RITCHIE BLACKMORE Performs With DEEP PURPLE For First Time In 33 Years
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Ritchie Blackmore joined DEEP PURPLE on stage for the first time in more than three decades during the band's headlining concert Wednesday night (August 12) at the Northwell at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York.
The 81-year-old guitarist, who last played with DEEP PURPLE in 1993, came up for a rendition of the band's classic song "Smoke On The Water", which closed DEEP PURPLE's regular set at the Wantagh show. Watch fan-filmed videos of the performance here.
After the "Smoke On The Water" performance, DEEP PURPLE singer Ian Gillan told the crowd: "I've gotta say something. A couple of days ago, I got a message. A couple of days ago, I got a message from a local lad. I got a letter from this man saying, 'I only live around the corner. Do you mind if I come and jam with you?' And I tell you, it was an absolute pleasure to have back on stage the founder member, the great legend, the immortal Ritchie Blackmore."
Ian added: "Thanks, Ritchie. I have to say it was a great pleasure. I'll see you in the bar."
Ritchie revealed his guest appearance for the Wantagh gig during an August 11 Instagram Live with his wife Candice Night. Blackmore said in part: "I sent my A.I. pigeon to Ian Gillan in Portugal, where he lives at the moment. And I said, 'How would you feel about if I got up just for an encore? Just one of the songs. I don't want to intrude.' And I said, 'No pressure — just kind of [for] old times' sake.' I'm 81 now. So he seemed to love the idea, put it to the band, got a thumbs up, and it looks like we might be doing that."
Blackmore also addressed some of the physical issues he is currently facing, including a severe, debilitating vertigo attack he suffered in late 2025 that forced him to cancel tour dates, as well as his chronic health challenges that include severe gout, arthritis affecting his fingers and feet, and previous heart issues.
"I did have my injection in my lumbar area yesterday," Ritchie said. "It's a special injection I have that enables me to stand in one spot, because if I'm playing a Strat on stage, I have a hard time with the shoulders and the lumbar area. I've got four herniated discs, if anybody wants them. And I had my injection yesterday of a steroid which helps me get through standing up on stage. But I do have a kind of a stool there just in case I start toppling over or something. But I know that Ian Gillan has his maladies too with his eyesight, I think. And so as you get older, you collect all these things… And fusion is out of the question. That's too big a job. But the stem cell stuff looks interesting. So I'm kind of recovering from that at the moment. I'm on steroid. And it's very hard to sleep when you're on steroids, but I'm on one steroid. And thanks to the doctors at Stony Brook [University Hospital]; they were excellent. I didn't feel hardly any pain. But I think we've all got something to complain about. I just have more things to complain about than usual. And if don't complain, I'll find something to complain about.
Circling back to Wednesday night's appearance with DEEP PURPLE, Ritchie said: "[Simon] is a very good guitar player. As was, and is, [former DEEP PURPLE guitarist] Steve Morse, is a great guitar player.
Blackmore is a co-founder of DEEP PURPLE and wrote many of their most memorable riffs, including "Smoke On The Water", but he had not played with the group since his 1993 departure.
During his time away from PURPLE, Blackmore established the neo-classical band called RAINBOW, which fused baroque music influences elements with hard rock before gradually progressing to catchy pop-style hard rock.
Blackmore stepped away from his Renaissance-inspired brand of music with BLACKMORE'S NIGHT in 2016 to perform a handful of shows with a brand-new lineup of RAINBOW.
Blackmore didn't join his former DEEP PURPLE bandmates at the group's 2016 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony.
Blackmore previously suggested that PURPLE's manager had blocked him from attending the Rock Hall induction ceremony, and he used that as an excuse for not attending the event.
Despite Blackmore being a no-show at Rock Hall, he was given several shoutouts during the induction speeches of the DEEP PURPLE members in attendance. In addition, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich, who inducted DEEP PURPLE into the institution, praised "Ritchie fucking Blackmore" for one of the most memorable guitar riffs of all time on "Smoke On The Water".
Back in 2014, Gillan told Rolling Stone about the prospect of a DEEP PURPLE reunion with Blackmore: "It would be unconscionable to think about bringing Ritchie in. I don't have an issue with Ritchie, nor does anyone. I've been in touch with Ritchie recently and everything's cool, so there's no bitter, personal problem. We're too old for that and everything's in the past, but no. That would be out of the question."
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
