Deep Purple tickets for Warsteiner HockeyPark Mönchengladbach and an open-air classic hard rock night

Deep Purple in Mönchengladbach: a summer evening for guitar, Hammond and hard rock classics

Deep Purple is coming to Mönchengladbach on 24 June 2026 as part of the "MAD IN EUROPE" 2026 tour. The concert will take place at Warsteiner HockeyPark, a venue that many visitors today also find under the name SparkassenPark, at the address Am Hockeypark 1. For the audience, this means an open-air evening in Nordpark, with enough space for a massive rock sound, but also with the feeling of stadium closeness that matters when the guitar, bass and organ begin to compete live.

The evening schedule clearly sets the rhythm: admission is announced from 17:30, The Howlers take the stage at 19:00, and Deep Purple at 20:00. This is not merely an addition to the programme, but a useful framework for visitors who want to arrive without rushing, pass through entrance control and catch the full atmosphere before the main performance. Ticket sales for this event are underway.

Why this performance matters in the band’s current phase

Deep Purple is a band that cannot be reduced to nostalgia, although nostalgia here is strong and understandable. "Smoke on the Water", "Highway Star", "Lazy", "Space Truckin'" and "Black Night" are songs that built the vocabulary of hard rock for decades: short riffs, long instrumental arcs, Ian Gillan’s sharp vocals, an elastic rhythm section and the sound of the Hammond, which is as important as the guitar. In the current line-up, the band consists of Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Simon McBride, which places Mönchengladbach in the context of a phase in which Deep Purple connects its recognisable classic sound with newer creative energy.

The moment at which the concert arrives is especially important. The 2024 album "=1" marked the band’s first studio release with Simon McBride on guitar, and the new album "SPLAT!" has been announced for 3 July 2026. This means that the concert in Mönchengladbach comes only a few days before the release of the new edition. The band has already presented material connected with "SPLAT!", including the songs "Arrogant Boy" and "Diablo", so the audience gets an evening at the transition between a proven repertoire and a new chapter.

That very combination is the reason why the concert is interesting to different profiles of visitors. Long-time fans come for riffs that can be recognised after only a few seconds. A wider audience comes for songs that long ago moved beyond the boundaries of the genre. Lovers of hard rock, blues rock and proto-metal energy come for the way Deep Purple still builds tension between keyboards and guitar, without relying only on mere volume.

What the audience can expect from the live evening

With Deep Purple, the concert experience usually rests on three elements: a solid rhythm section, space for instrumental play and songs that the audience knows how to sing almost instinctively. It is not reasonable to claim the exact set list for Mönchengladbach in advance, because the order of songs can change from performance to performance. Still, previous performances of the current era show that the band leads the audience through a wide range of its own history: from early hard-rock foundations to newer songs shaped for the stage, with enough room for solos and mutual musical dialogues.

The band’s greatest live strength remains contrast. Don Airey on keyboards does not fill the background, but enters the conversation with the guitar on equal terms. Roger Glover and Ian Paice hold the tempo without unnecessary ornamentation, while Simon McBride enters the classic songs not as a copy of his predecessors, but as a guitarist who respects the original while bringing his own articulation. Ian Gillan, meanwhile, is the voice that carries the band’s history, but also a character who, in an open-air space like this, can communicate directly with the audience.

The Howlers open the evening as a London desert-rock duo. Their performance makes sense as an introduction to the harder, dirtier edge of the evening: less stadium ceremony, more tense guitar sound and rhythm that can warm up the audience before Deep Purple takes over the stage. For visitors arriving earlier, that is a good reason not to plan arrival only at the very last moment.

Warsteiner HockeyPark and the feeling of an open-air concert

Warsteiner HockeyPark, or today’s SparkassenPark, is located in Mönchengladbach Nordpark, a zone already accustomed to large sporting and musical arrivals. The venue was built as a large hockey arena, but over the years it has also become a concert location for international performers. For a rock concert, this is an important combination: open air gives breadth to the sound, the stands create clear visual axes towards the stage, and the infield enables the energy of standing space.

The hockey complex has a main pitch surrounded by five stands. Data from the hockey federation indicate more than 9,000 seats around the main field, with the possibility of increasing capacity with mobile stages and additional structures up to 14,000 visitors, depending on the event configuration. For a concert like this, the most important thing to know is that the final experience does not depend only on the number of people, but also on the layout of sectors, the position of the stage and the time of arrival.

• Venue address: Am Hockeypark 1, 41179 Mönchengladbach.
• Admission is announced from 17:30, which leaves enough time for checks and finding a place.
• The Howlers are announced at 19:00, and Deep Purple at 20:00.
• The concert is open-air, so it is wise to check the weather forecast and choose clothing for the evening temperature.
• Larger bags and backpacks are not a practical choice because the venue has clear entry rules.

Venues like this suit bands that have big choruses, but also enough instrumental dynamics to fill an open space. Deep Purple has an advantage precisely there. "Highway Star" or "Space Truckin'" are not songs that require intimate club silence, but a space in which drums and bass can push the audience forward, while organ and guitar build tension above the crowd. It is worth securing tickets in time.

How to get to Nordpark

Mönchengladbach is a city in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located in the wider urban area of the Lower Rhine and close to transport connections towards Düsseldorf, Venlo and the Ruhr. For visitors travelling to the concert, the most important thing is to plan arrival in Nordpark, because the same zone also contains other large sports facilities, including Borussia-Park. This means that the area is used to heavier traffic, but also that it is useful to set off earlier, especially when admission opens already in the late afternoon.

For public transport, bus lines 007, 008, 014, 017 and 035 are useful. Nearby stops include "Mönchengladbach Nordpark", "Nordpark Busbahnhof", "Belgrader Straße" and "Enscheder Straße". After open-air concerts at SparkassenPark, a shuttle to Mönchengladbach central station is regularly used, which is important for visitors who are not arriving by car.

Arrival by car usually leads towards the Nordpark area and the P4, P5, P6 and P7 car parks, depending on the size and organisation of the individual event. Navigation can be directed towards the access road "Am Nordpark" for entry to car park P4 or towards the address Am Hockeypark 1 for general orientation. Since traffic at large concerts slows down precisely in the final part of arrival, earlier arrival is more practical than trying to enter immediately before the main performance.

Mönchengladbach as a city for a concert day

A concert in Mönchengladbach can easily turn into a shorter city visit. The city is not only a football address known for Borussia Mönchengladbach, but also a place with museums, parks and historical points that work well before the evening programme. Museum Abteiberg is known for contemporary art and the architecture of Hans Hollein, Schloss Rheydt brings a Renaissance castle with museum content, and the city’s green areas offer a calmer rhythm before entering Nordpark.

For visitors arriving by train, a good plan is to leave enough time between arrival at the central station and the start of the programme. An evening open-air concert is not only the main performance; part of the experience already begins on the approaches to the venue, in the entrance queues, at the first view towards the stage and at the moment when the audience begins to gather before the support act.

Who will find this concert especially attractive

This is not an event only for vinyl collectors and connoisseurs of every phase of the band. Deep Purple has a rare position: historically important enough for classic rock fans, loud enough for hard rock lovers, melodic enough for a wider audience and instrumentally open enough for those who want to hear a playing band, not just a string of hits. In Mönchengladbach, several generations will therefore probably meet: those who grew up with the band, those who discovered it through their parents and younger listeners interested in guitar bands with a long career arc.

The evening is given special weight by the fact that the concert takes place on the eve of the release of "SPLAT!". Such a moment carries a different tension from a standard tour stop. The audience comes to hear the classics, but also to feel where the band is now. If newer material appears in the repertoire, it will not be just an addition between familiar songs, but an indicator of how Deep Purple understands its own sound today.

Practical notes before entering

For a calmer arrival, it is best to count on entrance control and on the fact that a larger number of visitors will appear in the same time window. The venue rules state that bags larger than DIN A4 format and backpacks are not permitted, while food, drinks, umbrellas, chairs, helmets, professional cameras and items that may interfere with safety are also outside the permitted entry items. Mobile phones with cameras and compact cameras without interchangeable lenses are usually a more acceptable choice than larger photographic equipment.

For families, it is important to pay attention to age rules: children under 6 years of age are not allowed to enter the concert area, and children and young people in age groups under 16 need to be accompanied by a person who has the appropriate responsibility and a ticket. It is worth checking such details before departure, because at the entrance there is most often no time to resolve wrongly planned arrivals.

The best advice for this evening is simple: arrive earlier, bring only what is necessary, check the return route and leave room for the support act. Deep Purple is a band whose concert tension builds gradually - from the first sound in the audience to the moment when the recognisable riff spreads through the stadium. Places disappear quickly.

Sources:
- SparkassenPark Mönchengladbach - concert schedule, admission time, support act The Howlers, venue address and basic information about the location.
- SparkassenPark Mönchengladbach, Anfahrt & Parken and FAQ - arrival by bus, shuttle after open-air concerts, parking zones and entry rules.
- Deutscher Hockey-Bund / hockey.de - data on HockeyPark, stands, capacity of the main field and the possibility of expansion for larger events.
- Deep Purple - band website and earMUSIC - announcement of the album "SPLAT!", current line-up, producer Bob Ezrin, release date and context of the 2026 tour.
- The Howlers - band website - profile of the support act and announcement of the album "Heavy".
- City of Mönchengladbach and tourist sources of North Rhine-Westphalia - city context, Museum Abteiberg, Schloss Rheydt and green urban zones.