Deep Purple — MAD IN EUROPE Open Air

Deep Purple in Mönchengladbach 2026 — The Hard-Rock Legends Return

When the first chord of Deep Purple rings out over SparkassenPark Mönchengladbach on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, at 8 PM, it will be one of those unforgettable musical evenings. The hard-rock legends from Hertfordshire, England — founded in 1968, with over 100 million albums sold — will perform on their current world tour "MAD IN EUROPE" at one of the most beautiful open-air venues on the Lower Rhine.

The "MAD IN EUROPE" Tour

The MAD IN EUROPE tour accompanies the release of their latest studio album and takes Deep Purple through numerous European open-air stadiums and festivals in 2026. The current lineup includes:

• Ian Gillan — Vocals (band member since 1969, with interruptions)
• Roger Glover — Bass (since 1969)
• Ian Paice — Drums (founding member, since 1968)
• Don Airey — Keyboards (since 2002)
• Simon McBride — Lead Guitar (since 2022)

What to Expect from the Setlist

On the MAD IN EUROPE tour, Deep Purple traditionally combines:

• Timeless Classics: Highway Star, Smoke on the Water, Black Night, Child in Time, Perfect Strangers, Knocking at Your Back Door
• Material from Recent Albums (=1, Whoosh!) — modern Deep Purple sound, characterized by McBride's electric guitar and Airey's Hammond organ
• Instrumental Solos by individual band members — especially the famous drum and keyboard solos

Show duration: approximately two hours, often with an encore.

SparkassenPark Mönchengladbach — The Open-Air Stage

The SparkassenPark is the largest open-air event area on the Lower Rhine, integrated into the Hockey Park complex in Mönchengladbach-Hardt. With a capacity of up to 25,000 visitors for concerts and modern tribune and stage logistics, it is one of the most important summer venues in North Rhine-Westphalia — alongside the Lanxess Arena (Cologne), Tanzbrunnen (Cologne), and the Schalke Open-Air (Gelsenkirchen).

Summer Program 2026 at SparkassenPark

Deep Purple is part of an exceptionally dense open-air summer at SparkassenPark in 2026:

• May 29 — Flo Rida
• May 30 — Paul Kalkbrenner
• June 19 — Sarah Connor (Wilde Nächte)
• June 20 — Unheilig (Comeback Concert)
• June 23 — Limp Bizkit
• June 24 — Deep Purple
• July 3 — Kraftklub (Sterben in Karl-Marx-Stadt)
• July 25 — BOBfest 2026
• October 3 — SparkassenPark 20th Anniversary Celebration

Mönchengladbach and its Rock Tradition

The independent city of Mönchengladbach, with around 270,000 inhabitants, is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia, near the Dutch border. Long known primarily for Borussia Mönchengladbach and the textile industry, the city, with the SparkassenPark, has developed into one of the most important live concert destinations in western Germany. International headliners such as AC/DC, Foo Fighters, Rammstein, and Deep Purple for years have regularly chosen Mönchengladbach as a tour stop in western Germany.