Ian Gillan: Talking Gib'rish

Ian Gillan is coming to Sheffield City Hall on Thursday 27 May 2027, but it's not the gig you might be expecting. The night is called Talking Gib'rish, and it's a live speaking event rather than a concert. Instead of a setlist, Gillan will be on stage telling personal stories from a career that now spans more than six decades.

If you know him, you know him as the voice of Deep Purple, which he joined in 1969 — one of those moments that really shifted the course of rock. But that's only part of the story. He started out in 1962 with his first band, The Javelins, and by 1965 he'd teamed up with Roger Glover in Episode Six. That period took him on tour with Dusty Springfield and across Europe and the Middle East, and he credits those years with shaping his musicianship and the vocal style he became known for. Talking Gib'rish is his way of filling in the gaps around the big names.

It's a speaking tour he announced he'd be taking across the UK in the spring of 2027, and Sheffield is one of the stops. The whole thing is built around him talking through his life and career in his own words, so it's more of a storytelling night than a musical one. If you've followed his work for years, it's a chance to hear the stories behind the records; if you only know the Deep Purple side of things, it's a look at where he came from before that.

The event is at Sheffield City Hall, in Oval Hall 3, and it starts at 8:00pm on Thursday 27 May 2027.