Deep Purple planning reunion like Led Zeppelin

London (ANI): Speculations are rife that just like Led Zeppelin, their arch rivals of the Seventies, Deep Purple, may also stage an enthralling reunion concert with the original band members. The group"s founder member and keyboard player Jon Lord, who quit the band in 2002, has not refuted the possibility of a reunion.

“I'd be there like a shot! Not in any way to denigrate what (replacement guitarist) Steve Morse has done with the band but only because it was an iconic group of people. We had an impact on the music industry," the Daily Express quoted him as saying, while replying to a question about any reunion of the original Deep Purple line-up.

“Perhaps we never quite pulled in the massive adulation that Zeppelin did but we could certainly stand in comparison with them as a great rock band," he added. The group"s hit numbers, including 'Smoke On The Water", are still playing shows but without Lord and former lead guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who left the band in 1975.

Blackmore has a history of friction with singer Ian Gillan. Lord said that he was unsure whether Blackmore and Gillian could be convinced to join hands for a reunion gig. “Whether you could ever get Ritchie (Blackmore) and Ian Gillan on the same stage again, I don"t know," he said.