagnosis, no return date, no drama. Just a singer resting so he can finish the job right. The tour is out supporting Splat!, the band's 24th album, released July 3 and produced by Bob Ezrin. Twenty four albums in, and the only thing standing between Deep Purple and the finish line is one man's recovery.
The Latin American run is still on the books for early December, starting December 5 in Sao Paulo, and we will all be watching for word on that one. For now, the update is the one that matters: the procedure worked, the man is resting, and one of the greatest voices in rock history gets to heal on his own schedule. Take all the time you need, Ian. We will keep the seat warm.
Source: Metal Injection
