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Deep Purple 07.06.1980 "Civic Center", Laredo
Very special thanks to Gilbert Garcia for the picture of the original concert ticket and his review of the show!
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Gilbert Garcia, who saw the 1980 Deep Purple show in Laredo, remembers:
(via e-mail, 2012)
"Saw your page today and thought I'd send a picture of my ticket stub from these guys. I saw them in Laredo, Texas. About halfway through the show a big fight broke out on stage and there was a near riot with the crowd...
I was under the impression it was a real Deep Purple show at the time. I live in Austin, Texas and did back then too. I had a cousin in Laredo that told me Deep Purple was coming so I made plans to go down there for the show, so I'm not sure about any of the ads or posters as I didn't see any. I know I expected the real Deep Purple as did he and his friends.
As I recall there were about two to three songs played but have no idea what they were anymore. The venue had a stage and then an "orchestra pit" with a railing around it, we were up on the railing but quite a few feet from the stage. I do remember the guitarist dressed like Blackmore had a strat but just didn't look like him. I remember saying to my cousin something like, "Hey that doesn't look like Ritchie Blackmore". Apparently the rest of the crowd was thinking the same thing as people started booing and shouting.
People who we thought at the time were the roadies came onto the stage, the music stopped and there was some arguing and then pushing and shoving which turned into a couple of fights onstage. The crowd started chanting things like "fake, fake" and "refund, refund" but none were to come. In retrospect, it was probably the people producing the show who ran onstage from the wings. It was a fun time anyway as we hung out all day partying outside the front doors since it was general admission show and the warm up band was good." (Gilbert Garcia, via e-mail, 2012)
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