The album was a project started in 1999 by keyboardistJon Lord, who sought to recreate the band's innovative 1969 album, Concerto for Group and Orchestra, of which the original score was lost. With the help of Marco de Goeij, a fan who was also a musicologist and composer, the two painstakingly recreated the lost score, and Lord elected to have the band perform it once more at the Royal Albert Hall, but this time with the London Symphony Orchestra rather than the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and with Paul Mann as conductor rather than Malcolm Arnold. The concert also featured songs from each member's solo careers, as well as a short Deep Purple set, and guest musicians such as Ronnie James Dio, the Steve Morse Band, and Sam Brown. In early 2001, two similar concerts were also performed in Tokyo, and were released as part of the Soundboard Seriesbox set.
