Deep Purple at Place Bell: hard rock history that is still writing a new chapter
Deep Purple arrives in Laval at a moment when it would be easiest to rely solely on a catalogue that has already been part of hard rock history for decades. Instead, the band is doing exactly the opposite on its current tour: alongside the songs that defined the 1970s, it is giving significant space to completely new material. The concert at Place Bell is therefore conceived not merely as a journey through "Smoke on the Water", "Highway Star" and other essential titles, but as a performance by a band that, in 2026, is still actively recording, releasing music and changing its own concert repertoire.
Deep Purple performs at Place Bell in Laval on Monday, August 17, 2026. The program begins at 6:45 PM, while the arena doors open at 5:45 PM. Kansas and Jefferson Starship are confirmed alongside Deep Purple, so the audience can expect an evening featuring three names whose catalogues span multiple generations of rock music.
Ticket sales for this event are underway.
Why this tour is different from an ordinary greatest-hits run
Deep Purple was founded in 1968 and belongs to the group of performers who helped shape hard rock before heavy metal developed into a separate genre. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, into which the band was inducted in 2016, particularly highlights the combination of speed, powerful riffs, classical music influences and an improvisational approach that distinguished Deep Purple from many of its contemporaries.
Today's lineup consists of Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Simon McBride. Gillan's vocals, Glover's bass and Paice's drums provide a direct link to the band's best-known periods, while Don Airey has been a key part of Deep Purple's keyboard sound for more than two decades. Guitarist Simon McBride joined after Steve Morse's departure and gradually became an important part of the group's new creative phase.
This is particularly important for understanding the current concerts. McBride is not merely a musician who reproduces old guitar parts on stage. He participated in the creation of the last two studio albums, which means that today's lineup is also an active songwriting lineup of the band.
- Ian Gillan - vocals
- Roger Glover - bass
- Ian Paice - drums
- Don Airey - keyboards
- Simon McBride - guitar
SPLAT! changes the balance between classics and new material
The most important context for this concert is the album "SPLAT!", released on July 3, 2026. It is Deep Purple's 24th studio album, once again recorded with producer Bob Ezrin. The album arrived only two years after "=1", demonstrating just how creatively active the band's current phase is.
Before the album's release, the singles "Arrogant Boy", "Diablo" and "Guilt Trippin'" were presented. The material remains firmly within Deep Purple's recognizable language: guitar riffs, Hammond-oriented keyboards, a rhythm section that leaves room for improvisation and Gillan's characteristic phrasing. At the same time, the songs are not conceived as copies of the "Machine Head" era.
The album's thematic idea is also more unusual than the title suggests. "SPLAT!" deals with the end of humanity, but not through a simple story of destruction. The concept starts from transformation and the transition from one form of existence into another. That more serious framework is musically placed within energetic hard rock, giving the album a contrast between subject matter and sound.
For concertgoers, the most interesting question is how willing the band is to bring that new material onto the stage.
At the opening of the North American leg of the tour on August 4 in Raleigh, Deep Purple did not reduce the new album to a single promotional song. "Arrogant Boy", "Diablo" and "Scriblin' Gib'rish" appeared in the repertoire, along with another new title, while "Highway Star", "Lazy", "Space Truckin'", "Smoke on the Water" and "Hush" remained alongside them. A few days later, a report from the performance in Clearwater once again documented a strong presence of new material.
That does not mean the song order in Laval will be identical. The setlist for that concert has not been confirmed in advance and may change. Previous performances on this tour nevertheless provide a very clear indication of the concept: Deep Purple in 2026 does not treat its new songs as a brief break between classics.
"Highway Star", "Smoke on the Water" and room for improvisation
For longtime fans, the appeal of the concert still begins with the songs that became foundations of the hard rock repertoire. "Highway Star" combines the almost continuous movement of the rhythm section with guitar and keyboards that behave like equal solo instruments. "Smoke on the Water" is built on one of the most recognizable riffs in rock history, while "Space Truckin'" demonstrates the heaviness and rhythmic simplicity from which the band has developed longer concert performances for decades.
An important part of Deep Purple's identity has never been merely the list of songs. From the band's best-known lineups onward, concerts were also based on communication between guitar, keyboards, drums, bass and vocals. That is precisely why a change of guitarist is not a minor matter: Simon McBride has to find his own space alongside Don Airey in today's sound rather than simply copying Ritchie Blackmore or Steve Morse.
Current performances show that guitar and keyboard solo sections still have a place in the program. This gives the concert a different rhythm from artists who reproduce studio recordings with almost no deviation. With Deep Purple, instrumental interplay still belongs to the very structure of the performance.
Three major rock catalogues in the same evening
The concert in Laval stands out even further because of the confirmed guests Kansas and Jefferson Starship.
Kansas brings its own combination of progressive and classic rock on the current tour. At the beginning of the joint tour, their repertoire included songs such as "Point of Know Return", "Song for America", "Dust in the Wind", "Miracles Out of Nowhere" and "Carry On Wayward Son". As with Deep Purple, previous performances are no guarantee of an identical setlist in Laval, but they show that the emphasis is clearly placed on the best-known periods of the Kansas catalogue.
Jefferson Starship broadens the evening toward American rock that connects the psychedelic roots of Jefferson Airplane, 1970s rock and the big radio sound of later decades. At the tour opening in Raleigh, their program included titles such as "Find Your Way Back", "White Rabbit", "Jane" and "Somebody to Love", as well as newer material.
Such a combination makes the concert especially attractive to audiences who are not looking for just one performer. Deep Purple brings British hard rock, Kansas the more progressive American side of the genre, and Jefferson Starship a connection to the psychedelic and classic rock scene of the American West Coast.
It is worth securing tickets in time.
Place Bell gives the concert an arena feel without being a stadium
Place Bell is located in Laval, a city immediately adjacent to Montréal, at 1950 rue Claude-Gagné. The complex opened in 2017, and its main arena has around 10,000 seats and 46 corporate suites. The venue was designed so that it can be transformed from a hockey arena into a concert hall.
For a rock concert, this means a scale large enough for a full arena production, but without the distance characteristic of stadiums holding several tens of thousands of visitors. The exact sense of proximity to the stage naturally depends on the floor configuration and the selected section, but Place Bell's basic size places it between an intimate theatre and a large stadium venue.
For a band like Deep Purple, that is a useful combination. Their sound requires space for powerful drums, bass and amplified guitar, but a large part of their concert identity rests on instrumental communication. In an arena of this size, the audience can still follow the exchanges between McBride and Airey, Gillan's reactions toward the band and Paice's precise control of dynamics.
The acoustic result at any individual concert always depends on the touring production, the position of the sound system and the listener's location, so it makes no sense to promise that every section sounds the same. Place Bell, however, was designed from the outset as a multipurpose complex for professional sport, major concerts and other productions.
How to get to Place Bell
One of the venue's greatest practical advantages is its position next to public transport. Place Bell is located immediately beside Montmorency station, the terminal station of the orange metro line. De la Concorde station is also within the broader area surrounding the venue.
For visitors arriving from Montréal, this makes it possible to arrive by metro without searching for parking immediately before the program begins. Montmorency is also an important bus terminal for the Société de transport de Laval network.
For those arriving by car, there are several indoor and outdoor parking options around Place Bell. Venue information also lists parking beside the complex with approximately 700 paid indoor spaces. Since the concert includes three performers and the doors open one hour before the program begins, arriving in the final minutes before 6:45 PM may mean heavier traffic and fewer parking choices.
- Venue: Place Bell, Laval, Québec, Canada
- Address: 1950 rue Claude-Gagné
- Date: August 17, 2026
- Program start: 6:45 PM
- Doors open: 5:45 PM
- Performers: Deep Purple, Kansas, Jefferson Starship
- Nearest metro station: Montmorency
- Main arena capacity: approximately 10,000 seats
The event is designated as open to all age groups. Visitors travelling from another city should check current traffic information and venue entry rules before departure, particularly permitted bag dimensions and items that may be brought inside.
Laval as a base for a concert visit
Laval is part of the wider Montréal urban area, but it is not merely the location of an arena on the outskirts of the metropolis. The city has its own centre, restaurants, hotels and public transport, making it possible to organize an arrival without needing to drive through central Montréal immediately before the concert.
For international visitors, the connection with Montréal is particularly important. The metro network extends into Laval and includes Cartier, De la Concorde and Montmorency stations. Place Bell is located beside the last of these, which makes the venue easier to visit by public transport than many arenas situated beside highways and large parking complexes.
If the plan includes an overnight stay, it is practical to view Laval and Montréal as a connected urban area and then choose accommodation according to whether priority is given to a short journey after the concert or staying closer to central Montréal.
Who will find this concert most interesting
The most obvious audience is, of course, longtime Deep Purple fans. For them, the opportunity to hear Gillan, Glover and Paice in the same current lineup is important enough in itself. Particular significance comes from the fact that the band is not performing only memories from the 1970s, but is presenting music recorded only a few weeks earlier.
The second group consists of classic rock listeners who may not have a deep relationship with Deep Purple's entire discography but know "Smoke on the Water", "Highway Star", "Hush", "Dust in the Wind" or "Carry On Wayward Son". The combination of three performers allows them to hear several different directions in the development of rock from the late 1960s onward in a single evening.
The third group consists of guitarists, drummers, keyboard players and other musicians for whom the performance aspect matters more than nostalgia. For decades, Deep Purple has been a band in which improvisation and instrumental dialogue have carried almost as much importance as the compositions themselves. Don Airey, Ian Paice, Roger Glover and Simon McBride therefore offer plenty of material for an audience that listens to the performance in more detail than simply recognizing the choruses.
What previous performances tell us about the evening in Laval
The first concerts of the North American leg of the tour provide a useful framework, but not a prewritten script for Laval. In Raleigh, "Highway Star" opened Deep Purple's performance, after which material from the 1970s, songs from the album "=1" and new titles from "SPLAT!" alternated. "Smoke on the Water" did not arrive until the later part of the set, and the concert showed that the band has no intention of using up all of its recognizable material within the first few songs.
A report from Clearwater four days later again describes a performance in which new material stands alongside the greatest classics instead of being isolated in a separate promotional segment. That may be the most interesting characteristic of this phase of Deep Purple: the audience is not watching a band trying to behave as though it were 1972 again, but today's lineup using songs from 1972 as part of a much broader repertoire.
For someone who has already seen Deep Purple on earlier tours, the new album and McBride's increasingly important role provide a concrete reason for another visit. For someone who has never seen them, the tour simultaneously offers access to the songs that made the band one of the foundational names of hard rock.
Seats are disappearing quickly.
Arriving at least before the program opens provides enough time to enter, find the section and get oriented in the arena before the evening begins at 6:45 PM. With three confirmed performers, this is not a concert for which it makes sense to plan an arrival only shortly before Deep Purple comes on stage: Kansas and Jefferson Starship are part of the identity of the entire program, not merely a technical pause before the headliner.
Sources:
- Deep Purple - current band lineup, release of the album "SPLAT!", singles and announcement of the North American tour with Kansas.
- evenko - confirmed performers for the concert in Laval, date, program start, door opening time, age accessibility and Place Bell address.
- Place Bell - information about the location, public transport, parking and Montmorency station.
- Ville de Laval - information about the Place Bell complex, main arena capacity and corporate suites.
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - Deep Purple's historical significance and induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
- Ultimate Classic Rock - documented repertoire from the beginning of the North American tour in Raleigh on August 4, 2026.
- Rock At Night - report from the Deep Purple and Kansas concert in Clearwater on August 8, 2026.