I’d like to thank all those good souls who braved the elements and came to see us over the recent tour of Asia. I’d like to, but I can’t (just kidding).

I know that we in Deep Purple all had a great time, some memorable gigs that don’t come to mind right now, some great audiences and smiling faces everywhere. It’s not so bad.

My position as fan has deepened somewhat lately; every one is playing or singing really well and the moral in the band, assuming it has any morals, is high, and I mean that in the best possible sense. Every night on stage is exciting, in fact more than ever.

From Japan on we had some great gigs and good to see some old faces.

Breaking new ground in China was obviously one of the highlights and we are happy to have done it. I hope we get invited back. It wasn’t without its difficulties however, there were many obstacles in the way and due praise should go to our fantastic crew, despite the smell. Great to get back to Australia and New Zealand again, twenty years since we visited the latter.

Thanks also to all the agents and promoters who looked after us so well some of the other places; Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea. What are we doing right?

Enjoy the break, next stop, Iceland.

Good luck,

RG – May 2004