Deep Purple’s signature song “Smoke on the Water” tells the true story of an incident that occurred in December 1971 in Montreux, Switzerland, when the band was in the city to record what would become their classic 1972 album Machine Head. Deep Purple had intended to do the recording at Montreux Casino, but while they were in the city, a fire broke out at the venue during a concert by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and it burned to the ground.
Soon after, Deep Purple wrote “Smoke on the Water,” built around an iconic guitar riff created by the group’s founding guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore.
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On Sunday, July 8, Deep Purple returned to Montreux to perform at the 2024 Montreux Jazz Festival. Although the band had played in the city nine times before, the latest concert there was particularly special, as the show marked Deep Purple’s first performance on the festival’s new Lake Stage. The stage is literally built on the surface of Lake Geneva.
The setting brought a special resonance to the group’s performance of “Smoke on the Water,” which begins with the lines, “We all came out to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline.” As the band played, smoke machines on the lake shore created a blanket of smoke that wafted across the stage.
According to Setlist.fm, Deep Purple’s set also featured performances of such other classics as “Highway Star,” “Space Truckin’,” and “Hush.” The band also played four tunes from its forthcoming studio album, =1, which will be released on July 19.
Deep Purple Members Also Took Part in a Q&A at the Festival
The day before the concert, longtime Deep Purple members Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, and Ian Paice took part in a workshop event at the festival during which they discussed the infamous 1971 fire and the creation of “Smoke on the Water.”
As reported by Blabbermouth.net, Glover shared his recollections of witnessing the fire during the Q&A event.
Glover then shared how the song’s title came to him.
“The following morning, I was in my room alone and I woke up with those words on my lips, and I said them out to an empty room,” he said. “And then I kind of really woke up and I said, ‘What did I just say? Smoke on the water?’ No idea what it meant.”
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