Photos by Andy Argyrakis

Rejuvenated by an infinitely unlikely reunion that reverberated around the world, Deep Purple returned to Ravinia’s completely upgraded Hunter Pavilion, armed with nearly 60 years of hard rock/early heavy metal cornerstones up to the brand new album “Splat!”

Led by singer Ian Gillan, bassist Roger Glover and drummer Ian Paice, the core nucleus since the late 1960s, alongside longtime keyboardist Don Airey in the place of the late Jon Lord and more recent guitarist Simon McBride, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers did indeed reminisce and catch several generations up to speed on their whereabouts throughout 90 headlining minutes.

Granted, guitar god Ritchie Blackmore hasn’t actually been in Deep Purple for 33 years and only just guested on this tour for a one-off evening very close to home in New York, but his pioneering spirit was still considerably present.

The legendary British band began with the earlier era’s “Highway Star,” a difficult track to scream when Gillan was in his 20s let alone 81, though he rose to the occasion as much as was humanly possible over the rhythm section’s freight train-like roar.

Deep Purple continued diving head first “Into The Fire,” locally debuted the ballsy “Arrogant Boy,” then bookended the later aggression of “Lazy Sod” and yesteryear’s lengthy progressive blues jam “Lazy.”

“Diablo” came across as a devilishly delightful chance to showcase everyone’s consummate chops, plus “Perfect Strangers,” “Space Truckin'” and of course “Smoke On The Water,” initiated by arguably the most recognizable guitar riff of all-time, were revved up reminders of exactly why Deep Purple’s lasted so long.

No stranger to large stages, Kansas, or rather, the rebooted edition featuring Illinois’ own Ronnie Platt, lead singer since 2014, nonetheless commanded attention while blazing through 70 minutes’ worth of proggy, artful arena rockers, including “Point Of Know Return,” “Play The Game Tonight,” “Fight Fire With Fire,” “Song For America,” “Dust In The Wind,” “Miracles Out Of Nowhere” and “Carry On Wayward Son.”

Similar to the current Foreigner, none of those present appeared on the recordings or really anything before this century, yet they clearly retained a reverence for the vintage material and did at least introduce the ambitious “Jets Overhead” off the group’s latest album, “The Absence Of Presence,” ensuring Ravinia got to hear another classic cannon full of crazy complicated time signatures, once again performed by masterful musicians.

For additional information on Deep Purple and Kansas, visit DeepPurple.com and KansasBand.com.

Upcoming shows at Ravinia’s Hunter Pavilion include Brandi Carlile (Aug. 26); Kool & The Gang (Aug. 27); Alabama (Aug. 28); Ray LaMontagne (Aug. 29); Miranda Lambert (Aug. 30); Snoop Dogg (Sept. 4); Squeeze (Sept. 6); Erykah Badu (Sept. 10); Alison Krauss & Union Station (Sept. 12); Los Tigres del Norte (Sept. 13); Ziggy Marley and Thievery Corporation (Sept. 17); Tom Jones (Sept. 18) and Martina McBride (Sept. 19). For additional details, visit Ravinia.org.

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