They did that over here, too. Somehow it became a regular part of the shows, I guess - was that during "Strange Kind Of Woman"?
Actually, the talk about that process in the liner notes - how someone would improvise something and then that would become a regular part of the show. I actually used to be a Deep Purple fanatic (sorry I didn't leap to your defense Uwe!) - I had so many live albums, even a Beta tape of the California Jam concert (this is back in 1986 or so) - these guys took REALLY long solos - it was interesting how little melodic motifs would pop up - actually, the intro riff to Rainbow's cover of "Still I'm Sad" appeared during live versions of MK III's "You Fool No One" - the drum solo in the '84 DVD is like an abbreviated version of Ian Paice's solo during "The Mule" at California Jam.
Sorry for the stream of consciousness DP discourse!
