Deep Purple Planning Special ‘Smoke’

Deep Purple may do a special version of "Smoke on the Water" in Switzerland this July.

When they perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on July 19th, they may pay tribute to the festival's late founder, Claude Nobs, who died earlier this year following a skiing accident. But singer Ian Gillan says that instead of including "Smoke on the Water" in their set, they may perform it separately on an open-air stage on the Lake Geneva shoreline, with fireworks and other bells and whistles. The song tells the tells the story of the Montreux Casino's burning down in 1971 during a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention concert.