By Eddie Hamp, Journalist, and Chyrisse Tabone, Photographer, Rock At Night Tampa
Live Review: Deep Purple’s Splat! Tour with Kansas, and Shaun Hopper at the BayCare Sound, Clearwater, Florida – August 8, 2026
When British hard rock legends Deep Purple announced their highly anticipated Splat! Tour in support of their freshly released 24th studio album of the same name, fans knew they were in for a colossal night of heavy-hitting, blues-inspired rock. On August 8th, that explosive energy descended upon the Clearwater BayCare Sound. Bringing together American progressive rock titans Kansas and local acoustic guitar virtuoso Shaun Hopper, the triple bill promised a masterclass in musicianship spanning both decades of timeless anthems and gritty new material.
The Sound set the stage for early 1970’s British Deep Purple hard rock and for the classic and hard rock music from Kansas. But first, a delightful opening act from local artist Shaun Hopper who showcased his fingerstyle acoustic guitar sounds mixed with percussion rhythm and beats.
Shaun Hopper brought the audience a unique concert experience with a custom video setup, wowing the audience with a glimpse of the complexity of his fingerstyle and amazing talents on guitar and percussion sounds. With a video feed from inside his hollow guitar (“looking outward”), along with a fretboard-mounted camera, the audience could fully appreciate his talent and musical style. During his 30-minute set, he performed crowd favorites by The Beatles and Steely Dan and ended with a beautiful rendition of “Stairway to Heaven.” He brought music to a different level we don’t usually see and hear.
Kansas packed a twelve-song playlist featuring many songs from the (1976) Leftoverture album and “Point of Know Return” (1977). While the original 1974 Kansas group has evolved with new members and talent, they have kept the Kansas sound alive for decades. In their opening song, “Point of Know Return” was energized by frontman Ronnie Platt, who took over the reins from retiring Steve Walsh in 2014. And later, displaying that smooth and trademark violin sound in “Song for America” and “Down the Road,” Joe Deninzon, who joined the band in 2023, gave a soaring and expressive representation of that original Robby Steinhardt album work that reminded us all of the Kansas sound born 50+ years ago.
“Dust in the Wind,” played halfway through the performance, was followed by an encore of “Carry On Wayward Son,” truly satisfying the fans’ appetite with the two signature, definitive “franchise” songs from the enduring and progressive rock band Kansas.
Deep Purple came on stage at 9:00 pm, following a spectacular video backdrop, and immediately got down to business, opening with their hit “Highway Star,” and proceeded to pound it like it was 1972. The five-piece British rock band of the 1970s, led by frontman Ian Gillan, was kept in the same company as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath in the hard rock arena. That was 50+ years ago, and Deep Purple is still rocking with heavy, blues-inspired hard rock energy at the peak of their 1970s music career on their new 24th studio album, Splat!, just released last month. Conceived by Ian Gillan, the album touches on timely social tones of destruction and world transformation. The audience was pleasantly gifted some new music from Splat! with “Arrogant Boy”, “Diablo”, ”Scriblin’ Gib’rish”, and “Guinnesis” songs.
The music roots and smash hits from Deep Purple were not lost, as the fans anxiously awaited their hit favorites of “Space Truckin”, “Smoke on the Water”, and the breakthrough massive hit “Hush”.
PHOTO GALLERY
I am a lifelong Tampa resident, semi-retired, and an adjunct professor at Hillsborough College. Although I studied Finance and Banking at the University of South Florida, my true passion has been music since the fifth grade. I learned to play guitar at an early age and played trumpet in the school band. Today, I play in three community bands in Tampa and keep busy following the local music scene and enjoying the outdoors.
