I've never been able to pin down exactly where or when that gig took place where Danny refused to go onstage and was sacked afterwards. Mick has said it was Nebraska, and John has said it was San Diego. But I've never found any evidence of gigs at those places during August or any time around then.
First thing - I think the Gaelic Park gig was August 31, having been postponed on August 30. Deep Purple and Elf were both supposed to playing Gaelic Park on August 30, and both their websites say it was postponed and took place the following day. Mac were touring with Purple and Elf at that time. Purple and Elf then played a gig on September 1 in Norfolk, Virginia, but Mac weren't there - I have no idea if Mac were supposed to be there or not.
Mac, Purple and Elf then played Commack, NY on September 2 (postponed from August 26), and "A Change of Season for Labor Day" gig at the Empire Dragway, Leicester, NY on September 3. There's some doubt as to whether Elf played that gig, but Mac and Purple definitely did. This gig is the last one I can find that Mac definitely played in the autumn/fall of 1972. Mac were definitely there, because this guy saw them and says they were "mesmerizing"
http://www.songkick.com/venues/61796-empire-dragway
So we can assume that Danny was actually playing in Leicester, because the gig that he refused to play must have been a pretty shaky show. Unless of course, this guy was so stoned that anything would have seemed mesmerizing to him.
After the Leicester gig, Deep Purple flew home and were playing gigs in the UK by September 13, so that US leg of the tour was definitely completed as planned.
According to Bob Welch (I emailed him a while back), after Danny was sacked,
"We canceled the rest of the gigs....and flew home....At that time, we didn't consider going on as a 4 piece..." He also told me that they didn't even consider recording "Penguin" with just Welch on guitar. They recruited Weston and Walker, did some gigs in Scandinavia (according to Weston) and then hooked up again with Deep Purple and Elf in November for more US dates.
So the gig that Danny refused to play must surely have been in September, but when? If that US leg of the tour with Deep Purple was completed as planned on September 3, they must have gone on to more gigs elsewhere in the US, and it happened at one of those. But where were they?
