Smuggled Sounds: Deep Purple - Jakarta On My Mind

DPjakartaFr By the time Deep Purple released Burn and Stormbringer (both 1974), Ian Gillan and Roger Glover had already left the band but some fans still considered Burn to be a worthy successor to the earlier albums. But in April 1975, Richie Blackmore too decided to move, leaving Jon Lord (organ, piano) and Ian Paice (drums) from the classic line up. If Blackmore wanted out, vocalist David Coverdale managed to get guitarist Tommy Bolin into the group and Come Taste The Band was released in November 1975.Deep Purple played two dates in Jakarta in December 1975 promoting Come Taste The Band. For the Mat Rockers there, it probably did not matter who was in the line up, it's Deep Purple all the same. But the Indonesian trip was marred by tragedy, as reported in the article, Indonesian Nightmare Strikes Deep Purple, by Peter Crescenti for Rolling Stone magazine (January 29, 1976), Crescenti wrote: "Tragedy and mayhem struck the Deep Purple tour December 4 in Jakarta, Indonesia, when one of the group�?road crew, Patsy Collins, a well-loved celebrity of the British rock scene and guitariest Tommy Bolin�?bodyguard, was killed in a six-story fall down a service elevator shaft at the band�?hotel. Then at a Deep Purple concert the following night, Indonesian police armed with machine guns, truncheons and a pack of Doberman pinschers waded into the audience, seriously injuring over 200 people. "Deep Purple played to an estimated 150,000 Indonesians in two shows at the outdoor Senyan Sports Staduim as part of their first tour since adding Bolin to the band. The first concert, which saw about 20,000 people break down fences to join 35,000 ticket holders, was relatively free of police reaction. 'They let everybody be,' keyboard player Jon Lord said. 'There were machine-gun guards all over the place and they were pushing kids around, but there seemed to be no organized police thing.' "Back at the group’s hotel after the opening concert, Collins got into an argument with two other member of the road crew and left their room to go upstairs to his own. The elevators in the hotel were operating slowly, so the impatient Collins decided to walk up the fire escape stairs to the next floor, only to find the door on the next landing locked. Then, inside the stairwell on the sixth floor he found an unmarked, unlocked door. He opened it and hastily stepped in, plunging three-floors down the service elevator shaft, crashing through some hot water pipes?Hospitalized, he died early the next morning from internal injuries and burns. "Surprisingly, the Jakarta police arrested the two crew members Collins had argued with and, later, the band’s manager, Rob Cooksey. DPjakartaBk The three were held on suspicion of murder and isolated from the jails other prisoners for two days, said Cooksey, 'with a kind of threat hangin' over us. All the time we were under suspicion of murder, they were making us sign autographs and things. You just wouldn’t believe the mentality.' "The night following the accident, with three of their entourage in jail, Deep Purple played their second show. About 6,000 armed and helmeted policemen, backed by dogs, circulated throughout the stadium. Before the concert began, an announcement warned any Europeans in the audience to congregate near the side of the auditorium. "No sooner did the music begin, getting the rock-starved Indonesians to their feet dancing, then police waded into the crowd, savagely butting, clubbing, punching and kicking the boogieing audience. Then the Dobermans were let loose, joining the attack. Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord later said, 'Every time an effort to get up and boogie was made by any section, it was immediately pounded on.' He also recalled seeing one mammoth dog dragging a kid across the floor by his arm, its teeth sinking into the boys flesh. "The band played only half a set and left the stage frightened and sickened. 'They went crazy,' said Cooksey of the Indonesian police. 'It was like maneuvers for them. Just a nightmare'. To be honest, this mono audience recording from the first night is rather raw. Some might even call it muddy and it sounds as if the taper is standing somewhere towards the back. While the vocals, guitars and organ are fairly prominent, the drums are buried in the back and, overall, it's closer to a wall of sound with no distinctive soundstage. The band cannot be said to be at its best (there is a workmanlike feel to the performance until the end when the members let loose a little) though the band did try to be friendly by sprinkling in a couple of "Apa khabar?" (How are you?) and "Terima kasih" (thank you). Only Jon Lord, with his extended solos, seemed to be having fun. The set is built around the key songs from Come Taste The Band and if an old chestnut such as Georgia On My Mind is a throwback to the band's blues roots, fans would have preferred the more recognisable hits. Guess Smoke On The Water must have been hard (for this line up) to live up to and Soldier Of Fortune, Lazy and Burn are poor consolations, to say the least. But given the events that would happen later that night and the next day, this recording becomes a historical document to an unhappy and tragic tour that not many younger fans of the band know about.