Jon Lord’s concert at Lichfield Cathedral (near Birmingham) on July 17 is shaping up to feature a special selection of music from his solo career.

Appearing with a string quartet, bass, drums, flute, a keyboard player and two singers, Jon Lord is planning to perform ’some or all of the following’:

Sarabande – Gigue – Bourree – De Profundis – Miles Away – Wait a While – The Sun Will Shine Again – From the Windmill – Telemann Experiment. Plus more – as yet undecided.

The evening’s line-up is:
Jon Lord on Hammond and piano
Nigel Hopkins on keyboards
Don Richardson on bass
Steve White on drums
Bruce Martin on flute
Steve Balsamo & Kasia ᴌaska on vocals
The Badke String Quartet

Buy tickets to see Jon Lord at Lichfield Cathedral on July 17.

Earlier the same day Jon Lord will also appear ‘in conversation’ with festival director Richard Hawley at Lichfield Garrick Main Theatre – buy tickets.

This is You Keep On Moving with Jon Lord and Glenn Hughes filmed at ChildLine Rock 2009 in London on June 1. Enjoy.

The live album featuring the complete show is still available from Concert Live.

For the first time since 1976, Jon Lord and Glenn Hughes performed together at this year’s ChildLine Rocks in London. On June 1 the pair got together to play You Keep On Moving, a song first recorded by Deep Purple Mk 4 in 1975.

Concert Live have released an Instant Live recording of the entire show including the four songs that featured Jon Lord; Pictured Within, Child In Time, You keep On Moving and Smoke On The Water.

Jon Lord is introduced by ‘whispering’ Bob Harris and in turn introduces Pictured Within as an autobiographical song.

- It’s about what happened to me and what can happen to you if you’re supported by a great family. We’re here to raise money for is people who are not supported by a great family, and we should all think on that, says Jon Lord.

Thundering Child In Time
Steve Balsamo sings Pictured Within and then Child In Time. For this, Jon Lord switches to Hammond organ and is backed by British band Thunder.

Together they power through a gloriously intense version of the 1969 Deep Purple classic – complete with Hammond solo from Jon Lord, guitar solo – and full on vocal delivery from Steve Balsamo and Kasia Laska.

Glenn Hughes arrives onstage for the reunion with Jon Lord. After a bit of preamble, they all launch into an eight-minute spine chilling version of the song featuring plenty of Hammond from Jon Lord, vocal acrobatics from Glenn Hughes and Thunder as very efficient ’supporting cast’.

Afterwards, Glenn Hughes continues on his own with Thunder and the Deep Purple classic Mistreated and his solo track Soul Mover.

At the very end of the show, all the evening’s performers gather for a rendition of Smoke On The Water that includes a Hammond solo from Jon Lord and Glenn Hughes on vocals

The 2CD comes with a third disc of photos of the audience (not the artists onstage). It all sells at £20.00, and all profits go directly to ChildLine – UK’s free, 24-hour helpline for children in distress or danger.

Order your Instant Live ChildLine Rocks CD.

The maestro’s a man
Steve Harley also performed at ChildLine Rocks on June 1. In his online diary he writes about meeting Jon Lord:

‘Jon Lord is made of the sort of stuff that makes a man a man. Jon Lord is a friendly chap. A cool and unaffected sort of guy,’ writes Steve Harley.

‘He played a clever set with Steve Balsamo singing to the Lord Hammond B3. They travel to European cities, just the two of them, and meet there with a full orchestra and rock band, comprised of local players, rehearse for a day and then play big cross-over concerts to 3,000 or so people.’

‘I thought it all sounded a little nerve-wracking, like arriving to find your backside has gone south for the winter, as the leader calls the first beats. No, he said, it’s exciting. And I understood: the adventure, the gamble, the risks all make it worthwhile. And it probably seldom, if ever, fails to score.’

Thanks to steveharley.com

Below some of the artists performing at ChildLine Rocks 2009. members of Thunder with Glenn Hughes (far left) and Steve Balsamo (far right) next to Jon Lord, next to Kasia Laska. Click for larger version.

Full track list of the ChildLine Rocks 2009 2CD:

disc 1
PRETTY THINGS
1. Feel like goin’ home
2. Can’t be satisfied
3. Ridin’ shotgun

URIAH HEEP
4. Overload
5. Sunrise
6. Gypsy
7. Easy livin’

THUNDER
8. Backstreet symphonu
9. The devil made me do it
10. Gimme some lovin’
11. I love you more than rock’n'roll

HOT LEG
12. I’ve met Jesus
13. Chickens
14. Prima donna
15. Whichever way you’re gonna give it
16. Cocktails

disc 2
JON LORD & STEVE BALSAMO
1. Pictured within
2. Child in time

JON LORD & GLENN HUGHES
3. You keep on moving

GLENN HUGHES
4. Mistreated
5. Soul mover

JUSTIN HAWKINS
6. I believe in a thing called love

STEVE HARLEY
7. A friend for life
8. Make me smile (come up & see me)

EVERYBODY
9. Smoke on the water

On September 24, Jon Lord will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Concerto for Group and Orchestra by performing the piece in Dublin, Ireland with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Also planned for the show are pieces from Jon Lord’s solo career and a couple of Deep Purple songs including an orchestral version of Child In Time.

Tickets are priced at: €15, €25, €30, €35, €40 (Concession: €13, €22, €27, €32, €36).

Book your tickets now.

On July 11, Jon Lord will appear as special guest to Robert Well’s touring Rhapsody In Rock show at Falkenberg, Sweden.

Jon Lord will perform two Deep Purple songs with Robert Wells and his 20-piece orchestra and 18-piece choir.

Rhapsody In Rock is a concert concept that has been touring Sweden, Norway and Finland every year since 1998. Founder and leading artist is Swedish piano player Robert Wells.

Get tickets to see Jon Lord with Robert Wells.
Rhapsody In Rock website.

Below is a selection of images from disc 1 of the just released Deep Purple DVD, History, Hits & Highlights.

Available from the Jon Lord Music Shop. Full track list details.

Two brand new DVD / CD packages with historic recordings featuring Jon Lord have just been added to the Jon Lord Music Shop.

Tony Ashton & Friends
Endangered Species Live At Abbey Road, 2CD+DVD

Filmed and recorded at Abbey Road at the Tony Ashton beneficiary show his friends put together for him in 2000 after he was taken seriously ill in the late 90s. (Photo above from DVD.)

Featuring Tony Ashton himself with his ‘mate and old mentor’ Jon Lord plus Ian Paice, Bernie Marsden, Micky Moody, Neil Murray, John Entwhistle and many more, it includes a lengthy and highly enjoyable jam session with Tony Ashton’s own band.

The evening also saw two reunions; Whitesnake’s classic lineup got together for the first time (Lord, Paice, Marsden, Moody, Murray – without Coverdale) and so did Paice Ashton Lord for a couple of songs from the Malice In Wonderland album.

Click to see details and order.

Packed with previously unreleased Deep Purple footage from the 60s and 70s, this 2DVD set tracks the band’s history from their first TV appearances in Denmark and the States in 1968 through the early 70s till the breakup in 1976.

Among the many highlights are more than 60 minutes of previously unreleased concert footage from 1969 and 1970, the full 1974 socalled Leeds Polytechnic Project with Mark 3 live tracks and interviews and a snippet of footage from one of the actual Made In Japan concerts. And more…

Click to order. Full track list details.

Monday night’s ChildLine Rocks charity show in London is to be released on CD.

Featuring Jon Lord, Steve Balsamo, Glenn Hughes, Uriah Heep, Thunder, The Pretty Things and Hot Leg, Concerts Live are planning to release the show on a limited edition Instant Live 3CD.

The 3CD set will feature 2 audio CDs and a 3rd photo disc with exclusive instant photos from the night’s performances.

This will enable fans anywhere – those who went to the show – and those who were unable to attend – to experience the music performed on the night while supporting the good cause.

The 3CD-set sells at £20.00, and all profits will go directly to ChildLine – UK’s free, 24-hour helpline for children in distress or danger.

Order your Instant Live ChildLine Rocks CD.

This Thursday evening (May 28) at 8pm Jon Lord joins Nicky Horne for an interview on Planet Rock about his appearance next Monday at ChildLine Rocks.

Listen live via Planet Rock’s website.

On September 1, Jon Lord will open the Fall Arts Fest in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Set in the antique Roman theater in Bulgaria’s second largest city, Jon Lord is scheduled to perform with the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra.

The evening will include a performance of the Concerto for Group and Orchestra and a set of other pieces by Jon Lord with a couple of orchestral Deep Purple pieces.

Check the concert dates page for more details.