33 years after he left Deep Purple, the legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore finally reunited with the band and played “Smoke on the Water” at their show in Wantagh, New York, last Wednesday, August 12. It was him who reached out to them, asking if he could attend the show and play one song with them. As he told Guitar Player in an interview, he was there to heal any wounds, but he found out there were none.
Ritchie Blackmore says he reunited with Deep Purple to “heal any wounds”
“I couldn’t warm up, but I wasn’t there to be playing correct notes. I was there to see old friends I hadn’t seen in 40 years, and we’re all getting older. I think we realized it could be the last time we see each other, maybe. It was tricky; I didn’t play anything too technical, as I felt I should stick to the rudiments of being simple,” he added. “I still lost my place at one point, but it’s not why I was there. I was there to heal any wounds — but there weren’t any wounds. Everyone was like we were in the army all along the Western front and we were all getting together again. Very emotional moment,” Ritchie Blackmore said.
His final complete show with Deep Purple was in Helsinki, Finland back in 1993. He was briefly replaced by Joe Satriani and then by Steve Morse (from 1994 to 2022) and the current guitarist is Simon McBride.
The band is currently promoting their latest album “Splat!”, their 10th, since Ritchie left in 1993. The current line-up has Ian Gillan (Vocals), Ian Paice (Drums), Roger Glover (Bass), Don Airey (Keyboards) and Simon McBride (Guitar).
What Blackmore previously said about the reunion
Ritchie Blackmore revealed during a live stream that he would play one song with Deep Purple at their show (August 12) in the Northwell at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York! The last time he played with them was in 1993. He said: “There is something we wanted to mention about tomorrow night. Well, it is a secret and I don’t want anybody to know, but I’m probably get up and do an encore with the band. But you can’t tell anybody, and I know that this is gonna be kept a secret. And will it? I suppose so.”
“I actually called up… I didn’t call him up, 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.’”
He continued:
“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. It’ll be good to see the old guys again. I think we’ll all be on crutches and wheelchairs and things, although I think the rest of them are okay. But, yes, it’s kind of frightening. I haven’t played rock in 25 years… I’ve been playing acoustic guitar for 25 years, and at first I was very uncomfortable playing it, but I got used to it, and now I’m used to playing the acoustic more so than the electric,” he said.