Deep Purple Announce ‘SPLAT!’ Album and 86-Show World Tour

The band’s 24th studio album arrives July 3 via earMUSIC, backed by a world tour spanning 28 countries on three continents.

Deep Purple have announced their 24th studio album, SPLAT!, due July 3 via earMUSIC. The follow-up to 2024’s =1 is described in a band press statement as ‘the heaviest Deep Purple album in many years,’ built around a concept from singer Ian Gillan imagining the end of humanity as transformation rather than destruction. A world tour of no fewer than 86 shows across 28 countries on three continents will support the release.

The Concept Behind SPLAT!

The album’s central idea originated with Gillan. According to the band’s press statement, ‘Rather than treating the end as destruction, the album imagines it as transformation. Splat! explores the end of humanity not in any crude apocalyptic sense but as a metamorphosis beyond physical existence.’ The press statement also notes the new songs are influenced by the current political climate.

Gillan framed the record’s musical ambitions in equally direct terms: ‘Where we are now with this incarnation of Deep Purple feels very much like a very now version of Deep Purple as it was in the seventies. I have to say, now we are very much back in with material that is compatible with Highway Star, Smoke on the Water, Lazy, the dynamics, the balance, and the fun of the music we made from 69 to 73. Deep Purple is in a great place right now.’

Production and Lineup

SPLAT! marks the sixth consecutive Deep Purple studio album produced by Bob Ezrin, a run stretching back to 2013’s Now What?! Ezrin also helmed Infinite (2017), Whoosh! (2020), Turning to Crime (2021), and =1. Outside of Deep Purple, Ezrin is widely known for his work with Kiss, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, and Alice Cooper.

The album is also the second Deep Purple record to feature guitarist Simon McBride, who joined the band in 2022 as a replacement for Steve Morse. The band has yet to release any songs from the album ahead of its July 3 street date.

SPLAT! Full Tracklist

The album carries 13 tracks:

• Arrogant Boy
• Diablo
• The Rider
• The Lunatic
• The Only Horse in Town
• Sacred Land
• The Beating of Wings
• Guilt Trippin’
• Scriblin’ Gib’rish
• Jessica’s Bra
• Third Call
• My New Movie
• Splat!

Formats and Box Set

SPLAT! will be available across a wide range of physical formats: double black vinyl, double transparent yellow vinyl, double purple vinyl, CD, cassette, and a limited-edition box set. The box set includes the double album and CD, three 10-inch vinyl discs of recordings from Deep Purple’s 2024 tour, and a 7-inch single featuring the non-album track ‘Guinnesis.’ Pre-orders are open now through the band’s official website.

Mad in Europe Tour Dates

The European leg, billed as the Mad in Europe Tour, opens in Finland in June:

• Jun 11, 2026 — Espoo Metro Arena, Espoo, Finland
• Jun 12, 2026 — Nokia Arena, Tampere, Finland
• Jun 14, 2026 — Dirty Old Town Live, Odderoya Amfi, Kristiansand, Norway
• Jun 18, 2026 — Hellfest, Clisson, France (SOLD OUT)
• Jun 20, 2026 — Emsland Open Air, Meppen, Germany
• Jun 24, 2026 — SparkassenPark, Mönchengladbach, Germany
• Jun 27, 2026 — HUK Coburg Open Air, Schlossplatz, Coburg, Germany
• Jun 28, 2026 — Klosterhof Wiblingen, Ulm, Germany
• Jul 2, 2026 — Auditorio Castrelos, Vigo, Spain
• Jul 4, 2026 — Músicos en la Naturaleza, Gredos, Ávila, Spain
• Jul 5, 2026 — Navarra Arena, Pamplona, Spain
• Jul 7, 2026 — Jardines de Viveros, Valencia, Spain
• Jul 9, 2026 — Starlite, Marbella, Spain
• Jul 10, 2026 — Tío Pepe, Cádiz, Spain
• Jul 13, 2026 — Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, Switzerland
• Jul 16, 2026 — Piazza Dei Cavalieri, Pisa Summer Knights, Pisa, Italy
• Jul 17, 2026 — Castello Carrarese, Este Music Festival, Este, Italy
• Jul 19, 2026 — Tollwood Festival, Munich, Germany

SPLAT! World Tour, North American Dates

North American shows begin in August:

• Aug 4, 2026 — Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh, NC
• Aug 6, 2026 — Memphis Botanic Garden, Memphis, TN
• Aug 8, 2026 — The BayCare Sound, Clearwater, FL
• Aug 9, 2026 — Hard Rock Casino, Hollywood, FL
• Aug 12, 2026 — Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY
• Aug 13, 2026 — Xfinity Center, Mansfield, MA
• Aug 15, 2026 — Scotiabank Centre, Halifax, NS
• Aug 17, 2026 — Place Bell, Laval, QC
• Aug 18, 2026 — RBC Amphitheatre, Toronto, ON
• Aug 19, 2026 — Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, ON
• Aug 21, 2026 — Pine Knob, Detroit, MI
• Aug 22, 2026 — Seneca Allegany Casino, Salamanca, NY
• Aug 24, 2026 — Everwise Amphitheatre, Indianapolis, IN
• Aug 25, 2026 — Ravinia, Highland Park, IL
• Aug 27, 2026 — Mystic Lake Casino, Prior Lake, MN
• Aug 29, 2026 — Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg, MB
• Aug 31, 2026 — Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, AB
• Sep 2, 2026 — Abbotsford Centre, Abbotsford, BC
• Sep 4, 2026 — Thunder Valley, Lincoln, CA
• Sep 5, 2026 — Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA

Further Tour Legs

According to reporting on the tour itinerary, further European dates follow the North American run, with a series of UK shows scheduled for November. The full 86-show itinerary spans 28 countries across three continents.

What we know

• SPLAT! is Deep Purple’s 24th studio album and will be released July 3 via earMUSIC.
• The album is described in the band’s press statement as ‘the heaviest Deep Purple album in many years.’
• SPLAT! is produced by Bob Ezrin, the sixth consecutive Deep Purple studio album he has produced, going back to Now What?! in 2013.
• The album’s concept was conceived by Ian Gillan and imagines the end of humanity as a metamorphosis beyond physical existence rather than destruction.
• SPLAT! is the second Deep Purple album to feature guitarist Simon McBride, who replaced Steve Morse in 2022.
• The supporting world tour comprises no fewer than 86 shows across 28 countries on three continents.
• The limited-edition box set includes three 10-inch vinyl discs of recordings from Deep Purple’s 2024 tour and a 7-inch single featuring the non-album track ‘Guinnesis.’
• Deep Purple has sold more than 120 million albums since forming in 1968.

The take

Deep Purple releasing a 24th studio album at this stage of their career is, on its face, remarkable, but the band has been on a genuine creative roll since reconnecting with Bob Ezrin in 2013. That partnership revitalized a catalog act that many had written off, and the run of records from Now What?! through =1 consistently outperformed expectations both critically and commercially. SPLAT! arriving as the sixth Ezrin-produced album in a row suggests the working relationship has become a genuine creative engine rather than a commercial safety net. The Gillan-penned concept, framing civilizational collapse as metamorphosis, fits a long tradition of prog-adjacent hard rock using grand philosophical themes to give album-length statements their spine. What’s notable here is Gillan explicitly anchoring the sound to the 1969-73 period, the Mark II era that produced Machine Head and Fireball. That’s the band at its most muscular and least self-conscious, and invoking it is a deliberate signal to longtime fans that this isn’t a late-career drift toward accessibility. Simon McBride’s continued integration into the lineup also matters. His predecessor Steve Morse was a beloved figure, but McBride has reportedly brought a rawer energy that aligns with the heavier direction the press materials are promising. An 86-show world tour at this scale, for a band whose members are in their late 70s, is a genuine statement of intent.

Why it matters

For Classic Rock fans, SPLAT! represents one of the genre’s founding acts still operating at full creative ambition rather than coasting on legacy. Deep Purple helped invent hard rock and heavy metal, and a new album explicitly reaching back to that founding era carries real weight. The 86-show world tour, with North American dates hitting major amphitheaters in August, gives fans across multiple continents a chance to hear the new material live. The box set’s inclusion of 2024 tour recordings also rewards collectors who want a document of the current lineup in action.

What’s next

SPLAT! is available for pre-order now and releases July 3. The European Mad in Europe Tour leg opens June 11 in Espoo, Finland. North American dates begin August 4 in Raleigh, North Carolina, running through early September. Further European dates and a run of UK shows in November follow, completing the 86-show world tour itinerary.

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