Historic Reunion: Ritchie Blackmore Performs With Deep Purple for First Time in Decades

Most Deep Purple fans had long since given up any hope of seeing the band ever share a stage with founding guitarist Ritchie Blackmore again, due to a well-known, decades-long estrangement.

But that's exactly what took place near the end of the group's show at Jones Beach in New York, as hatchets were buried and Blackmore rejoined his old mates for a performance of the group's most famous anthem, "Smoke on the Water."

"It's gonna be interesting," Blackmore said in a podcast appearance the night before the show, in which the 81-year-old guitar legend leaked news of his imminent appearance. "I have not played rock music in 25 years."

At the conclusion of "Smoke on the Water," singer Ian Gillan showered praise on his ex-bandmate before he left the stage: "A couple of days ago I got a message from a local lad… saying 'I only live around the corner, do you mind if I come and jam with you?' It was an absolute pleasure to have back on stage the founding member, the great legend, the immortal Ritchie Blackmore. Thanks, Ritchie. I have to say, it was a great pleasure. I'll see you in the bar."

Probably few in the audience were taken by complete surprise by Blackmore's cameo, since the previous night, the guitarist had spilled the beans in a livestream conversation with his wife, singer Candice Night. Blackmore said on Tuesday's live podcast that he was revealing the secret in advance because he wanted fans who had waited for this moment for decades to at least have a shot at making it to New York in time for Wednesday's show.

Blackmore, who co-founded Deep Purple in 1968, had a fallout with other members that resulted in him leaving the lineup in 1993 for the second and last time. The fallout was bad enough that Blackmore did not show up at the band's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2016, after being told that the currently touring lineup — which still includes three original or near-original members in Gillan, drummer Ian Paice, and bassist Roger Glover — would not reunite with him under any circumstances, even for a short, one-off performance at the ceremony.

So hell seemed to have frozen over when Blackmore gingerly reached out asking if he could come up on stage for one number at a tour date… and the band proved surprisingly agreeable to that notion, after so much water under the bridge.

"It is a secret and I don't want anybody to know, but I'm probably going to go up and do an encore with the band, Deep Purple," Blackmore blurted about eight minutes into the livestream with his wife, singer Candice Night. "But you can't tell anybody, and I know this will be kept a secret, won't it?" he joked, even as the web lit up with the news quickly being spread among hard rock buffs.

Blackmore explained the genesis of this unexpected reunion: "I sent my AI pigeon to Ian Gillan in Portugal, where he lives at the moment, and I said, 'How would you feel if I got up just for an encore on one of the songs? Don't want to intrude.' And I said, 'No pressure, just kind of old times' sake.' You know, I'm 81 now. So Gillan seemed to like the idea, put it to the band, got a thumbs up, and it looks like we might be doing that."

The guitarist admitted he was hardly in practice for a performance with Deep Purple, given the drift in his musical focus since 1993, as he moved on to a gentler brand of folk-rock with Blackmore's Night, the band fronted by his wife.

"I changed my strings on my Strat, which I haven't done in over 25 years," he revealed. "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 acoustic, but I got used to it, and now I'm more used to playing the acoustic, more so than the electric."

He noted that he needed medical assistance to withstand performing "Smoke on the Water": "I did have my injection in my lumbar area yesterday," he explained on the podcast regarding a required steroid shot. "It's a special injection I have that enables me to stand in one spot, because if I'm playing a Strat, I have a hard time… I have four herniated discs, if anybody wants them. And I had my injection yesterday of a steroid which helps me get through standing on stage. But I have kind of a stool there, just in case I start toppling over or something."

Of his reasons for giving fans 24 hours' notice, he joked that he "wanted to warn the people living in Romania, so they could fly over… Not really. I just thought it might be an idea to let a few people know because I think a lot of people would like to see that." He concluded his thoughts by adding: "I hope people enjoy it," and "It will be good to see the old guys again."

Fans from afar turned to the web to look for footage of the show. Perrin Wolfson and Jimmy Kay of the Metal Voice podcast livestreamed through the latter part of Deep Purple's set, waiting for confirmation that it had gone down and uploading photos and videos shared with them from inside the venue. "History has been made," Wolfson and Kay crowed as they first got word "Smoke on the Water" was in progress with Blackmore aboard. "I feel like we just walked on the moon."