A little bit of rock history was made last night as Ritchie Blackmore took to the stage with Deep Purple for the first time in more than 30 years, performing Smoke On The Water during their show at the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, NY.
His cameo was the first time he had played with the band since 1993, and was a well-kept secret until Blackmore and his wife, Candice Night, revealed the news during a livestream. It transpired that Blackmore, who co-founded the band in 1968, had reached out to Deep Purple frontman, sent his “AI pigeon” with a message to him asking if it would be okay if he could come up and jam for a bit.
This is how Blackmore described his pitch: “I said, ‘How would you feel about if I got up just for an encore? You know, just one of the songs. I don’t want to intrude.’ And I said, ‘No pressure, just for old time’s sake. I’m 81 now.’”
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Gillan was all in.
“He seemed to love the idea, put it to the band, got a thumbs up, and it looks like we might be doing that,” said Blackmore.
And that he did. He was playing through a 50-watt guitar amp. We know this because Blackmore had revealed he had sent his tech a day in advance to set up his rig. This was a big deal. Not only was it forever since he last played onstage with the band, he had mostly been playing acoustic guitar around the house. His Fender Stratocaster, looking a nice light shade of custard yellow as he joined the band, was in desperate need of some TLC.
“It’s been a while,” he said. “I changed my strings on my Strat, which I haven’t done in over 25 years. So I did that.”
So with all precautions taken – including a steroid injection to his lower back – Blackmore was ready, and was called onstage to plug in and join forces with Deep Purple guitarist Simon McBride on a storming rendition of Smoke On The Water.
As Candice Night said ahead of the show, “It’s going to be the riff heard around the world.”
That it was. Just look at all those camera phones capturing the moment for posterity.
It’s strange. Smoke On The Water is one of the first, if not the first, riff that anyone learns on electric guitar but it always sounds different when Blackmore performs it, when it comes something monolithic, as mysterious and extra-terrestrial as Kubrick’ monoliths.
Blackmore need not have worried. If he was one of the forebears of shred, the first to put bring neoclassical tonalities to rock’s animalistic idiom, he dialled it back last night, working both pickups on his modded Strat (stacked humbuckers at both neck and bridge positions, middle pickup removed), and just going with it.
This was Blackmore on home soil. He only lives down the road in Long Beach.
Ian Paice on drums was the only other original member of Deep Purple onstage – though Roger Glover has been with them on bass guitar since ’69 and is good as an original. Don Airey was on keys, as he has been since assuming Jon Lord’s spot in 2002.
Gillan described the occasion as “a great pleasure”, and Blackmore as immortal.
“I’m falling over,” joke Blackmore as Gillan addressed the crowd. “How come you’re getting much taller than me?”
“It’s the other way ‘round, mate,” laughs Gillan. “You’re shrinking!” Before continuing.
“I’ve got to say something. A couple of days ago I got a message from a local lad, ‘I only live ‘round the corner – do you mind if I come and jam with you?’ And it was an absolute pleasure to have back onstage the founder member, the great legend, the immortal Ritchie Blackmore! Thanks, Ritchie. I have to say it was a great pleasure. I’ll see you at the bar.”
And with that, the man in black takes his bow….
