Deep Purple, pioneers of British hard rock and the authors of “Smoke on the Water”, play the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith on the first of two London nights.
Deep Purple, counted with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath among the founders of heavy metal, play the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith on Tuesday 24 November 2026. It is the first of two London nights.
The group formed in London in 1968 around the guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, the organist Jon Lord and the drummer Ian Paice. The singer Ian Gillan and the bassist Roger Glover joined in 1969.
With Deep Purple in Rock in 1970 the sound turned heavier. Machine Head followed in 1972, recorded in a Swiss hotel after a fire destroyed the Montreux Casino, an episode the band turned into “Smoke on the Water”.
Their records have sold more than 100 million copies, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted them in 2016. A 1972 concert at the Rainbow Theatre put them in the record books as the loudest band in the world.
Paice is the one musician to have played in every line-up since 1968, and Gillan and Glover remain beside him. The keyboard player Don Airey and the guitarist Simon McBride complete the band. Their new album, Splat!, came out in July 2026.
The British band Jayler open.