Last Saturday the Near East University (NEU) celebrated its 25th anniversary and what better way to do that than to organize a concert by none other than the legendary rock band Deep Purple?
NEU chartered a British Airways private jet for the members of the band which landed just two hours before the concert started. Foreign Ministry, State Secretary Erhan Ercin, and Director General Kemal Koprulu, Near East University Board of Trustees Chairman Irfan Günsel and director Murat Tüzünk came to meet them at Ercan Airport. It was the first time a commercial British plane had landed at Ercan.
The atmosphere at the Deep Purple concert was happy and relaxed. Many people we spoke to were very pleased with the evening and with the bands performance. Among the audience were real Deep Purple fans, but also many younger spectators who have not heard so much of their music before, but were there for the great atmosphere, leaping and dancing young and old to the tune of the now legendary rock songs.
Before Deep Purple started at 21:30 the Turkish Cypriot rock band Unreal opened the concert, with guest artist Serdar Tuksal. When Deep Purple stepped off the stage after their performance at around 23:00, the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) started with a list of different DJ’s then much of the old generation disappeared and the younger stayed and danced the night away.
The festival was free but at first it took registration through the website, but because of the intense demand the registration requirement was removed.
The Rock festival lasted a total of four days and tent sites ran out quickly despite the large festival surface of 80,000 m2. During the first three days leading up to the grand finale, performed Turkish rock bands, day 1: Kolpa, Day 2: Pinhani and day 3: Yuksek Sadakat
Since the day it was announced in the media that Deep Purple would perform in northern Cyprus, the group received enormous resistance from Southern Cyprus. But as we mentioned in an earlier article, it is nothing that the members of Deep Purple are really concerned with. Ian Gillan has gone out and said that the group did not select any pages and that they have appeared in many conflict areas in their touring history. Listen below to the interview with the band’s lead singer Ian Gillan.
Members arrive at Ercan airport
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n8qK3OcqiQ[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DqM5jN5KrI[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLor7UwtdVk[/youtube]
